John Locke's Noble Godchild Book (also translated as Random Talk on Education) is a classic family education work by John Locke, a famous British philosopher and educator in the17th century. In the centuries since its publication, this book has played an outstanding role not only in the history of British education, but also in the history of European and American education. In the 1 8th century, this book has been translated into almost all European languages, and at least 53 editions have been published, including: 25th edition of English, 6th edition of French 16, 6th edition of Italian, 3rd edition of German, 2nd edition of Dutch, 2nd edition of Swedish1etc. As the American Times commented on John Locke:' He started from educating children and promoted the development of the whole society.' "
This weight is enough to arouse our curiosity about this book, although I can imagine that some people don't agree with this book just because it is a western book, or because it is too old-fashioned, too conservative, too preaching and too old-fashioned. However, this is the same standard for raising children and putting them on the right path, even if they are old. Isn't this the same regardless of East and West? Isn't this what parents have to work hard all their lives? Three centuries have passed. What's the difference between today's children and those raised 300 years ago?
Books that teach children should be respected and valued. The author himself is not only a philosopher, thinker, educator and doctor, but also devoted most of his energy to family education research and writings in his later years. John Locke's educational thought has a far-reaching influence on later generations and is the mainstream and yardstick of contemporary family education.
Best sellers in the market, such as how to be a parent? ","How to live in peace with children? " "How do you say children will listen? "Emancipate parents and children" and "How to teach excellent children? "Teach children 100", "How to teach disobedient children" ... There are many tricks, and there are also many monographs on being a good teacher. In fact, those classics that we have sealed up, such as this book, should not be ignored. Its author is the first respected person in the field of family education research.
All parents and educators should have one.
The author said that we need to concentrate on studying the child's nature and see what the natural trend of his nature is; Discover a child's shortcomings before he learns to hide them. Human nature cannot be changed. Some people are weak, while others are strong. Some people are conceited, others are humble; Some people are gentle, others are strong; Some people are careless, others are sensitive; Some people are slow, others are agile ... naturally-it is the structural differences in people's hearts that determine the differences in personality.
No matter how bad the natural tendency is, the most important thing to cultivate children is that in the first few years of life, almost before primary school, children's habits and temper have been developed. When parents are in a hurry, it is often before their children graduate from primary school or after they go to middle school, or their academic performance is too poor, or their behavior is deviated, or their personality development obstacles are presented in different ways, only to find that their children's minds may grow faster than their bodies. It may be too late to trace back to their parents' mistakes, and no amount of regret will help.
Educate, educate and teach when children are raised; Discipline is an unpleasant word. When it comes to discipline, many people think of shouting, conflict and prevarication, but they don't think that discipline is also a manifestation of love, which is the parallel of justice and love. Without one side, it's like a stool without a corner, and you can't sit steadily.
Locke believes that moral education is the soul of "gentleman education", and a person can only get happiness if he has good virtue. Therefore, the author spent quite a lot of time discussing children's conduct and behavior correction, in order to cultivate a correct personality, make him feel ashamed, and even reach the point of sincere repentance through flogging.
I firmly believe that if we don't start with some basic principles of educating children, any other efforts will be in vain.
"... to cultivate capable children, it is the most reliable to base their happiness on good education and conduct ... The cultivation of a real talent is based on many honest and serious qualities and the results of constant observation and hard work ... Nowadays, some evil things mature very quickly and often sow seeds on young people early. If you let your child go out to play at any risk and let them make friends at school by luck or intuition, he will easily catch all kinds of popular bad habits ... "(pages 87 and 89).
"I think that any country in the world, no matter how brave and civilized, as long as the atmosphere of corruption permeates the whole country, it will corrode people's moral self-discipline and degenerate people into an evil and unscrupulous situation. Even if the power of courage is very strong, it cannot make this person and this country establish reputation and prestige in the world.
Virtue is the most difficult but valuable core goal in education, and it is a person's inner moral quality. Not domineering, not aggressive, nor mixed skills. Any other goal and pursuit should take a step back in front of virtue, and only virtue is true goodness ... "(page 90).
Locke advocates that punishment is to make children realize their mistakes in their hearts, which is an effective punishment and can also make children truly repent. Locke strongly argues that in private, if necessary, children can feel humiliated and fall into a humiliating situation, and the attitudes of people around them should be consistent, so that children can feel guilty, so that children can deeply remember and correct them. This method will definitely be better than corporal punishment. However, it should be noted that we should not be too humiliated, otherwise the child's spirit will be hurt, and often worse and more dangerous problems will follow.
We expect children to know nothing about evil? He will never be exposed to the outside world unless he is locked in a secret room. Distinguishing between good and bad, good and evil, is not something that children can do by reading more books, but by living with bright eyes in society and actually contacting all kinds of people. When children grow up and join the crowd alone, they will not lose their way and have the ability to deal with reefs, shoals and rapids, so that they will not be devastated.
Therefore, John Locke stressed that we should treat children as adults as soon as possible:
"... when we can talk on an equal footing, parents should further have a heart-to-heart talk with him, and even discuss with him some things that children can understand and ask for his advice. This has two advantages, one is that it can make children start to think independently, and not all persuasion can achieve this effect. The sooner a child is treated as an adult, the sooner he will mature. Secondly, if you can make use of the appropriate opportunity to make your child talk to you seriously, you can invisibly improve his psychological quality, so that he will no longer be addicted to the fun of ordinary children and his energy will not be spent on some childish things. "(Page number: 145)
The author puts the role of parents in a very important position. As parents, we should establish prestige in children's hearts and act as their spiritual commander with the help of children's fear and trust in their parents. When a child makes a mistake, don't be harsh and harsh, but gently persuade and remind him. Parents should not cultivate their children's too many habits at the same time, lest they be overwhelmed by too many tricks and accomplish nothing; The formation of habits should conform to the child's ability, talent and physique in order to succeed in the end.
Most importantly, the author pointed out in the first article that the purpose of education should be to cultivate children into a "gentleman" who is "mentally sound" and "physically healthy". To this end, Locke put forward a series of specific suggestions: don't wear too warm clothes, wash your feet with cold water, learn to swim as soon as possible, live outdoors more, have a light diet, eat less sugar and salt, eat less meat and eat more bread and fruit.
In bed, you should choose a hard bed for your child, not a down mattress, and a layer of cotton wool is enough.
"Sleeping on a hard bed is good for children's body bones to grow tall and straight. If children sleep on soft down mattresses every night, they will become weak and even get sick easily. Looking far away, this is also very unfavorable for children's longevity. " (page 22)
In fact, this book not only expounds how to educate children in theory, but also has many practical cases. It is the benchmark of modern children's wisdom education and moral education, and it is also the "godchild bible" for parents who want their children to become outstanding talents.
John Locke's aristocratic godson book
Translator: Eleven? Zhang Jianwei
Publisher: Women in China.
Page count: 322
Publication date: 2065438+July 2002