First, the college age: the midsummer of life
Why is this the most precious time in life? According to my experience, the golden age of life is from sixteen to twenty-six. /kloc-Before the age of 0/6, I was completely ignorant and totally dependent on my parents and teachers. /kloc-after 0/6 years old, I began to be independent. After the age of 26, I began to think about getting married and having children, and I didn't have much time to be independent. Between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six, four years of college is the most independent and free.
How not to waste the most free and unburdened four years in life, and truly belong to their own four years, is a problem faced by every college student.
The most fundamental change in universities and middle schools is that you are a minor in middle schools, and the requirements for you are very simple. You just have to listen to your teachers and parents and live according to their arrangements. When you go to college, you become a citizen, and you can enjoy the rights of citizens, but it is not the time to fulfill your civic obligations. The biggest difference between middle school students and college students is that college students are independent individuals, middle school students are passively educated, while college students are actively educated.
If the middle school teacher is not very good, it will affect your college entrance examination. But in college, the key is yourself, time belongs to you, space belongs to you, you can master yourself and learn by yourself. You don't have to rely only on teachers like middle school, you need to be independent and design yourself.
Then this raises a question, what is the university for? What task did you come to the university to accomplish? I remembered a very basic point of view of Zhou Zuoren: when a person grows up, everything goes with the flow. He said that a person's life is like four natural seasons: primary school and middle school are the spring of life; University is the summer of life, that is, the midsummer season; After graduation to middle age is the autumn of life; Old age is the winter of life.
The seasons of life and nature are the same. Spring should do spring things, and summer should do summer things. The problem now is that the seasons of life are reversed.
What should college students do as young people? This reminds me of the welcome party held for us by the Chinese Department 48 years ago when I was a freshman at Peking University. Sister Wen Xiaoyu, who was then the president of the Student Union and later became a famous writer, said a word: Congratulations on being admitted to the university. Entering a university requires three things: knowledge, friendship and love.
Love is something that can be met but not sought. Don't love for love's sake, even if you beg desperately. Nowadays, many young people are following the fashion, and it is not enough to seek love in order to follow the fashion. But don't let it go when you meet it. This is our experience and lesson. Knowledge, friendship and love are the three most beautiful things in life, and knowledge is beautiful! Friendship is beautiful! Love is beautiful!
You may not realize that we are all experienced people. Now all our college classmates like to get together and recall the innocent friendship of that year. It is very valuable to have such friendship all your life. I remember the writer Chen Rong wrote a novel called Negative Decade. If ten or twenty years can be subtracted, at that time, I will wholeheartedly and confidently pursue knowledge, friendship and love with my classmates. Because this is the right of our young people!
Second, the foundation of "educating people": lay two foundations.
What we still have to ask is, what kind of person should we train ourselves to be during college? We usually say that universities train experts. When you study professional knowledge and skills in college, you can become a qualified professional. On the one hand, it can meet the needs of national construction and talent market, on the other hand, it is also a means of livelihood for individuals and families. I don't think it's necessary to avoid making a living. Mr. Lu Xun once said: "First, we must survive, second, we must have enough food and clothing, and third, we must develop". We study for a clear utilitarian purpose-that is, to acquire knowledge, become experts and make a living in the future.
But people should not only have utilitarian purposes, but also have bigger and higher goals, a spiritual goal. Our goal of going to college can't be limited to being a professional technician, scholar and expert, but also to be a person with humanistic care and all-round development.
Humanistic care refers to people's spiritual problems. Specifically, you should consider two questions when you are in college: 1. What is the purpose of life? Second, how to deal with the relationship between people, people and society, and people and nature? How to establish a reasonable and sound relationship between them? Thinking about such a fundamental problem is humanistic care.
The fundamental task of a university is not only to impart professional knowledge, but also to "educate people". Therefore, we should lay two foundations during college. The first is the professional foundation and the foundation of lifelong learning. In modern society, knowledge changes very quickly, and not all universities can give you the knowledge you need to apply in your future work. Especially in natural science, some things learned in senior one may be out of date by the fourth grade, and knowledge is developing too fast. Therefore, the task of the university is not to provide you with the knowledge applied in your work, which needs to be updated at any time. University is to lay the foundation for you and cultivate your lifelong learning ability.
The second foundation is the spiritual foundation, which is the humanistic care I just mentioned. When these two foundations are laid, you will not be afraid of anything, and you can find your most reasonable lifestyle wherever you go.
I will focus on how to seek knowledge and how to learn. Regarding reading, Lu Xun said, "Reading is like gambling."
People who really know how to play cards don't win or lose. If they win money at cards, they are called "inferior" among gamblers. The best gambler plays cards for the sake of playing cards and pursuing the fun of playing cards.
The same is true of reading. Reading for the sake of reading transcends utility, that is, for fun and pursuing the endless interest of reading.
One more question: what books to read? Reading range may be a more realistic and specific problem for students. Mr. Lu Xun has a very incisive opinion in this respect: young people can read books outside their duties, that is, extracurricular books.
Here I want to talk about the knowledge structure of science students. Engels once spoke highly of the intellectuals in the Renaissance, saying, "This is an era of giants." The so-called giant is a versatile and knowledgeable person. At that time, a giant like Leonardo da Vinci could not only understand four or five foreign languages, but also shine in several majors at the same time. Engels said, "They didn't become slaves to the division of labor", which made their characters develop completely and comprehensively.
The same is true during the May 4th Movement. The important tradition of new culture is the blending of arts and sciences. For example, Lu Xun and Guo Moruo originally studied medicine and received strict scientific training; There are many famous scientists who originally wrote novels and poems. For example, a famous archaeologist and anthropologist, Mr. Pei Wenzhong, whose novel was included in the New Literature Department by Lu Xun, has a fairly high level. There are also famous architects Mr. Yang and botanist Mr. Cai, whose novels are of high level.
The fundamental reason for the difference in spiritual temperament lies in the difference in knowledge structure and the lack of the realm of blending arts and sciences. At a certain height, whether those who study science and engineering have literary literacy or not, and whether those who study literature have natural scientific literacy, will reflect the level of water. Behind the knowledge structure is the problem of a person's spiritual realm, and the most important thing for a person to succeed is his spiritual realm.
Therefore, the so-called "how to read and what books to read" is actually a question of how to design the knowledge structure of the self. A very important aspect of university self-design is the design of knowledge structure. Zhou Zuoren's design of knowledge structure can give us great inspiration. He said: our knowledge should revolve around one center, that is, knowing people themselves.
To design his own knowledge structure around knowing himself, Zhou Zuoren proposed to learn from five aspects: first, to know individuals, to learn physiological, psychological and medical knowledge; Second, to understand human beings, we should study biology, sociology, folklore and history; Third, to understand the relationship between man and nature, we must learn astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry and other knowledge. Fourth, "on the basis of science", we should study mathematics and philosophy; Fifth, "about art" should study myths, fairy tales, literature, art and art history. He said that each of us should know something about these aspects. It is not impossible for Zhou Zuoren to master a subject and be a saint at the same time.
So how can we work hard in this direction during college? How to lay the foundation? I have this opinion for your reference. I think the study in college should start from three aspects.
On the one hand, all students, as modern intellectuals, must take several basic courses. One is language, including Chinese and foreign languages, which is the foundation of all modern intellectuals. By the way, people have paid more and more attention to foreign language learning in recent years. Your foreign language level is much better than mine. I envy it. However, it ignores the study of Chinese, including many China students who can't write articles even in the doctoral stage, and often make mistakes in words and punctuation.
Secondly, we must lay a solid foundation of our professional knowledge. I think we should pay attention to two main points in professional study. One is reading classic works. The second is to master the methods of professional learning. Through the study of specific disciplines and courses, master the methods of professional learning. In this way, in terms of specialty, you have laid a good foundation, have classic works as the foundation, and mastered the methods at the same time, so you can continue to study in the future.
Third, read widely. We should learn from Tao Yuanming's experience-"read well, not seek deep understanding", which, in Lu Xun's words, means "just flip through". Open books are beneficial, and you don't want to know more.
Three or ten years of diving: the most sincere hope
I also want to talk about a problem, reading and learning should have dedication. To put it bluntly, the good things in the world cannot be occupied by one person. The biggest problem for many young people now is that they want to take all the beautiful things away and refuse to lose everything.
I think the implementation of personal material is the first, so Mr. Lu Xun said: "First, we must survive, second, we must have enough food and clothing, and third, we must develop." He made it very clear that survival, food and clothing are material, and development is spiritual. There is no spiritual development until the material life is basically guaranteed.
However, your basic material rights are guaranteed, so you should consider how to design and arrange your future life and make preparations for it. It's ok if you pursue material things wholeheartedly, but don't think about spiritual things. Take material requirements as the main pursuit of life, then you must have lost spiritually, that's for sure.
I also have a design for myself: first, my material living standard should be medium, preferably upper-middle level. But with these basic living conditions, I can't have too high material requirements, because I hope my spiritual life is first-class. What you get, you lose. This is not the spirit of ah q.
In addition, in learning, we must dive. I told the students again and again, "We must dive". "Sink" means to calm down and "dive" means to dive in, dive to the deepest place, dive to the deepest place in life, dive to the deepest place in history and dive to the deepest place in learning. We should concentrate on ten years, that is to say, we should focus on long-term development and not be tempted by things in one place at a time.
I think many college students face many temptations, and they are easily influenced by the external environment. I just entered school. I am very excited and full of fantasies. In the first grade, I was very confused. When I was in grade two or three, I felt that I had lost my goal and was bored. Look at the classmates around you. People keep doing business and making money. I envy it. Seeing someone having fun and admiring, they become more and more lazy under the influence of the environment.
Now the fatal weakness of college students is laziness. Some people are very enthusiastic about doing social work, and I have no objection to doing it. However, some people have a strong purpose. If they are distracted too early, they will not be able to settle down, lack long-term vision and pursue instant success. Students should remember that you are now in the preparation stage of life, and it is not the time to participate in reality or make money. Of course, it is necessary and should be advocated for you to do work-study programs, but you can't just be busy making money during college, or you will regret it later.
Because only these four years in your life are independent and free, with only rights and no obligations, and there is still time to earn money in the future. In these four years, you didn't take the time, didn't study hard, and were tempted by various temptations. You gave up your long-term pursuit for short-term benefits, and you didn't lay a good foundation. You will suffer big losses in the future and regret it.
The future society is a society with fierce competition and rapid development. In this rapidly developing, changing and knowledge updating society, you must constantly change jobs, which depends on your practical skills. Only in this way can you adapt to this rapidly changing society.
That's what "diving for ten years" means. Don't rush to show yourself now, but rush to get involved in all kinds of things. After ten years, settle down and listen to me. This is a hero! Therefore, you must be determined. No matter what the surrounding environment is like, no matter what your roommates are like, everyone has their own interests. No matter how others do business and what others are doing, you know what you are doing-I just want to lay a good foundation.
We should focus on our own long-term development, our own long-term interests and the long-term interests of the international community and the nation, be down-to-earth, be unmoved by the surrounding environment, bury ourselves in reading and think about the fundamental problems of life, China and the world, and dive for ten years in this way. For the whole country, such a generation is also needed. Diving for ten years is my greatest and most sincere hope for everyone.
In the process of diving, there is another problem that needs attention. Reading, especially classics, will face two difficulties: first, you can't get in when facing classics. The so-called can't get in or can't get in is about two obstacles. The first is the word barrier. At present, many students in the Chinese department can't read ancient Chinese and can't punctuate. What are you talking about? This is the word pass.
It is even more difficult. China's culture stresses feelings and fate. You know it thoroughly, but you don't necessarily realize it. If you can't find its inside story and appreciate its charm, you will miss it. What is more difficult after going in is the problem of coming out, because the traditional culture of the East and the West can be summarized in four words-extensive and profound. You can point when you don't understand. The more you read, the more you admire. In this way, you are captured by him and can't jump out; You will lose yourself, so you might as well not go in.