In the process of education, Locke pays great attention to the detailguidance. He thinks that every detail in daily life should become thekey to our education. Oncethere aresome bad habitsin children, we should take a positive attitude toit, analyzecalmly, and take right measures to fight for theenemiesbreedingout.If not, our neglect of their bad habits and connivance of even a small mistake would cause greater mistakes, and can’t be saved eventually.
But we must pay attention to the way weteach them. Locke said “This consideration may direct parents how to manage themselves in reproving and commending their children. The rebukes and chiding, which their faults will sometimes make hardly to be avoided, should not only be in sober, grave, and impassionate words, but also alone and in private: but the commendations children deserve, they should receive before others.This doubles the reward, by spreading their praise; but the backwardness parents shew in divulging their faults, will make them set a greater value on their credit themselves, and teach them to be the more careful to preserve the good opinion of others, whilst they think they have it: but when being exposed to shame by publishing their miscarriages, they give it up for lost, that check upon them is taken off, and they will be the less careful to preserve others' good thoughts of them, the more they suspect that their reputation with them is already blemished.”This tells us that we should protect children’s self-esteem when cultivate the honorary feeling of them.
Just as what Locke saysin the start of this article, “A sound mind in a sound body is a short, but full description of a happy state in this world. He that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be but little the better for any thing else.”A healthy body can bring ahappy successful life.This idea is worth learning for all the parents who have responsibility to bring their children up. Especially inChinatoday, the teachers and parents together put theschool scoresfirstinstead of children’s physical and mental health. It causesmany tragedies andit should arouse our thinking about the present situation of education in our own country.
Intellectual education is an important constituent of gentleman education. Locke thinks that virtue is the first and intellectual education is the second. “I place virtue as the first and most necessary of those endowments that belong to a man or a gentleman, as absolutely requisite to make him valued and beloved by others, acceptable or tolerable to himself.Without that,I think, he will be happy neither in this nor the other world.”Locke insists that the aim of intellectual education is not just to impart knowledge, and the more important aim is to develop children’s abilities in various aspects. Intellectual education must be combined with practice. We teacher’s job is not to give the all knowledge that is about the worldto students, but to guide students to love and respect knowledge, to use knowledge in the right way and improve themselves.
SomeThoughts OfAnArticle
I have transferred my great affections toSome Thoughts Concerning Education, written by JohnLocke.It took me a long time to finish reading this article, but it is worth reading, just like enjoying a delicious meal. As anormal school student,there are so many ideas about education that I haven’t got yet.And this articlethat is about educationis so famous all over the world.Locke is great, singing by heart, telling by Байду номын сангаасeeling, describing with love, touching us with truth, hecares about the education of next generation.It clicked my heart and made me consider over and over about our education today. And it also blew the doubts which lived deep in my heart for a long time away.
Locke mentionsthat we should treat properlytochildren’s curiosity to this world.The first thing we should do is to guide them and answer their questions with all kinds of interesting things that are in their understandingrange and make their thoughts exceed the original scope. “curiosity in children is but an appetite after knowledge; and therefore ought to be encouraged in them, not only as a good sign, but as the great instrument nature has provided to remove that ignorance they were born with, and which, without this busy inquisitiveness, will make them dull and useless creatures.”Locke considersthat if the problems caused by their curiosity are what they shouldn’t know, we’d better tell themhonestly. Just tell them that the thing they needn’t understand now instead of prevaricating with discursive reply or lying. This reminds me of a story about Zengzi who killed a pig because of his wife’s commitment to his child, and he just didn’t want to deceive his child. Certainly, children should not be deceived.Once children havedeveloped the habit of telling lies, it is irreparable no matter how many thingswe have doneand how much moneywe have spent.Therefore, we parents and teachers should be more carefulaboutchildren’s education.