In western education, there has always been a kind of liberal arts education which is different from China's classical education in specific content, but is consistent in spirit. Its purpose is to cultivate traditional elites with high classical cultural literacy, and its core content is classical text learning, classical language training and classical cultural edification.
English gentlemen have a famous saying: Although Greek and Latin are useless for managing Indian colonies, only those who are proficient in Greek and Latin can rule India. In ancient China, the eight-part essay on Four Books, Five Classics and Eight Essays did not provide specific strategies for governing the country, but it was an effective means to train the skills of governing the country. Only those who are proficient in the four books and five classics and are good at writing eight-part essays can open the door to the imperial examination and participate in state management.
There is a close relationship between knowledge and morality, and traditional knowledge represented by Chinese classics has a very strong ethical color. The so-called "those who learn well are virtuous, and those who learn shallowly are virtuous".
Experts believe that the process of learning Chinese classics is not only a process of enhancing knowledge, but also a process of "digesting knowledge into life and transforming it into the virtue of life", which has the significance of cultivating temperament, changing temperament and improving self-cultivation.
The classic education of Chinese studies not only cultivates learned people who are familiar with literature and meaning, good at talent, familiar with classics and thorough knowledge, but also cultivates modest gentlemen with sincere friendship, correct moral conduct and diligent behavior. In a word, they should have both knowledge and manners.