Confucius and "Quality Education"

Mr. Cai Yuanpei gave a speech during his inspection tour in the United States in 1921, focusing on the ancient Chinese educators Confucius and Mozi. He said: "Confucius-Mozi education Contains three properties: (1) specialized education; (2) cultivating virtue; (3) social education. Confucius has six general studies: etiquette, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and mathematics. Four specialized studies: A. Poetry; B. Ethics; C. Politics; D. Literature. Confucius advocated cultivating temperament and developing personality. His method of teaching people was to teach according to their aptitude. His general moralism was the same as Western philosophy. It is similar to Stoudet, but also attaches great importance to social education, so it accepts students without age or professional boundaries." After visiting Europe and the United States, Mr. Cai Yuanpei came to the conclusion that the ideal education should include the traditional Chinese spirit of Confucius and Mohism, coupled with Ying's personality Education, the professional and in-depth study of morality and law, the service of beauty to society, etc. "University education should adopt the best of Europe and America and the spirit of Professor Kong and Mo." "According to the above-mentioned new European and American education laws, and ancient Chinese teaching methods...should be considered "Both things." ("Speech at Berkeley's Chinese Student Union")

The famous contemporary British historian Toynbee said: "Since mankind's status in nature has been dominant, mankind's There has never been a more dangerous time to survive than today." "The level of immorality is close to tragedy, and social management is also very bad." He believes that traditional Chinese culture, especially the benevolence theory of Confucianism and Mohism, is urgently needed to solve the ethical problems of modern society. He said that Confucian benevolence "is necessary for today's society" and "the universal love advocated by Mohism used to only refer to China, but now it should be understood as a worldwide theory." ("Looking to the 21st Century - Toynbee "Dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda", International Culture Press Publishing Company, 1985 edition, pp. 389, 425-426)

In a declaration issued after a massacre, 75 Western Nobel Prize winners believed that, If mankind wants to continue to survive in the 21st century and avoid global chaos, it must look back on the moral wisdom of Confucius 2,500 years ago. (See "Evaluations of Confucius by Ancient and Modern People" by Singaporean Ng Tak Yao, "Going to the World" 1989 Issue 5, 2018)

Confucius said: "There are no categories of teaching" ("The Analects of Confucius, Duke Lingyang of Wei"). Ma Rong noted: "There are no categories of teachings according to the speaker's place." Huang Kan said Shu said: "People are of high and low status, and they should be educated with the same qualifications. They should not ignore their kind and not teach them; teaching will lead to good, and there is no kind." ("On the Meanings and Meanings") The so-called "kind" refers to political classification. There are different types of status, such as high or low status, common people, etc. The schools in the Western Zhou Dynasty were monopolized by hereditary slave-owning aristocrats. Not only were there strict class boundaries between slave-owning aristocrats, civilians, and slaves, but there was also a strict hierarchy within the slave-owning class, with distinctions between high and low. The meaning of Confucius's sentence is: I can educate anyone, regardless of the boundaries between high and low, common people, etc., so that education can reach the common people. The education before Confucius had "classes", and the power of education It was in the hands of a few nobles, and it was called "learning in the government" at that time. In Confucius's time, "the emperor lost his official position, and learning was in the barbarians." ("Zuo Zhuan: Seventeenth Year of Zhaogong") "There is no distinction between education and distinction." That is to say, it breaks the monopoly of "learning in the government" and adapts to the historical trend of the rise of the "shi" class and the downward movement of culture and academics. Its essence is to expand the target of education from aristocrats to the majority of civilians, and expand the social foundation of school education. and the source of talents, moving the school from the "government" to the "private", this is an epoch-making event in the history of ancient Chinese education.

This is what Mr. Cai Yuanpei said about Confucius, "who accepts students regardless of age. Boundaries and career boundaries.”

Today’s discussion of “quality education” is very heated. Some people believe that its important spirit is: facing all, comprehensive training, all-round development, everyone has something, and learns to survive with high quality. Hunan Niluo people sum up "quality education" as follows: "Start from the children, do everything for the children, for all children, and for everything about the children."

The so-called spirit of Kong Mo is benevolence and love, teaching and educating. Kind, for all, for all children, everyone has something.

The purpose of Confucius' education is to cultivate "scholars", and the standard of "scholars" is "gentleman" or "scholar"

"A gentleman is a Confucian". Confucius' requirements for a "gentleman" are: "cultivate yourself to be respectful", "cultivate yourself to be at peace with others", "cultivate yourself to be at peace with the people". ("The Analects of Confucius·Xian Wen") Cultivate yourself and remain respectful A humble attitude; cultivate oneself, make ordinary people happy, and make the common people happy.

Self-cultivation is all about "virtue". Confucius did not pay attention to grasp the way of loyalty and forgiveness of benevolent people and love others. Use a positive way Said, it means "If you want to establish yourself, you can establish others; if you want to achieve yourself, you can reach others." ("The Analects of Confucius Yong Ye") That is to say, caring about others and helping others, and doing things for the society seriously, this is loyalty. To say it in a negative way, it means It is "Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you." ("The Analects of Confucius·Yan Yuan") That is to say, you must be tolerant, considerate, respectful, and not harm others. This is forgiveness. If you cannot help others consciously, at least you can Do not intentionally harm others. This "other" refers to both individuals and groups, including nations and countries. Moral behaviors are mutual, and universal ethics must be universally applicable. Loyalty and forgiveness are moral principles that can be universally applied. And forgiveness Tao is more basic and universal than loyalty. It is the minimum criterion for maintaining normal order in human society and is called the golden rule. Confucius said: "A gentleman learns to follow the Tao" ("The Analects of Confucius·Zizhang"), "Believe in and love to learn, "Keep the good path to death." ("The Analects of Confucius, Taibo") That is to say, a gentleman should have firm beliefs and a studious spirit, and should use his life to pursue the truth, realize his ideals, and defend justice. Confucius said: "If you don't cultivate virtue, learn it. If you don’t teach it, you won’t be able to move after hearing the righteousness, and you won’t be able to correct your bad deeds, that’s what worries me.” ("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer") If your moral character is not cultivated, if you don’t teach knowledge, if you hear that the righteousness is there but cannot take it personally, you have shortcomings. But can't correct it immediately, these are what I'm worried about!

An people - talking about "talent". Confucius emphasized that a gentleman should have the skills to govern the country and the people, and the ability to govern the country and stabilize the country must have a certain With his intelligence and political ability, he can rule a "country of thousands of chariots", grow a city of "thousands of houses", and "serve in all directions without dishonoring the emperor's orders." For example, Ji Kangzi wanted to select talents among Confucius' three students, Confucius said : "You Ye Guo" (Zi Lu Guo Jue), "Giving Ye Da" (Zi Gong Tong Da), "Qiu Ye Yi" (Ran Qiu Versatile) can all stand alone in the political position. ("The Analects of Confucius·Yong Ye") Meng Wubo once asked Confucius about his disciples, and Confucius said: "Yuye, in a country with thousands of chariots, you can make it manage and administer it." (Zilu, a student, if there is a country with thousands of chariots, you can ask him to be responsible for military service and military affairs); "Qiu Ye, a city with a thousand houses and a family with a hundred chariots, can be made to be slaughtered by him." (As the general manager); "Chiye, with his belt tied and standing in the court, can talk to the guests." (Gongxi Chi, a student, wears a formal dress and stands in the court, and he can be asked to receive foreign guests and handle negotiations). (See above in "The Analects of Confucius Gongye Chang")

Confucius also said that a gentleman should have the three aspects of "wisdom, benevolence and courage": "The benevolent do not worry, the wise do not be confused, the brave do not fear."' (" "The Analects of Confucius·Xianwen") A virtuous person does not worry, a wise person does not be confused, and a brave person does not fear. In addition, Confucius also paid attention to aesthetic education and cultivation. He proposed that a gentleman should pursue "perfection and perfection" ("The Analects of Confucius·Bafen"). "Beauty" refers to sound, in terms of artistic form; "goodness" refers to content, in terms of artistic essence. It is also proposed that a gentleman should be "gentle and courteous"; "Quality is superior to literature, which leads to wildness, and culture is superior to quality, which is history. If politeness and gentleness are superior, then a gentleman." "("The Analects of Confucius·Yong Ye") If there is more simplicity than literary talent, it would be uncouth; if there is more literary talent than simplicity, it would be vain. Literary talent and simplicity, content and form, should be matched appropriately. This is the cultivation of a gentleman.

It can be seen that Confucius was the first person in the history of Chinese education to propose that educated people should be good at "benevolence" (morality), "zhi" (wisdom), "courage" (physical fitness), "beauty" (joy), and "talent". "The "first teacher" who has achieved the educational goal of comprehensive cultivation and development in several aspects.

The basic method of Confucius' teaching is inspiration and induction. He believed that mastering knowledge and forming moral concepts should be an active exploration The process of understanding, so he paid special attention to the initiative of learning in teaching. He said: "Learning without thinking is a waste, thinking without learning is peril." ("The Analects of Confucius·Wei Zheng") Just reading without thinking will be a waste. It is easy to be deceived, only thinking but not reading, and the problem is still unclear. This shows that learning cannot be separated.

Without thinking, you cannot digest and absorb the knowledge you have learned, and learning it will be useless. If you only think without learning, you will become daydreaming, which is also harmful.

Confucius has a famous saying : "If you are not angry and enlightened, if you are not angry and angry, if you take one example and don't repeat it in three cases, it will never happen again." ("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer") The word "enlightenment" comes from this, and the idiom "take one example to draw inferences about other cases" also comes from. Here comes Zhu Xi's note: "Angry people are those who seek to understand the meaning but fail to get it; anxious people are those who want to speak but cannot. To enlighten is to open up the meaning. To express is to express the words." (" "Annotations on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books")

Confucius also believed that the initiative of thinking is embodied in asking "what to do" when encountering problems, which means that students use their brains to think about problems. Confucius said: "No "As it is, as it is, I am not as good as it is." ("The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong") For a person who doesn't ask what to do when something happens, I don't know what to do.

Confucius often used heuristic teaching to educate students. For example, when Zixia read the poem "The clever smile is beautiful, the beautiful eyes are looking forward to it, and I always think it is gorgeous" (the clever smile is so beautiful, beautiful His eyes are so bright, flowers are painted on the pure white background!), and asked Confucius what he meant, Confucius inspired Zixia and said: "After painting, you must paint plain" (first have a white background, then paint the flowers, and before painting, you must first have a pure background. basis). Zi Xia understood that Confucius said that "rituals" must be based on the thoughts and feelings of "benevolence", but Yu Xia was not sure about this idea, so he further asked Confucius: "Is the etiquette behind?" (Yes? Confucius was very happy after hearing this and praised: "The one who can explain my meaning is Zixia! Now I can talk to you about the Book of Songs!" ("The Analects of Confucius·Bafen") What is the original meaning of this poem? , without going into the discussion, just analyzing it from the perspective of teaching methods, it is obvious that Confucius used heuristics here instead of infusions. He avoided using simple moral preaching, and used the role of image thinking to create vivid and concrete pictures. Leading to abstract moral concepts, in order to leave a deep impression on students, take the initiative to understand the meaning of "benevolence", and consciously accept the constraints of etiquette.

Through long-term private lecture practice, Confucius He created a teaching method that teaches students in accordance with their aptitude. He combines teaching in accordance with their aptitude with inspiration and induction, that is, starting from the students' personal reality, using the method of inspiration and induction to give full play to students' initiative and enthusiasm in learning to ensure the realization of training goals.

Song Confucianism said: "Masters teach people according to their talents." Since Confucius paid attention to teaching based on the students' specific realities, he did not use the same preaching. Students often asked the same questions, but Confucius answered them differently. They are not the same. For example, Meng Qianzi asked Confucius: "What is considered filial piety?" Confucius replied: "No violation." This means that whether parents are alive or dead, they must abide by the provisions of Zhou Rites and cannot deviate. This What counts as filial piety? Uncle Meng Wu asked what counts as filial piety? Confucius replied: "Parents only worry about their illness." It means that we should care about the health of our parents. This is because this rich young man does not care about his parents' health. Ziyou asked about filial piety. Confucius thought that Ziyou paid attention to the lives of his parents, so he proposed to strengthen respect for his parents, so he said: "Both dogs and horses can be raised, so why not be disrespectful?" Zixia asked about filial piety, and Confucius replied. Said: "It's difficult to look at sex." It means that just doing things for parents and providing them with food and wine is not considered filial piety. The important thing is to have a pleasant and friendly attitude towards your parents. ("The Analects of Confucius·Wei Zheng")

According to "The Analects of Confucius·Advanced": Zi Lu asked: "Hearing this and doing it?" Confucius said: "My father and brother are here, how can I hear this and doing it?" Ran You asked: "Hearing this and doing all this?" Confucius said: "I heard this and did it." Gong Xihua said: "I asked you what I heard about what you did, and Confucius said, "My father and brother are here." "Chi Ye is confused, dare to ask." Confucius said: "Asking means retreating, so advance; because you also accept people, so retreat."