On Tagore's Children's Concept

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a famous poet and educator in India. He created numerous amounts of works themed on children. Tagore cared deeply about children and devoted himself to children’s education. The view of the child is a key part in Tagore’s poetic thought, as well as a principal issue of his thought on education. Therefore, this study attempts to understand in depth Tagore’s view of child and unearth some valuable references by analyzing of Tagore’s numerous works.This study comprises three parts. The first part discusses on the forming background of Tagore’s view of child. Tagore received both traditional Indian culture and western progressive thoughts. Based on the childhood experiences of his own and his observation of children, Tagore finally formed his unique view of child. The second part points out the connotation and characteristics of Tagore’s view of child. In Tagore’s view, children are individuals who have many differences from adults. Children should get more freedom during their childhood. Play is the business of childhood. Children need self-expressing creatively, and have sensibilities towards nature. Tagore praises children highly. He treats them as God’s creatures, the angels of love, and the teachers of adults as well. He holds the position of child-orientation, and advocates that children’ education should pay more attention to the children’s harmonious development. The last part explores the impact and revelations of Tagore’s view of child. Looking back in history, we find that Tagore’s view of child has had a wide and profound influence on Indian education and children’s literature as well, which even has been inherited and developed in China. By now, Tagore’s view of child still provides us numerous enlightenments as before.