Teaching Children
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
公孙丑曰:“君子之不教子,何也?”
English translation
Gongsun Chou asked, “Why does a gentleman not teach his own son?”
Original Chinese text
孟子曰:“势不行也。教者必以正;以正不行,继之以怒;继之以怒,则反夷矣。‘夫子教我以正;夫子未出于正也。’则是父子相夷也。父子相夷则恶矣。古者易子而教之。父子之间不责善,责善则离,离则不祥莫大焉。”
English translation
Mencius said, “The relationship makes it impracticable. A teacher must teach by what is right. If that fails, anger follows; when anger follows, father and son end up harming one another. The son may say, ‘You teach me what is right, but you yourself do not act rightly.’ Then father and son wound one another. That is bad. In antiquity, people exchanged sons to teach them. Between father and son one does not demand goodness from the other; demanding it drives them apart, and no ill fortune is greater than that separation.”