Chapter 16 1. The special "third stage of childhood"

The life of a child is always weak in his youth, but now his physical strength is sufficient for his needs, so that he can already be called very strong in a certain way.His needs have not been fully tapped, so his physical strength seems a little redundant. Of course, his physical strength is not as good as that of an adult, but he has become much stronger than before.In the third stage of childhood, I still refer to him as a child because the child is not yet sufficiently capable of expressing himself.Although the child is already like a young man, judging from the development of life, he has not yet entered puberty.

Emile is 12 years old, his physical strength has grown beyond his growth needs, but he himself has not yet felt what these physical strengths are used for, but as a 12-year-old child, his organs are still immature, as if this This state requires the compulsion of his willpower to get out of it.The air and the climate had done him harm, but he cared little about the harm. His body temperature warms him like clothes; at this growing age, any nutritious food can whet his appetite; he does not need a bed, and sleeps on the floor when he is tired; and all his desires were what his hands could reach, as only at this stage of life.

Such a short time is only once in life, and this only time is also the most beautiful time, and once you think that it is very important to make good use of this time, you will feel that it is more short.This time is a time of work, education and learning, dictated by nature, not by my random choice. Life is infinite, but human wisdom is limited. One cannot understand everything, even things that are considered common by those around him. Opposite every truth is a fallacy, so there are as many falsehoods as there are truths.Moreover, not all the knowledge we can obtain is completely true or useful. Some knowledge is just the capital of those who possess it to show off. Therefore, we must make appropriate choices for teaching content and teaching time.

The really beneficial knowledge that can help us achieve happiness is limited. Smart people will selectively pursue such useful knowledge. This is what children should pursue, but children don't know. Our task is to lead them to pursue such knowledge and make them intelligent people.All in all, the most important thing is that the knowledge children learn is useful, not how much knowledge they have learned and which aspect of knowledge they have. In this limited and useful knowledge, some must be discarded. For example, some knowledge is very difficult to understand, and you must have a strong comprehension ability to understand; another example, the relationship between people is very complicated, it is impossible to understand with children's IQ and experience; Things that produce incorrect ideas, such knowledge is not suitable for educating children.

In this way, the knowledge we can use to educate children is very limited, and most of them are closely related to current things.Nevertheless, such limited knowledge for adults is more than enough for children.Such is human reason, it is as unfathomable as the abyss, but no one has the guts to reveal it all. Those flashy subjects are like traps all over the child's growth path, and you are the one who leads him on this dangerous growth path, don't be in a hurry, the curtain of nature that blocks the child's sight needs your own hands uncovered for him. You have to keep your head and mind clear and your child's mind and mind as clear as yours.You have to beware of lies misleading you, and beware of pride deceiving your heart.You have to always remember that ignorance is not the worst thing for a person, the worst thing is that you acquire wrong knowledge.

Know that it is not ignorance that leads a man astray, but his not knowing that he is ignorant. The laws we know so far are all we need, and the others are of no use to us.Next, we will talk about how to apply the acquired knowledge to practice, and then we will talk about how to apply it correctly and appropriately. It may be the same instinct that excites the different faculties of man.When the physical strength of a person reaches a certain level, it will also drive the vitality of the person's spirit. At first, children are only physically active, but gradually, this kind of physical activity will stimulate children's curiosity, and what adults have to do is to guide this curiosity and turn it into something that children of this age group are interested in. The desire for knowledge, thus forming an inner motivation to explore.

We must distinguish clearly which tendencies are formed naturally in the child's transformation process and which tendencies are caused by prejudice.Some people want to be a scholar because they want to be respected and admired by others, while others want to be a scholar out of sheer curiosity about things that may relate to him now or in the future. The first source of curiosity is desire, and seeking happiness is a natural desire of human beings, and human desires cannot be easily satisfied.Therefore, people are constantly seeking various ways to satisfy their growing desires. This is the origin of curiosity. The generation of this origin in people's hearts is a natural process, but its development is not.

The stronger a person's desire is, the more and faster he will acquire knowledge. Therefore, the development of desire is directly proportional to people's knowledge and desire. For example, if a scientist takes his research instruments and books to a deserted island, and he is determined to spend his life on this island and never leave, then he will still try his best to study gravity, Time travel, celestial motion, stuff like that? Maybe he didn't even look at the books he brought to the island.But there is another possibility, no matter how desolate and vast the island is, he will want to go all over the island to see its appearance, even every corner, everyone has this desire, and is unstoppable.