First of all, it should be noted that this is Confucius' view on the history of China's cultural development.
Second, learn these two sentences, how to be yourself and how to be a man. Generally speaking, being yourself is selfish; Being a man is for everyone, and it can also be emphasized that it is for the public. The ancient scholars were themselves, and the ancients learned knowledge for themselves. Today's scholars are also human beings, and now people are also learning knowledge for others. This question is coming. On the surface of words, it can be said that later generations seem to be better at learning than the ancients, because they are not for themselves, but for others. This is an opinion.
Just yesterday, a classmate discussed this problem. When he wrote his doctoral thesis, there was a passage in the middle, which quoted these two sentences and made a comparison between eastern and western cultures. This is the view. I told him that this view was valid, but there was a fact that most of us in China used to study, and we did maintain our traditional style. This traditional way of working is similar to the latest education in modern universities or the latest primary education in the west. The so-called emphasis on sexual orientation education is to cultivate and educate one's hobbies according to the trend of personality, not to force them. It is impossible for a person who likes engineering to force him to study literature. Many children like to play with broken watches and open toys since childhood. Parents must punish him for not breaking bad things. In the eyes of educators, children are mechanical geniuses and should be trained in this field. We used to study in China. Frankly speaking, we don't ask questions about other people's studies. Now ordinary people ask questions while studying, but they really ask questions for others. It is a common phenomenon that college students study for society. If they fail in the exam, parents seem to feel humiliated and can't explain to their friends. Reading is for parents' face and social pressure, not for themselves. At present, in some important departments in universities, less than one-third of boys are girls. For example, there are 70 or 80 students in the course of philosophy department. Do they really like philosophy? God knows! I don't even know what philosophy is. Why did I join this department? No one wants to go out to teach after graduation. When people in the society hear about the philosophy department, they are either fortune-telling or nervous. But for what? In good conscience, it's just for the diploma. What are some girls doing after learning philosophy? Of course, you can be a philosopher, but without a family, you can't be a good wife and mother. That would be terrible. However, in today's education, no department studies for its own will. A student once told me that when he was a sophomore, he was really angry with his parents one day and said to them, If you push me like this again, I won't study for you! At that time, I really thought I was studying hard to show my parents' glory in front of my friends, but now I'm not interested. Therefore, on the surface, today's scholars are also human beings, reading for others, at least for the society. The society needs it, and I feel the future is necessary. It is said that he is really interested in a certain knowledge and wants to study it in depth. There are not many such people in today's society. According to the present situation, if we lack foresight, I dare say that in 20 or 30 years, our country and nation will find the problem very serious. Because cultural concepts are increasingly ignored and suppressed. Everyone only cares about reality, and only hopes that the education of the younger generation will have a future in society and earn more money, and they will all squeeze into business, engineering and medicine. For example, theoretical sciences such as physics and chemistry have gone downhill, and people who study mathematics are miserable. In the United States, a doctor of mathematics could not find food, so he had to work as a bartender in a pub and mix drinks for others, earning $7,800 a month. On a larger scale, this is not only a problem of China, but also a problem of cultural decline all over the world. Twenty or thirty years later, when the culture declined, we felt that the problem was serious. Young friends here, it's never too late to work hard. Ten or twenty years of hard work will continue. When you are white-haired, you can definitely catch up with fashion when you come out to revitalize Chinese culture. Judging from the past historical experience, when the times are declining, human civilization will hit a wall and go back. Therefore, it is really necessary to prepare for today's discussion. However, at present, cultures all over the world cannot turn back. If it can't wake up, it can't wake up Wait until mankind has suffered a big loss. Without humanistic thought, human beings will become machines and suffer in the future. So these two sentences can also be interpreted as: people used to study for selfishness, but now people study for the public, but this explanation is wrong. Another point of view, in our China culture, Mr. Zhang Zai Hengqu, a great scholar in the Song Dynasty, said: Make a heart for heaven and earth and make a life for the people; For the past and the future, for eternal peace. These four famous sayings have been the common goal of China intellectuals since the Song Dynasty. Scholars should study for this purpose. Speaking of this gentleman, he is an influential master of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism after Confucius and Mencius. He was like a taibao when he was young. He is cheerful, healthy, open-minded and likes to make trouble. Later, when Fan Zhongyan led his troops to the frontier of Shaanxi, Zhang Hengqu was only in his twenties and very young. He ran to the front line and wanted to join the army to fight. Fan Zhongyan saw his good looks, talked with him, advised him to go back to school, and told him that there were many opportunities to serve the country in the future. He will come back slowly after reading it and give him a copy of "University". He should have finished reading the book by then, but Fan Zhongyan asked him to read it again and told him that the book had his own career and world. After listening to Fan Zhongyan, Zhang Hengqu went back to study "University". From then on, he dropped everything and concentrated on his studies. Later, he became a famous Confucian. In fact, several scholars in the Song Dynasty were deeply influenced by Fan Zhongyan. Fan Zhongyan was in the front, with the scholar as the commander in chief. Doesn't he want to train excellent military talents? However, as soon as he saw that Zhang Zai was not a general, but a person who had contributed to later generations' thoughts and could not be buried like this, he immediately trained him with this educational method. Sure enough, it had such a great influence on China's cultural thought, especially his four words, which were very far-reaching. Today we are going to talk about the central idea of China's culture, and we can focus on his four sentences. If we study these four sentences, scholars should be people; Not only for myself, but also for others. This person spreads it out and fills it up, for the country, for the society and for the whole human culture. Selected from Nanwen anthology, rewritten as mountain is not high, fairy is named. I am humble, but I am kind.