酷我-北美枫

[timmid]

Education and Today’s Family Relationship

No sensible man can have a positive assessment on today’s families; even a rough glance at newspapers may give him an idea what a dilemma the families are falling into---rampant family violence, the soaring divorce rate, the ever-widening generation gap, the increasing orphanages, strange bedfellows, the well spiced extramarital affairs---all these get people stranded. It seems that all the development humans have accomplished bypass family relationship, or even to say, accelerate the disintegration of today’s families. With the invasion of the material world, a chilly blast has broken upon humans’ refuge. Traditional ideals are facing cutthroat challenges; some of these ideals have even been smashed, yet new challenges are still to come. People feel at a loss in the confusion---they fear that the boat of family exiling in a sea of darkness towards its unknown destination may be shattered by the torrential waves at any moment. Some show their great nostalgia for traditional ones, insisting they, as stable as rocks, should come back; some advocate the new system- be whatever it may- should take form and work as soon as possible, saying, “better less than none”; others stick to the nonchalance of a detached observer, with an attitude of wait-and-see.

Education should answer for this bleak vision, at least in some sense, for it should have done other than be an accessory.

Alvin Toffler insists that all education should spring for some image of the future. If the image of the future held by a society is grossly inaccurate, its education will betray youth. According to this, we may not have education, but a curriculum-sorts of skills, values and rituals to learn. The lack of foresight for the future makes us secure that tradition may possibly work then. Therefore the following is well justified.

We hold fast to the tradition. “Bring forward good traditions” is much more than just a slogan, which may have educational functions, such as governments, schools, mass media and so on. Confucianism has been worshipped for more than 1000 years in China. We have neo-Confucianism and neo-neo Confucianism---both are old wine in new bottles, less because of its flexibility and rightness than because of our blind worship of tradition. We upheld male chauvinism, the three obedience (to father before marriage, to husband after marriage and to son after the death of husband), the four virtues (morality, proper speech, modest manner and good needlework), until we were forced by what happened later. However, whatever the change may be, it is a statue well chiseled according to the prototype for expedient purpose.

In this regard, our education is far from ready to face radical changes. However beautiful its packing may be, old wine may fade—what if humans change their taste to coffee or the like? Radical changes are inevitable, for instance, extended family gave way to nuclear ones, and free marriages by the young replaced those decided by the parents. However, we are used to replicating the past at present---in the past, we let our parents choose a spouse for us and we just accepts as he or she was; we let the head of the family have the final say on whatever dispute; and we assimilated this idea so well as to follow suit (the beneficiary of tradition which we got through education) after we became the family head; people who talked about . in public might become an immediate legend, bizarre enough to be hanged on a cross, but suddenly the tradition which we got through education proves not so adequate---we are virtually liberated from some of its bandages. This turns out to be a tragedy instead of fortune, for we are overwhelmed by the enormous freedom.

We begin a period of trial-and-failure rather than that of trial-and-success. We are free to choose our spouse, to cohabit, to marry, and among other things, to divorce-we may get married and divorced in one day! Because of innocence, we may act as children having too many toys at hand- too many choices are no choice at all. Marriage becomes the sour fruit of innocence and a little curiosity; we take a bite and find it the source of irritation. Then, love proves a fallacy, out of which sorts of evils are generated, and so arises a desperate desire to deconstruct families and society---

Therefore, the solution is to make education more responsive to possible changes in future family relationships, creating a favorable atmosphere for that change, if it is good.
_________________
无话可说

[[timmmid]]

Education and Today’s Family Relationship

No sensible man can have a positive assessment on today’s families; even a rough glance at newspapers may give him an idea what a dilemma the families are falling into---rampant family violence, the soaring divorce rate, the ever-widening generation gap, the increasing orphanages, strange bedfellows, the well spiced extramarital affairs---all these get people stranded. It seems that all the development humans have accomplished bypass family relationship, or even to say, accelerate the disintegration of today’s families. With the invasion of the material world, a chilly blast has broken upon humans’ refuge. Traditional ideals are facing cutthroat challenges; some of these ideals have even been smashed, yet new challenges are still to come. People feel at a loss in the confusion---they fear that the boat of family exiling in a sea of darkness towards its unknown destination may be shattered by the torrential waves at any moment. Some show their great nostalgia for traditional ones, insisting they, as stable as rocks, should come back; some advocate the new system- be whatever it may- should take form and work as soon as possible, saying, “better less than none”; others stick to the nonchalance of a detached observer, with an attitude of wait-and-see.

Education should answer for this bleak vision, at least in some sense, for it should have done other than be an accessory.

Alvin Toffler insists that all education should spring for some image of the future. If the image of the future held by a society is grossly inaccurate, its education will betray youth. According to this, we may not have education, but a curriculum-sorts of skills, values and rituals to learn. The lack of foresight for the future makes us secure that tradition may possibly work then. Therefore the following is well justified.

We hold fast to the tradition. “Bring forward good traditions” is much more than just a slogan, which may have educational functions, such as governments, schools, mass media and so on. Confucianism has been worshipped for more than 1000 years in China. We have neo-Confucianism and neo-neo Confucianism---both are old wine in new bottles, less because of its flexibility and rightness than because of our blind worship of tradition. We upheld male chauvinism, the three obedience (to father before marriage, to husband after marriage and to son after the death of husband), the four virtues (morality, proper speech, modest manner and good needlework), until we were forced by what happened later. However, whatever the change may be, it is a statue well chiseled according to the prototype for expedient purpose.

In this regard, our education is far from ready to face radical changes. However beautiful its packing may be, old wine may fade—what if humans change their taste to coffee or the like? Radical changes are inevitable, for instance, extended family gave way to nuclear ones, and free marriages by the young replaced those decided by the parents. However, we are used to replicating the past at present---in the past, we let our parents choose a spouse for us and we just accepts as he or she was; we let the head of the family have the final say on whatever dispute; and we assimilated this idea so well as to follow suit (the beneficiary of tradition which we got through education) after we became the family head; people who talked about . in public might become an immediate legend, bizarre enough to be hanged on a cross, but suddenly the tradition which we got through education proves not so adequate---we are virtually liberated from some of its bandages. This turns out to be a tragedy instead of fortune, for we are overwhelmed by the enormous freedom.

We begin a period of trial-and-failure rather than that of trial-and-success. We are free to choose our spouse, to cohabit, to marry, and among other things, to divorce-we may get married and divorced in one day! Because of innocence, we may act as children having too many toys at hand- too many choices are no choice at all. Marriage becomes the sour fruit of innocence and a little curiosity; we take a bite and find it the source of irritation. Then, love proves a fallacy, out of which sorts of evils are generated, and so arises a desperate desire to deconstruct families and society---

Therefore, the solution is to make education more responsive to possible changes in future family relationships, creating a favorable atmosphere for that change, if it is good.
_________________
无话可说

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[[ANNA]]

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