Confucius put forward for the first time in the history of China that people's natural qualities are similar, and the differences in personality are mainly influenced by acquired education and social environment ("similar in sex, far from learning"). Therefore, everyone can be educated and everyone should be educated. He advocated "no education for all", founded private schools and enrolled more students, which broke the monopoly of slave owners and nobles on school education and expanded the scope of education to civilians, conforming to the trend of social development at that time. He advocated "learning officials" and became an official after his studies. The purpose of his education is to cultivate a political gentleman, who must have high moral quality. Therefore, Confucius emphasized that moral education must be placed in the first place in school education ("Disciples are filial when they enter, filial when they leave, sincere and trustworthy, loving the people and being kind. Learn to write if you have spare capacity ").

In terms of teaching methods, Confucius requires teachers to have the educational philosophy of "teaching without distinction" and "managing the country to help the world", the methodology of "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" and "heuristic", and pay attention to early childhood education and enlightenment education. He educates students to have an honest learning attitude, be open-minded and eager to learn, review what they have learned from time to time, so as to "review the past and learn new things", broaden and deepen the extension of new knowledge, and "draw inferences from others".

The main contents of Confucius' moral education are "courtesy" and "benevolence". Among them, "courtesy" is the moral standard, and "benevolence" is the highest moral standard. "Rite" is the form of "benevolence" and "benevolence" is the content of "ceremony". With the spirit of "benevolence", "ceremony" can be truly enriched. In terms of moral cultivation, he put forward methods such as determination, self-denial, practice, introspection and courage to reform. "Learning and knowing" is the dominant idea of Confucius' teaching thought. While advocating being shameless and eager to learn, he emphasized the combination of learning and thinking ("learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous"), and at the same time, he should "apply what he has learned" and apply what he has learned to social practice.

He first proposed heuristic teaching. He said, "No anger, no anger, no anger." This means that when students think seriously and reach a certain level, teachers should inspire and inspire students. He was also the earliest educator who adopted the method of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude in teaching practice. Through conversation and individual observation, he understands and is familiar with students' personality characteristics. On this basis, according to the specific situation of each student, different educational methods are adopted to cultivate talents in morality, language, politics and literature. Confucius loved education and engaged in educational activities all his life. He never tires of learning and teaching. We should not only set an example, but also teach by example and influence students with our own example behavior. He loves his students and they respect him very much. The relationship between teachers and students is very harmonious. He is a shining example of ancient teachers in China.