Instead of entrusting their children to school or Sunday school, a family education instructor said parents should take on the family educational responsibility, as they are the first person responsible for their children’s education.
Mr. Pu (pseudonym) has been studying family education since 2009, and he has also researched many foreign cases. But after some exploration, Pu did not directly turn to Western school education or home education but returned to Jewish family traditions and the Bible to think about the implementation of home education in the current situation.
In East Asia, the problems of low marriage rates, low fertility rates, and an aging population are becoming obvious, especially in South Korea and Japan.
Pu said that the reasons why people did not have children were the high living pressure and the high cost of raising children. Therefore, he advocated simple, relaxed, and effective family education, which could reduce people's fear of having children to some degree. Family education focuses on helping children develop independent learning abilities, and parents only need to accompany and supervise their children, which does not so difficult.
"We are grateful to Western missionaries for introducing the gospel and operating many schools, but unfortunately they did not promote home education.”
He mentioned that British missionary Samuel Pollard who had served Hmong people in Guizhou Province attributed great importance to mission schools which had nurtured many outstanding talents. But when these schools disappeared, the ministry wasn’t handed down. Mr. Pu believed that this was caused by the lack of family education. Giving great importance to home education, Puritans passed down their culture even when the church school was struggling.
He concluded that family education was the reason for the different results of these two cases.
He said that it didn’t mean that schools were not important, but people should remember that family education was the foundation. He stated, "The better the Christian school is, the more parents rely on the school, and the less they educate their children at home. It's not right for parents to be content to send their children to church schools and have no concern for their education."
"It doesn't mean that Christian schools or schools should be abandoned, but that the Chinese church should promote family education. Parents should train their children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it," he added.
He believed that higher education needed to be conducted in universities or colleges and that parents had a more active role in children’s learning during basic education. "Schools cannot replace the role of parents in primary education, but being just a supplement and help."
In Pu's view, one of the most important goals of family education was to inherit--not only the character of life and beliefs, but also the views of family, education, parenting, and marriage. With many correct views built by their parents, children couldn’t easily be influenced by society.
Parents needed to help children tap their talents and train their autonomous learning ability, which was another important goal of family education, he added. Parents were also required to be friends and role models for their children.
Mr. Pu also reminded parents that family education was not just following the school model, or advocating tiger parenting and shared learning. In implementing family education, parents need to step out of the school education model, teach their children by words and deeds in daily life, cultivate children's interests, especially focus on cultivating children's language ability, reading comprehension ability, and logical thinking ability, so that children can have a strong self-learning ability. Recognizing the uniqueness of each child and raising them according to the nature God created, parents could save much manpower and money.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
基督徒应该把孩子的教育交给学校，还是交给教会？小朴老师（化名）认为，最根本的还是要回归家庭教育——父母，才是教育的第一负责人。
小朴老师从09年开始研究家庭教育，也研究了很多国外的案例。但是一番探索之后，小朴老师并没有直接生搬西方的学校或家庭教育，而是回到犹太人的家庭传统中、回到圣经中去思考家庭教育在当前处境下的落实。
现今的东亚社会，结婚率低、生育率低、人口老龄化的问题越来越明显。其中比较突出的是韩国和日本。
小朴老师说，现代人之所以不生孩子，主要是因为现代人生活压力太大，养育孩子的成本太高。
因此小朴老师提倡简单、轻松、有效的家庭教育。父母只需做好陪伴和监督，注重培养孩子自主学习能力，那养孩子就是简单轻松的事情，这也就从一定程度上降低人们对生养孩子的恐惧。
“我们很感谢西方宣教士把福音带来，把学校带过来，但遗憾的是西方宣教士没有把家庭教育带进来。
他举出柏格理曾经服事的苗族地区作为一个案例进行对比。因为柏格理他们非常重视教会学校，所以曾经一度培养了很多优秀的人才，但当教会学校消失后，一切都不复存在。小朴老师认为这是家庭教育欠缺导致的，而反观清教徒，因为重视家庭教育，所以他们的文化即使在教会学校薄弱的时候也可以一直传承下来。
小朴老师分析清教徒和苗族二个案例结果之所以如此不同，决定因素是家庭教育。
他澄清说，并非教会不需要重视学校，但需要记住的家庭教育是根本，否则 “教会学校办的越好，父母越依赖学校，反而家庭越空心化。父母把孩子送到学校之后就很放心，自己就什么都不管了。这是不对的。”
“这不是说要废弃教会学校，或者学校，而是说中国教会要提升对家庭教育的重视。教养孩童，使他走当行的道，就是到老他也不偏离。”
他认为，高等教育需要学校，但是基础教育阶段更多是父母的责任，是家庭的责任，“学校不能代替父母做基础教育，只能作为补充和帮助。”
在小朴老师看来，家庭教育很重要的一个目标是传承。传承的不只是生命品格、信仰，还有很多，包括家庭观、教育观、育儿观、婚姻观等等。各种观念都需要家庭引导，而不是把孩子放在世俗的大染缸里随便染。
家庭教育的另一个重要的目标是培养孩子自主学习的能力。小朴老师提出家长需要帮助孩子挖掘天赋，培养孩子的自主性。这也要求父母在家庭生活中作表率，做孩子的朋友和榜样。
小朴老师也提醒大家，家庭教育不是把学校的模式搬回家，不是鸡娃或者共学。家庭教育需要跳出学校模式，从日常生活中言传身教，培养孩子的兴趣，尤其要着重培养孩子的语言能力、阅读理解能力和逻辑思维能力，让孩子有强大的自学能力。看到每个孩子的独特性，按着上帝创造的本性来养孩子，不但可以节省人力，还可以节省很多财力。
观点| 基督徒亟需提升对家庭教育重要性的认识
Instead of entrusting their children to school or Sunday school, a family education instructor said parents should take on the family educational responsibility, as they are the first person responsible for their children’s education.
Mr. Pu (pseudonym) has been studying family education since 2009, and he has also researched many foreign cases. But after some exploration, Pu did not directly turn to Western school education or home education but returned to Jewish family traditions and the Bible to think about the implementation of home education in the current situation.
In East Asia, the problems of low marriage rates, low fertility rates, and an aging population are becoming obvious, especially in South Korea and Japan.
Pu said that the reasons why people did not have children were the high living pressure and the high cost of raising children. Therefore, he advocated simple, relaxed, and effective family education, which could reduce people's fear of having children to some degree. Family education focuses on helping children develop independent learning abilities, and parents only need to accompany and supervise their children, which does not so difficult.
"We are grateful to Western missionaries for introducing the gospel and operating many schools, but unfortunately they did not promote home education.”
He mentioned that British missionary Samuel Pollard who had served Hmong people in Guizhou Province attributed great importance to mission schools which had nurtured many outstanding talents. But when these schools disappeared, the ministry wasn’t handed down. Mr. Pu believed that this was caused by the lack of family education. Giving great importance to home education, Puritans passed down their culture even when the church school was struggling.
He concluded that family education was the reason for the different results of these two cases.
He said that it didn’t mean that schools were not important, but people should remember that family education was the foundation. He stated, "The better the Christian school is, the more parents rely on the school, and the less they educate their children at home. It's not right for parents to be content to send their children to church schools and have no concern for their education."
"It doesn't mean that Christian schools or schools should be abandoned, but that the Chinese church should promote family education. Parents should train their children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it," he added.
He believed that higher education needed to be conducted in universities or colleges and that parents had a more active role in children’s learning during basic education. "Schools cannot replace the role of parents in primary education, but being just a supplement and help."
In Pu's view, one of the most important goals of family education was to inherit--not only the character of life and beliefs, but also the views of family, education, parenting, and marriage. With many correct views built by their parents, children couldn’t easily be influenced by society.
Parents needed to help children tap their talents and train their autonomous learning ability, which was another important goal of family education, he added. Parents were also required to be friends and role models for their children.
Mr. Pu also reminded parents that family education was not just following the school model, or advocating tiger parenting and shared learning. In implementing family education, parents need to step out of the school education model, teach their children by words and deeds in daily life, cultivate children's interests, especially focus on cultivating children's language ability, reading comprehension ability, and logical thinking ability, so that children can have a strong self-learning ability. Recognizing the uniqueness of each child and raising them according to the nature God created, parents could save much manpower and money.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Opinion: Christians Need to Raise Awareness on Importance of Family Education
