Xie Weihe: \”Mother\’s education\” is the key to family education

Family education plays a very critical role in a person\’s growth, and mother\’s education is the most core factor in family education. In my thinking and research on family education, I often think of my mother. Her image in my eyes and her influence on my life and academic career are irreplaceable. My mother\’s words and deeds made me deeply understand the importance of \”mother education\” in family education. My mother\’s name is Liu Maoxie, and she is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Jiangxi University. Her main subject area is physical chemistry. My mother has lived in a not-so-rich family since she was a child, but she did not have to worry about food and clothing. She can also be said to be a lady of the family. In my impression, my mother is a very serious person who also likes reading. Her seriousness was well-known in the Chemistry Department of Jiangxi University at that time. Once, because a student represented the school in a provincial football league, he delayed completing a chemistry experiment and failed the final grade. To this end, relevant leaders of the chemistry department and the school approached the mother in different ways, hoping that she would be accommodating. But no matter who spoke up, my mother wouldn\’t let go. Later, the student had to make up the required experiments and barely passed. This incident left a very deep impression on me, and my mother became my role model as a teacher. Later, I always thought that teachers should be like my mother. Of course, mother\’s seriousness is not only reflected in work, but also in daily life at home. For example, she has strict rules about her daily routine, and is often meticulous in her schedules for getting up, eating, and sleeping. I dare not say that her life is as precise as the German philosopher Immanuel Kant\’s daily walking time, but her self-discipline can be said to be the ultimate. For example, she takes my brother and me to Nanchang City\’s Shengli Road for a taste every two weeks. Zhenjiang soup dumplings have also become a routine part of our children’s lives. Of course, my mother also has strict requirements for her children. If I make any mistakes or do anything bad, including fighting with other children outside, I will definitely be punished when I get home. In the worst case, I will be slapped on the palm of my hand, and in the worst case, I will kneel on the floor… …What I admire about my mother so far is that she is a person who loves learning. In my impression, among the three connected rooms in the house, her and her father’s bedrooms and study were in one room, the dining room and utility room were in one room, and my grandparents and our children lived in one room. I remember very clearly that as long as my mother was preparing lessons or writing something at home, there couldn\’t be any sound at home. This attitude of concentration and love for learning is not only reflected in her academic field, but also in her life. Whenever her mother cooks, she must follow the requirements and procedures on the recipe, including the portions and proportions of various ingredients, etc. She writes them all on a piece of paper and hangs it in the kitchen. After my mother passed away, there was still a stack of recipes she had written in her kitchen drawer. Another thing that touched me very much was that less than a month before her death, my mother read the application materials of other young teachers for their professional titles word for word. In order not to delay these teachers in applying for their professional titles, she dragged her sick body, hunched her thin back, and wore yellowed old-fashioned glasses. Under the dim incandescent lamp, she wrote word for wordSentence by sentence, I read the materials full of chemical element symbols. Sometimes she was too tired, so she asked her younger brother, who received a doctorate in chemistry in Japan, to help her check… What is very interesting is that in my memory, my mother almost never scolded her children for studying. Every time after the final exam, when I took my report card and ran home shouting \”I got promoted\” (elementary schools in the 1960s still had a promotion and repeating grade system), what I always saw in front of me was my mother\’s smiling face. . Also, without my mother’s encouragement and support, I might not have applied for college after becoming one of the few third-level workers among my peers in the Jiangxi Chemical Fiber Factory. I even think that the reason why I ignorantly gave up my official career to study may be due to her influence or her genes, because my mother once told me that teachers are people who can be respected from the bottom of their hearts… Maybe It is some fate that this kind of early family living environment and the influence of my mother on me, as well as the memory and nostalgia of my mother, made me pay attention to Mr. Pan Guangdan, a famous sociologist and eugenicist of Tsinghua University, in my research on family education. He has a special preference and identification with his views, especially his theory of \”New Motherhood\”. When Pan Guangdan spoke at a Kunming radio station in 1931, he put forward the idea of ​​\”New Motherhood\”. Later, at the invitation of \”Yunnan Daily\”, he published an article on \”New Motherhood\”. Pan Guangdan believes that \”education is the largest and most difficult undertaking, and maternal education is the most basic part of this undertaking.\” Frankly speaking, I very much agree with Pan Guangdan\’s point of view and think this is the key to family education. 10 Recommended Classic Family Education Books According to Mr. Pan Guangdan, this “new maternal education” includes five aspects. The first is the teaching of selective education, which is the so-called \”learn to raise children and then marry\”. This sentence is \”a principle, a golden rule. The birth, raising and education of children must be fully studied before marriage.\” He believes, “Nowadays, high school and above are so-called education, which only teaches people how to do social undertakings. At a smaller level, it only teaches people how to find a career. At a smaller level, it only teaches people how to eat. It doesn’t teach people how to be parents, and it doesn’t teach women how to be mothers.” Moreover, he also criticized the normal education at that time, which \”only taught people how to be teachers of other people\’s children, but did not teach people how to be mothers and teachers of their own children.\” Therefore, he believes that for young women, \”to be parents, especially mothers, they should be fully prepared in terms of knowledge and attitude.\” This is indeed true. The second is the teaching of father choice. That is to say, a young woman must choose her spouse seriously and must choose a \”man with a clean family background, good health, good appearance, excellent intelligence, stable emotions, and a strong will as a spouse\”, thus forming a sound family. This \”teaching of choosing a father\” not only takes into account good genetics and genes, but also provides a good role model and family mentor for children after birth. This is what is said in \”The Doctrine of the Mean\” that \”the way of a gentleman begins with the establishment of a married couple.\” Otherwise, the \”new maternal education\” would be out of the question. The third is the teaching of fetal nurturing. have to be aware of is, Pan Guangdan emphasized \”prenatal care\” rather than \”prenatal education\”. On this point, I really admire Mr. Pan Guangdan’s foresight. He seems to have long foreseen the trend of \”prenatal education\” that has almost begun in today\’s Chinese society. As a famous eugenicist, he pointed out very professionally: \”I talk about prenatal care, but I don\’t talk about prenatal education. Prenatal education is this kind of superstition. The fetus cannot be taught in the mother\’s womb. The various impressions we have received and the experiences we have gained cannot teach the fetus good, nor can we teach the fetus bad. It can be said that they have nothing to do with the fetus… The teaching of prenatal education has no scientific basis at all, but the teaching of prenatal care has many benefits. This kind of \”prenatal care\” includes careful protection and proper nutrition of pregnant women, as well as good living habits, stable emotions, harmonious family atmosphere, etc. of pregnant women, otherwise it is easy to cause congenital deficiencies. The fourth is the very important teaching of conservation. This is a very critical part. According to Mr. Pan Guangdan\’s point of view, the mother\’s responsibility has at least two aspects: first, \”self-support\”, that is, breastfeeding the child with her own milk, preferably without milk substitutes. The second is \”self-teaching\”. The mother should take the responsibility of educating her children instead of leaving everything to the nanny. Finally, there is the teaching of character. The greatest responsibility for character education lies in the family, which is the central part of \”mother education\”. According to Pan Guangdan\’s point of view, \”Family education is equal to character education, and maternal education is the teaching of character.\” In the character education of children and adolescents, it can be said that the most unique responsibility and significance of \”mother education\” is the education and cultivation of private morality… There is another question that triggered my thinking. If Mr. Pan Guangdan had targeted some traditional education concept, put forward the viewpoint of \”new maternal education\” and promoted the development of traditional culture of Chinese family education. In the 21st century China\’s education and family education, should this \”new maternal education\” also be given some new era values? What’s the meaning?