Chapter 28 Section Four: The Enlightenment of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were three forms of elementary school, one was sitting hall or teaching hall (referring to the landlords, gentry, rich and wealthy who hired teachers to teach at home), the other was family school or private school (referring to teachers setting up schools in their own homes), and the third was free school or private school ( Refers to local or individual funding to set up primary schools to recruit poor children, with the nature of charity).The elementary school in the Ming and Qing Dynasties has been finalized, with a generally fixed teaching system and teaching procedures, and a group of teachers who teach elementary school.
Mentoring teachers are referred to as Mentors for short, and some of them are local children or poor scholars, and some are not even children or scholars.The second chapter describes a 60-year-old Mongolian teacher named Zhou Jin in Xuejiaji, Shandong, "but he has never been in school", that is, he is only a child, and he has not yet been a scholar.He came to the gate of the Gongyuan and wanted to go in to have a look, but was "whipped out by the gatekeeper's big whip".The gift money given by the parents, seeing the teacher, "is not enough for a month's meals." The "down and out green shirt" is a true portrayal of the life of the Mongolian teacher.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Zheng Banqiao (1693-1765 A.D.) also worked as a teacher when his family was poor in his early years. He once wrote a poem "Self-deprecating":
During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, Li Jingshan wrote a poem in his "Supplementing Dumen Miscellaneous Songs":
There is also a poem in "Dumen Zhuzhi Ci" edited by an unknown person during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, which describes the poor life of Mr. Mengguan:
During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a teacher named Li Senlu who went abroad to teach and study for a living. One year, he was forced to die and could not return. He sent his wife a poem saying:
Some teachers have a low level of education, and they can't even read the "Thousand Characters". What about eating books!
The low education level of the teachers is related to their living conditions, because those who have a little talent and knowledge, and have enough food and clothing are not willing to be teachers. The so-called "the family has two buckets of food, do not be the king of children".They have no status in society, in the final analysis, it is due to the lack of attention of the Ming and Qing courts.Zhang Lvxiang (1611-1674 A.D.) said: "The responsibility of being a teacher is the most important, but the world despises him. The learning of career is the most humble, but the world respects it. It can be said that we don't know the class!" It means that the education of teachers is a great responsibility. But the social status is low, and the knowledge of the imperial examination is simple, but the social status is so high, what a sharp contrast!Cui Xuegu in the Qing Dynasty called for changing the situation of being a teacher in "Youth Training". He said: "It is difficult to be a teacher, but it is even more difficult to be a teacher. If you lose a teacher, it will be difficult to make achievements in the future; if you gain a teacher, it will be easy in the future." It's for merit. It's very serious, so don't be careless."
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many elementary school textbooks. In addition to "Thousand-Character Essay" and "Thousand-Character Essay", there were also "Longwenbianying", "Children's Learning Qionglin", "Tongmeng Guanjian" and so on. The fourth volume of "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" has a poem "Mocking Private School Poems", which outlines the scene of elementary school teaching activities in the Ming and Qing Dynasties:
After reading "Jianlue", read "Prodigy".
,, "Thousand-Character Essay" after reading, "Child Prodigy Poems", "Jianlue", and then read the "Four Books"-"University", "The Doctrine of the Mean", "Mencius" and so on.
A total of more than 200 poems were selected, most of which are fluent in language, simple in words and sentences, easy to read and remember, including many well-known famous poems, such as Li Bai's "Quiet Night Thoughts", Meng Haoran's "Spring Dawn", and Wang Zhihuan's "Climbing the Stork and Magpie Tower" , Du Mu's "Qingming", Su Shi's "On the Drinking Lake, First Sunny and Later Rain" and other famous poems.Because it has become the main poetry textbook in elementary school, it is collectively called "three, hundred, thousand, thousand" together with "three, hundred, and thousand" in the society.Later, Sun Zhu in the Qing Dynasty selected the most popular works of Tang poems and compiled them into "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty", which was signed and published by retired scholars of Hengtang.As soon as this book was published, it became "popular all over the country, and almost everyone bought a collection of it."
There is also a kind of elementary school textbook called "Miscellaneous Characters" book, which is rarely recorded in the history books of the past dynasties, but its content is suitable for daily use, and it is also classified and compiled. It can be used as a literacy textbook and a dictionary, suitable for general handicraftsmen and farmers. The needs of children, businessmen and their children also occupy a certain position in elementary school.Take "Five Elements Miscellaneous Characters" as an example:
"In the world of life, the farmer is the first. To record the daily accounts, first read the miscellaneous characters. If you want to know, listen to my story. When the frost is opened, the dung is first produced, and the shovel and shovel are made. Red baskets tied with grass ropes..."
The following are all related to farming activities and the daily needs of the farm family:
"Noodle cakes are big rewards, and tofu is small to relieve hunger. We say what we say, but rich people don't. The weak take ginseng soup, and the strong eat coptis. In the morning, they eat dim sum and in the evening, they eat sugar balls. In summer, chicken stewed noodles, eggs and meatballs .Even if it is swan meat, it is not difficult to ask for it..."
Finally, it ends with "a few common sayings, don't think of them as jokes. Concentrate on memorizing this word, and it will not be difficult to write."
Another example is the following lines in "Six Characters Magazine":
"Yellow flower lilies and fungus, mushroom aniseed fennel. Fish maw jellyfish seaweed, mushroom bird's nest white sugar. Pepper pepper mustard, red yeast pickled melon pickled ginger... Brothers, brothers and sisters-in-law, mothers-in-law and aunts. Uncles, uncles and nephews, husband-in-law and daughter-in-law ...flying forks, shovels, brooms, ladder scrapers..."
Mengxue mainly conducts three aspects of teaching: reading, calligraphy and composition. It is the basic preparation for entering government schools, academies and taking imperial examinations. Each aspect of teaching has established a certain order.Such as reading, first carry out concentrated literacy.After the children have memorized more than a thousand characters, they enter the stage of reading "three, one hundred, one thousand, one thousand", and then read the "four books".At this time, the focus of school teaching is to guide children to follow-up, familiarize themselves with and recite.On this basis, the teacher gave lectures, focusing on the feudal political thought and ethical principles in the book.The sequence of handwriting is firstly taught by the teacher to teach children to use a brush, then to draw red, and then to write in temporary calligraphy.Before writing, you must practice and correct.Teachers train children to fight against each other, starting with imitation.If the teacher talks about the format of "rectification of names", it is necessary to give an example of "send the wine to the southeast, welcome the piano to the northwest", and then ask the children to imitate and write a sentence.When the teacher talks about the format of "causes and categories", he should also give an example of "the round lotus floats with small leaves, and the fine wheat falls with light flowers", and then let the children imitate and write a sentence.Teachers also use some books and poetry models to guide children.Such as:
"The sky is against the earth, the rain is against the wind, the continent is against the sky, the mountain flowers are against the sea trees, and the red sun is against the sky."
"Clouds face the rain, snow faces the wind, and evening photos face the clear sky. Laihongs face geese that go away, old birds face songworms. Three-foot swords, six-jun bows, Lingbei faces Jiangdong. The Palace of Qingshu in the world, and the Palace of Guanghan in the sky. The dawn is misty, the willows are green, the garden is full of spring, and the apricot blossoms are red. The wind and frost on the temples, the early traveler; the misty rain, the late fishing by the stream."
Matching practice is a kind of grammatical training that does not talk about grammatical theory, but is actually quite rigorous. After many times of practice, children can master the rules of parts of speech and sentence formation proficiently, and use them in writing.This method of basic training is indeed worthy of our attention.
Individual guidance is implemented in the school, and the teaching progress is based on the child's ability to accept. Generally speaking, it follows the principle of starting from easy to difficult, from shallow to deep, and the learning of the previous step lays the foundation for the learning of the next step.Special attention is paid to reviewing old lessons in teaching. Teachers organize children to review old lessons in a planned and step-by-step manner, and then teach new lessons on the basis of reviewing old lessons.
At that time, there was a popular song "Song of Training Meng", which also vividly reflected the situation of being a student and a teacher: "Keep in mind, remember, remember, don't take it easy. To teach others, you must be able to read, and don't read it in a hurry. Sound It doesn’t matter how many times you read the sound words, you will learn how to live. After teaching the book, read and write, you must pay close attention to each stroke, and you are not allowed to write cursive words indiscriminately. After writing the words, make a pair of sentences. It is not surprising to see the scene, as long as it is interesting. Moderate tone, don't be greedy for differences. If you have enough work to finish the couplets, write a broken record to teach others. Urge to read, can't keep your mouth shut, often look at each other, afraid that he will do tricks with his hands. Don't let go unless you have a meal. Go out. Liao Gong, hurried to prevent him from sneaking into the house and opening the kitchen door to steal fried rice. He will come in the morning, and let him go at sunset. He bowed deeply and went out, polite and well-behaved. If he can teach students like this, the master will Fang Huanxi." (Volume 2 of "Jie Ren Yi")
In the 21st year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1841 A.D.), Long Qirui, the champion of Xin Chou Ke, proposed a new "Family School Curriculum" in the 27th year of Daoguang based on his own experience and the practice of elementary school teaching in the Qing Dynasty:
"Approximately, the four characters of reading, writing and writing are used as the outline: read familiar books (classics of classics, "Wen Xuan", "Compilation of Ancient Chinese Ci Classes") to cultivate the root of its meaning, read raw books (historical classes) to expand the interest of flexibility, Writing is to observe the tranquility of one’s intentions, and composition is to test the depth of one’s nourishment of energy. With the four, the students’ foundation is established, and their ambitions are fresh. To) get up early, follow the order of young and old, enter the school to worship the god of the first teacher, and finish, pay homage to the teacher, and please Anbi (response to the etiquette of advancing and retreating, mainly based on Guanzi's "Discipleship" and Zhuzi's "Primary School"). Manage yesterday’s books and bring warmth One volume of the book, memorize it. In Shangsheng Book, the teacher first explained the real meaning of each word according to the scriptures, and then explained the method of using real characters in vain, virtual characters in practicality, original meanings with extensions, and different meanings with false meanings (based on "Shuowen Jiezi" , "Erya", "Guangya", "Yupian", "Guangyun" mainly). The sound of each word has ancient sounds (the ancients were called Zhou, Qin and Han), modern rhymes (now called Wei and Jin), The dialects are different from each other, and the two-tone rhyme turns and cuts are interlinked. Then analyze the chapters and paragraphs, read the sentences separately, and clarify the meaning. After the lecture, order the students to repeat it again (see if they have any insights). Then read a hundred in place Read it slowly at the beginning, and read it quickly later. The words and sentences must have a rhythm of ups and downs, and the four tones must be accurate in high and low (if you are not familiar with it, add another hundred times). After learning the bow and archery, write one or two pieces of calligraphy (mainly inscriptions of the early Tang Dynasty, with a pen and a frame for lectures). One copy of the book, and memorize it (correct the wrong words). Still read the main book, and it will be late It is a pair (from two characters to five or seven characters, I think it is a book of four or six texts). Under the lamp, read Tang Xian's five rhythm poems (taken from the test post similar to it) or "The Source of Ancient Poems"; (There are positive pairs, borrowed pairs, and objections, or the stories are used explicitly, or the stories are used secretly.) In the middle of the poem, try to make a five-character quatrain (increase to four-rhyme and six-rhyme). Homework is done , Kneeling in front of the ancestral god's seat, bowing to the master, the order is to retreat, it is to retreat. Composition on the third and eighth day, history and poetry on the first and fifteenth day of the new year. Draft a book, and record things and read books every day , and doubts and realizations (for writing and compiling the book) will be submitted for review the next morning. Students who fail to teach and fail will be punished according to the subject and will never be forgiven."
Long Qirui's "Family School Curriculum" summarizes the teaching experience of elementary school in ancient China, puts forward the four characters of reading, reading, writing, and writing as the keynote, and emphasizes the need to be familiar with intensive thinking, gradual progress, self-satisfaction, and strict requirements. At that time, the attention of all walks of life in the society spread widely.Even today's Chinese teaching in primary and secondary schools can provide inspiration and reference.
With the development of elementary school, the works of early childhood teaching method also began to appear.After the Song and Yuan dynasties, on the basis of school teaching practice, books devoted to the study of children's teaching methods were published one after another.The famous ones are "The Method of Teaching Boys" written by Wang Yun (AD 1784-1854) of the Qing Dynasty. "The Way of Teaching Children" is a book devoted to elementary education.It systematically discusses the basic training of literacy, writing, reading, composition, poetry, and composition, and also puts forward some unique insights into the general principles of elementary school.For example, it attaches great importance to students' learning interest and opposes the teaching method of dull reading and memorization.It is said in the book: "Students are human beings, not pigs and dogs. Reading without speaking is like reading Tibetan scriptures and chewing wood." If you have fun, follow along." Children don't understand the meaning of the book, and it reads like a monk chanting scriptures, boring and boring, and naturally regards learning as a chore.The book says: "Children have no long [chang] spirit, they must be free, and the allusions will be told when they are free." This means that children's attention cannot last long, and there should be proper rest in teaching. Tell some informative stories, dead allusions can train children's memory, live allusions can cultivate children's thinking.The book also requires teachers to understand students, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and not use corporal punishment to intimidate students.And observe whether the students are "rejoicing" or "dying like a dead person" as a sign to judge whether their teacher is a "good teacher" or a "stupid cow".