Teng Wengong asked Mencius how to govern the country, and Mencius put forward his benevolent policy program, one of which was to set up education.

Build it into a school to teach it. Those who are embarrassed, raise also; Learn and teach; Order, shoot also. Xia Yue School, Yin Yuexu, Zhou Yueyao and Xue are three generations, all of which are such ethics. Excellent personnel relations, close to Wang. If there is a king, he will come to study law, which is also for the king.

(Chapter 3 of Teng Wengong I) Establish education in schools, schools and schools. Alas, the original meaning is to raise; School, the original meaning is teaching; Foreword, the original intention is to show. Local schools were called schools in Xia Dynasty, Xu in Yin Dynasty, Yao in Zhou Dynasty, and Xue in three generations of national schools, all of which aimed at teaching people to understand interpersonal relationships. People at the top understand human relations, while people at the bottom love each other. People who unify the world will certainly follow suit, which is an example for kings who unify the world. Mencius is talking about the names of various schools in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, including those run by the court and those run by villages and towns. The names of each generation may be different, but in short, they are all kinds of schools from the central to the local. It is a long historical tradition of our country to set up education by the state, which has been four or five thousand years ago. Education is the responsibility of governments at all levels.

From the perspective of governing the world, Mencius believes that the role of education is more effective than that of political power. He has a famous saying: Mencius said, "Benevolence is not as deep as benevolence, and good governance is not as good as good education." Good governance is feared by the people; Good teaching, people like it. Good governance gains people's wealth, and good education wins people's hearts. "

Mencius said: "The words of benevolence are not as touching as the joy of benevolence, and good politics is not as good as teaching people's hearts. Good politics scares people; Good education makes people love it. Good politics enables people to pay taxes according to regulations and gain wealth, but good education wins the hearts of the people. " Good governance refers to good politics, which can also be understood as being good at effectively exercising political power. These two explanations are consistent. Good governance can only make people awe and collect taxes from the people, while good education can win the hearts of the people; If you get the sincere support of the people, you can treat it without treatment.

What Mencius said about school education is, first of all, "human relations in the Ming Dynasty". The so-called "human relations" is the moral norms among the members of the whole society, that is, to determine the relationship that should be maintained between people. Mencius put forward many times that "respecting teachers and attaching importance to morality and taking filial piety as the foundation" (Hui Liang Lun). "Teaching should be based on human relations, father and son are close, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are different, young and old are orderly, and friends have faith." (On Teng Wengong) Mencius' teleology of education is to cultivate people with high moral consciousness through education and use education to serve politics. The morality advocated by Mencius was feudal ethics, which served the feudal system of his time.