| China has since the ancient times taken the youth initiation education as the finetradition. Primers especially compiled for children, assembled the classic works ofpredecessors and the time, including Books of Family Names, Three-CharacterTextbook for Beginners or Primer, Thousand Character Reader, Poetry from aThousand Poets, Old Time Primer for Children, Four Books, and Five Classics.These books constituted a rather integrated knowledge, thought, value, and art system.On the basis of studying primers in ancient times and relevant works, the writeranalyses implication, development, compilation, and content of youth initiationeducation and initiates a basic frame of the topic.The youth initiation education started from ancient times, which means enforceproper education at an early proper time, or, to initiate the healthy growth of childrenthrough appropriate education.Primer for youth education developed through history. Yet it maintainedcontinuity and stability in content, form, and style, which is helpful to gain trustamong people and to strengthen its influence.The earliest primers are wordbooks, because the first phase of youth initiationeducation is to learn characters. The traditional practice is to learn them collectively,which can be reflected in Three-Character Textbook for Beginners or Primer, Booksof Family Names, and Thousand Character Reader. For hundreds of years, ourancestors, by teaching the children about 2000 words before reading, had summed upthe relationship of word learning, speaking, writing, and using.Rhyme reader enjoyed the largest quantity among ancient primers. After thelearning of Books of Family Names, Three-Character Textbook for Beginners orPrimer, Thousand Character Reader, the children needed to consolidate and enlargethe vocabulary they learned to lay basis for further reading and writing. At the sametime, with the development of their characters and morality, these children were opento more knowledge about life, self-cultivation, proper manners, and conduct in society.The function of the rhyme readers was to solidify and enlarge vocabulary and to conduct feudal education and knowledge education and it worked as a bridge fromBooks of Family Names, Three-Character Textbook for Beginners or Primer, andThousand Character Reader to Four Books, and Five Classics. In ancient times, whilespoken Chinese kept changing, written Chinese almost fell into a pattern since Westand East Han Dynasties and a gap had been formed between them. Since theabove-mentioned primers were basically compiled by written Chinese and they wereeasy to memorize, the distance between written and spoken Chinese was shortenednaturally. Thus, rhyme readers are called a bridge between spoken and writtenChinese.After vocabulary learning and further enlargement, the children entered thereading and writing phase in which they started to learn Four Books and Five Classics.As a fundamental reader and a classic in traditional Chinese culture, Four Books andFive Classics enjoy unparalleled position in China. Notes on Four Books written byZhu Xi, has been considered important not because its excellence but its uniqueposition in traditional culture and its deep influence for ancient students. Furthermore,as a practice adopted since Tang and Song Dynasties, the children, after vocabularylearning, would start to learn short essays and plain poems because they lovedlistening to stories and reading aloud. This gradually became a fixed part in youthinitiation education. Couplet writing, which was originally taught for rhythmical proseand modern style poetry writing, gradually became basis for poetry composing.In general, primer is specially written or compiled for school children and isprecious legacy in the history of Chinese education. Studying and analyzing on theteaching theories and experience of traditional youth initiation education is ofreference value to improving and reforming youth education, including domesticeducation and fundamental education.
|
PDF Full Text Request