In the era of Confucius, there were no modern natural science theories such as physics, chemistry and biology. At that time, iron production tools were widely used in society, and a certain level of metallurgical technology, textile technology and agricultural production technology had been produced, but none of them had been specially summarized, studied, popularized and improved. The overall development level of social natural science and technology is still in the primary state. This is because the Spring and Autumn Period is not an era of peaceful development and construction. The unjust war that lasted for two hundred years was full of bloody killings and sorrows. In the violent turmoil of social change, the social attention of scholars (intellectuals at that time) was first to stabilize society, heal social trauma and improve people's livelihood, and their thoughts and speeches were basically concentrated on social issues; Confucius is one of them. He doesn't attach importance to the knowledge of natural science and production technology, and he doesn't approve of students paying attention to and learning this knowledge:
Fan Chi, please learn about crops. Confucius said, "I am not as good as an old farmer." Please learn to be a nursery. Yue: "I am not as good as the old nursery." Leave Fan Chi. Confucius said, "Little Xu Fan! If you give a good gift, the people will not dare to be disrespectful; If you are just, then the people dare not refuse; If you keep the letter, people will not dare to be heartless. If the husband is like this, then people in all directions are tired of their children. How do they use crops? (There is a question mark here) (Chapter 4 of Lutz) (Fan Chi asked about planting crops. Confucius said, "I am not as good as an old farmer." Fan Chi asked about growing vegetables again. Confucius said, "I am not as good as an old vegetable farmer." Fan Chi withdrew her eyes. Confucius said, "Little Xu Fan. People in power above pay attention to etiquette, and ordinary people have no disrespect; People in power above value righteousness, and ordinary people will be disobedient; The people above value honesty, and ordinary people will tell the truth. If this can be done, people all over the world will come with their children on their backs. Where can they grow their own crops? Fan Chi (Shu Ming) wants to learn to grow crops and vegetables, which is not a mistake. But Confucius said he was a "villain". The "villain" here refers to people with low social status. Confucius believes that as long as the rulers in the upper position care about and attach importance to courtesy, righteousness and faith, the people will respect and obey, work hard, and there will be more and more labor, so there is no need for the rulers to grow their own crops and vegetables. Therefore, Confucius hoped that his students would cultivate their self-cultivation, study literature, master political talents, and devote themselves to self-cultivation, family harmony and rule the country. He believes that this is the lofty ambition that scholars should have. He criticized Fan Chi as a "little man" because he didn't want to make progress. It is indeed the limitation of Confucius' educational thought to regard learning and researching production knowledge and technology as "worthless".
After Confucius, the feudal social education continued to adopt Confucius' teaching materials and strengthen the education of students' outlook on life, basically ignoring the research and development of natural science and production technology. Especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after industrial revolution in europe, science and technology became an important productive force, but China's productive forces developed slowly until it fell behind the developed countries in the world for 200 years and was attacked by foreign powers 100 years. When we wake up and work hard, we are only a few decades behind. We believe that as long as we continue to work hard, we will soon keep pace with developed countries.