惩罚儿童以让其学会美德是否正确
  人气： 【字体：大 中 小】
  发布时间：2007-06-21 07:51:35

　　（中文版）怎样才能很好地教育儿童呢？一个流行的偏见是对儿童的惩罚至少是一种有效的方法。这种偏见基于一种错误的类比: 把儿童比作罪犯。这种偏见假定惩罚起起到威慑的作用。实际上惩罚是对过失的报复。甚至是用暴力。这明显是教育儿童要 “以其人之道还制其人之身”。但是这是违背人类的德行的。我们非但不应“以眼还眼，以牙还牙，而且要宽恕甚至是爱我们的敌人，若是有人打右脸，我们当把左脸伸过去。”荒谬的就是我们寻求德行时，我们使用不道德的手段；当我们寻求和平时我们使用战争。表面上只是儿童教育的问题，实际上影响远及人类文明的困惑和冲突。

　　诉诸于惩罚逻辑上假设儿童的过失，错误，甚至疏忽或者罪行至少部分起因于儿童没有意识到其行为后果会伤害自己。然而这种假设无法解释贫民窟中普遍的恶意行为。休 闲 居 编辑

　　这些逻辑上的分析驳斥了所有场合惩罚儿童有效的错误论点。但是这并不构成证据去论证惩罚永远是负面的，这些逻辑分析也不能证明惩罚总是无效的。这个问题的复杂性是人类必须审视何时，何地，对谁，在什么具体情况下可以惩罚？从理论上讲仿佛存在着一条清晰的界限告诉人们何时可以惩罚而何时不可。但是实际上这条想象的界限从来都不是那么容易地被发现。甚至是专家也会困惑。假定一个5岁的儿童咒骂邻居。这会激怒家长采取暴力措施惩罚做错事的孩子。

　　当父母惩罚儿童时，惩罚者证明了成年人在自己的道德，伦理，或者价值观念受到挑战时，拥有“能力”（如果不是权力）去诉诸暴力解决问题，还证明了无论动机如何暴力很有作用，如果发动暴力者实际更加强大，暴力就其作用，并且证明了弱者必须服从强者。

　　具有讽刺意味的，这正是人类历史上所有政治游戏的规则。基督教屠杀伊斯兰教；日本纳粹屠杀亚洲平民；白人屠杀仇视黑人。不胜枚举。终于从人类儿童教育中发现了文明的渊源。难到不可以因此认为人类对儿童的惩罚孕育了战争的种子吗？

　　遗憾：不是所有的父母都是哲学家或者布道者。他们只是找不到更好的办法去约束儿童。惩罚似乎是大多数父母的本能反应。 可是如果我们反对或者斥责惩罚，那么我们就必须找出一套行之有效的教育体系措施告诉父母如何解决教育或者养育儿童中遇到的种种问题。但是我们有吗？可怜。

　　因此，如果找补出这种体系，就不能劝告父母不要惩罚儿童。这挺恼人的。那又怎么样呢？世界就是这个样子。问题会继续，答案还没有发现。这正是我们身置其中的世界图景。

　　（英文版）How can children be well educated? A prevailing bias is that punishments are at least one of the effective ways to educate children. The prejudice is based on a false analogy between children and criminals. Its assumption is that punishments serve a function of determent. Punishments, in fact, are to revenge. Even punishments signal, signify, or at least imply the pragmatic value of violence. To punish children is to tell them that they are expected to take the measure of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, but this clearly betrays our human virtue for “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also”。 Unfortunately, so frequently have we human beings sought to the violence when we ask for the virtue and to the wars when we desire the peace. Superficially it is mere a child education issue, virtually this issue exerts immeasurable influences on human civilization and its various forms of conflicts, confusions, controversies, and contradictions. 
 
　　Appealing to punishments logically assumes that children’s misbehaviors, delinquencies, or criminals stem, at least partially, from the consciousness of children that their behavior would not harm themselves. However, this will be clearly unable to account for the vandalism prevailing among some slums or ghettoes.

　　This logical analysis casts doubts on the bias that punishments can be employed under all circumstances. But this does not constitute a solid foundation to argue that punishments are always negative, nor can this be the evidence to conclude that punishments are always ineffective. The complexity of the issue thus makes it imperial to examine when, where, to whom, in which case the punishments can be employed in child education. Theoretically, it seems that exists a clear cut for people to distinguish between when punishments can be used and when not. Pragmatically, nevertheless, the imagined line is rather hard to discern or discover, even to the trained eyes. A five-year-old child blaspheming his neighbors, for instance, might pique the parents to punish the misdoer.

　　In this case the parents clearly manifest that the adults possess the power (if not the right) to appeal to violence when their own moral, ethic, or value is challenged, that violence (whatever the motivation of such violence) works well in case that the one who uses violence is physically stronger, and that the minors or the weak must be obedient to those who hold the power to slash.

　　This, ironically, is just the rules of all political games in human history. The Christian crusaders sloughed the Crescentates; the Japan Nazi killed the Asians; the whites discriminated and devastated the blacks. Enough! And believe it or not, this is part of the “noble” human culture whose pride feeds itself with the record of battles and conquests;---battles which proved nothing and settled nothing; conquests which shifted a boundary on the map, and put one ugly head instead of another on the coin which the people paid to the tax-gather. We finally trace the culture to its very roots: the child education. Cannot it be argued that punishments in child education breed the very seeds of wars?

　　Yet, alas, not all parents are the philosophers or preachers. They just cannot work out any other measures to discipline the kids. Punishments seem to be the natural or instinct response to the overwhelming majority of parents world around. However, if we deny or denounce the adult behavior to punish children, we must find out an effective and feasible system of ways to teach the parents how to address such issues encountered in child breeding and parenting. But, do we have? Alas!

　　Thus until such a system of child education has been worked out, no one can draw a telling conclusion to persuade the parents forsake the punishments. This looms vexing. So what? The world per se is such as it is. Troubles continue and the solutions remain to be revealed. This is just the very picture in which we are part.

 

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