教子有方与蒙以养正：中国传统社会的“发现儿童”

Educating Children with Wisdom and Cultivating Integrity in Childhood：“Discovering Children” in Traditional Chinese Society

中文关键词:  发现儿童；蒙以养正；儿童教育

英文关键词:discovering children， cultivating integrity in childhood， children education

中文摘要:

      在中国传统社会，“儿童”对于家庭乃至整个社会具有重要的情感价值，“教子”被视作家庭的重要事务，但儿童为“亲长者所私有”的观念也根深蒂固。经由历代演化，中国传统家庭教育从“爱而有教”逐步深化到“爱而擅教”，蒙以养正的教育理念则推动着蒙学机构、蒙学教材尤其是蒙学教育思想的发展。反思人们对儿童“宛如成人”的期待，重温先贤对顺应“童子之情”、注重“儿童本位”的呼吁，以强调“发现儿童”是一个持续的过程。在尊重儿童天性、引导儿童向善的过程中，成人也将不断成长。

英文摘要:

      In traditional Chinese society，“children” have an important emotional value for the family and even for society as a whole. Although “educating children” was regarded as an important family duty， the view was also deeply ingrained that children were the private possession of their elders. Through historical evolution， traditional Chinese family education progressed from “loving and teaching” to “loving and specializing in teaching”with the concept of cultivating integrity in childhood guiding the development of early education institutions， the textbooks used， and early education philosophies. We need to reflect on people’s expectation of “children as young adults”， revisit the emphasis of early scholars on understanding “children’s feeling”and focus on the calls for “respecting children’s nature” in order to emphasize that “discovering children” is an ongoing process.Adults will also grow when they respect children’s nature and offer guidance to help them form good qualities.