中国古代“早慧”儿童历史记录及家庭教育思潮的变化

Historical Records of“Precocious”Children in Ancient China and Changes in Family Education Trends

中国古代“早慧”儿童的历史记录经历了周期变化。东汉至宋代的近千年间,面向低龄儿童的人才选拔断续存在,关于“早慧”儿童的记载较为丰富。其中东汉受到儒家思想影响,“早慧”儿童的记录更关注学习能力;南北朝时期,儒家思想不再是主流,对“早慧”儿童的记录偏重社会能力方面;南宋后期到清代的近千年间,科举考试渐渐取消了专门面向低龄儿童的考试,关于“早慧”儿童的记载较少,“早慧”不再被主流社会提倡。在这个过程中,“聪明伶俐”这一教育目标被“老成持重”取代,“早慧”儿童作为一种教育文化现象逐渐消失。从历史的经验来看,教育得当的“早慧”儿童有成功的经验,但比例很小,而针对“早慧”儿童的辨别、选拔培养是一个难题,若操作不当,不仅会毁了儿童的童年生活,也是社会发展的重大损失。

According to historical records,the status of“Precocious”children in ancient China underwent cycles of change.From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty–a period spanning nearly a thousand years–talent selection for younger children existed intermittently,and records of“Precocious”children are abundant.During the Eastern Han Dynasty,such records were influenced by Confucianism,which was more concerned with the learning ability of precocious children;during the Northern and Southern Dynasties,Confucianism was no longer the dominant ideology,and the records of“Precocious”children also placed emphasis on their social abilities.From the late Southern Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty–another thousand years–it gradually became less common to hold imperial examinations for younger children,and thus there were fewer records of“Precocious”children,and the concept of being“Precocious”was no longer advocated by mainstream society.During this process,the educational goal of“smartness and intelligence”was replaced by“maturity and prudence”,and“Precocious”as an educational culture gradually disappeared.Historical records indicate that there were successful experiences of providing“Precocious”children with a“precocious education”;however these successful examples represent a very small proportion of attempts at precocious education.It is a difficult problem to identify,select and cultivate“Precocious”children,which,if not done properly,will not only ruin childhood for the children in question,but also lead to a major loss to the development of the society.