洛克教育思想

Summary of John Locke’s thoughts concerning education

John Lockewasregardedasthefirstever educatorwhocame up withthe concept of Gentleman ‘Education andformedtherelatedteachingPlanofit.In his book，henotonlyputforwardthetheoryofthe tabular area，but Alsoforthefirsttimebringsabouttheideaofbuildingthethreedimensional type of education which is to develop morally, intellectually and physically.

Body and mind: physical and mental health of equal importance Locke advises parents to carefully nurture their children's physical "habits" before pursuing their academic education. As many scholars have remarked, it is unsurprising that a trained physician, as Locke was, would begin Some Thoughts with a discussion of children's physical needs, yet this seemingly simple generic innovation has proven to be one of Locke's most enduring legacies—Western child-rearing manuals are still dominated by the topics of food and sleep. To convince parents that they must attend to the health of their children above all, Locke quotes from Juvenile’s Satires—"a sound mind in a sound body." Locke firmly believed that children should be exposed to harsh conditions while young to inure them to, for example, cold temperatures when they were older: "Children [should] be not too warmly clad or covered, winter or summer" (Locke's emphasis), he argues, because "bodies will endure anything that from the beginning they are accustomed to. “Furthermore, to prevent a child from catching chills and colds, Locke suggests that "his feet to be washed every day in cold water, and to have his shoes so thin that they might leak and let in water whenever he comes near it" (Locke's emphasis). Locke posited that if children were accustomed to having sodden feet, a sudden shower that wet their feet would not cause them to catch a cold. Such advice (whether followed or not) was quite popular; it appears throughout John Newbery’s children's books in the middle of the eighteenth century, for example, the first best-selling children's books in England.Locke also offers specific advice on topics ranging from bed linens to diet to sleeping regimens.

Virtue and reason: good moral is the soul of gentleman

Locke dedicates the bulk of Some Thoughts Concerning Education to explaining how to instill virtue in children. He defines virtue as a combination of self-denial and rationality: "that a man is able to deny himself his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean the other way" (Locke's emphasis).Future virtuous adults must be able not only to practice self-denial but also to see the rational path. Locke was convinced that children could reason early in life and that parents should address them as reasoning beings. Moreover, he argues that parents should, above all, attempt to create a "habit" of thinking rationally in their children.Locke continually emphasizes habit over rule—children should internalize the habit of reasoning rather than memories a complex set of prohibitions. This focus on rationality and habit corresponds to two of Locke's concerns in theEssay Concerning Human Understanding. Throughout the Essay, Locke bemoans the irrationality of the majority and their inability, because of the authority of custom, to change or forfeit long-held beliefs. His attempt to solve this problem is not only to treat children as rational beings but also to create a disciplinary system founded on esteem and disgrace rather than on rewards and punishments. For Locke, rewards such as sweets and punishments such as beatings turn children into sensualists rather than rationalists; such sensations arouse passions rather than reason. He argues that "such a sort of slavish discipline makes a slavish temper" (Locke's emphasis).

What is important to understand is what exactly Locke means when he advises parents to treat their children as reasoning beings. Locke first highlights that children "love to be treated as Rational Creatures,"

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