The first condition for growth is immaturity. The "no" before the immature state has some positive meanings, not just the meaning of absence or lack. Immature state is the possibility of growth and means the ability of development. Immature state has two main characteristics: dependence and plasticity.
Dependence means some kind of compensation ability. Children are endowed with first-class social skills, flexible and sensitive abilities, and full of sympathy for the attitudes and behaviors of people around them. These social reaction abilities of children are used to increase their interests. From the social point of view, dependence refers to a kind of strength rather than weakness. As a person's independence increases, his social skills will decrease. People who have no dependence at all are people who are divorced from society.
Plasticity is the power to change one's behavior on the basis of past experience, that is, the power to develop various tendencies. Without this power, it is impossible to form habits. The extension of human infancy shows that human plasticity is much stronger than that of animals, and the extension of human dependence is the extension of plasticity, which can enable children to learn more skills to adapt to future social independence.
Second, habit is the expression of growth.
Plasticity is the ability to acquire habits or develop a tendency. The main characteristics of habit are: first, habit is an execution skill or work efficiency. Accustomed to actively controlling the environment by controlling the action organs. People often understand education as acquiring habits that can adapt individuals to the environment. In this sense, habit is the expression of growth.
There are two forms of habits: the habit of taking for granted and the habit of actively creating. Habits usually have two main characteristics. First, we get used to things by using them. The second, lasting adaptation, provides a background for us to make various special adaptations when we have the opportunity. That is, once people get used to something, they will make appropriate changes. "Habit" is our adaptation to the environment without changing conditions.
Dewey's habit contains two characteristics: initiative and intellectual participation.
Third, the educational significance of the development concept
Education is development, life is development, and continuous development and growth is life. In educational terms, an educational process has no purpose outside itself; It is its own purpose. The process of education is a process of continuous reorganization, transformation and transformation, and education is growth.
Development is to guide the ability to special channels, such as forming various habits, which include executive skills, clear interests, and specific objects of observation and thinking. Normal children and normal adults are constantly growing, just adapting to different growth in different situations. With regard to developing the ability to deal with special scientific and economic problems, we can say that children should develop towards adults. With regard to sympathetic curiosity, fair sensitivity and frank mind, adults should grow up like children. In other words, adults and children should learn from each other.
I have commented on three ideas before: first, the immature state is only considered as underdevelopment, regardless of the child's instinct or innate ability; Second, treat development as a static experiment in a fixed environment, and do not develop children's initiative to cope with new situations; Third, regarding the adaptability of habits, we overemphasize methods such as training and sacrifice personal understanding to develop mechanical skills.
These three things regard the environment of adults as the standard of children and let children grow up according to this standard. This is an abominable feature that children's natural instinct is ignored and regarded as disgusting and should be suppressed, or should be subject to external standards anyway. For example, children who just go to school are active and obey discipline, and teachers will suppress them and use various punishment methods to ensure their authority. This kind of education is difficult to achieve the purpose of growth, and external pressure can only achieve external purposes.
Education should be a profession, regardless of age, which can provide conditions for ensuring growth or a complete life. Education should respect children's immaturity, but it should not idealize childhood and condone children's inertia. Emerson said, "Children's training should pay attention to two points: to preserve children's nature, except for children's nature, everything else should be done through exercise; Keep children's nature, but stop them from making trouble, doing stupid things and fooling around; Keep the child's nature, arm the child's nature with knowledge, and accurately point to the direction it points out. "This puts great demands on teachers' time, thoughts and life.
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PS: 90-day Challenge Training Camp in University Hall, Chapter 32.