Xu Yangben’s Family Education Thought and Its Contemporary Enlightenment

Abstract

Xu Yangben, born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in 1914 (year of death unknown), graduated from the School of Education, Daxia University in 1940. He has served as a middle school principal, primary and secondary school teacher, university professor, etc., and has worked in institutions such as the National Chongqing Normal School, Zhijiang University, Daxia University, and Guangxia Commercial College. He also founded Zhiren Middle School in a place in Shanghai and served as its principal, enjoying a certain reputation in educational circles in Guiyang and Shanghai. This paper mainly discusses that Xu Yangben’s educational thought has gone through three stages from germination to maturity: the “Blind Period,” the “Transition Period,” and the “Enlightenment Period.” It focuses on Xu Yangben’s family education thought: first, parents should have an accurate position in the family; second, attach importance to children’s practical guidance and labor training; third, identification of “problem children” and educational discipline; fourth, pay attention to the combination of educational environment transformation and child-centeredness. His thought bears the shadows of Tao Xingzhi, Chen Heqin and Yan Yangchu, but he also has a relatively complete ideological system in educational practice. In particular, his family education thought has certain enlightenment significance for contemporary family education.