A brief analysis of young Marx's views on career choice - reading "Youth's Considerations When Choosing a Career"

Abstract: This article is based on the background and main content of "Youth's Considerations When Choosing a Career" The content and inspiration for ideological and political education are developed in three aspects. By analyzing Marx's ideological changes during his middle school years and Marx's career concepts in "Youth's Considerations in Choosing a Career", it explains that young people should analyze rationally, understand subjective and objective conditions, and make correct value judgments and value choices when making career choices. . The world view, outlook on life, and thinking about values ??behind the young Marx's career choice have brought important enlightenment to ideological and political education, especially the formation of scientific career choice values ??for contemporary youth, and have more direct practical implications.

Keywords: Young Marx; "Considerations of Youth in Choosing a Career"; Career Choosing Values; Ideological and Political Education.

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1. Background of "Youth's Considerations in Choosing a Career"

Marx was born in a family of lawyers in Germany and was influenced by French Enlightenment thought , open-minded. The liberal family environment provided Marx with a good education. His father, Heinrich Marx, was a Jew with advanced ideas and believed in the Christianity of Martin Luther after the Reformation. Advanced capitalist ideas had already sprouted in his mind.

Subsequently, the French Enlightenment movement flourished, thoughts were further liberated, and rationalism was more widely spread. Karl Marx was influenced by his father and the Enlightenment movement at that time, and his thoughts had many different and unstable elements. . On the one hand, he believes in Christianity, has a firm belief in God, and has a strong idealism in his thinking. On the other hand, he was influenced by the religious reform and the Enlightenment, and his thoughts were liberated to a certain extent. Rationalist thoughts such as human rights and liberalism became more and more profound in his thoughts.

By 1830, Karl Marx entered the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Trier. This school had a strong atmosphere of Enlightenment thought. His principal, Johann Hugo Widenbach, firmly respected Kant's ideas. Thought, under his liberal ideas, the liberal trend of schools flourished. Marx also came into contact with the philosophical ideas of Kant and Fichte during this period, which had a huge impact on Marx's later ideological development.

Another person must be mentioned who had a huge influence on Marx's thoughts in his youth. This person was Baron Devich von Westphalen. He was open-minded, advocated bourgeois reform, and was very concerned about social issues and Saint-Simonianism. Some of his ideas were passed on to Marx as a teenager. Marx later dedicated his doctoral thesis when he graduated from university to this "respected father-like friend" and praised the purity of this "young and energetic old man". Idealism and the yearning and pursuit of truth and progress.

Marx completed his high school graduation examination thesis "Youth's Considerations in Choosing a Career" on August 12, 1835. Marx was only 17 years old this year. When others had specific career goals, Marx put forward forward-looking and essential views on career choices, explaining his outlook on career choice and the analysis of the values ??behind it.

2. The main contents of "Youth's Considerations in Choosing a Career"

The opening chapter starts with a comparison of the differences between animals and humans in their treatment of the scope of survival. In its environment, people are left to their own devices to survive, and people are uniquely selective and proactive in their creativity. People have the right to choose in their own environment. People can choose their own way of survival. People need to work hard to find ways to achieve all-round self-development and even social development.

Humans have this ability to choose, and have the spirit of "my destiny is up to me, not God", and I believe that man can defeat God. But everything must be done dialectically. Choosing the right way will lead to success, and choosing the wrong way will lead to failure, so the choice is the fork between heaven and hell. It is the ability of young people to think calmly, weigh carefully and make choices, and it is also what young people should do.

(1) Young people should think calmly and make rational judgments when choosing a career.

Career choice is a choice based on a certain goal, and the setting of goals requires rational consideration. This goal should be recognized from the bottom of the heart, "This goal at least in his own opinion is great, and if the deepest belief, that is, the inner voice, thinks this goal is great, then it actually is Great.

"If you think deep down in your heart that it is great and conforms to your own ideals and beliefs, then it is great.

Marx believed that the voice deep in the heart is a secret guidance from God, which is similar to Marx's youth. It is related to the Christian faith of the period. His theological thoughts were relatively profound and his belief in oracles was firm. He used oracles to assist his own views. In the author's opinion, this is the power of ideals and beliefs. Your ideals and beliefs will have a greater chance of achieving your goals, but your ideals and beliefs will sometimes be shaken because the environment you live in is very complex and there are many interfering factors when making choices.

There will also be situations where you choose a certain profession because you think you are passionate about it. However, this enthusiasm may be a temporary illusion. If you choose a profession rationally, you cannot let it be temporary or accidental. Sudden enthusiasm controls the will. Hobbies and careers arising from passion are two different things. When hobbies become compulsory day-to-day work, enthusiasm no longer exists when young people choose a career. It should be recognized that choosing a career based on passion alone does not meet the standards of rational career choice. The career choice of young people should be determined by reason based on passion. Therefore, when choosing a career, you need to repeatedly confirm whether you are really interested in the career you will choose. Sexual enthusiasm should not be self-deception or temporary whim. How to judge whether the enthusiasm for a profession is rational or not requires young people to understand the source of enthusiasm.

Vanity will cause people to have passion. Enthusiasm; one's own fantasies, and all unrealistic ideas will beautify the chosen career. However, the enthusiasm from these two sources will not last, because "people who are fascinated by fame and fortune cannot be restrained by reason. So he plunged headlong into the place where irresistible desire called him; his career was no longer determined by his own choice, but by chance and illusion. ”

None of the above choices are rational. In this case, people mostly seek help from their parents because they have experience and are dedicated to making better choices for us.

When choosing a career, you should have firm ideals and beliefs, set goals rationally, fully understand the career, carefully analyze its meaning, measure its value, understand its pros and cons, and choose a good career based on your true interests.

(2) Young people should consider the limitations of objective factors when choosing a career

The above is just a person’s subjective consciousness. In fact, when choosing a career, you will face many objective factors that are unavoidable, such as social relationships, abilities, and physical fitness. Most of the time, careers with subjective tendencies are difficult to achieve, because willpower cannot exceed the limits of the body. If we ignore these objective constraints, "we risk building the building on soft ruins, and our life will become a spiritual principle." and the unfortunate struggle between the fleshly principle. ”

If you continue like this, you will collapse quickly, and you will even develop an inferiority complex and misestimate your abilities. The author understands the “spiritual principles” and “physical principles” mentioned here as ideals and realities. , regardless of physical limitations, abilities, social relations and other objective factors, we will fall into a struggle between ideals and reality.

But Marx said paradoxically here, how can we resist without this kind of struggle. What about the suffering in life? Real life without ideals is boring, but ideals are not illusory or lofty. They are based on reality. "Quietness is the only soil that can grow mature fruits." "The author believes that the "quiet" here means a down-to-earth life with ideals, and a career choice that still pursues ideals based on various objective conditions in reality.

Young people should respect objective laws and use their subjectivity when choosing a career. Combining initiative. Although limited by objective factors such as physical fitness, ability, and social relationships, young people should also give full play to their subjective initiative and strengthen exercise if their physical fitness is weak.

The so-called body is the capital of revolution, and only physical fitness. Only those with excellent skills can be unrestricted in career choices and support themselves to go on the chosen career path firmly and for a long time. Contemporary young people should also pay more attention to strengthening exercise, building a healthy physique, and preparing for their future career choices. Prepare and reduce restrictions on career choices. Young people should consider objective factors when choosing a career, but they should not be limited by them.

(3) Marx’s in-depth analysis of the value judgments and value choices behind career choices

After calmly thinking and rationally judging all the possibilities mentioned above, make a career decision The choice can be the one that allows us to gain the highest dignity and achieve the "perfect state". What is the dignity he refers to? To make people noble, to make people's activities and efforts have noble qualities, to be recognized and admired by others. A dignified profession is not a slave-like mechanical instrumental behavior, but a profession with creative efforts and a noble sense of pride.

A career can be a tool for making a living, or a way to realize the value of life. "People can only achieve perfection by working for the perfection of their contemporaries and their happiness. If a person works only for himself, he may become a famous scholar, a great philosopher, and an outstanding poet, but he can never become a A flawless great man."

Career is a means to realize dreams and personal values. Only by working for oneself, for others, and for the development of society can individuals gain the highest dignity and achieve "perfection. realm".

Marx clearly pointed out that young people should abide by the principles when choosing a career: serve others and themselves, and serve the happiness of mankind and their own development. These two interests are not contradictory, but are complementary and mutually reinforcing. The essence of human beings is the sum of all social relationships. Personal development is inseparable from social development, and one's own development will promote social development. A person's career choice is essentially influenced by his or her values.

The criteria for value selection and value judgment in Marx’s historical materialism are whether a person’s practical activities conform to the objective laws of social development, whether they promote historical progress through practice, and whether they make a contribution to society and others through labor. Make a contribution. To a certain extent, career choice is a value choice.

After thinking calmly and making rational value judgments, making value choices is the internal logic of the above-mentioned correct career choice. In short, it is whether you can be a useful person to society, others, and yourself. If you can do the above, you will have achieved the highest dignity and the "perfect state" of your profession.

3. The Enlightenment of "Youth's Considerations When Choosing a Career" on Ideological and Political Education

(1) Guide students to think calmly and choose careers rationally

Careers Choice is an important opportunity for students' identity transformation and an important stage for students to move from school to society. Career choice is a matter that requires calm consideration from many aspects, because it is related to the student's future life direction. The fundamental task of ideological and political education is to educate the masses with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to cultivate and create new people of the era with ideals, morality, culture and discipline.

To cultivate young people with the "Four Possessions" in the new era, we first need to guide students to think calmly and choose careers rationally. Everyone has a different point of view on career choice. This requires young students not to blindly follow the trend, but to understand themselves and their career through personal practice. They cannot just listen to theories or authority, but must have their own rationality when choosing a career. think.

For example, Marx believed that it was very challenging to engage in the study of abstract truth, so he advised students not to choose this career easily. But there are also people who are passionate about this cause, and they will put more energy into studying pure theory in depth. If they have this ability and have continuous and firm ideals and beliefs, they will also enjoy their careers because of it. Therefore, choosing the right career through personal practice is more convincing than hearsay.

Schools need to strengthen career planning education, guide students to establish correct goals, strengthen their ideals and beliefs, calmly think about the subjective and objective factors that affect career choices, find their true interests, and correctly understand their own abilities, physique, and social relationships. and other factors, analyze calmly, and choose a career rationally.

(2) Strengthen professional ethics education and pay attention to the cultivation of students' professional quality

Professional ethics education is an important part of moral education in ideological and political education and an important content of ideological and political education . Strengthen professional ethics education and educate students to value the cultivation of professional qualities. When young people engage in a certain occupation, they should pay attention to basic professional qualities, and pay attention to every occupation with caution rather than indifference.

This is similar to the ancient Confucian gentleman’s thought of being cautious about independence. Choosing a career that you cherish will form a positive cycle. The more you value it, the harder you will work hard to do it well; the higher your status, you will naturally accept more external supervision and restrictions, and your behavior will naturally remain noble.

Strengthening the guidance of professional ethical behavior is also the key to strengthening professional ethics education and cultivating students' professional qualities. Schools can carry out professional ethics model education, implement the fundamental task of cultivating people with moral integrity, and subtly guide students to cultivate professional literacy awareness by displaying advanced examples of professional ethics models. Properly carry out career planning courses, teach students in accordance with their individual aptitudes, and help students rationally choose suitable careers.

You also need to practice and try out when choosing a career. Young students should also actively participate in various school recruitments and test through practice whether a career is suitable for their own development needs and whether it provides services to society. Only when students have a sound awareness of career choices and excellent professional qualities can they have an advantage when choosing a career.

(3) Ideological and political education should cultivate high-quality talents who can become adults

As early as in the ancient Chinese educational philosophy classic "The Doctrine of the Mean": "To become oneself, benevolence; Things are known. "Self-improvement is benevolence, and perfection of things is wisdom. The requirement for a gentleman at that time was to become a mature person. The essence of ideological and political education is still an educational issue. Improving people's ideological and political quality and promoting people's all-round development are the objective requirements for ideological and political education to serve social development and progress, and it is also the common purpose of ideological and political education activities.

Young people not only need to be adults when choosing a career, but should regard adults as their own creed in life, adhere to the principle of the unity of personal interests and public interests, and adhere to the principle of personal self- The principle of unity between the realization of value and the realization of social value. A person's life value not only includes the individual's responsibility and contribution to himself, others, and society, but also includes society's respect and satisfaction for the individual. The value of life is to become an adult and serve oneself, others, and society. realized in.

Ideological and political education should guide the educated to strive to realize the value of life. First, it is necessary to guide students to make correct value judgments and choices based on subjective and objective conditions, respecting objective laws and exerting subjective initiative. The second is to guide students to improve their own qualities and abilities, and work hard to improve on the premise of correctly understanding their own qualities and abilities, in order to reach their ideal level. The third is to guide students to be down-to-earth and realize the value of life in labor practice.

Abandon all material desires, fame and fortune interference when choosing a career, be down-to-earth, and create value in labor practice. Ideological and political education should take cultivating high-quality talents as adults as one of the goals, guide students to establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life, and values, improve people's ideological and political qualities, promote people's all-round development, and then promote the development and progress of the entire society.

Summary: "Youth's Considerations When Choosing a Career" shows Marx's career outlook, as well as the world outlook, outlook on life, and values ??behind it. Starting from career choice, it expounds the truth of life value and has demonstrated The ideological seeds of the value part of historical materialism proposed later contain rich wisdom of life, bring important enlightenment to contemporary ideological and political education, and are a treasure of contemporary ideological and political education.