要求少儿读经是逆潮流而动

The Requirement for Children to Read the Classics Goes Against the Trend of the Time

一些现代私塾开设读经课，要求少年儿童用大量时间读经；有的教育专家也公开倡导少儿读经是「传承文化」的需要。这种现象是逆潮流而动。五四运动时期就反对文言文，提倡白话文；反对读经，提倡科学。读经不能救国，少儿读经弊多利少，都早有定论。现在倡导读经，是教育的倒退，违背少年儿童身心发展的规律，因而注定是短命的，不可能长期存在下去。

Some old-style private schools offer a course in reading the classics and ask children to spend a lot of time on that. Some educators advocate publicly that children's reading the classics is necessary to ＂the inheriting of culture＂. This phenomenon goes against the trend of the time. It was as early as 1919 in the May 4th movement that writings in classical Chinese and reading the classics were opposed， while writings in the vernacular and science were advocated. Reading the classics could not save the country. It has been proved long ago that there are more disadvantages than advantages for children to read the classics. To advocate reading the classics is the retrogression of education. It violates the laws of development of children’s body and mind， and thus is doomed to be short-lived and impossible to exist for a long time.