Abstract: Property is the cause of arrogance, erosion and degeneration of many rich children, but property can also become a means of correct value education. As Locke said, as long as children are educated about such values at the beginning of their mental confusion, they can firmly "penetrate the spirit of reason and self-restraint" into their hearts.
Xu Ben
I know a summer exchange student who came to the U.S. from China and told me something she thought was strange. She stayed in an American home. The couple are both lawyers and have 4 boys from high school to elementary school. The man's house was big, with yachts and private jets, very wealthy, but life was simple. Once, the two parents went out on vacation, and before leaving, they put 4 servings of food of exactly the same size in the large refrigerator at home for the 4 children who stayed at home, regardless of size, one for each person. In addition, each of them was assigned a job, repairing the grass, washing the pool, cleaning the kitchen, toilets, and so on. Of these 4 children, the big food is not enough to eat, and the small one can't eat. The big one wants the small one, and the small one takes the substitution of his own share of the housework as a condition, and gives some of the ones that cannot be eaten to the big ones.
It's really a typical American family, and to say it's typical is not to say that it owns property (the family is obviously richer than many other American families), but to say that it has values.
The first is equality, parents distribute food, 4 children no matter how big or small, each one is the same, almost impersonal, no wonder my friends think strange.
The second is the concept of property, where each child receives a share, and that belongs to him. How to dispose of this property is his own business.
The third is rational consultation, the big children do not have enough to eat, can not bully the weak, go to the small place to grab. If he wants to get extra food, he must exchange it for the small through a fair deal that they approve of. This exchange is rational, and the child knows how to be reasonable and can use this reason. None of these reasonable children are unselfish, and they are not willing to give food to others at no cost, or work for others at no cost. Children, though selfish, are bound by what Locke calls "Es-teem and Disgrace," knowing what can be done (trading) and what cannot be done (hard robbery). Locke said that "honor and shame" can lead people to the goodness of reason, which seems to apply to the children of this American family.
The goal of the British philosopher Locke Locke's moral education in children is enlightenment, so that they know their own self-interest and understand self-interest in rational self-restraint. For this enlightenment, the sense of human dignity is crucial, and one's self-restraint is solidified by his dignity (my own free, rational choice, not by the coercion of others), while self-interest is expanded by dignity to the interest of others (other individuals of equal dignity).
This dignity is not a transcendent "goodness," but is rooted in the soil in which one runs one's own private property, and one who is economically independent can have independent, free moral choices, which is not wonderful, but very real. If a person can manage his private property well, exercise restraint, and not encroach on the private interests of others, he will be respected by his neighbor who can also do this, and become a moral person in the sense of "good neighbor". The children of this family are good brothers in the sense of "good neighbors". Locke's moral education is to start from an early age, so that children learn from an early age to be able to control their own "natural tendencies", according to Locke, people have "natural bad tendencies" (selfishness). Locke's view of the natural tendencies of "human nature" is similar to Hobbes's. People are born with a desire for power, a desire for hegemony, and inevitably violent conflicts, as long as you look at how children play. Man must learn an irrational capacity that is not natural, and use reason to form constraints in his heart, so as to avoid a socialized model of violence and hostility of everyone, and its natural and barbaric social education. Education is an effort that goes against the natural nature of man and learns to use reason to control man's natural nature (sinful nature). This must be done by education. The higher goal of Locke's view of education is to cultivate "social virtues," which are rational in order to overcome the irrational and evil effects that man encounters in the process of socialization. Children have difficulty receiving an education in abstract "justice," but it is not that they cannot be guided in a way that suits them. "Justice" in Locke depends on respecting private property, and children do not own private property, so justice cannot be understood. Since the concept of "property" is associated with "labor," the child can be encouraged to ,...... by labor (such as making his own toys with the help of parents and teachers) and encouraging them to be generous to share with their playmates, and when he shares with others, "he should be encouraged to give him great praise and trust." Tell him that generosity does not deprive him of anything. Every act of generosity he has done should also be rewarded with a surplus; let him wisely discover that his act of kindness to others is not an uncalculable thing for himself. ”
Property is the cause of arrogance, erosion, and degeneration of many rich children, but property can also be a means of educating correct values. As Locke said, as long as children are educated about such values at the beginning of their mental confusion, they can firmly "penetrate the spirit of reason and self-restraint" into their hearts.