On The Family Education Thoughts Of Barnard, Alderman Of The City Of London In Modern England

Sir John Barnard (1685-1764) was a famous politicians as well as businessman in the 18th century. As a son of businessman, Barnard learned commercial knowledge in his early years, and he was elected into the House of Commons as a result of his talent. Mr. Barnard made great achievement by being London city councilor to chief municipal officer in politics which was smooth and steady. It’s noteworthy that he wasn’t an educator known to education, however he printed his first educational book A Present for An Apprentice, which was popular among people. With many printings of his book, his idea of family education was accepted by people. Although foreign scholars have involved in his idea of family education, there is no systematic and in-depth research, relevant research remains to be further studied. This paper combed and interpreted Mr. Barnard’s idea of family education, classified the background of his idea of family education, put an emphasis on the key content and features, and gave remarks and summary, focusing on his idea of education.This paper consists of 3 chapters except introduction and conclusions.Introduction includes basis of the topic selection, definition of family education thoughts, remarks on research status at home and abroad, basic theories as well as methods in this paper. Chapter Ⅰ discussed Mr. Barnard’s personal growth experience and historical background, and analyzed individual factors. Mr. Barnard lived in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which was the transformation period from the ancient times to modern times. Politics, economy, culture and religion changed greatly in Britain in this period, which gave new era features to his family education thoughts. His experience being London city councilor to chief municipal officer provided rich life experience to his thoughts. Chapter Ⅱ focused on Mr. Barnard’s family education thoughts regarding religious education, secular education and human interaction education based on historical data. Chapter Ⅲ analyzed main characteristics of Mr. Barnard’s family education thoughts regarding paying attention to children’s moral education, living habits, physical education as well as survival skills. The last part induced and summarized the main conclusions of Mr. Barnard’s family education thoughts, pointed out the shortages and the other problems need to be solved.Parents didn’t pay much attention to educating children in the first half of the 18th century England, however Sir John Barnard realized the importance of educating children early with his talents and rich life experience. He expressed his thoughts in his works, which played a positive role in family education of England, exerted a profound and lasting influence. His family education thoughts is still of great significance now.