Education, what is left?
At present, one of the main problems of basic education is the lack of real attention and training to the more important "elements" of education. In our primary and secondary schools, why not do less exercise and receive more education that can knock your heart? ! What is education? Einstein said: "Education means that a person forgets everything he learned at school and stays." What do you mean by "left behind"? I think, at least including world outlook and outlook on life; Ideals and beliefs; Character and temperament; Learning and thinking ability, creativity and imagination ... these are all things that are integrated into the body and cultivated in the heart. I don't think Einstein is giving a textbook definition of education, but he hit the nail on the head and revealed the true meaning and essence of education. One of the major problems in basic education now is the lack of real attention and cultivation of this "left-behind" and more important educational "element". Simply instilling knowledge, especially focusing on exams, is by no means a way to train talents. The more important role of education is to ignite, ignite the love for beautiful and noble things, ignite the motivation for progress, and ignite the passion for pursuing truth. Basic education should not only lay a good foundation of knowledge, but also lay a good foundation of being a qualified citizen, having the ability to learn knowledge and the spirit of innovation. In the memory of primary and secondary schools, the most unforgettable and beneficial things are often the teacher's care for students, as well as the spark of thought and passion for life ignited by the teacher in the knowledge transfer. A class I taught more than 40 years ago had a party not long ago. Students still remember my introduction to Madame Curie's life in physics class, especially Madame Curie's sentence "You can touch the stars in the sky with your hands", which seems to have been engraved in their hearts. They can also recite Newton's famous saying that I introduced to them: "I am like a child swimming on the beach. Sometimes I find a smooth pebble or a beautiful shell to amuse myself, but the vast ocean of truth before my eyes is still unknown." I often wonder, in our primary and secondary schools, why not do less exercise and receive more education that can knock your heart? ! The cultivation of those "left behind" educational elements is also related to extracurricular reading and extracurricular activities. I have always had such an educational idea: if you really want to learn a certain knowledge well, then you should dabble in some other knowledge appropriately. An educator once said: "Intelligence is not a kind but a set of relatively independent abilities". This kind of "dabbling" sometimes even has a major impact on children. Jobs fell in love with Shakespeare's poems when he was in middle school. When a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry was asked by students, "What helped you achieve today's academic achievements in your primary and secondary school?" He replied almost without thinking: "I joined a choir as a conductor in primary school." Music art and science and technology seem to be two different fields, however, they can be linked in such a deep level as igniting passion and cultivating inspiration. I have always felt that the injection of cultural and artistic elements can enhance the body of education. A person with and without cultural and artistic influence is different. There is a Russian proverb: "People who don't understand Dostoevsky can see it from their faces." I want to put this sentence into play like this: people who don't read cultural and artistic masterpieces can see it from their faces. I sincerely hope that schools, teachers and parents can give their children a relaxed restraint and let them have a more relaxed environment where they can enjoy their studies, activities and life, which is of great benefit to their growth and future development. I also want to warmly appeal to our young classmates, if you want to add a touch of comeliness to your face; If you want to be more imaginative and innovative in your future professional work, please move closer to culture and art! I miss my middle school days very much. Although the material conditions at that time were much worse than now, our initiative, mobility and flexibility in learning were much stronger than those of middle school students now. In the past six years, I have developed the habit of reading, read a lot of extracurricular books and recited hundreds of fragments of Tang poems, Song poems and world famous poems. Today, most of the poems I blurted out were recited in middle school. We do less homework than the students now, but we seem to have gained more-not only intellectually, but also ideologically and spiritually. And decades of life practice has proved that these things are far more valuable than doing a few more exercises. Among the "remaining" educational elements, Einstein attached great importance to personality. He said: "Everyone thinks that wisdom makes great scientists. You are all wrong. In fact, the most important thing is character. " Einstein's character can be seen from another passage he said: "I remind myself hundreds of times every day that my material life and spiritual life depend on the labor of others (including the living and the dead), and I must try my best to repay what I have accepted and what I still accept today with the same weight." I strongly yearn for a simple life, and I often find it unbearable to take up too much work of my compatriots. "The contradiction and relationship between education and people's physical and mental development is objective and independent of people's will. It's called law. Violating the law will get twice the result with half the effort, but it will distort the essence of education and undermine the healthy development of children's body and mind. The reason why we have to set up kindergartens, primary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools in stages, formulate the teaching syllabus for each stage and compile teaching materials at different levels is to let children receive the most suitable education at different ages. However, some schools are promoting "advanced" education, such as letting kindergarten classes study some primary school textbooks. This kind of education that makes children worry about "losing at the starting line" and quick success may do more harm than good. It is also important to follow the laws of education-education should be geared to all students. In the compulsory education stage, students should not be graded and judged. This classification not only attacks and hurts children, but also is not objective, accurate and unscientific-students are constantly developing and changing, especially children. When Edison was a child, his teacher commented on him as "naughty, stupid, active, always asking too many questions and being insensitive to learning." Einstein gave the teacher the impression that he was "lazy, dull and fond of dreaming". "I think that if these two outstanding people grow up in the environment of' exam-oriented education', I am afraid they will be eliminated. We should advocate "since God has given talents, let them be used!"! From "teaching without distinction" to "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude". Of course, some explorations and experiments are also needed to cultivate special talents, so as to create better training environment and conditions for students who really have talents or specialties in some aspects. However, what deserves our attention most is that we must cultivate talents with all-round development of morality, intelligence and physique and healthy growth of body and mind. Follow the laws of education, but be careful not to be blindly keen on increasing the difficulty and depth. The educational orientation of "difficult" and "high-level" examinations and competitions at all levels is really questionable. We should not cultivate talents who are familiar with examinations and neglect other aspects of development. Similarly, our teachers should not only be proficient in the examination methods. With regard to the reform of examination questions, I don't approve of giving digressions and strange questions, and making simple questions mysterious and complicated. In fact, teaching a course well and doing scientific research well have one thing in common, that is, they are good at simplifying complex problems. To follow the law of education, we must vigorously advocate primary and secondary school students to carry out various physical exercises and activities. In middle school, one of my biggest gains is to form the habit of exercising every day, from which I get great fun and cultivate the spirit of struggle. At that time, if you didn't take an active part in physical exercise at school, you wouldn't be a "three good students" or a "class cadre". Insist on exercise and keep fit, which makes it possible for me to undertake unusual heavy work many times in teaching, science and technology, government, CPPCC and other fields. In the 1950s, there was a hero's confession in the Soviet novel "Female Tractor Driver": "Whoever is heavy can bear it; All difficulties can be overcome; Anything noble can be achieved. "I often use this sentence to encourage myself. At the same time, I often think that only when I am in good health can I achieve these three "whatevers". We sincerely hope that all the reforms in the education system can be carried out steadily in the right direction. In this reform, what children lose is just a chain, and what they get will be a healthy, happy and lifelong life! (Author: Special researcher of the State Council Counselor's Office)