Difference:
(1) theory of human nature: Mencius affirmed the theory of "goodness of human nature" and thought that human beings were born with four "good ends": benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. Xunzi affirmed the theory of evil nature. He believes that human nature is a natural attribute that people are born with, and completely excludes any acquired human factors.
(2) Teaching thought: Mencius advocated "internal development" and Xunzi preferred "external development".
Extended data
Mencius' educational thought is also the inheritance and development of Confucius' educational thought of "teaching without class" (The Analects of Wei Linggong). They all regard education for all as the means and purpose of benevolent governance. On the one hand, it advocates "setting up a school to teach it in an emergency" (in Teng Wengong's chapter) to strengthen school education; On the other hand, those in power need to set an example.
"Ren Jun, ruthless; Junyi, all righteousness; Jun Zheng, Zheng Mo. " Educate the people with the power of example. The purpose of education is to make people "understand human relations", so as to establish an ideal society with harmonious and orderly human relations, and "human relations are on the top, and people are dating each other" (Teng Wengong chapter).
Mencius has always regarded himself as the orthodox successor of Confucius, and his educational contribution is unparalleled. He not only taught and educated people, but also trained outstanding students such as Le Zhengzi, Gong Sunchou and Zhang Wan. He also wrote seven books with his disciples for future generations. Like a continuous spring rain, it falls in the long river of history and culture.