Children's Education In The Context Of Neo-Confucianism In The Song And Ming Dynastie

Child education is not equal to kindergarten education,and the history of child education is not equal to the history of preschool education.Compared with the history of kindergarten education,our country has a very long history of child education,which traces back to the teaching of ancient sages,conceiving,shaping and practicing in the cultural soil of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.Why NeoConfucianism attached importance to children’s education and how to design children’s education is the core issue of this study.This study answers the former question by sorting out Neo-Confucianism’s concept of education and children,and the latter question by analyzing the content,carrier and practice of children’s education.Neo-Confucianism attaches importance not only to Great Learning but also to primary learning.The promotion of Great Learning has attracted the attention of primary learning.In terms of educational ideals,Neo-Confucianism advocates the education of ancient sages,and conceives the ideal primary learning in the education of the ancestors.In the criticism of "nowadays all primary learning work lost" and the contemporary custom of teaching by memorizing the rhetoric,Neo-Confucianism established the primary learning with"sweeping and responding".The idea of "righteous supporting and parenting" in Yi leads to the ideal and expectation of NeoConfucianism’s primary learning.Neo-Confucianism’s view of children is rooted in its interpretation of Confucian classics and observation of children.Neo-Confucianism’s understanding of children is related to its interpretation of "the innocent heart of a child",instinctive conscience and Meng Hexagram in Yi with the eyes of "nature" and "desire".On the level of "nature",Neo-Confucianism holds that children are born with innate conscience.On the level of"desire",Neo-Confucianism holds that,on the one hand,children are full of childishness and sincereness;on the other hand,it holds that the wrong nurturing methods and environmental contamination will make children get used to habits,thus making the temperament of cultivation obscure the original nature.Cleaning and responding is the way to educate children in Neo-Confucianism.Through the theoretical explanation of "one principle diverging different phenomenons",primary learning have achieved consistency with Great Learning in"one principle";in "difference",primary learning is different from Great Learning in their order of learning.By emphasizing "practice as an approach to nature",primary learning,which is used to cultivate their morality in daily life,have become the time preparation for great learning.In terms of practice,primary learning is mainly implemented in four dimensions of self-cultivation,others-cultivation,environmentcultivation and learning-cultivation.The content of children’s primary learning covered in children’s primary reading materials.There are two main types of materials designed by Neo-Confucianism:one is related to "thing" and the other is related to "concept".There are three kinds of children’s reading materials in the category of "thing":children’s reading materials focusing on behavioral accomplishment,informative material,and ethical and cognitive stories."Concept" type of children’s enlightenment books mainly include primary conceptual books and enlightenment books of mastering the life.Neo-Confucian primary education is mainly practiced in family education,school education and community schooling.For family education,Neo-Confucianism strongly advocates the concept of "rational educating".In guiding children,it mainly includes standardizing children’s behavior and guiding children’s growth in value.Private education emphasizes learning etiquette,mastering the rules and principles of learning,learning the content of rationality,and treating learning respectfully.Community schooling applies Neo-Confucian primary education to rebuild the ideal social order.In the educational background,it is faced with the current situation of banditry,social disorder everywhere in the temple of prostitution,and the current situation that the study of rhetoric overrides the study of ethics;in the educational content,it is taught by songs,rituals and teaching.In the form of education,community schooling and rural conventions work together to serve the governance of grass-roots society.Generally speaking,Neo-Confucian children’s education is based on nature conscience and cultivation.On the basis of children’s innate conscience,NeoConfucianism has developed a set of primary learning,which aims at cleaning and responding.Neo-Confucianism integrates the education of children into the metaphysical ideological system,and gives the spirit of sweeping and responding to the holy realm of good.Although Neo-Confucianism inevitably goes beyond or deviates from the cultivation concept of "cleaning and responsing" when designing educational carriers and carrying out educational practice,it is still based on childlike innocence in general and takes "cleaning and responsing" as practical education.This idea eventually prompted scholars in the middle and late Ming Dynasty to carry out community schooling in order to realize the ideal of nurturing children,educating adults and reshaping social atmosphere and rebuilding social order.