Read the wisdom of the ancients
1. Character introduction
Wang Shouren, courtesy name Bo'an, was born in Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province (now Yuyao, Ningbo). Because he once built a house in Yangming Cave in Kuaiji Mountain and named himself Yangmingzi, scholars called him Mr. Yangming, also known as Wang Yangming. A famous thinker, writer, philosopher and military strategist in the Ming Dynasty. He was the master of Lu Wang's philosophy. He was proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Together with Confucius, Mencius and Zhu Xi, he was known as Confucius, Mencius, Zhu and Wang. In his later years, Wang Shouren became the censor of Zuodu, the capital procuratorate. He was named Xinjian Bo for pacifying the Chenhao Rebellion. During the Longqing period, he was posthumously awarded Xinjian Marquis and given the posthumous title of Wencheng, so later generations called him Duke Wencheng.
2. Educational Thoughts
(1) "To Conscience" and the Role of Education:
Wang Yangming inherited Mencius' "Internal Development Theory" and proposed "To Conscience" The theory requires people to overcome the desire for profit by relying on their own "heart of right and wrong". Understanding "Gewu" as "Gexin" requires that private thoughts and desires be investigated and searched out one by one, and it requires people to understand that knowing and doing are one. Precisely because "conscience" is inherent in people, the educational process as a growth of knowledge and morality is essentially a process that helps the "mind and body" unfold and develop. He used the metaphors of raising babies and planting trees, pointing out that education is the same as these, which means that it can be expanded at any time, but it must be measured.
(2) The educational principle of “following the limits of the individual”:
It is believed that children are in an important period of development, with energy, body, intelligence and other aspects in the process of development. Teaching must take this feature into consideration. To what extent children's receptive abilities have developed, teaching will be based on this level and cannot be exceeded. If teaching does not take into account the scholar's learning foundation and receptive abilities, not only will it fail to teach well, but it will have the opposite effect. This idea of ??teaching according to one's ability is called "following the person's limitations". It is reflected in the individual, that is, step by step, and it is reflected in different individuals, that is, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.
(3) On teaching:
1) Teaching content:
In order to achieve the purpose of education, he believes that anything that is conducive to "seeking one's heart" It can be used as a teaching content, including reading scriptures, practicing rituals, writing, playing the piano, and practicing archery.
2) Teaching principles and methods:
① Knowledge and action should go hand in hand. Wang Shouren’s idea of ??the unity of knowledge and action is to make conscience the standard. Knowledge is to know the laws of nature, and action is also to follow the laws of nature. People only need to be practical By removing human desires and preserving natural principles, we can naturally achieve the unity of knowledge and action;
② Self-seeking and self-gratification. To achieve self-seeking and self-gratification, we must adopt independent thinking methods, advocate doubt, and not blindly superstitious books and sages, forming own
views and not be easily influenced by others;
③ step by step; it is required to take into account the psychological development level of scholars in teaching;
④ teach students in accordance with their aptitude, Provide different education according to students' qualifications, personalities and strengths.
(4) On children’s education:
First of all, he criticized the mistakes of children’s education at that time: emphasis on mechanical memory instead of inspiring thinking; emphasis on negative prevention instead of positive induction; generally The use of corporal punishment destroys children's bodies and minds, causing them to hate learning.
Secondly, he started from the theory of conscience and believed that happiness is the essence of the heart. Teaching must arouse children's joy in learning, and requires educating children to start from the positive side, and to cultivate, induce, adapt to children's temperament, and encourage children. Education based on interest methods must conform to the characteristics of children's physical and mental development.
Third, the content of children’s education is “singing poems”, “practicing etiquette” and “reading”.
Fourthly, he emphasized "following people's limitations" and teaching according to their ability.
Although the purpose of Wang Shouren's children's education thought was to instill feudal ethics and morals in children, he opposed the traditional "little adult-style" children's education methods and rough corporal punishment, and demanded that children's temperament be accommodated. , teaching children according to their receptive abilities, so that they can develop in moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education, etc., reflects the naturalistic tendency of his educational thoughts and has a historical influence.