What is Positive Education?

Positive Education： Enhancing Children’s Joy Quotient and Building Superior Character

Ren Jun

Tsinghua University Press

October 2022

68.00 （CNY）

This book provides parents and teachers with advanced educational concepts from a positive psychology perspective. It addresses several aspects， including children’s creative talents， good character， self-regulation， and learning abilities， to protect children’s growth with a positive and active mindset and shape their subjective well-being and higher possibilities for development.

The development of modern society is based on education， which is both the driving force and an important symbol of social development. Only when the task of education is correctly perceived， can the interaction between education and social development be clarified， the overall direction of education be profoundly grasped， and the new features of education in the new era be created in a targeted manner. The task of education is not complicated， but to make people become capable adults， and to accomplish it effectively， we need to carry out two specific jobs： one is to help people overcome their behavioral or psychological problems， and the other is to develop their positive qualities or strengths.

When people receive education （especially formal education in schools）， they generally have already formed certain behavioral or psychological qualities， some of which sometimes do not necessarily meet the requirements of society and the times， so the first job of educators is to correct these qualities that do not meet the requirements; at the same time， the second job of educators is to bring forward those behavioral or psychological qualities that people already have that meet the requirements of society or the times， and to cultivate in individuals those qualities that they do not yet possess. In short， this means developing and cultivating the positive qualities or strengths of individuals.

If we divide education in terms of tasks， then education， whose main task is to correct problems or shortcomings， is called negative education （sometimes called traditional education in this book）. It has a typical pathological feature. While education， whose main task is to develop positive qualities or strengths， is called positive education， which has a typical promotive feature. In this book， being positive and being negative are not valued as being “right” or “wrong，” but rather a sign of the difference between their respective tasks. Unless specified， references to positive education in this book refer primarily to education in the school context.

Sense of acquisition refers to the tangible gains people make in the process of receiving education， mainly in the sense that their positive qualities or strengths have been exploited or developed， such as what they did not have before is now available or what was less is now more， etc. So， strictly speaking， negative pathological education does not lead to a sense of acquisition because it only removes or corrects something that people already have or exists without adding anything to them. A sense of acquisition generally has the following three characteristics.

First， the sense of acquisition is literally a subjective feeling of people’s “acquisition，” which is a subjective feeling of the human brain towards the objective and real acquisition. Therefore， the sense of acquisition must be based on objective and real acquisition.

With regard to the sense of acquisition in school education， if the positive qualities or abilities of individuals （including students and teachers） do not change， while the positive qualities or abilities of others regress or decline， or if their positive qualities or abilities decline less rapidly than those of others， this so-called “relative sense of acquisition” is not the true sense of acquisition. A sense of acquisition is a real and absolute gain or progress for student or teacher， and the satisfaction of feeling good about oneself because others are not doing well is not a true sense of acquisition. Education should not be an overly competitive environment. If education is made to be a fiercely competitive environment， it not only undermines the developmental nature of education itself， but may also lead to a distorted and abnormal sense of acquisition.

For example， the slogans of some extra-curricular tutoring schools have caused controversy： “If your child doesn’t come to cram school， we’ll just have to cultivate your child’s competitor！” “If you don’t work hard at tutoring today， you’ll work hard at finding a job tomorrow！” In order to achieve their own marketing purposes， these tutorial advertisements use a distorted sense of acquisition as a grip and convey a competitive value of “all or nothing” between the lines， which increases the anxiety of parents and students.

Second， the sense of acquisition is not limited to individuals but also includes the sense of acquisition in the group or social sense， such as society becoming more civilized， more democratic， more friendly， more materially abundant， and more convenient. In fact， the sense of acquisition can also be an overall sensation， where individuals living in a collective or group will have a corresponding real sense of acquisition after the collective or group in which they live has made progress. In this case， if the world can continue to make progress， everyone living in this world will have a sense of acquisition.

Third， there is only one attribute of the sense of acquisition by nature which is the positive dimension; changes with negative attributes， such as learning bad behavior or becoming stupid， are not manifestations of the sense of acquisition. Although there is only one attribute -- the positive dimension-- of the sense of acquisition， there are multiple dimensions in specific contents. For example， the sense of acquisition involved in positive education is not limited to the acquisition of knowledge or the improvement of ability but also includes the increase of classroom participation or the right of expression， the improvement of goodwill or beauty， and the enhancement of self-control， etc.

The introduction of the sense of acquisition clearly defines the goal， direction， and breakthrough of education development and reform. The ultimate goal of education is to promote individual self-development and self-actualization. Passive problem-solving is only a temporary external force， whereas giving full play to individual strengths and having a constant sense of acquisition are the fundamental driving forces for individual development. Sense of acquisition also raises the question of evaluation criteria regarding the quality of educational development and the success or failure of reform， as the sense of acquisition can be concretized into a series of rigorous indicators related to education， such as the amount of knowledge， participation， and type of behavior. For example， using teachers’ and students’ sense of acquisition as a criterion to measure the quality of education development clearly indicates that the evaluation subject is all participants， and the evaluation content is the “objective acquisition” of both teachers and students， which can avoid the confrontation between teachers and students and accommodate the differences between individuals， leading the direction of education reform more scientifically and effectively.

Although the term “positive” can easily be misunderstood to be good or right， it actually refers to the difference in educational tasks and their corresponding content， and its relative value， without a fixed outcome or pattern. A terminally ill patient and a musician in a state of creative passion， though facing such different states of life， both have the potential to be positive， the former in their struggle with illness and gaining courage for life， and the latter because of the experience of passion for life gained by climbing to the peak of creativity. Positivity is also a behavioral process that includes many aspects， such as cognition and emotion， and is especially related to the individual’s active choice， which means that the individual chooses the behavior that allows him or her to best adapt to the environment or to reach his or her maximum potential. So positivity is only an orientational concept， not a strictly scientific one.

Ren Jun

Ren Jun is a professor at Zhejiang Normal University， Ph.D. supervisor， executive member of the first International Positive Psychology Association， and deputy director of the Positive Psychology Committee of the Chinese Psychological Society. He has published over 100 papers in various academic journals at home and abroad， and five individual monographs on positive psychology.