I met Yin Jianli when she came to Beijing Normal University to pursue her master's degree in education, and the School of Education had just decided on a supervisor for her master's degree in education. She had clearly chosen education as her research area, and one of my research areas happened to be teacher education, so we naturally had the chance to meet.
The first time I read Yin Jianli's work was her poetry. When she first met me, she gave me a book of her own poems. Her poems were very well written, and after reading them, I thought she was very delicate and had good writing skills, but I also had a slight concern. Would a "poet" be able to quietly and seriously research an issue and complete her dissertation in a completely different academic language than literary language?
She is a poetic but down-to-earth student. Her dissertation was carefully done, well-written, and with her own point of view. Meanwhile, while doing her dissertation, another article of hers won the second prize of the essay of the first graduate student academic festival in the College of Education of Beihang University. These, in turn, gave me confidence in her academic research abilities.
After she received her master's degree from Beihang University, Yin went to work on her own; she only contacted me on Teacher's Day every year. What I didn't expect was that before Teacher's Day this year, she brought a sample of her new book. I read almost all of the 200,000-odd words in one sitting.
I hadn't read many books on family education that were popular in society, but I had come across a few, and the slogan-like, group unconsciousness was not to my liking. This book by Yin Jianli, however, made me read it in one sitting. It was not because of our teacher-student relationship, but mainly because her writing was not only popular, but also very professional; her deep thinking and incisive operation on some children's education issues even made me feel enlightened. For example, in children's reading, family culture building, etc.
Yin has deep and persistent feelings for education. She once aspired to work in elementary school, believing that primary education is the most important. In the end, for various reasons, she was not able to realize this wish. She now devotes herself to the dissemination of educational ideas in the form of research and writing. She says her goal is to make the right educational ideas work directly on children, rather than remaining on the written word or theoretical level. So she wrote this book as a parent and as a researcher, speaking abstract educational principles in everyday actions. I think this book is both rich in practical experience and pedagogical literacy; it is both reflective and readable. It is not easy to do all these things at the same time, and it is very valuable. It can really provide parents with practical ideas for raising children. As I read this book, it seems to be influencing my approach to raising my own children.
I had heard about her and knew that her daughter was excellent; it was only after reading her work that I realized that every child's excellence comes from somewhere. From the book, you can see how attentive she is to her daughter, and how natural and unmarked her educational approach is - this is the real education, the most wonderful state of education.
A young man with a heart can become a senior chef, and a mother with a heart can become an expert in child education. What child does not need educated parents? The general situation in society nowadays is just the opposite. Parents put their hearts into their children, but not in the right place, mainly by discipline, full of traces of deep interference everywhere, and what children experience is mostly coercion, not education. If this book can show parents and teachers how to be "mindful" when dealing with children and how to teach them "without traces," then they have done a very meaningful job.
It should be noted here that Yin Jianli's book is titled "A Good Mother is Better than a Good Teacher" and is not meant to be a comparison between mothers and teachers in any way. Teachers are the guides and instructors of children at school and in the classroom, and they are even the models and role models of behavior, so their importance is self-evident.
As a home education work written by a mother who understands education, this book is worth reading.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)