"The Little Bean by the Window"?
Is this a small beanie that has been placed by the window?
This was my first impression of it when I was a student more than a decade ago, and this was just the title of the book.
Recently, I saw it in a parenting book and began to have the desire to read it.
It turned out that this was a story about the transfer of first-year student Xiao Doudou to Ba Gakuen after being dropped out of school for naughtiness. And Ba Gakuen is a special school, tram classroom, free class schedule, all kinds of students...
You may think that such a school advocating freedom and individuality education is fictional, but it is a real school, and among the only fifty or so students, some of them have become physicists, todayo orchid experts, and program hosts...
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, the author of the book, is Asia's first UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and a well-known television presenter who has been praised as a representative of Japanese women.
When we go to school, we follow the class schedule every day, which is the way we learn for granted. In Ba Gakuen, there is no fixed class schedule.
Every morning, the teacher will write the day's lesson plan and homework on the blackboard, and then each student will decide the order of learning according to their own interests.
This seems to us to be a strange thing, and it also raises questions about whether it will affect the learning progress.
But most of the time, they complete the day's study plan in the morning.
At the same time, Ba Gakuen has a wealth of special courses, such as rhythm lessons that beat the body according to the opposite rhythm, music lessons that freely slide notes with chalk on the ground, and crop lessons learned by "dry field" teachers in the fields. To a certain extent, these exercise their sensitivity, imagination, willpower and natural power.
There is a saying in the book: "The most terrible thing in the world is that you have eyes but you can't find beauty, you have ears but you can't appreciate music, and you have a heart but can't understand what is true." Will not be moved, will not be full of passion..."
Their lunch is named "taste of the sea, taste of the mountain", which is the simplest and most direct name for nutritional balance, which means to tell parents that lunch should contain not only meat, vegetables, etc. from the land, but also fish and other foods from the sea.
In the course of lunch, they also have a talk program, and every day a classmate stands in the middle of the conversation, without a fixed topic, as long as it is what they want to say. This invisibly exercises their ability to express themselves, enabling them to express their thoughts clearly, freely and without shyness in front of others, which is a valuable asset.
For us as adults, it still takes a lot of courage to stand in front of many people and express our thoughts clearly and freely, but for the little beanie, this is a daily life that has been able to cope with it since childhood.
After lunch, when the weather is nice, the children usually go out for a walk out of the school happily, which is another way to learn about nature and humanities.
Cherry blossoms, canola flowers, dancing butterflies, scary snakes, etc. on the side of the road are all things they will discuss, and the knowledge of stamens and pistils is also acquired from the teacher in the process.
After school, they usually play at school for a little while, doing whatever they like, rolling bunkers, fixing flower beds, climbing trees, observing cat ears, etc., until the last bell rings...
It's a magical school where Little Beanie gets up early every day and goes on the road to school in anticipation; after school, she leaves school in a longing moment.
During the holidays, there are also group activities such as hot spring trips, tent camping and picnics to achieve the purpose of feeling nature and life.
Speaking of which, you may have such a question - has Little Beanie become less naughty in this school?
Of course not, although there is a change of school, there are still surprising things: digging a pit for the wallet that fell into the toilet, and the garbage that was taken out was piled up next to it into a hill; falling on the hoop of the tram classroom, imagining itself as a piece of beef; jumping on the ground when you saw a newspaper on the campus, and jumping into the dung pit... And these were replaced by Mr. Principal's words "After you finish it, put it all back" or "You are such a good child".
I have to say that this is really a principal who understands, respects and trusts the child, and his educational policy: "No matter which child, when he is born, has excellent qualities, in the process of his growth, he will be affected by a lot, from the surrounding environment, but also from the adults, these good qualities may be damaged." Therefore, we must discover these good qualities early and let them flourish, so that children can be cultivated into individuals. "To this day, it is also a very forward-looking educational concept.
And Doudou Mom, in the face of the withdrawal incident, did not blame and condemn, but silently looked for a new school that could accept Xiaodoudou, until one day after Xiaodoudou turned twenty, she did not tell the matter of withdrawal.
It's hard to imagine if Doudou's mother had told her about dropping out of school at that time, and whether we would have been able to see this book and see a little Doudou who was so confident, lively and full of curiosity.
It is impossible to imagine the complicated feelings of Doudou's mother after climbing a wire fence and hanging her clothes in tatters, jumping into a cement pit and being trapped in mud when she was pulled out with a pole in the evening, and biting off her ear while playing a game with her own dog "Loki".
I think most moms are going to jump out [cover their faces], and that's really what we're talking about as a enhanced version of what we call a little monster.
In Xiao Doudou's memory, there is no harsh rebuke and punishment, only true understanding, silent help and patient guidance.
As a mom of a 2-year-old, this book certainly provided me with a source of strength in the face of the "terrible two-year-old." It also made me start to rethink what kind of education method is the best choice for children.
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