Confucius believed that people living in society should not be satisfied with the present material life, but should have higher spiritual requirements in the future, that is, they should have their own ideals and fulfill their obligations for social development. He always teaches students how to deal with the relationship between the present and the future. Guide students to base themselves on the present and face the future, determine their own ambitions, and set their goals and ideals in life as personal efforts.
Confucius often "expresses his ambition" with his students. One day, he said to his students Yan Yuan and Luz, "Why don't you talk about your ambition?" Lutz said: "I am willing to share my horses and chariots, clothes and leather clothes with my friends, and I will not complain if I wear them out." Yanzhou said, "My ambition is not to brag about its merits, but to declare its merits." Lutz said, "We want to hear your old man's ambition." Confucius said: "My ambition is: the elderly are safe, friends believe, and the young are pregnant."
Confucius believes that "determination" is an important starting point, but it is not easy to persist in and realize its ambition. He said: "I am determined to learn at five out of ten, stand at thirty, be puzzled at forty, know my destiny at fifty, follow my heart at sixty, and do what I want at seventy." Obviously, determination is the key to a person's growth and development after more than ten years of hard work.
Confucius educated students to "take benevolence as the purpose". "Benevolence" is the highest moral standard and ideal of Confucius. He asked students to use "benevolence" to guide their daily moral behavior and stick to their moral beliefs. "A gentleman can't eat without benevolence, he can't walk in a hurry without benevolence, and the environment is turbulent without benevolence." "There is no good way to keep it". We should be sincere to the ideal of benevolence, be eager to learn, persist and defend it with our lives. "People with lofty ideals are benevolent, and they must kill themselves as benevolent". That is to say, a gentleman is required to be kind, not afraid of death and damage to benevolence, and be brave enough to sacrifice to be perfect. He thinks that ambition and ideal are even more important than personal life.
When Confucius educates the relationship between biomass life and spiritual life, he always guides them to pursue a higher spiritual life and strive to improve their spiritual realm. However, in terms of material enjoyment, we should not ask too much, which will hinder the promotion of spiritual realm.
Confucius said: "It is not necessary to discuss that a scholar is determined to learn Taoism and is ashamed of eating dirty clothes and eating bad food." He believes that a student is always ashamed of his lack of food and clothing, and his mind is focused on the pursuit of material enjoyment, so it is difficult to set up lofty ideals. He praised Yan Yuan, a student, and said, "Reward is a good thing. One can eat and drink enough. In a mean alley, a person can't bear his worries, and he won't change his pleasure when he returns. Regardless of the difficulties of personal life, he also said: "Eating and drinking water, bending your arms and leaning on them are also fun. Unjust wealth is like a cloud to me. "Eating coarse grains and drinking cold water, bending my arms as pillows, enjoying it, and getting rich by unfair means are all floating clouds to me. He also taught students to "seek the Tao instead of food" and "worry about poverty and feel inferior". "He believes that a person with lofty aspirations should not be infatuated with and intoxicated with the immediate material enjoyment, and should not covet ill-gotten gains and pursue temporary enjoyment, thus ruining his life's future.
Only after long and arduous training can we persist in our ambition. Confucius always guides students to pay attention to perseverance and indomitable will exercise when educating them about the relationship between the establishment and persistence of their ambitions. This can also be said to be the last and highest stage of the ambition process. He thinks that a person has no perseverance and can't even be a witch doctor. For example, he said, it's like pushing out with soil, only a basket of soil is needed. If I stop, it is my own stop; It's like building a dirt mountain on the flat ground. Even if a basket of soil has just fallen, if I make up my mind to move forward, I will move forward by myself. He taught students to stand up to the cold like pines and cypresses, "when they are cold, they will know that pines and cypresses are dying." He also taught students to exercise their will firmly, "grinding without phosphorus" and "nirvana without nirvana", which means grinding is the most solid thing.
In short, the establishment and persistence of ambition depends on personal beliefs and subjective efforts, which are spiritual and internal and cannot be changed by external forces. We can't take Confucius' ambition as our ambition today, but his idea of emphasizing ambition and advocating that moral education should solve the experience of establishing ambition is worth learning.
Step 2 check yourself
In interpersonal relationships, there is a question of how to treat yourself and others, which are interrelated and mutually restrictive. When dealing with interpersonal relationships, Confucius advocated that we should be strict with ourselves, restrain and restrain our words and deeds, and make them conform to moral norms, which he called "self-denial."
The "Tao" mentioned by Confucius refers to the code of conduct and principles of Tao, which has certain objective nature and content; Confucius' "virtue" refers to inner feelings and beliefs, which belongs to subjective aspects. When dealing with the relationship between objective "Tao" and subjective "morality", Confucius attached importance to actively carrying out subjective ideological analysis activities and emphasizing conscious ideological supervision, so following objective "Tao" became an inherent conscious requirement, and was not subject to external constraints. He called this subjective thought activity introspection.
Confucius said: "Self-denial is the basic condition of courtesy. If you can't restrain yourself, you can't make your words and actions conform to the objective "Tao". Only by restraining yourself can we return our words and deeds to the moral standard of' courtesy'. " A gentleman seeks for himself, while a villain seeks for others. "Self-seeking" means asking yourself questions, being strict with yourself, and checking whether your words and deeds are in line with etiquette at any time. "Do your best until you die" means to be heavy on yourself, lenient on others and light on others. You don't want to make yourself suffer and worry, and you don't want to impose such pain and worry on others. "Attacking others is evil", that is, we should be brave in criticizing our own shortcomings and mistakes, and be tolerant and understanding of others' shortcomings and mistakes; Being able to criticize yourself, take responsibility and get along with others more easily.
Confucius advocated that the principle of self-denial should be implemented in all aspects of daily life. He said, "I don't blame the sky, I don't care about others", I don't hate the sky, and I don't blame people. "People who don't know and don't care are not gentlemen?" Others don't understand themselves and don't complain. Isn't this a cultivated gentleman? "Don't worry that others don't know you, worry that you don't know others." "Don't worry that others don't know you, but you can't." Don't worry that others don't know you, but worry that you have no talent. "A gentleman is incompetent and doesn't worry about others." Don't worry that he has no position, but he doesn't suffer. Don't worry that others don't know you, just ask yourself to have something worth knowing. These are all about asking yourself, not asking others. When you fail to reach your due social status and play your due social role, you should check your moral spirit and knowledge level more, and don't complain. If a person's moral spirit and learning ability are not enough, he should be strict with himself, strive to improve himself, create the necessary conditions, and reach the realm of "self-cultivation, self-cultivation and talent".
Introspection is supervised by self-awareness. Without self-awareness, it is difficult to really carry out internal self-reflection. Confucius said, "If you are introspective, why should your husband worry about everything?" If you behave ethically, reflect on yourself and have a clear conscience, you will feel at ease. What else are you worried about? "See the sage Si Qi, but not the sage, but also introspect", see the good moral quality of others, learn modestly, and look up to him; Seeing other people's bad moral performance, we should contact ourselves, reflect and check, and take a warning. "A threesome, be sure to learn from me, follow the chosen ones, and change the bad ones, that is to say, make subjective ideological analysis, see good schooling, and change the bad ones.
Confucius believes that introspection is a necessary cultivation method in daily life and actively advocates it among students. His students once said, "I visit myself three times a day and don't think about it." Don't believe in making friends? Can't you get used to it? This means that I have to reflect on myself many times every day: haven't I tried my best for others? Are you not faithful to your friends? Didn't the teacher review his lessons carefully? Students should check their behavior according to social norms, so as to find violations in time and avoid making mistakes in behavior. This often plays a supervisory role, so that they dare not indulge or control their behavior purely by emotion. This experience deserves our attention.
3. change it.
In dealing with the relationship between wrong and right, Confucius emphasized the right, and he regarded the process of moral cultivation as a process of turning good into good. Confucius said, "If there is a mistake, you must know it." He admitted that he had made a mistake and thought it was his luck to be known by others. He objected to the attitude of denial, saying that "even the fault of the villain should be written", whitewashing it and hiding it. Everyone can see that he made a mistake, he corrected it, and everyone expects him to respect him. Confucius demanded that "if you go too far, you are not afraid to correct it", and said: "If you go too far and don't correct it, it's too much" and "if you don't correct it, it's my worry".
We should treat our own mistakes and others' mistakes correctly, allow others to make mistakes, and adopt an understanding attitude towards others' past mistakes. Confucius said, "Let bygones be bygones", don't blame others, but focus on the present performance.
Confucius' thought of knowing people and mistakes involves the inevitability of making mistakes, how people treat their own mistakes and correct them, and how to treat others' criticisms and mistakes. These thoughts and experiences still inspire us today.
Step 4 do it yourself
Moral education includes knowledge and practice, which are closely related. Confucius emphasized the relationship between moral practice and these two aspects. He advocated caution in words and deeds, and believed that the truth and depth of moral understanding depended on the test of moral practice.
Confucius believed that people who broke their promises were not virtuous. He said, "Clever words make color, fresh benevolence" and kind words. Such people are rarely benevolent. For ordinary people, it should be "what you say must be done, and what you do must be fruitful." Some people talk too much and do too little. Confucius should be ashamed of saying so. In order to prevent inconsistency between words and deeds. Be careful what you say, lest you can't do it. In order to prevent empty talk and big talk, you can "keep your word". You might as well do it in a down-to-earth way first, and it's not too late to talk later. "A gentleman speaks slowly and acts quickly." .
Confucius summed up the experience and lessons in educational practice and put forward the requirements of practice. He said: "I start from others, I listen to me and believe in me;" At first, he trusted the students' statements too much and thought that everything they said would be actually carried out. He found that students' words and deeds were different, so he asked students to match their words and deeds. He also said, "if I treat others, who will ruin his reputation?" If you are famous, you must try. It means: Who have I slandered for others? Who have you praised? If there is any praise, it is that it has passed the actual test. In other words, his praise for students is not taken for granted by impression, but based on practical investigation. In a word, Confucius' thought of demanding consistency between words and deeds and focusing on deeds deserves our attention.
Confucius emphasized not only determination, but also perseverance. He advocates self-denial, introspection and self-improvement. These principles and methods of moral education contain certain rationality and conform to the general laws of moral education. We can't totally deny and abandon them just because they are feudal moral education and idealistic thoughts. Under the guidance of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, we should critically inherit these ancient heritages and make the past serve the present with a scientific attitude and method.
Second, the concept of knowledge education
1, diligent in learning and more knowledgeable.
Confucius advocates "learning and knowing", and thinks that there is no "regular teacher" in learning, "there must be a teacher for three people", "When a child enters a ancestral temple, he can ask everything" and "being sensitive in learning and not ashamed in asking".
Confucius believes that learning depends on listening more and seeing more, eliminating the false and retaining the true. He said, "If I cover those who don't know, I am nothing. I've heard a lot, so choose those good ones to follow and learn more. " This means that there is probably a kind of person who doesn't know himself, but creates it out of thin air. I don't have this problem. Listen more and choose reasonable parts to accept. Read more and keep it all in mind. Confucius believes that knowledge education can be obtained by listening and seeing more. He said: "if you listen more and doubt more, there will be very few;" The more mistakes you see, the less regrets you will have if you work hard. "Listen and see more, see more, that is, study hard, be skeptical about what you don't understand and are unreliable, and don't do it blindly. Just say what you understand seriously and do what you understand, which can reduce resentment and regret.
2. Learn from time to time and learn from old age.
The first sentence in The Analects of Confucius was said by Confucius: "Isn't it pleasing to the eye to use when studying?" ? That is to say, after studying, isn't it a pleasure to review, practice and practice often, turn what you have learned into skills and get results, and feel happy and satisfied inside?
Confucius also said: "Reviewing the past and learning the new can be a teacher". This means that such people can gain new experiences and new insights from reviewing old knowledge, thus becoming teachers. Enlightening from the old knowledge and realizing the new truth involves the view on the relationship between the old and new knowledge, which is in line with the teaching law. In his notes, Zhu wrote down the "dead" and "Shi Si" in the four chapters of that day, which reflected the relationship between them and contained the meaning of transformation.
Learning itself is a process of continuous practice. Only by studying and practicing repeatedly can we firmly grasp what we have learned. If we are proficient in what we have learned, we can draw inferences from others and learn from what we know.
3. Pay equal attention to learning and thinking, and put sheep first.
Confucius said, "learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous."
If you don't think, you will be easily deceived; Thinking without reading is still puzzling. This shows that learning is inseparable from thinking. Without thinking, you can't digest and absorb what you have learned, so learning is useless. If you only think and don't learn from horses, it is daydreaming, which is also harmful. This is Confucius' thought of paying equal attention to learning and thinking. But Confucius also said: "I don't eat all day, I don't sleep all night, and it's useless to think." It is better to learn. "
4, apply what you have learned, and match words with deeds.
Confucius said, "Poems are recited three hundred times, and they are taught to be political. If it is not up to standard, it will extend in all directions and it is impossible to monopolize one party. Although there are many, it is still ridiculous. " ? After reading 300 articles in the Book of Songs, it's no use asking him to handle government affairs. Send him to a foreign country, but he can't handle it independently; What's the use of reading more? If you can recite 300 poems, but you can't use them in political measures and diplomatic activities, that's self-study.
Confucius teaches students to apply what they have learned, so that they have their own specialties and can engage in political activities. According to Yongye, Ji Kangzi said, "Can a loyal monarch make politics?" Confucius said, "What does it matter to be in politics? "Ji Kangzi asked again:" Can giving also engage in politics? Confucius said, "What does it matter if you work hard?" "Qi Kang son added," can also make political and? "Confucius said," What does it matter to pursue art politically? "It means that his students are decisive, considerate and versatile. What difficulties will this have in governing the country? He trains students to pursue his political ambition, that is, to be an official if they are eager to learn, and to train students to be an official, so he attaches great importance to the combination of learning and application, and his words and deeds are consistent.
5. Learn with an open mind and work hard.
Confucius believed that knowledge should not be hypocritical and proud. He has a famous saying, "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is knowing. Admit that you know, and admit that you don't know. It's not strong enough to know. This is the minimum attitude of seeking truth from facts in learning. " He said, "listen to the truth and pass it on, but abandon morality."
The spread of words everywhere is a betrayal of morality. "Learning is not as good as learning, but again afraid of losing. Learning seems to be chasing something, afraid of not catching up; He also said, "It's hard to eat all day without intention. I think it is difficult for such people to achieve anything if they eat all day and have no thoughts! " He said that he was "angry and forgot to eat, happy and forgot to worry, and didn't know that his old age was coming to an end." He put an end to four problems, that is, "meaningless, uncertain, not absolutely sure, not rigid and not self-righteous". He is also opposed to the attitude of "dying for something" and "vain for profit", which is not at all.
6. Inspire thinking and draw inferences.
The basic method of Confucius teaching is enlightenment and induction. He believes that the mastery of knowledge and the formation of moral concepts should be a process of active exploration and understanding, so he pays special attention to students' initiative in teaching.
He has a famous saying: "If you are not angry, you can't get rid of it. Don't take a corner, don't take three corners, and vice versa. " The word "inspiration" comes from this. This idiom also comes from this. Zhu pointed out: "those angry people tried to get through their hearts, but they didn't get the meaning." Those who hesitated, but didn't do it. Openness means opening their minds. "
Students take the initiative to think about a problem and give inspiration when they have not fully figured it out; Students think about a problem and gain something, but it is not clear yet, but it is also expressed.
Give guidance if you don't come out. For example, a square thing has explained an angle to him. If he can't infer the other three angles from it, there is no need to talk about it.
This shows that he has no active thinking, and it is meaningless to rely solely on the teacher to teach.
Confucius also believes that the initiative of thinking is reflected in asking "what to do" when encountering problems, that is, students are thinking with their brains. He once said, "In a few days, that's it."
I don't know what to do for a man who doesn't ask what to do when something happens. Once, Confucius said, I'll fix it for Yan Hui.
Yan Hui never put forward different opinions in the lecture that day, as if he were stupid; But I examined his private words and deeds and found that what he taught me could be played, but he didn't.
Not stupid! It can be seen that Confucius attaches importance to students' active thinking.
Confucius used heuristic teaching to educate students. For example, when he read several poems in summer, such as "Clever smile and beautiful eyes always thought it was gorgeous" (Clever smile is beautiful,
Beautiful eyes are really bright, with flowers painted on a white background! ), asked what Confucius meant, Confucius inspired Xia Zi to say, "Painting afterwards" (painting with a white background first and then flowers, painting must first have a clean foundation. Yu Xia understood that the "ceremony" said by Confucius should be based on the thoughts and feelings of "benevolence", but Yu Xia was still not sure about this idea, so he further asked Confucius: "After the ceremony" (that is, after the ceremony), Confucius was very happy and praised him and said, "It's summer now, so you can explain what I mean! Now I can talk to you about the Book of Songs! " What is the original intention of this poem? Only from the perspective of teaching methods. Obviously, Confucius used heuristic instead of injection here. He avoided using simple moral preaching, and used the role of thinking in images to lead from vivid and concrete pictures to abstract moral concepts, so as to impress students, actively understand the meaning of "benevolence" and consciously accept the constraints of "ceremony".
Confucius is good at using questions and answers to promote students' independent thinking. Sometimes he simply answers a question between students and causes them to ask questions, which is also a heuristic method. For example, in Luz, Confucius went to defend the country, You Ran drove for him, and You Ran asked one question after another. Confucius answered "Ping" first, then "Rich" and then "Teaching", which gradually aroused You Ran's pursuit and thinking. For example, in The Fairy Ask, Lutz is a gentleman, and Confucius simply replied, "cultivate one's morality and cultivate one's nature", but Lutz was not satisfied with asking Confucius. Confucius only replied for the second time: "The cultivation of protecting the people has aroused Lutz's doubts." Confucius replied for the third time: "Self-cultivation is to protect the people. Confucius answered this question three times in a row, which was both pertinent and enlightening. For example, in Yan Yuan, Zi Gong asked about politics, and Confucius said that "food is enough, soldiers are enough, and people trust", which means that food is enough and armaments are sufficient.
Only these three points can be regarded as good governance of political affairs, which has aroused Zi Gong's thinking. Zi Gong asked, "If you have to remove one item, what should you remove first?" Confucius said, "First.
Drop the weapon. Zi Gong further asked, "If you have to remove one item, what else?" Confucius replied, "Get rid of the grain. Then Confucius said, "Since ancient times, people have died, and people can't stand without faith", which means that a country can't stand without people's trust. This shows that Confucius' heuristic teaching is flexible and vivid.
7. Teach students in accordance with their aptitude and proceed from reality.
Confucius created a teaching method of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude through long-term private teaching practice. He combines teaching students in accordance with their aptitude with elicitation, that is, starting from the actual situation of students, he uses the method of elicitation to give full play to students' initiative and enthusiasm in learning, thus ensuring the realization of training objectives.
In teaching, Confucius always pays attention to understanding students. Sometimes he can analyze the advantages of students. For example, he once pointed out that Lutz was bold and decisive, Zigong was reasonable, and Ran Qiu was versatile. Sometimes he can analyze the students' disadvantages. For example, he once pointed out that Gao Chai was stupid, Zeng Shen was dull, Zhang Zi was extreme, and Lutz was reckless. Sometimes he can compare and analyze different students. For example, Zi Gong asked Confucius, "Which is better, Zhang Zi or Xia Zi?" Confucius said: "Zhang Zi is a little extreme, and it is easy to go too far. He is a little slow in summer and can't keep up with things. Zi Gong asked, "Is Zhang Zi better? Confucius replied, "Going too far is as bad as not keeping up. "On another occasion, Confucius said to Zi Gong," Who is better than Yan Hui? Zi Gong replied, "How can I compare with Mu Yan?" Yan Hui can infer ten truths from one truth, but I can only infer two truths from one truth. Confucius said, "I can't compare with him, and neither can you nor me." "Confucius can also analyze students' talents and specialties, pointing out that some students have outstanding virtues, some are good at rhetoric, some are good at politics, and some are familiar with ancient documents. Song De said, "Confucius taught students in accordance with their aptitude."
Because Confucius pays attention to teaching from the concrete reality of students, there is no need to preach in the same way. Often students ask the same question, but Confucius answers it differently. For example, Luz asked Confucius, "Did you hear a truth and put it into practice immediately?" Confucius said, "If you have a father and a brother, how can you do it?" Ran Qiu also asked the same question, and Confucius said, "Yes, do it at once." Other students didn't understand Confucius' answer to the same question, but Confucius explained, "Ran Qiu has always been slow.
I encouraged him to do it boldly; Luz has always been bold and competitive, so I asked him to ask his father and brother to deliberately suppress him. "
When asked about filial piety, Confucius gave different answers. For example, Yu Yi asked Confucius, "What is filial piety?" Confucius said, "No violation." This means that no matter whether parents are alive or dead, they should follow the rules of the Rite of Rites and cannot go beyond their boundaries. This is considered filial piety. I asked what is filial piety. Confucius said, "Parents only care about their own illness." This means that they should care about their parents' health, which is aimed at this rich boy who doesn't care about his parents' cold and warm diseases. Ziyou asked about filial piety, and Confucius thought Ziyou was filial. When asked about filial piety in midsummer, Confucius answered "color is difficult", which means that it is unfilial to only know how to do things without doing things for parents and provide them with food and wine. It is important to be kind to your parents.
Similarly, Confucius has no unified and fixed answer to the question of benevolence. For example, Sima Niu asked Ren, and Confucius said, "A benevolent person is also arrogant." Because Sima Niu was "talkative and impetuous", Confucius told him to be a benevolent person and not to make any noise easily. Confucius is so good at giving different answers to the same question according to different students' situations, and these answers are often aimed at individual students.
Confucius also gave different teachings on the intelligence of the educated. He said: "if you are above the average person, you can do it verbally;" Under China people, you can't say it orally. It means that people above average can tell him profound knowledge; People below average should not tell him profound knowledge.
Confucius also paid great attention to the age characteristics of students. He said: "when you are young, your blood gas is uncertain, so you should avoid it, and it is extremely strong and full of blood gas, so you should avoid it." Old age, blood gas failure, to quit. "If you are young, be alert and don't indulge your energy in female sex; When you are strong and energetic, you should be alert, don't get angry easily and avoid fighting; When you are old and weak, you should be alert and not greedy.
In a word, Confucius' thought of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude still inspires us. First, understand the education object, deeply understand the students, carefully observe the students, and carry out targeted education and teaching according to their different characteristics, so as to make education and teaching conform to the reality of students as much as possible and avoid blindness. Second, we should have basic common requirements for students, be good at discovering and paying attention to cultivating students' special skills, and educate them according to individual differences to make them do their best.