Educational thought
one
Han Yu was a famous writer, thinker and educator in Tang Dynasty.
Han Yu has been engaged in many activities all his life, and there are three main ones that should be mentioned:
The first is the anti-Buddha activity of "Dao Ji drowning in the world". This was the political requirement of consolidating centralization at that time. Han Yu lived in the middle Tang Dynasty after the "An Shi Rebellion" and experienced the reign of Dai, De, Shun, Xian and Five Emperors. The main social contradiction in this period is the contradiction between centralization and local forces in the buffer region. The ruling class realized that only by vigorously improving the political unification status of Confucianism can it form an ideology suitable for the requirements of the feudal ruling class and consolidate its ruling position. Han Yu studied the book of six classics and a hundred schools of thought since childhood, the old Tang book? The biography of Han Yu records: "The more self-righteous you are, the more you learn from Confucianism ..." Answer to Li Yishu says: "The founders dare not look at the harvest of the three generations of Han Dynasty, and the ambition of non-saints dare not exist." It shows that Han Yu's world outlook was formed under the influence of Confucianism since childhood and became a loyal believer of Confucius and Mencius. Ouyang Xiu said: "Han's writing style has been respected by all generations and shared by the world." Su Shi said: "The decline of the eight generations, the Tao and discipline drowned in the world", "noble and pure." (Chaozhou Hanwen Temple Monument) Han Yu believes that he has made contributions to "rejecting heresy and spurning the Buddha and the old" and reviving Confucianism.
Han Yu's political views are embodied in his original Tao, Primitive Man, Tan Xun, Zhou Confucius Temple Monument and other articles, which express a whole set of new Confucian thoughts of loyalty to the monarch, incorruptibility, courtesy and law, and emphasis on tradition. This is the political theoretical basis and concrete content of his educational thought. His critical spirit in the struggle against Buddhism had a positive impact on education at that time.
The second is the ancient prose movement of "the decline of eight generations". Han Yu advocated ancient Chinese prose with the aim of "writing to convey the Tao". The ancient prose movement advocated Confucianism ideologically. The movement of ancient Chinese prose is lined up in style, and the cliches of obscenity, emptiness and detachment that have prevailed since Wei and Jin Dynasties have established a good style of study for ancient education and teaching. The ancient prose movement is called retro, but it is actually innovation.
The third is educational and teaching activities that complement the above two activities. In the ancient prose movement, Han Yu dared to be a teacher, paying attention to the way of teaching, preaching and teaching to solve doubts. Cultivating the younger generation has also had a good influence on ancient education in China and played a positive role in the formation of fine educational traditions in ancient China.
In addition to teaching in person, Han Yu also criticized the imperial examination system and traditional education, and put forward some valuable views, pointing out that the disadvantages of the imperial examination system at that time were: "those who have points, like and hate from the heart." He realized that talents could not be selected by the imperial examination. At the same time, he also put forward a insightful theory of identifying and cultivating talents, such as in his book Miscellaneous Notes 4? The article "Ma Shuo" puts forward that "there is Bole in the world, and then there is a swift horse; There are always swift horses, but Bole is not always there. In other words, he believes that there are always talents, and the key lies in whether they can be recognized and supported. As long as you are good at identifying and training properly, a large number of talents will emerge.
Han Yu criticized the school education at that time. When he was a doctor in four subjects, he asked to resume training national students and use schools to train talents. When he was a Ph.D. student in Guo Zi, he wrote "Teacher's Theory" and "Understanding of Learning", which advocated respecting teachers and pointing out the road to success. During the national sacrifice, Jesuits were invited as scholars to rectify Chinese studies.
Han Yu wrote Ode to Rural Studies, criticizing the neglect of 9th grade at that time and praising Zheng Zichan for not destroying rural studies. He attached great importance to local education, and when he was a secretariat in Chaozhou, he took out his salary to set up state schools and develop local education.
two
Han Yu's educational thought can be summarized as follows: educational teleology put forward to realize the "ancient road"; The theory about the role of education is related to his view of human nature; The "teacher theory" of respecting teachers and valuing morality; Understanding of Learning and its teaching ideas and theories summarized from long-term educational practice.
1, teleology of education
The purpose of education mainly refers to the training goal, that is, the specifications of talents. Educators' political opinions stipulate the standards and requirements for training talents, and political opinions are often his educational purpose.
Han Yu's political proposition is the Confucian way of benevolence and righteousness and the three cardinal guides and six disciplines. His requirements for talent specifications are: loyalty to the monarch, honesty and integrity, and combination of legal system and legal system. To this end, Han Yu expounded the viewpoint of "nourishing qi and calming down" in "University" and further standardized the training objectives. Daxue is one of The Book of Rites, and its status has been improved since Han Yu. In the original way, Han Yu quoted an important saying from the university: "Those who want virtue in ancient times should rule their country first;" If you want to govern your country, you should first get your family together; If you want to reunite with your family, you should first repair your body; If you want to cultivate yourself, you should be upright first; If you want to be right, you must be sincere. " However, "in ancient times, people who are sincere will make a difference." This passage means to take the cultivation of mind as the basis of everything. The purpose of emphasizing "honesty" and "righteousness" is to rule the country and level the world. After the Song Dynasty, Daxue became an independent Confucian classic and was listed as one of the "Four Books".
Han Yu's "honest official" refers to keeping officials clean, keeping politics clear, eliminating all evils and suppressing violence, with the aim of consolidating the political power of feudal countries.
With regard to concurrent ceremony, the ceremony here refers to the feudal hierarchy. "Benevolence" and "courtesy" are two complementary and integrated aspects of Confucianism. Han Yu put ceremony, music, punishment and politics together as the way to govern the country. He is a scholar, a bureaucrat and also in charge of the military. Therefore, on the issue of governing the country, he advocated paying equal attention to Confucianism and law, and paying equal attention to punishment and education.
Rites and music refer to thought, culture and behavior, while criminal administration refers to politics and law, both of which are indispensable.
The "tradition" mentioned by Han Yu is the "Tao" of Confucianism, that is, the feudal hierarchy, ethics and behavior etiquette that embody the "three cardinal principles" and "six disciplines".
Among the above standards, loyalty to the masses is the core content. Honesty, courtesy and tradition are the inevitable requirements for cultivating loyalty to the monarch and practicing loyalty to the masses. With these qualities, Confucian scholars can rule the country and level the world.
According to the requirements of educational purpose, the content of education is basically political, ideological and moral education, that is, moral education, including the whole set of Confucian theories of benevolence, righteousness and morality; Second, knowledge education, including books, changes, spring and autumn; Third, political education includes ceremony, music and punishment.
2. Theory about the role of education.
The role of education here refers to the role of education in the development of human nature. Educators and thinkers in ancient China all talked about human nature. As far as Confucianism is concerned, Han Yu had the theory of "good nature", "evil nature" and "three products of nature" before. The purpose of their talk about "human nature" is to show that the ruling class is predestined, born as a "ruler", and all living beings who work hard are "stupid", "evil" and "rulers".
Han Yu is a theorist of "Three Sexes". He wrote the article "First Sex", expressing his basic views on human nature. He believes that human nature is innate and has moral qualities such as "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith"; "Sex" is divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. Top-class people are "good", middle-class people are "educated and up and down" and inferior people are "evil"; He believes that there are emotions besides sex, and emotions are "born of things", including "happiness, anger, sadness, fear, love, evil and desire". Emotions are also divided into three categories. He believes that people with morality can "control" the expression of seven emotions; People with China's personality require moderate emotions, but they often have "something to do" and "something to die", that is, too much and too little, which is inappropriate; People with low self-esteem "act by feeling" and have no control.
Han Yu believes that people with "three products" are fixed within the boundaries of natural "products" and are "immovable" and cannot be transformed into each other. In the interior of "goods", people can be changed through enlightenment and punishment. The function of education is to let sex move in the established character. According to Han Yu's theory of "three qualities of sex", the role of education is bound to be greatly limited if the upper and lower qualities do not move. However, his theory of "temperament" had an influence on Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.
3. Discussion on teachers' problems
Han Yu's most outstanding contribution in the history of education is his exposition of "teacher". In the year of Zhenyuan 18 in Tang Dezong (AD 802), there was a serious social atmosphere of "being ashamed to follow the teacher". Moreover, this ethos has been circulating for hundreds of years since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and "it has been unknown for a long time to learn from others". At that time, Han Yugang had just entered imperial academy and was a doctor in four subjects. In the face of this bad atmosphere, in order to save the teacher's way, he not only endured humiliation, but also made a "teacher talk." At that time, Liu Zongyuan commented: "In the absence of a teacher's way, only Han Yu ignored the customs, laughed and scolded, learned at the call, and wrote Teacher's Theory, and became a teacher because of his resistance." The basic spirit of Shi Shuo is consistent with the idea of "writing with load" in the ancient prose movement. Shi Shuo is the first article in the history of education in China that comprehensively discusses the principle of teaching. Its ideological significance is that it inherits and develops the predecessors' view of teaching, is original, is the essence of Han Yu's educational thought, and provides new and more progressive insights for China's educational history. Although there are only 456 words in Shi Shuo, its subtle thoughts have always influenced educators in past dynasties, and it is a precious educational document in the history of ancient education in China. This is a valuable educational legacy.
The viewpoints discussed in Shi Shuo generally have the following aspects:
(1) Teacher and Tao are closely integrated and inseparable. "Where the Tao is, the teacher is there". This explains the teacher's standards. Consciousness means that a teacher cannot become a teacher without a certain "Tao". "Tao" is the foundation and premise of the existence of teachers, and teachers and Tao are inseparable. We understand "Tao" as a kind of doctrine, belief and ideal, then it is an educational thought that conforms to objective laws. Teachers' social responsibility is inseparable from political beliefs and ideals. Teachers who leave their political beliefs do not exist.
(2) The teacher's task is to preach, teach and dispel doubts. The first sentence in Shi Shuo is that "ancient scholars must have teachers, who preach and teach to solve doubts." In the history of education in China, the responsibility of teachers was discussed completely for the first time. Since Han Yu wrote On Teachers, this argument has been inspiring teachers to faithfully perform their due obligations, and the vitality of this argument lies in the fact that Han Yu has, to a great extent, prompted the objective truth of teachers' responsibilities. By "preaching", Han Yu certainly means spreading the Confucian way, spreading the Confucian way of self-cultivation, governing the country with the family and the world. Teaching refers to the education of Confucian classics and cultural knowledge, such as talking about ancient Chinese and six arts. Solving doubts means that teachers answer students' doubts about "Tao" and "industry" in the teaching process. He believes that the above three tasks are closely related, but preaching is the primary task of teachers, preaching is the purpose and direction, and teaching is the process and means of preaching. Third, the orderly discussion of teachers' work has played a role in improving teachers' social status and creating a generation of teachers' style at that time.
(3) "saints are impermanent." Han Yu put forward the view that saints are impermanent teachers in Teacher's Theory, which is an exploration of the relationship between teachers and students. He believes that people, regardless of seniority and seniority, are qualified to be teachers as long as they have the ability to preach and teach. "Disciples don't have to be inferior to teachers, teachers don't have to be superior to disciples, and teaching and learning have priority", and "a threesome must have my teacher" is the ideological origin of Han Yu's "sage impermanence teacher". "I love my teacher, especially the truth" has become a fine tradition in the history of education in China. This incisive conclusion makes the world theory shine.
When expounding the problem of teachers, Han Yu realized the contradictory and unified relationship between "Tao and teacher", "Tao and career" and "teacher and student", which contained the elements of simple materialist dialectics. It is pointed out that teachers should not only be loyal to their ideals and spread the truth, but also learn to have expertise and teach seriously. It is pointed out that teachers should play a leading role, students should learn from competent people and teaching should learn from each other. These excellent opinions not only enrich the educational theory in ancient China, but also inspire us to correctly understand the responsibilities of teachers, politics and business, teaching and educating people, and the relationship between teachers and students today.
4. Teaching discussion.
Han Yu studied hard, served as a university professor several times, recruited many students, and became the mentor of a large number of young people at that time. Therefore, he has rich experience and unique insights in self-study and teaching.
In Teachers' Review, the discussion about teachers' responsibilities and the relationship between teachers and students is a valuable summary of the objective laws of teaching. On the question of how students "enter the school", the first famous saying put forward by Han Yu in "The Strategy of Entering the School" is: "Industry is good at diligence, but play is barren; Everything I have done is thought and destruction. " This is the crystallization of his valuable experience in academic research for many years, and it is also his summary of the academic research experience of his predecessors. Here he asks students to be "proficient" in business and "successful" in virtue, and the only way to achieve proficiency and success is "diligence" and "thinking"; On the other hand, if you loaf around all day and don't study hard, your studies will be wasted. If you don't think carefully casually, your virtue will be ruined. Although these are common truths, they are the rules of success or failure in learning. Han Yu fixed it with clear and vivid language, which had a very beneficial impact on people's learning and ideological cultivation and became people's motto. Since ancient times, people who have made academic achievements are inseparable from diligence and originality. Han Yu's profound attainments in literature depend on these two articles.
Han Yu pays attention to liveliness in teaching methods. He "comments hard, wears out his life, fears imperfections, laughs and sings, which makes people forget their righteousness." Teaching is an emotional art, and Han Yu's deep affection for education is the reason why his teaching is vivid and unconventional.
Han Yu is more insightful in writing teaching. From the point of view of "literature carries Tao", "Hong Wen should be taught by Tao". He believes that "Tao is full of vitality, qi is Wenchang, and the text is in harmony with Tao, and the text is Ming Dow, and the text carries Tao", which is the basic feature of writing. He also believes that writing articles should be singular, concise, vast and overwhelming. His articles are self-contained and form the so-called "Korean" school, which has far-reaching influence.
In a word, Han Yu is a scholar with great ambitions. Throughout his life, he has always taken the world as his responsibility and always pursued the principle of "haste makes waste". It seems that he has been unwilling to be "poor and immune." Therefore, although he suffered several major blows such as being demoted to Yang Shan and being criticized by the tide, he was not discouraged and decadent, and his ambition to serve the country remained undiminished, and he still paid attention to the sufferings of the people. He has a very great and extraordinary side. He has the courage to be the first in the world and dare to speak out. Such as remonstrating Buddha's bones and persuading Wang Ting to join in, are great achievements in history books. Han Yu has been struggling to realize his ideal all his life, and this spirit can be said to be a precious spiritual wealth left to future generations. Han Yu's political morality is the basic content of Confucian mentoring, which makes him a model for a generation. His achievements and talents in literature and philosophy made his educational thoughts shine brilliantly, which opened the precedent of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. His educational thought is still full of vitality, which is worth learning, discussing and learning from.