Since the late Qing Dynasty, China has been at home and abroad. In order to get out of the quagmire, many people of insight began to devote themselves to various "national salvation movements". There are industrial salvation, military salvation, political salvation, revolutionary salvation and constitutional salvation ... Among all kinds of "national salvation movements", "national salvation through education" was once a banner that stirred people's hearts and led the trend.
No matter what Mr. Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, said: "If we really start with education, it is inevitable that our country will turn the corner." Or Mr. Zhang Boling, the "father of Nankai University", said: "A weak country is not self-reliant, and the way to self-reliance lies in education. Mr. Cai Yuanpei said: "If we really start with education, it is inevitable that our country will turn the corner. "
However, the situation has changed for more than half a century, and a "violent revolution" swept through China. The "Republic of China" that you gentlemen saved no longer exists. How many old dreams are vague, and the "improvement" promoted by pen and ink and civilization is always no match for the "gun barrel" that laid the political power with blood and fire. It takes ten years to plant trees, but it takes a hundred years to cultivate people. Unfortunately, China at that time did not have time to wait for "a hundred years".
After graduating from graduate school, I also engaged in education myself. Looking back on China's century-long history of education, I gradually began to think about the mission of our generation of educators. At that critical moment, the intellectuals in China wanted to turn the tide and save the country. So, what should we do as educators in this relatively peaceful era? After thinking about it, I came up with four words-education to save lives.
On the other hand, some "countries" often play the role of covering up the truth and fooling people. Such a "country" is not only inconsistent with the educational goal, but also plays an anti-education role. Therefore, in such a "country", education should play a more important role in saving people's souls and hearts, so that people can get rid of "fooling" and stop being confused. In this context, "education to save lives" has its unique value.
Education should "save" people from ignorance. Before us, countless wise men built networks of knowledge and wisdom, and countless fools built networks of deception and fooling. Education is to let children enter the network of knowledge and wisdom, cultivate the ability to distinguish right from wrong, and not be trapped by the network of deception and fooling. The saddest thing in life is to isolate human knowledge and wisdom, remain ignorant and ignorant forever, and live in a muddle. Education is to let students stand on the shoulders of wise men, learn to think with their own brains and transform the world with their own ideals and actions. Become a smart, active, independent and free-thinking person, and promote the development of human civilization.
Education should "save" people from cruelty and hatred. Since the "Axis Age", human beings have gradually established the concepts of peace, kindness and sympathy to ensure the long-term continuation of their own civilization. As a result, mankind gradually got rid of killing, conquest and cruelty, and strived to build a more peaceful, civilized and good environment. But in real life, it is still difficult for us to get rid of the prejudice and hatred caused by various contradictions. These prejudices and hatred will still turn into wars and killings when they accumulate to a certain extent. How to dissolve hatred with love, replace prejudice with tolerance, and save war with peace are the problems we have to face together. Education is to make people's hearts soft and kind through spring breeze and rain, and create a harmonious but different, free and inclusive society.