The essence of education is the most fruitful research topic considered by Xu Chongqing, and it is also considered by researchers as the main content of his dialectical materialist educational philosophy. He once said: "Education is to teach people to learn by themselves; Educate yourself in practice, and people are the result of their own practical activities. " Therefore, he is very opposed to the school divorced from society, education divorced from practice, and strongly opposed to reading dead books.

1934, Chen planned to read Confucian classics in schools at all levels, republish the Book of Filial Piety, compile some textbooks on Confucian classics, and stipulate that there should be no less than 6 class hours per week, and half of the composition propositions contain Confucian classics. This move was opposed and resisted by Xu Chongqing, then director of the Education Department of Guangdong Province. He wrote "Review Opinions on New Filial Piety Textbooks", criticizing its reactionary and backward content, which was warmly welcomed by the education sector and young students.

In concrete educational practice, Xu Chongqing not only opposes imperialist cultural aggression and enslavement education, but also opposes maintaining and carrying forward national cultural traditions under various pretexts and refusing to absorb the foolish ideas of foreign advanced cultures. In the early 1950s, the education circle made a comprehensive study of the Soviet Union. He responded to this call, but thought that the study of the Soviet Union should be combined with the reality of China, and advocated adjusting teaching plans, streamlining courses and improving teaching methods. Cultivate students' practical working ability.

1957, at the third scientific seminar of Sun Yat-sen University, he made a research report on the educational task of people's all-round development. This report profoundly expounds the meaning of "man's all-round development" from the viewpoint of dialectical materialism and criticizes the arguments of "harmonious development" and "average development". In his view, "the starting point of pedagogy is to change the practical activities in the real process. People are the result of their own practical activities, people are the object of change, and educational activities are a form of activity to promote this time change. " This report is considered to represent the highest achievement of Xu Chongqing's educational thought and the most combative and scientific educational work since the founding of New China.

Once, he told his second son, Xu, that the sentence "Educators must be educated" was actually a translation error. German originally meant "educators are educated", emphasizing a mutual acceptance process of educators. Educators are transforming the subjective world as well as the objective world. Two different translations may lead to two different intellectual property policies.

Xu Chongqing has always been firmly opposed to forcibly instilling knowledge according to a fixed pattern, and cannot tolerate teaching systems and methods that restrict students' independent thinking and judgment, whether in teaching practice or in children's education. He never interferes with children, and the major is chosen by the children themselves.