Appraisal #7: 《弟子规》: Creating Better Citizens of the Future
WMQ, 12th grader
Confucius’ teachings in 《弟子规》 are so
insightful that many of his principles are taught to children in our own culture
today. 《弟子规》contains many pages of rules for
children, and while the sheer amount of his advice alone seems daunting and
questionable, Confucius clearly understands that childhood is the key time for
development. People are most receptive
to learning and build the majority of their character traits during childhood. Therefore instilling these rules into children
is a practical and productive way to create ethical and productive human beings
and citizens. Teaching children
important morals helps them to live by those principles when they are
adults. Thus while his teachings are
aimed at children, his ultimate goal seems to be to create better adults in
society.
Confucius
advocates for many morals. He discusses
trust, respecting elders, taking care in activities, speaking well, listening
to parents while exercising one’s own discretion, among others. In “入则孝”, Confucius teaches how to treat one’s parents. At the same time however, he says “亲有过 谏使更”, which shows that although he believes in respecting one’s
parents, Confucius also encourages children to judge situations for themselves
and use their own moral capacities. It
is satisfying to see how Confucius recognizes that parents are not always
right, and that children must sometimes help them to find the right way. By encouraging children to recognize when
their elders are wrong, Confucius is helping to develop children into
individuals capable of judging the morality of situations for themselves. Furthermore, many of Confucius’ teachings in 《弟子规》 can
apply to adults as well as children. Almost
all of “谨”，“信”，
and what we have read thus far in “泛爱众” teach practices that people
should continue to follow in adulthood.
For example, the right way to conduct oneself when borrowing an item,
how to speak well, and how to interact with other people and respond to their
words. Thus although 《弟子规》 is
meant for children, Confucius is really building principled adults through this
poem.
Confucius
particularly values respecting elders and being an internally moral
person. While “孝”refers to how both younger
and older people should treat each other, Confucius mostly focuses on how youth
should treat their elders. He spends the
majority of “入则孝”and “出则弟discussing how to treat
parents and approach elders, with only a few lines discussing how to treat
younger people. Thus he clearly believes
that knowing how to treat elders is much more important than knowing how to
treat younger companions. While this
part of Confucius’ teachings seems to specifically apply to children, it has
effects on adults as well. Learning how
to be respectful of elders when one is young helps them to be respectful to
peers when they are older. Furthermore,
these rules of conduct help people to identify their social place, which is an
important skill for a citizen in society.
Confucius also especially cares about “道”（to know the right way things
should be) and “仁”（virtue, morality). These principles are woven throughout his
poem. His entire poem is about the right
way to behave and what makes a virtuous person.
Confucius teaches to be understanding and respectful of others. He urges people to care less about money and
more about family. He also encourages
people to recognize when words are true and good, and when they are false. Then he hopes that people act according to
the good words and not the bad.
While reading Confucius it is
easy to see the similarities between his teachings and those of Jesus Christ
that many American Christians teach to youth today. Similar to Confucius’ “泛爱众”，Jesus
teaches us to love even those people that have wronged us. Jesus encourages people to be respectful and
act kindly towards others, while not showing off, just as Confucius does. Unlike Confucius, however, Jesus does not
focus on how to treat elders. Therefore
while many principles similar to Confucius’ in 《弟子规》are instilled into American youth, often
times children are not as aware of how to behave toward elders. In the culture we inhabit in New York,
children often call adults by their first names and do not necessarily go out
of their way to treat them more respectfully than they treat others. That being said however, when I visit my
grandparents at their lake house during the summer, children act differently
toward adults. We go to a community
pot-luck dinner every Wednesday night where children may only serve themselves
after all the adults have. This rule
reminds me of Confucius’ “长者先 幼者后”. Nevertheless, while Confucius’ rule is out of
respect for elders, our dinner rule is based on practicality. Adults once explained to me that children
must go after the adults because the children usually take far more than they
can eat, which does not leave very much food for the rest of the pot-luck
attendees. Thus we tend to base our
cultural rules on practicality rather than morality. At other times Confucius’ suggestions are
impractical. In our fast-paced society,
people do not have time to stop and bow to elders or walk slowly in their
presence. Again, today we base our
customs on practicality rather than respect or morality. Ultimately, 《弟子规》 provides rules that are aimed at
creating better adult citizens and are very similar to the rules we are taught
as children today. That being said, our
rules seem to be based on their functionality in a situation rather than respect or morality.
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