Rousseau emphasized: "Nature wants children to be like children before they become adults."

(1) Education must conform to nature

Rousseau believed that the core of natural education is that education must follow nature and conform to human nature. He wrote at the beginning of "Emile", "Things from the Creator are good, but as soon as they get into the hands of humans, they all turn bad." "If you want to always move in the right direction, you must We must always follow the guidance of nature. "Therefore, Rousseau opposed the traditional classical education that ignored children's characteristics, interfered with and restricted children's free development, and went against children's nature, and put forward the idea that education should conform to nature.

In Rousseau's view, people receive education from only three sources, either "received from nature", or "received from people", or "received from things". He said, "The inner development of our faculties and organs is the education of nature; others teaching us how to use this development is the education of men; the good experience we gain of things that affect us is the education of things." This The three aspects of education are interrelated. If these three different educations conflict with each other in a person, the education he receives will not be good; if these three aspects of education are consistent and tend to the same purpose, he can receive a good education and achieve his goals. own goals and live a meaningful life. Rousseau further analyzed: "Among these three different types of education, the education of nature cannot be determined by me at all. In the education of things, people can be determined by us in some aspects. Only the education of people can we truly "Controlled. "Therefore, natural education should be the center, and the education of things and people should be subordinated to the education of nature, so that these three aspects of education can cooperate and tend to the natural goal, so that children can enjoy a good education.

The "nature" mentioned by Rousseau refers to human talents and organs, that is, human nature. Therefore, "natural education" is education that obeys the laws of nature, conforms to the development process of children's nature, and promotes the natural development of children's physical and mental development. Rousseau emphasized: "Nature wants children to be like children before they become adults." In his opinion, if adult prejudices are used to interfere and deprive children of their due rights, the result will only be to disrupt the order of nature, destroy the laws of nature, and fundamentally destroy children.

Rousseau believed that education that conforms to nature must also be education for freedom, because the most important natural right of human beings is freedom. Rousseau claimed: "A truly free man only wants what he can get, and only does what he likes to do. This is my first basic principle. As long as this principle is applied to children, various educational principles can be derived. "Therefore, he requires that children's freedom be respected, that children enjoy the possibility and conditions for full freedom of movement, and that natural and free teaching methods be adopted in the teaching process to adapt to children's physical and mental development levels and individual differences.

(2) Education must cultivate "natural persons"

Rousseau believed that the purpose of natural education is to cultivate "natural persons", that is, to grow completely freely, have a well-coordinated body and mind, be able to support themselves, and "not A new generation of people who are bound by tradition and able to adapt to social life. This kind of "natural person" has been trained since childhood to support himself as much as possible. He has neither the habit of always asking for help from others nor the habit of showing off to others; he is able to observe things, Judgment, independent thinking and analysis; gaining a lot of experience using nature as a teacher since childhood, rather than taking people as a teacher; both the body and the mind are trained at the same time. Not only is the body strong, but also the mind is smart and insightful. This kind of "natural person" is. Natural people living in society are social members who can fulfill their social responsibilities, not uneducated people who have returned to primitive society, nor barbarians who are divorced from reality.

It should be noted that the "natural man" envied by Rousseau has the following characteristics: first, not bound by tradition (level, stage, occupation), developing according to nature; second, not dependent on others, Be able to support oneself and be independent; third, have social adaptability and be able to assume social responsibilities; fourth, have a well-developed body and brain, be healthy physically and mentally, and have the ability to think independently.

(3) Education should pay attention to people's age characteristics

Starting from the principle that education should "conform to nature" and the purpose of education should cultivate "natural people", Rousseau emphasized that education should Pay attention to the age characteristics of children. According to the stage of age, Rousseau proposed that the education carried out in different periods is different.

1. In infancy (0~2 years old), physical education is mainly carried out. During this period, the main task of education is to promote the healthy development of children's bodies. Because a healthy body is the foundation of wisdom and a condition for children to receive natural education. Rousseau advocated that babies should be allowed to grow naturally in a rural environment and pay attention to the baby's natural selection ability for food. He opposed the use of swaddling clothes to restrain babies, and even more opposed to pampering babies. He pointed out that "their bodies should be trained so that they can endure the harsh seasons, climate, wind and rain, and endure hunger, thirst and fatigue."

2. In childhood (2 to 12 years old), sensory education is mainly carried out. During this period, children's physical activity and language abilities have developed, and their sensory abilities have also developed, but they are not yet suitable for education in abstract concepts and written knowledge. Children should be guided to exercise and develop various sensory organs, accumulate rich sensory experience, and lay the foundation for the next stage of learning. In terms of sensory education, Rousseau pointed out that the first step is to develop the sense of touch, followed by the development of vision, and finally the development of hearing. Rousseau proposed specific sensory methods and regarded games, painting, singing and other activities as the best ways to educate sensory education; in addition, he also proposed that children's physical exercise should be strengthened to promote the development of sensory abilities.

Since children's minds are still asleep, do not force children to read. Rousseau believed that reading is useless to children when they don't like reading at all. It is better for children not to know a word than to sacrifice other useful things in order to learn some knowledge.

In terms of discipline education, Rousseau opposed corporal punishment and did not approve of oral preaching. He proposed that when children make mistakes and mistakes, there is no need to directly stop or punish them. Instead, children should be allowed to experience the natural consequences of their mistakes and mistakes in their contact with nature. This is the famous "natural consequences method" in the history of education.

3. In adolescence (12~15), intellectual education and labor education are mainly carried out. Since children have received good physical and sensory education, they already have the conditions for intellectual education and labor education.

Rousseau believed that the task of intellectual education is not to impart systematic scientific knowledge, but to develop children's ability to acquire knowledge and stimulate their interest and enthusiasm for the knowledge they have learned. Children cannot learn everything, they only need to learn what they should learn. He said: "The amount of knowledge that is truly beneficial to our happiness is very small, but only this kind of knowledge is worth seeking for a smart person, and thus is worth seeking for a child, because our purpose is to cultivate him In short, the question is not what kind of knowledge he has learned, but that the knowledge he has learned must be useful. "In terms of methods of intellectual education, Rousseau advocates allowing children to learn in nature through field observation. He strongly opposes allowing children to rely on rote memorization to master book knowledge, and even proposes that "the world is the only book and facts are the only teaching materials." He also pointed out that adults should provide less guidance to children and should not teach children the correct answers. Instead, they should let children obtain them on their own and guide children to solve problems independently.

Rousseau also attached great importance to labor and labor education.

He pointed out that labor is the social obligation of every free person, and only those who live by labor are truly free people; the task of labor education is to enable children to learn to adapt to various tools and related technologies through labor, exercise their bodies, and develop human soul. Rousseau admired manual labor the most, believing that it was the freest, closest to the state of nature, the most independent, and not bound by others. In short, Rousseau hopes that children can "work like farmers and think like philosophers."

4. In youth (15~20), moral education is mainly carried out. Because young people are in the stage of excitement and enthusiasm, they need to be regulated by the power of moral principles to guide them in handling the relationship between people and society and between people. The main content of moral education is to cultivate kind emotions, correct judgment and strong will. Rousseau pointed out that children's firm will should be cultivated through various exercises of good deeds, that is, through the practice of morality. At the same time, he pointed out that moral education should be carried out in cities.

Exercise their physiques

so that they can endure harsh seasons, climates and winds and rains

Be able to endure hunger, thirst and fatigue

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