说苑/成人有德，小子有造，大學之教也，禁於其未發之曰預，因其可之曰時，相觀於善之曰磨，學不陵節而施之曰馴。

成人有德，小子有造，大學之教也，禁於其未發之曰預，因其可之曰時，相觀於善之曰磨，學不陵節而施之曰馴。

Eric Henry

When people of mature years have virtue, then the young will forge ahead.

Eric Henry

In the school curricula of the great clans, teachings that keep situations from appearing before they develop are called “preventative” (yu 預); teachings offered because students are ready to grasp them are called “timely” (shi 時); teachings that involve comparisons of goodness are called “refining” (mo 磨); and teachings that do not go beyond the appointed sequence are called “smoothly fitting” (xun 馴).

發然後禁，則扞格而不勝；時過然後學，則勤苦而難成；雜施而不遜，則壞亂而不治；獨學而無友，則孤陋而寡聞。

Eric Henry

If situations are allowed to develop before they are prohibited, then conflicts will appear and failure will result.

Eric Henry

If the proper time passes before study of something commences, then, though much labor is expended, success will be hard to achieve.

故曰，有昭辟雍，有賢泮宮，田里周行，濟濟鏘鏘，而相從執質，有族以文。

Eric Henry

If the presentation is disorderly and not sequential, then the students will be wild and hard to govern; and, if the students work alone and have no companions, then their views will be parochial and they will have heard little from others.

Eric Henry

Hence, it is said that “the bright academies of the kings and the splendid schools of the lords have paths as broad as fields, and the young ones come in crowds with measured steps.

Eric Henry

In continuous procession, they bear their gifts for the master; their gait is rhythmical, their bearing refined.”