Mencius was a great thinker and educator in the history of China. The first secretary of Mencius recorded Mencius' lobbying for various countries and related academic contention, and recorded Mencius' educational activities and opinions, which is the most important document for studying Mencius' thoughts. The book consists of 7 articles, 26 1 chapter, about 35,000 words. The title of the article is two or three words in the opening sentence, namely, Liang, Gong Sunchou,,,,,,,, and dedication. Each article is divided into two parts, such as "On King Hui Liang" and "Under King Hui Liang". Mencius took "good nature" as the theoretical basis of his educational thought, and expounded the content, goal, function and task of education. At the same time, it puts forward profound opinions on educators, teaching methods, educatees and learning methods.

I. Contents and objectives of education

Mencius' ethics is based on "benevolence and righteousness" and "five ethics", and the personality ideal exemplified by "gentleman" is the standard content of education. His education is basically ethics education and moral education. The goal of his teaching is to cultivate a gentleman who is "virtuous", "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world". The gentleman in his heart should have lofty moral cultivation, be strict with himself, be lenient with others, do not do to others what you don't want, value righteousness over profit, and sacrifice life for righteousness.

Second, the role and task of education.

1, "seeking peace of mind". In other words, in order to recover the indulgent conscience and kindness, Mencius believed that education played a very important role in the development of human nature. "If you get it, nothing won't last long; If you lose support, there is nothing to lose. "

2. Education distinguishes between human beings and animals, and between kind people and corrupt behaviors. Mencius believes that the existence of innate goodness is an important symbol of the difference between human beings and animals.

3. Education is the foundation and cornerstone of establishing social ethical order. Only by establishing a stable "social ethical order" can we "govern the country" and "level the world". The establishment of "social ethical order" depends on education, including family education, school education, social education and so on.

4. Education is an important way to convince people. Mencius believes that there are two ways to unify the world and win over the people. One is to convince people with strength, and the other is to convince people with virtue. Forcibly persuading people is overbearing, which Mencius thinks is not desirable; Serving people with virtue is king, and Mencius agrees with it very much. The key to the so-called serving people with virtue lies in winning the hearts of the people and making them submit.

5. Education is an important means to make Qiang Bing a rich country.

Third, educators and their teaching methods.

1, broken by Bo, teaches people tirelessly.

Educators must have high moral cultivation and profound knowledge. Mencius said: "Those who speak near and point far are also kind; Those who keep their promises and give them are also good people. A gentleman's words are not taken, but kept; The defense of a gentleman is to repair his body and the world is flat. " Educators should have a "debate between gentlemen" and "teachers must be upright". "If you are knowledgeable and elaborate, you will make an agreement in a sarcastic tone." (Under Li Lou) "Educators read widely, and after mastering knowledge, they can tell and teach the principles in simple language, and they will break their words and bypass their thinking". "Zi Gong said:' Never tire of learning, but you are wise; Teaching tirelessly, benevolent. The benevolent is wise, and the Lord is holy. "(On Ugly Sun) Educators should have the basic professional ethics of tireless teaching and educating people.

2. Teach students in accordance with their aptitude, teach more and be versatile.

Mencius believes that teaching methods are diverse, and the general spirit is to teach students in accordance with their aptitude, inspire and induce. He said: "The reason why a gentleman teaches five things: those who rain, those who succeed, those who are rich, those who answer, and those who are private. These five things are taught by gentlemen. " It means that there are five ways to educate a gentleman, some are like timely rain to nourish everything, some are to improve moral character, some are to train talents, some are to answer questions, and some are to learn from the charm for future generations. He also said: "There are many skills to teach, and those who disdain to teach are just teaching." It means that among all kinds of education methods, there is another one that disdains teaching, which is also a kind of teaching and a way to motivate people to work hard.

3. Set goals and stick to standards.

Mencius advocated that students should be strict. Mencius said: "Teaching archery must aim at winning; Scholars must also aim at winning. Masters should teach according to the rules, and scholars should follow the rules. " (Gao Zishang) Educators must establish their own clear educational goals, just like archery and craftsmen's "rules"; "Mencius said," A great craftsman is a clumsy worker if he doesn't change his rope and ink, and a clumsy shot if he doesn't change his winning percentage. "(Dedicated) The requirements for students should be standardized and cannot be reduced.

4. Step by step to inspire thinking.

The teaching process should be gradual. Mencius said, "Running water is also a thing, and it doesn't have to be a peaceful century." He also said, "People who rush will slow down." If the process is too fast, it will inevitably affect the actual effect and cause rapid retrogression. The correct process should be like running water, filling a depression and then flowing downwards. This is the reason why "Yingke is backward". Mencius also used the fable of "pulling out seedlings to encourage growth" to illustrate the importance of gradual progress. Learning knowledge, like crop growth, is a natural and orderly process with its own laws. People should attach importance to and promote the realization of the teaching process, but never use the method of pulling out seedlings to encourage others, which will backfire.

Mencius was good at enlightening thinking and achieved the expected teaching effect by using the method of question and answer. He makes good use of metaphors, making it easy for students to understand what he said, asking students to be proactive and use their brains, and not to rush to conclusions. He thinks that a gentleman teaches people like an archer with a full bow and no arrow, posing as eager to try, so as to inspire and induce students and stimulate their enthusiasm for learning.

Fourthly, the educated and their learning methods.

Teaching and learning is a two-way process. Confucianism said that "teaching and learning learn from each other", in addition to the teacher's teaching, the educated themselves should also do the following.

1, self-satisfaction for further study

Starting from the thought of "being single-minded, being wise and knowing heaven", Mencius believed that knowledge learning did not come from the outside, and only through his own active and conscious efforts could he be thoroughly understood. Since the truth of everything is in your heart, only by seeking self-satisfaction can you go deep into your heart and gain something, and you can reach the point of using it freely. So he said, "A gentleman takes Tao as his teacher and wants to be complacent. If you are complacent, you will feel at ease; In times of peace, there is deep capital; He believes that a gentleman needs to achieve profound attainments in the right way, which requires him to pursue it consciously. What you consciously pursue, you will firmly grasp it, firmly grasp it, and you will save it deeply. It is deep and inexhaustible. On this basis, Mencius advocated that the deepening of knowledge must have its own gains and opinions. Especially in learning, we should have the spirit of independent thinking. Reading is necessary, but you should understand and not go with the flow. Don't trust or blindly follow the literature and classics of the previous generation.

2. Self-seeking and self-improvement.

Mencius said, "If you love someone, you will be kind-hearted." : Treating people without a permanent cure is contrary to wisdom; Those who are polite don't answer, those who are disrespectful ask for it, and they will return to the world. "("On Li Lou ") In action and study, we should first find the reasons from ourselves, and the subject should consciously reflect. You can't blame someone who is better than yourself. A benevolent man is like shooting: the shooter makes mistakes again when he is right, and he doesn't complain that he won, but finds it himself. "("The Ugliness of Sun ")

3. Make up your mind to persevere and hone your will.

Mencius said, "It's just benevolence and righteousness. ..... There is benevolence and righteousness, and the king is ready. " ("Dedication") Only by taking "benevolence and righteousness" as the ambition can a person distinguish between good and evil and know clearly what to do and what not to do. "People can do it without doing it." Mencius (under Li Lou) emphasized his determination, but also attached great importance to "keeping his will", saying that "a poor and disloyal scholar can't get away from the Tao." It is to ask people to stick to their ideals regardless of pride or poverty. In addition to determination and perseverance, "Therefore, if the sky falls to the Sri Lankan people, we must first suffer from their aspirations, their bones and muscles, starve their bodies, and do what the Buddha has done, so we must be patient and get what it can't do." (Gao Zixia) A "gentleman" should have an indomitable will, "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, power can't be bent" (Xia), and for the sake of morality, he should be able to "sacrifice his life for righteousness" when necessary.

4. Concentrate and persevere.

Mencius believes that learning must be absorbed, not half-hearted. For example, Mencius said, "We can't do these games without concentrating. Qiu Yi who is good at communicating with the country. Let Qiu Yi teach two people to play: one is absorbed, but Qiu Yi listens. Although a person listened, he thought it was a swan, and tried to pay for the bow and shoot it to death. Although he learns from it, he is willing to do so. Is it because his intelligence is not as good as the former? " Yes, of course. "Two people learn to play chess with a Go player at the same time, but the results are quite different. This is by no means because of their intellectual differences, but because of their concentration and inattention. Therefore, Mencius believes that learning must be absorbed and concentrated, which is a scientific principle summed up by Mencius in teaching practice.

Mencius advocated concentration and put forward the idea of perseverance. He warned the students: "The mountain road is a path, which is used occasionally; If you don't use it for a while, it will get stuck. "If you often take the mountain road, it will become a road. If you don't walk for a while, it will be blocked by thatch. So is study. If you stop for a while and don't study hard, you will forget what you have learned. Therefore, learning should have the spirit of not giving up until you reach your goal. He said: "A promising person digs a well, digging a well nine times is better than digging a spring, but he is still abandoning the well. "A person doing one thing is like digging a well. When there was no water sixty or seventy feet deep, he stopped digging, and the result was no digging. This shows that a person must have perseverance when doing something, and can't give up halfway. The same is true of learning, so we must persist and not fall short. Mencius opposed the learning attitude of "one exposure to ten cold". He said: "although there are things that are easy to live, if you are exposed to cold for ten days, nothing can live." "Even the most easily growing plants can't grow if they are exposed to the sun for one day and cooled for ten days. Repeatedly stressed that learning should be persistent.

Mencius' educational thought has a great influence on later generations. His thought embodies the concern and affirmation of human value, the exposition of educational function, and the elaboration of the principles and methods of teaching and moral education, all of which reflect the promotion of human's main role. As a "sage" of Confucianism, Mencius' educational thought plays a very important role in inspiring the spirit of the Chinese nation and forming a lofty spiritual realm for later generations.