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1、A Long March to Creativity培养创造性任重道远Howard Gardner1The Jinling Hotel is a comfortable, modern hotel in the heart of Nanjing, a big city in eastern China. My wife Ellen, our year-and-a-half-old son, Benjamin, and I lived there for a month in the spring of 1987 while we were studying arts education in
2、Chinese kindergartens and elementary schools. The key to our room was attached to a large plastic block with the room number printed on it. When leaving the hotel, a guest was encouraged to turn in the key, either by handing it to an attendant or by dropping it through a slot into a container. Becau
3、se the key slot was narrow and rectangular, the key and the block had to be inserted carefully so as to fit into the slot.金陵饭店是一座舒适、现代化的宾馆，位于中国东部大城市南京市的中心。1987年春天我和妻子埃伦及我们一岁半的儿子本杰明曾在那里住了一个月，当时我们在研究中国幼儿园和小学的艺术教育。我们房间的钥匙系在一块大塑料牌上，牌上印有房间号。饭店希望客人在外出时交还钥匙，可以交给服务员或通过一个窄孔把钥匙投进一个盒子里。因为钥匙孔很窄，又是长方形的，所以塞钥匙和钥匙牌
4、时得很小心才能对准那个孔。2Benjamin loved to carry the key around, shaking it vigorously. He also liked to try to place it into the slot. He would move the key to the vicinity of the slot and then try to push it in. Because of his young age, lack of manual dexterity, and incomplete understanding of the need to o
5、rient the key just so, he would usually fail. Benjamin was not bothered in the least. He loved to bang the key on the slot and probably got as much pleasure out of the sounds it made, and the physical feelings it gave him, as he did those few times when the key actually found its way into the slot.本
6、杰明喜欢拿着钥匙，边走边使劲摇。他也很喜欢把钥匙往钥匙孔里塞。他总是把钥匙拿到钥匙孔附近，就要把它塞进去。可是因为他太小，手不灵活，又不完全理解钥匙要放在“正好”的位置才能插进钥匙孔里，所以，他往往放不进去。但是本杰明一点儿都不烦恼。他喜欢用钥匙砰砰敲打窄孔，也许他从钥匙的撞击声以及敲敲打打给他带来的肢体感受中得到的乐趣，不亚于偶尔有几次把钥匙真的插入窄孔时所给予他的乐趣。3Now both Ellen and I were perfectly happy to allow Benjamin to bang the key near the key slot. We were usually
7、not in a hurry, he was having a good time, and this exploratory behavior seemed harmless enough. But I soon observed an interesting phenomenon. Any Chinese attendant nearbyand sometimes even a mere Chinese passer-bywould come over to watch Benjamin. As soon as the observer saw what our child was doi
8、ng, and noticed his lack of initial success at the appointed taskN, she (or, less often, he) attempted to intervene. In general, she would hold onto his hand and, gently but firmly, guide it directly toward the slot, reorient it as necessary, and help Benjamin to insert the key. She would then smile
9、 somewhat expectantly at Ellen or me, as if awaiting a thank youand on occasion, would frown slightly, as if to criticize us as parents.埃伦和我都很乐意让本杰明拿着钥匙在钥匙孔周围折腾。我们通常都不赶时间，他也玩得很高兴，这种“探索行为”好像也没有什么不好。但是很快我就发现了一个很有趣的现象：任何一位中国服务员有时甚至只是个过路的中国人只要是在附近，都会走过来注视着本杰明。一旦这个观察者明白了我们的孩子正在做什么，并注意到他对既定要做的事最初没有成功，她少数几
10、次是他就会设法干预。一般来说，她会抓住本杰明的手，轻轻地但又是坚定地引导他的手直接去找钥匙孔，必要时重新调整方向，帮助本杰明把钥匙塞进去。然后她会有所期待地对埃伦或者我微笑，好像在等着我们感谢她或者有时也会微微地皱起眉头，好像是在批评我们做父母的没有尽到责任。4Unfortunately, even for the sake of Chinese-American friendship, we were not particularly grateful for this intervention. After all, it was not as if Benjamin were runni
11、ng around wildly or without supervision; clearly we were aware of what he was doing and had not ourselves intervened. But it also became clear to us that we were dealing with totally different attitudes about the preferred behavior for children and the proper role of adults in their socialization.遗憾
12、的是，即使是为了中美友谊，我们也并不特别感激这种干预。毕竟，这又不是本杰明在到处乱跑或者没人看管；很明显，我们知道他在做什么，而且我们自己都没有干预他。然而，同样明显的是，在希望孩子怎样行事，在孩子融入社会生活时大人应起的作用方面，我们遇到了两种截然不同的态度。5Spending a good deal of time with a baby in China, we had plenty of opportunity to compare Benjamin with Chinese babies and to observe the relationship that generally o
13、ccurs between adults and young children. Time and again, adults would approach Benjamin, sometimes just to say Hello or to play with him (actions encountered the world over), but often with a particular agenda in mindN. Sometimes adults would tease Benjamin, pretending to give or to show him somethi
14、ng, but then withdrawing the promised reward. More often, these adults would aid Benjamin with some taskretrieving a ball with which he was playing, helping him to sit straight in his seat, fixing his shirttail or his shoes, directing him away from a dangerous spot, or guiding the stroller he was aw
15、kwardly pushing around.带着一个小孩在中国呆了很长时间，就有很多机会拿本杰明和中国小孩相比较，并观察大人与小孩之间通常存在的关系。很多次大人们会走近本杰明，有时只是说句“你好”或者只是为了和他玩玩（这种情况全世界都有），但（大人）常常是想好了做什么。有时大人们会逗本杰明，假装要给他或给他看什么东西，然后又把答应给的奖赏收回去。更多的情况是，这些大人会帮着本杰明，例如找回他在玩的球，帮他在座位上坐直，给他理理衬衣下摆或者整整鞋子，引导他远离不安全的地方，或者当他笨拙地到处乱推婴儿车时指引他一下。6It became obvious to us that babies are
16、 fair game in China. Adults (and even adolescents) feel little hesitation about intervening in the child-rearing process. Now it might be thought that Benjamins appearancehe is Chinese, and we adopted him in Taiwanencouraged this intervention; but similar intrusive interventions are reported by Westerners whose children do not look the least bit Chinese. It was equally clear that the Chinese agree on what is right or wrong in
