童子凭什么读“四书”?--古代“《小学》终,至‘四书’”的课程设计探由

Why could Children Read “The Four Books”?——A Study on the Curriculum Design from “Xiao Xue” to “the Four Books”

古时童子在经过识字启蒙教育环节后,为何就能顺利学习"四书"?当今中小学生读"四书"的可能性又何在?通过从识字量、知识点、课程设置三方面的探究发现:童子在读完"三百千"后便基本克服了学习"四书"的文字障碍,"三百千"与"四书"知识点的重合在30处以上,两个轮次的"四书"课程设置分别规定了以克服文字障碍为主和以理解思想旨趣为主的分层课程目标,这就为古时童子识字启蒙后即学习"四书"创造了条件。当今中小学生并不完全具备古时童子学习"四书"时的条件。经比对《义务教育语文课程标准》与"三百千"的识字量,发现在第二学段(3—4年级)结束时,小学生的识字量超过了"三百千"的识字量,鉴于小学生相关知识准备的不足,如要读"四书"似在第三学段(5—6年级)为宜,顺序也以《大学》《论语》《孟子》《中庸》为宜。

People may wonder why the children in ancient China were able to read ＂the Four Books＂, namely the Great Learning, Confucian Analeets, the Works of Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean, after they had received the enlightenment education of literacy？ Is it possible for today＇s Chinese teenagers to learn ＂the Four Books＂？ Research focusing on the aspects of the amount of literacy, knowledge points and curriculum design has revealed that after reading ＂San Bai Qian＂, that is, the Three-Character Scripture, the Book of Family Names and the Thousand-Character Classic, ehildren basically overcame the barriers to literacy when learning ＂the Four Books＂. In terms of knowledge points, there are more than 30 places where an overlap can be found between ＂San Bai Qian＂ and ＂the Four books＂. Besides, the two rounds of curriculum design of ＂the Four Books＂ managed to set the hierarchical curriculum objectives of first overcoming the barriers to literacy and then understanding the central ideas, which prepared children to learn ＂the Four Books＂ after the enlightenment education of literacy in ancient China. In comparison, Chinese teenagers nowadays are not fully qualified to learn ＂the Four Books＂. The comparison concerning the amount of literacy between the ＂Compulsory Education Language Curriculum Standard＂ and ＂San Bai Qian＂ shows that by the end of the second learning stage （ 3 - 4 grades）, the primary school children＇s amount of literacy would exceed those in the ＂San Bai Qian＂. However, the Chinese teenagers nowadays lack sufficient relevant knowledge of ＂the Four Books＂. Accordingly, it is suggested that, if they are to learn ＂the Four Books＂, it would be appropriate to learn at the third learning stage （5-6 grades） and take the sequence as follows： the Great Learning, Confucian Analects, the Works of Mencius, and the Doctrine of the Mean.