Research On Samuel Smiles’ Thought Of Moral Education And Its Contemporary Implications

Samuel Smiles(1812-1904), a famous British writer and a great moralist, has written a series of advice books which are popular and have a far-reaching influence and have inspired a lot of people. He is best known for his self-help series, including Self-Help(1859), Character(1871), Thrift(1875), Duty(1880) and Life and Labour(1887). "Smiles was the chief chronicler and celebrant of the heroic age of engineering...he was one of the most farsighted and levelheaded men of his generation." He believes that one could change one’s status and fate with a positive attitude and an excellent character. He advocates self-help and encourages people to improve their situation with industry and virtue. This kind of view inspired people to work harder and pay attention to shape an outstanding character at the same time.Samuel Smiles is recognized as a human spiritual mentor, and his profound moral educational wisdom has enlightenment to our contemporary moral education.Samuel Smiles views on moral education are utterly charming, instructive, and full of educational wisdom which are worth learning and studying. The research method in this dissertation are historical method and documentary method. I searched material about Samuel Smiles in several databases both in Chinese and English. This dissertation mainly focus on the background and theoretical foundation, the basic theory and the theoretical evaluation of Samuel Smiles’ thought of moral education.His thoughts have significance for contemporary school moral education in China. They inspire us to pay more attention to the formation of great character in childhood and carry forward Chinese traditional culture. It’s important to explore students’ activeness and encourage them carry out self-education, enrich educational content and methods to make moral education more attractive and effective, grasp the critical period of moral education and optimize the educational environment.