The Family Education Thought In Family Instructions For The Yan Clan And Its Contemporary Relevance

Family Instructions for the Yan Clan,authored by Yan Zhitui(531-591 or later)who mainly lived in the late period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties,enjoyed the reputation of "the ancestor of family instructions" because of its detailed,comprehensive contents,lucid articulation,and sensible views.In this very book,Yan Zhitui incorporated the traditional Confucian educational theory,wrote about self-cultivation,family management,learning and mannerism in order to teach his offspring.This book exemplified the comprehensiveness of the traditional family instructions.It is generally acknowledged that Family Instructions for the Yan Clan has been a milestone in the history of Chinese family education,has been exerting a far-reaching influence and has been still of considerable relevance to contemporary school education as well as family education.The family education thought in Family Instructions for the Yan Clan will be elaborated in terms of objective,content,principle,and method.According to Yan Zhitui,the objective of family education is to promote and apply knowledge,to grasp the Dao of human life,and therefore to develop the Yan clan's learned and refined cause.And the content of his family education can roughly classified into four parts :(1)family ethic education: Emphasizing the care of the husband for the wife,and the obedience of the wife to the husband;emphasizing the affection of the parents toward their kids,and the filial piety of the kids toward their parents;emphasizing the brotherhood.(2)the way of self-cultivation,making friend and mannerism: Aspiration comes first.Stressing moral cultivation,mastering the skills of making a life;be polite and content,be modest and self-restrained;cherishing benevolence rather than profit,be honest;neither be reckless with life nor overly too careful of it,endorsing the karma theory of Buddhism;be careful in choosing friends,never befriending those who are not better than you;be loyal to the emperor,benefiting the world and the dynasty.(3)language education: paying special attention to the pronunciation and meaning of word,stressing the style and genesis of different kinds of essays,paying attention to both the ideas and rhetoric of essays.(4)skill education: as far as calligraphy,painting,archery,medicine,and chess are concerned,some are enjoyable,others are conducive to improve the ability for making a life.Therefore,one should know something about them,but there is no need to be specialized in them for various reasons.Yan Zhitui at least stressed four principles of family education,viz.,teaching kids as early as possible;emphasizing both affection and strictness;equal love toward kids;making good environment for education.Last but not the least,Yan Zhitui pointed out the following effective teaching methods and learning methods : learning from the role models;making use of discipline and punishment properly;diligent learning;being modest;combining erudition and expertise;critically examining what you hear of from others,doing investigation by yourself when necessary.The family education thought in Family Instructions for the Yan Clan has its merits and dismerits,therefore,we should critically examine it,with no excessive praise,and no excessive blame.Given that the family structure,educational system,and political system have undergone substantial changes,the contemporary relevance of it should be evaluated according to three principles.Firstly,“Treat with discrimination and inherit with sublation”;secondly,“Adapt the fundamental cultural gene of the Chinese to contemporary culture and adjust it to modern society”;thirdly,“Achieve the creative transformation and development of Chinese culture”.Under the guidance of these three principles,the contemporary relevance of the family education thought in Family Instructions for the Yan Clan will be expounded in three aspects: adjusting its objective,renewing its content and borrowing ideas from its principles and methods.Specifically,the objective of family education should be in line with the educational objective set by the Law of the People's Republic of China on Compulsory Education,which seems to be no problem.The contents of family education need to be updated according to the changes of the times and the progress of various disciplines,and the inappropriate or even wrong contents of it should be eliminated.Last but not the least,the reasonable principles and methods of family education can be used in combination with the educational conditions of the new era.On the basis of these general comments,some of our experiences in parenting are shared,which is intended as a good case in point of the contemporary relevance of the family education thought in Family Instructions for the Yan Clan.We salute Yan Zhitui in our prudent criticism.Reading Family Instructions for the Yan Clan provides us with a good opportunity to reflect on family education and school education,and deepens our understanding of what it is like to be parents.