Recently, I reread Mr. Zhang Zhigong's book On Textbooks of Chinese Studies-Bibliography and the Shadow of Mongolian Studies. In the preface of the book, Mr. Zhang wrote: The effect of education in China is not ideal. It is very important to pay insufficient attention to tradition and not treat it correctly.
2065438+On March 26th, 2004, the Ministry of Education issued the Guiding Outline for Perfecting the Education of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture, which "integrates the education system of Chinese excellent traditional culture into the curriculum and teaching material system" in primary and secondary schools, "strengthens the content of Chinese excellent traditional culture in the curriculum construction and curriculum standard revision" and "increases the proportion of Chinese excellent traditional culture in the senior high school entrance examination and college entrance examination".
Since ancient times, language and writing have been an endless cultural context. Traditional culture is most closely related to Chinese studies. Will increasing the proportion of traditional culture in Chinese curriculum by infiltration become an opportunity to inherit the tradition of Chinese education and reform the content of Chinese teaching? Compared with other disciplines, Chinese has the longest and richest tradition to face. In addition to the roots of language and culture, there are traditions and experiences left by thousands of years of education.
I understand what Mr. Zhang Zhigong meant when he said that education in China must solve the relationship between tradition and modernity. Generally speaking, Chinese as an independent discipline began with the promulgation of the School Charter by the Qing court in 1904, and the replacement of classical Chinese in the teaching materials was later than the publication of the Curriculum Standard Outline of the New Academic System in 1923. Talking about tradition in China's education has to face thousands of years of history, with rich connotations and numerous topics. An interview can't naturally catch all the questions.
Xu Zi taught and studied traditional education and traditional culture education for many years, and participated in the formulation of the guiding outline. In this conversation, many questions I asked xu teacher are old problems that have not been solved so far. Limited by space, some questions can only express opinions and open up new ideas. Welcome everyone to discuss together.
Q= Li Jie
A= Xu Zi.
Q: The "traditional culture" mentioned in the guide of the Ministry of Education.
How is it different from what we generally call "national studies" and "reading classics"?
A: At present, we usually use three levels of concepts, one is traditional culture, the other is Chinese studies, and the third is reading classics. In my opinion, traditional culture includes classic texts, cultural knowledge and skills, which is the broadest concept and the most extensive reference. This concept is often used in speeches and documents issued by our government, and it is also the most appropriate.
Many people think that the name "Sinology" is louder and more influential, and prefer to use this concept. In fact, it is more similar to what the classic texts in traditional culture refer to, or it can be said to be a part of traditional culture. As for reading classics, "classics" generally refers to Confucian classics or a few other classics. In this way, it is a part of the classic texts of Chinese studies or traditional culture.
Q: According to the spirit of the Guiding Outline, traditional culture education is mainly carried out in the form of infiltration in various disciplines. I thought of a problem. I have seen many scholars in some books before feel that they have not read enough ancient Chinese and have insufficient knowledge of Chinese studies. I suggest that young people read more ancient Chinese. How much can a generation's traditional cultural accomplishment be improved by learning classic texts well without offering special courses? Still itching?
A: I quite agree with this view, so I advocate offering special traditional culture courses in the basic education stage. Only in this way can we comprehensively absorb and organize the contents of traditional culture on the systematic basis of curriculum and teaching, and ensure the realization of the educational purpose of traditional culture.
Such a purpose cannot be achieved through the occasional "embodiment" or sporadic "infiltration" of other disciplines. Therefore, traditional cultural education should be a "dinner" for all students, not a "snack" for some regions, schools and students.
Classics are the foundation and soul of a nation. They carry the cultural genes of this nation and maintain its historical traditions. This is obviously the most valuable knowledge and what schools should teach. It is obviously a key point to implement traditional culture education, including ancient classics, in the basic education stage.
Q: Under the current social background and educational system, giving priority to the classics in traditional culture seems to bring new possibilities for reforming Chinese textbooks, such as increasing the proportion of ancient Chinese. What do you suggest?
A: Under the current curriculum system, it is the most feasible way to increase the proportion of ancient Chinese in Chinese classes.
The ancient Chinese texts selected in Chinese textbooks should, first of all, naturally be those classics that have gone through hardships and are recognized by the world and can best reflect the beauty of the motherland's language. It is necessary to avoid being comprehensive but not prominent, without too many additional functions, and to take the elegance and exquisiteness of language as the highest principle.
In addition, we should also respect students' cognitive level and adhere to the principle of gradual progress. In the study of classics, I think in the primary school stage, I mainly study Tang poetry, Song lyrics and Yuan Qu, as well as Mongolian ancient books such as Enlightenment of Temperament, Studying in Qionglin and Thousand-character Works. Junior high school students can choose Four Books and Hundred Philosophers. In high school, I will choose the Five Classics and the collection of books in previous dynasties.
Q: What problems should be paid attention to in teaching?
A: In organizing teaching, I think we should follow the basic laws of pedagogy to the greatest extent, such as adhering to the principle of gradual progress. The ancients paid special attention to gradual progress in reading.
There is a saying in Saint Amethyst that "primary school ends with four books", and "only when the primary classics are familiar, and the four books are familiar, such as the six classics, can you read them". In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Shi Huang once said that the Five Classics took the four books as the ladder, the four books took the near-thinking record as the ladder, and the near-thinking record took the primary school as the ladder. If you are not proficient in "primary school", you can't study "near thinking"; If you are not proficient in recent thoughts, you can't read four books; If you are not good at four books, you can't read the five classics.
In modern times, the conditions and contents of learning are very different from those in traditional society, so it is not necessary for our teaching to be carried out in the order mentioned by San Amethyst and Shi Huang. But the principle of gradual progress is effective in any education. We should wait patiently for the moment when the pupa becomes a butterfly. We should not let young students simply recite Confucian classics in a narrow sense too early, nor should we prematurely and excessively develop our childhood.
In the specific teaching process, we should make full use of children's "playful fear of being caught" characteristics, pay attention to stimulate children's interest in learning, protect children's enthusiasm for learning, and replace supervision with games.
Q: What is the relationship between traditional culture education, increasing the proportion of ancient Chinese in textbooks and Chinese learning?
A: A very important function of traditional culture education is related to Chinese education, that is, mastering the elegant and exquisite language of the motherland. This is also the main goal of learning Chinese.
What's wonderful about a sentence? I think it is the elegance and exquisiteness of the language, and the expression has personality, rhythm, momentum and vivid charm. In my opinion, a good article is to embed elegant and exquisite Chinese language into unique and rhythmic sentences. To do this, we must feel, appreciate and play with ancient Chinese.
My own experience in reading ancient Chinese can also confirm this view. When I was in primary school and middle school, I didn't get a good education because of the Cultural Revolution. Later, he came to Huazhong Normal University to study for a master's degree under Mr. Zhang Shunhui, President of China Historical and Literary Society. What Mr. Zhang asks most of us is to write the article well. If you want to write a good article, you should spend more time reciting ancient prose, and it is very long.
He often said, "Words without words are not far away." People think that reciting long ancient Chinese texts, such as Jia Yi's Public Security Policy, Sima Qian's letter to Ren 'an, and Wang Anshi's letter to Emperor Wan Yan of Zongshen, can nourish qi and blood and feel the momentum and charm of Chinese. By memorizing more, you can easily master Chinese and write beautiful and good articles.
In the master's stage, I listened to the teacher's warning. Every morning when others recite foreign languages, I recite ancient Chinese, the Six Dynasties, the Analects of Confucius and Mencius. Long-term reading has benefited a lot In the past, writing articles only focused on skills, and everything written was groaning and disgusting. These three years' study has made me look brand-new. I have a distinct sense of rhythm in writing articles and even speaking, and I have enough momentum and charm.
Q: Mr Zhang Zhigong once concluded that one of the traditions of ancient education in China was to combine Chinese education with moral knowledge education. Infiltrating traditional culture into Chinese education can include both Chinese and moral education goals?
A: The division of disciplines now makes the functions of various disciplines quite single. I have always thought that the Chinese subject should not take into account too many other functions, and its own functions will be weakened if it undertakes too much.
Of course, no matter which subject it is, it should reflect the purpose and pursuit of education. Herbart's "educational education" is a basic premise, even if people are "noble rather than bad" in teaching. I am very opposed to injecting too many moral education factors into Chinese education, and Chinese teaching should not be a kind of moral learning.
First of all, Chinese is to let children feel the beauty, elegance and exquisiteness of the motherland's language and become interested in this language until they can use it flexibly. Personally, I think one of the reasons for the poor education in China is that people have given it too many functions and made it carry too many tasks. What's wrong with society now? People often put the board on Chinese education, which is beyond the power of Chinese education. To put it bluntly, the main purpose of Chinese education is to enable students to effectively master and freely use the language of the motherland.
Q: Although the goal of Chinese class is not moral perfection, the characteristics of Chinese form and content make the goal of Chinese education not as pure as mathematics and physics. When selecting materials, we should not only consider the instrumentality and literariness of the text, but also consider its ideological content value. There is a profound Confucian thought in China's traditional culture, and Confucian reading pays attention to "self-cultivation-oriented". What does this idea inspire us to choose ancient Chinese as a Chinese textbook? Any suggestions?
A: Many people hope to bring traditional high-quality resources to the present to treat the chaos in today's society and solve the problem of moral deficiency in modern society. I think this goal is doomed to failure.
There is a heavy ethical color and moral preaching in China's ancient literature. Reading these texts will inevitably have an impact on one's mind and morality. I often tell a story: There was a new scholar in the Ming Dynasty who went to see Zhang Mao, a great scholar at that time. Because he has just been admitted to Jinshi, this person still looks complacent. He asked Zhang Mao: I was admitted to Jinshi. What books should I read? Zhang Mao said: You can go to primary school when you go back. Although Jinshi is unconvinced and thinks he is a Jinshi, what "primary school" is he still studying? But after returning home, he followed Zhang Mao's advice and studied in a "primary school" for three months. The more he read, the more interesting he became. Three months later, he went to see Zhang Mao again. Zhang Mao saw him in the yard and asked, "Did you go to primary school?"? Confused, Jinshi asked, how do you know? Zhang Mao said: I think the way you walk is very different from last time.
This example shows that reading classic texts is good for changing one's temperament. Traditional culture has many educational functions, and it is easy to be narrow-minded to talk about only one aspect of morality. The purpose of traditional culture education is to optimize our quality, improve our accomplishment, make us become modern China people with both knowledge and culture, and make us change from China people in the natural and biological sense to China people in the conscious and cultural sense, which is more important.
Q: There is a view that traditional culture has both essence and dross. What do you think of this problem?
A: "Take its essence and discard its dross" is the attitude of mainstream ideology towards traditional culture for a long time. Frankly speaking, I very much disagree with this statement and practice.
First of all, I object to simply dividing traditional culture into essence and dross. What is the essence in your eyes may be the dross in my eyes; If thoughts change tomorrow, what is considered the essence today may be considered the dross. The joy of France, the sorrow of England; What is right today is wrong tomorrow. Essence and dross are a matter of value judgment, which is highly subjective. The key is to look at the problem from what angle. If we all take traditional culture at will according to our own likes and dislikes, in the long run, then we will have no tradition to inherit and no classics to read. Secondly, the so-called essence and dross blend together. They are just two sides of a copper coin. They need to serve and complement each other, just like the two wheels of a car. If the dross in ancient culture is removed, what remains is not the essence, but the essence is in jeopardy.
Therefore, even if traditional culture can distinguish the essence from the dross, then our proper attitude should be to "take its essence and leave its dross" first, and then advocate "take its essence and discard its dross". It is hoped that through this behavior, a pure learning environment will be created for children. In fact, students who grew up in this environment are the most vulnerable. Only passive and mechanical acceptance can not cultivate students' ability to distinguish between good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and neither can the habit of critical reading, independent thinking and conscious use of reason.
Therefore, the real danger is not that our children are exposed to the so-called dross, but that they have lost their basic discriminating ability in the "essence" of artificial fiction. Therefore, I object to the so-called "take the essence and discard the dross". For traditional culture, insisting on creative transformation and innovative development is the proper attitude and principle.
Q: The tasks of ancient Mongolian education, such as literacy, writing, temperament recognition and paired writing, have been basically completed in today's Chinese class. Compared with other disciplines, China education can learn from rich and complicated traditional experience. In addition to what text to choose, there are methods. How can ancient methods and experiences be integrated with modern education in China? What problems should we pay attention to?
A: Indeed, China education can learn from the rich experience of traditional enlightenment education. There are many reasons why traditional enlightenment education is effective. For example, the whole society attaches great importance to enlightenment education. Lv Benzhong, Chen Chun, Wang Ling, Hu Yin, Fang, Zhen, Yuan Xu Heng, Cheng, Hu Yigui, Ming, Wang Shouren, Fang Xiaoru, Chen Jiru, Yuan Huang, Qing Lu Shiyi, Zhang Luxiang, Zhang Boxing, Chen Hongxiang, etc.
For another example, in the compilation of Mongolian teaching materials, we constantly sum up the wisdom and experience of our predecessors, and have formed many compilation characteristics worthy of our study and reference today, such as paying attention to the stability and times of Mongolian teaching materials, the diversity and richness of Mongolian teaching materials, and the simplicity and interest of language.
Another reason is that the traditional teaching method of enlightenment education is effective, which contains the principles of education: giving priority to preparation, timely teaching, giving priority to moral education, learning from others, cultivating teaching, cultivating habits, tempering justice with mercy, paying more attention to respect, and paying less attention to prevention and prohibition. Including the principles of teaching: literacy first, single goal, ability, less specialization, reading first, proper explanation and so on. Including specific teaching methods: learning manners and habits, storytelling and long-term development, word recognition and imitation and literacy education, reading orientation and memory education, poetry writing and writing education, storytelling dance and game relaxation.
These principles and methods of traditional enlightenment education are effective and can be used in today's Chinese education. However, there is one problem that needs attention. The ancient enlightenment education generally had only one comprehensive course, which was undertaken by only one teacher and carried many functions. Nowadays, Chinese education is one of many courses, and its function is relatively simple. Therefore, compared with the traditional enlightenment education, today's Chinese education should emphasize language, that is, master and flexibly use elegant and exquisite Chinese.
Q: The ancients attached great importance to Mongolian teachers, and thought that "Mongolian teachers have a hard supervisory responsibility when teaching young students, and they are deaf and blind, and their lips are not urgent, and they suffer several times more than teachers. Those who are not good at learning, but diligent and strict, are not competent "(Tang Yixiu's" Father and Teacher are Good at Seducing "),
"If a teacher loses, it will be difficult for future generations to make contributions, but if a teacher gains, future generations will be Yi Jiangong" (Cui Xuegu's Young Training). What is the significance of understanding the role and value of Mongolian teachers in ancient times for the cultivation of Chinese teachers in primary schools today?
A: The ancients clearly divided the boundaries between enlightenment education and classic reading education, which were divided into the categories of universities and primary schools. Teachers who engage in enlightenment education are called "teachers who are ignorant of learning" and teachers who teach classics are called "teachers who study classics". Therefore, "being a teacher by example" is relative to "being a teacher through the world", and Chinese teachers are one of the teachers in many disciplines at present. Compared with "Confucian classics", "Mongolian teachers" stand out in stage and foundation, while Chinese teachers stand out in specialization and functionality compared with teachers in other disciplines.
Chinese teachers in primary schools are at the same level as Mongolian teachers. There is no difference between the degree of hard work and the degree of importance. No matter in the past or now, enlightenment education is regarded as the foundation of a person's life career and the success or failure of a person's life and even a family. As Shen Li said in Yi Xue Yue: "The success or failure of children's reading is related to the rise and fall of the portal and the rise and fall of a family. As a teacher, to achieve a good person is to achieve a great thing. If you delay other people's children, it will also hurt justice, which is different from ordinary debtors. " Enlightenment education is not only a major event, but also a difficult one. Teachers engaged in enlightenment education are far from being as simple as people usually think. This is what Cui Xuegu said in Young Training: "Being a teacher is more difficult than being a teacher."
Although the requirements for the qualifications of primary school teachers are different, the spiritual essence is almost the same. For example, ancient requirements for Mongolian teachers:
First of all, it must be an example for students to act, to see, listen and speak;
Secondly, we should have certain knowledge, or see if he has any teaching experience, or what achievements he has made on the road of imperial examination and what fame he has gained;
Thirdly, you need to be loyal to your work, be responsible to your master, and pay attention to the future of other people's children. In the old saying, it is dedication, and in the modern saying, it is dedication.
Finally, those Mongolian teachers who can educate talents best in history are also those who can teach students in accordance with their aptitude, use educational methods properly and have strict discipline. These ancient requirements for Mongolian teachers are still valid for Chinese teachers in primary schools today.