Die kind van die kinderboek : 'n analise van kinderliteratuur aan die hand van invloedryke teorieë oor die kind
Abstract
The child of the children's book: an analysis of children's literature on the basis of influential theories on the nature of the child. The discussion of child development is based on the hypothesis that differing psychological and educational theories must be viewed in a philosophical context. An important objective of this study
is accordingly to discover the typical idea of a child inherent in the image of man utilized in children's books. As a general approximation, the difference between Locke's associationistic conception of child development, determined by education, and Rousseau's conception of active participation in development, is related to the distinction between a Platonic and an Aristotelian approach to sensible objects and ideas. This serves as a frame of reference for the discussion of theories of child development. Locke's acceptance of Aristotle's concept of a tabularasa is discussed as a precursor to theories stressing development in terms of the rewards and punishments provided by the environment. The influence of Darwin 's theory of natural selection on theories of human behaviour is stressed. Plato's rejection of the sensible world and his theory of ideas are discussed in terms of a theory of innate knowledge. In Rousseau 's innovative theory, inherited knowledge is replaced by innate stages of development. Successors to Rousseau include psychologists who regard moral education as psychologically harmful , and the very influential Piaget. Psychological objections to moral conditioning hinge on the belief that the creation of shame and guilt is harmful and should be replaced by love. Piaget's genetic epistemology forms the basis of a theory of stages of cognitive and moral development. According to this theory moral conditioning inhibits the development of an autonomous morality. In an analysis of children's stories the influence of the two traditions is established. In the eighteenth century Locke's direct influence is manifested in a rational approach to children. In the following centuries the concept of the child as a tabularasa becomes important, and education is seen as adaptation to the demands of society. This socializing approach is discussed in several works, e.g. Juliana Ewing in the nineteenth century and Hester Heese in the twentieth century. Rousseau's influence can also be seen in children' s stories characterised by misgivings about moral
conditioning, and the belief that children should be allowed to develop naturally. The discussion includes the educational stories of Maria Edgeworth, Mark Twain's rejection of education in terms as radical as those of Rousseau, and Kastners Leitmotiv that education was a cause of Germany's problems. A further tendency, also in the Platonic tradition, is found in novels, e.g. by Betsy Byars and Ellen Conford, in which love - rather than discipline and the creation of fear and guilt - characterises relations between adults and children.
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