We should not only have a clear dream, but also write it down and speak it out, so that it can light up every day of our lives like the sun.
In the spring of 2009, please tell your dream-to raise your sun ... "
-President Wang Zhanbao's speech at the opening ceremony of the second semester of the 2008-2009 academic year
This remark by President Wang Zhanbao of high school affiliated to nanjing normal university often awakens my inner thoughts on educational ideals and school responsibilities. In my opinion, education is a cause that enables people to accumulate the basic elements of life, thus gradually improving people's lives. Education is an awakening, a two-way interactive process of educators' value guidance and educatees' self-construction, but its ultimate pursuit is students' development. Individual freedom, group harmony, social justice, human well-being and dignity all depend on good education. "The basic function of education seems more than ever to ensure that people enjoy the freedom of thought, judgment, emotion and imagination needed to fully develop their talents and control their own destiny as firmly as possible." (UNESCO's "Education, the Wealth Contained in it") No matter an ideal education or an ideal school, it is full of the breath of dreams, the rhythm of life and the brilliance of wisdom without exception. If every student is waiting for the rising sun, then only in such a "field" can Ran Ran's "sun" rise.
The core of an ideal school
It is difficult for me to define an ideal school, but I think there is a core element to measure a school, that is, what kind of people the school is committed to cultivating, how to practice and act. This core element is often reflected in the school's "school philosophy".
"Dig into the roots and do great things." These eight words are said to be the school motto of the middle school attached to South Normal University, which can always arouse my reverie. At first I thought it was too simple, so simple that it was far from popular ideas. Seemingly simple, it doesn't match the history, status and reputation of a century-old prestigious school. But the more I thought about it later, the more I felt that these eight words made sense. I think it's really simple to see the truth. More importantly, these eight words have not only stayed at the literal level, but have become the action guide and internal driving force of school education. On the contrary, in reality, we see that many schools just carve their beautiful "school-running ideas" on stones and write them on publicity materials, but they can't put them into action. Those dazzling so-called "school ideas" are just beautiful hats or excuses. This is the difference between school and school, and it is also the difference between ideal and reality. I can't criticize the school's pursuit of secular success, but I appreciate that a school can stick to its own ideals and make tenacious progress towards such ideals.
With the concept of "chewing vegetable roots and doing great things", the High School Attached to South Normal University strives to "cultivate the leaders of the future society-people who take the world as their responsibility and have creative personality characteristics", and strive to brand teachers and students with "responsibility" and "creation", and strive to "implement quality education with high quality to promote the excellent development of each student" and strive to make "excellent students" give you a cultural feeling. Give you some time to study and organize; Give you a stage to perform; Give you some opportunities to learn and create: give you an expectation and let you grow. "
The man at the helm
Considering a school, I attach great importance to the tolerance and philosophy of the principal and the educational practice that has injected this tolerance and philosophy. In my opinion, for principals, education is to break all kinds of traditional conventions, common sense and dogma, examine the educational reality with a more open, scientific and rational eye, integrate reality and ideal to the maximum extent, and realize the humanistic value of school education from goodness to beauty by building a modern school system and all-round development of teachers and students.
To be the helm of such an excellent school as the Middle School Attached to South Normal University, we must have several factors: firm educational ideal, profound educational concept, broad educational vision and solid educational action. President Wang Zhanbao is undoubtedly a headmaster with ideals, thoughts and actions. Every time I contact President Wang Zhanbao, I can feel his elegance. His good talk always makes me admire and even break my heart ―― he is not impetuous, and he knows the significance of silence to a principal. I often pay attention to President Wang Zhanbao's speeches and speeches on various occasions on the website of the Middle School Attached to Nanjing Normal University. Some speeches for students are often full of passion and excitement to read. Others are full of wisdom and speculative colors, which reflect his unique views on the direction of education and school development, and often arouse strong voices in his heart. For example, he thinks that "education should inspire life", for example, he thinks that middle school education should be connected with university education, and so on. For example, he believes that the essence of learning lies in understanding thoughts, learning to think, solving problems and creating new knowledge, which all reflect the independent and rational thinking of a principal.
President Wang Zhanbao said that he is by no means the only principal who manages and leads the middle school attached to Nanjing Normal University. Hu Bailiang's profound thoughts and advanced ideas, their persistence, passion and strong sense of responsibility have been deeply rooted in the school. It has become the conscious action of all teachers. From this perspective, everything in the school is actually the "* * * same decision" of President Wang and previous presidents, and it is the presentation of their collective wisdom.
Cultivate a real person with morality
Schools are people. That is to humanize people with the idea of human beings, and promote students to become virtuous real people with educational behaviors, methods and carriers that conform to human laws.
A big defect of traditional moral education is empty preaching, which is not based on the ethics of "truth", so it will not produce "real" morality. The moral growth of students needs true and sincere moral education. School moral education should fully embody the students' development-oriented, oppose the impetuous and utilitarian environment, reject the pan-entertainment lifestyle, online game spoof, material enjoyment and money desire, stick to the real civilization, practice the real moral education, pay attention to the real moral conflict, create a real moral atmosphere and moral scene, refine the real wisdom of moral education, and build a sincere moral dialogue mechanism. Let students enjoy true and sincere moral education.
Based on this, I appreciate the practice of asking reporters to read out "the original words of the paper" at the defense meeting of students' excellent papers on research study. The main content is: "This group solemnly declares that the research study paper submitted this time. It is the result of our independent research work under the guidance of our tutor. Apart from what is quoted in this article, this article does not contain any other works or achievements published or written by individuals or groups. Individuals and collectives who have made important contributions to this research have been clearly marked in the article. "
Although such behavior is suspected of "coercion" and "command", I think it is indeed a necessary and beneficial "indoctrination". This "indoctrination" emphasizes a distinct value orientation: students and even all of us should abide by basic moral laws and basic academic norms, which is an unbreakable bottom line. With such a "bottom line" consciousness, the virtues of "truth" and "goodness" are possible, and the ideal character of education is possible.
"water" teacher
Tagore has such a saying: "It is not the hammering, but the singing and dancing of water that makes pebbles perfect." In my opinion, the teacher in the ideal school is the teacher with this kind of "water" power.
There is no doubt that teachers, as disseminators of knowledge and culture, need specialized skills and knowledge. But a rich spiritual world is needed to lay the foundation for these skills. Without spiritual skills, even if students can have more complete knowledge, they will be like a cold reins, which will hold back students' personality development, personality publicity and creative spirit, and eventually dispel students' spirit and soul. Only teachers with rich spiritual world can complete the mission of education. "Water" teachers not only pay attention to skills, but also pay attention to spirit. Teachers like water uphold love, tolerance and ideals, pursue the spirit of freedom and independent personality, and have a strong sense of life, innovation, reflection and future spirit. They pursue humanistic care and strive to "pay attention to, criticize and correct all unfair, unreasonable, inhuman and inhumane thoughts, systems, rules and habits", "awaken and protect human dignity, and pay attention to and enhance human value and significance.
"If students want to stand up straight, teachers can't teach on their knees. If a teacher does not have the spirit of independent thinking, what kind of person is his student union? " "Education without humanistic spirit will not lead to serious consequences immediately like mistakes in industrial and agricultural production, but it will be hidden for a long time. When it is long, it is really hard to return." "If the extreme exam-oriented teaching lacking humanistic spirit is also called' education', it is a shame and a stain on education." These sharp but instructive remarks come from Wu Fei, a teacher who "does not kneel to teach" in the Middle School Attached to South Normal University. All along, he not only tried to convey the ideal of education with a thinking attitude, but also explained the spirit of "water" with his own practical actions. There are many teachers like Wu Fei in the middle school attached to South Normal University. They may not be as famous as Wu Fei, but they are full of ideals, passion and poetry, and pay attention to social destiny, social responsibility and personality charm. They not only stand firmly on the land under their feet, but also look up at the vast blue sky overhead, working hard in the unique garden of the school, harvesting spring and autumn.
Establish a suitable curriculum
Curriculum is the most basic carrier to realize the value of the school, and it is the concrete embodiment of the school-running concept and training objectives. The level of curriculum implementation and management in a school directly determines the quality of running a school. Each school has different historical traditions, realities and students' realities, and this difference should be reflected in different curriculum systems and personalized curriculum implementation. In this sense, "the curriculum of every school should actually be a' school-based curriculum'" (Wang Zhanbao). An ideal school should have an ideal curriculum and devote itself to building a real school-based curriculum system.
The High School Attached to South Normal University agrees with the value orientation of the new round of national curriculum reform, and creatively implements the national curriculum on this basis. According to the training objectives of the school, the national curriculum has been school-based and incorporated into the school curriculum system. According to the needs of different types of students, the school has designed moral education courses, reconstructed comprehensive practical courses and built a number of course groups, thus forming a curriculum supermarket in high school affiliated to nanjing normal university and basically forming a diversified, hierarchical, selective and dynamic school-based curriculum system. At present, nearly 200 school-based elective courses (including fast food courses) have been opened in high school affiliated to nanjing normal university, and the Course Guide of high school affiliated to nanjing normal university has been compiled, which implements the course management of grading, exemption and credit system. In addition, the school has also developed a new curriculum educational administration system to provide technical support for the implementation of school-based curriculum. It can be said that there are no national courses in the traditional sense in the middle school attached to South Normal University, and all national courses have been digested by the school and become school-based courses that meet the actual needs of schools and students.
Among these courses, I appreciate some school-based courses with school characteristics. Such as "career planning" school-based curriculum, to cultivate the awareness and ability of independent management; Provide college elective courses for students who have the ability and need, ask university teachers to compile teaching materials and offer elective courses in schools. It is these unique courses that provide important choices for students' individualized development.
Precious details of life.
The ideal school must devote itself to laying a solid foundation of knowledge, spirit and personality for students' broad study and life in the future, and this influence often takes a long time to prove. Because of this, the ideal school will inevitably make students reluctant to go, and it will also inevitably make students still have a sense of spiritual closeness and spiritual identity after leaving school. The influence of an ideal school on students may come from excellent teachers or from the colorful youth details of campus life. These details are likely to be treasured by students for a lifetime.
Every time, I can always find valuable educational elements from the campus activities of the middle school attached to South Normal University, and I am surprised, moved and admired. The 2009 graduation ceremony of the High School Attached to South Normal University is elegant and novel, with solemn ceremony and atmosphere, students' proud, happy and beautiful youthful expressions, teachers' earnest expectations and instructions, and those affectionate parting words, all of which make people believe that this school will always occupy a place in their hearts: at the international cultural festival of Grade One, social culture and folk customs from all over the world meet and present here, and elements such as dance, music and technology are obtained here. In the traditional activity "3 1 km Walking Action", teachers and students walked hand in hand for more than 8 hours at night, feeling with their own hearts and answering with their own steps. In the process of history and reality, their strong sense of responsibility and team spirit make the arduous "March" become a spiritual feast. In addition, the weekly flag-raising ceremony, public welfare activities in winter and summer vacations, sports festivals, chorus festivals, welcome concerts, international science and technology cultural festivals, inter-school community activities, networking activities, etc. They are all feasts of campus cultural life, from which students can find details worthy of their own collection.
Outstanding development in the era of globalization
The "outstanding development" pursued by the middle school attached to South Normal University is the outstanding development in the era of globalization. The students in the affiliated middle school "take the world as their own responsibility". This "world" is not only China, but also the whole world; The excellent development of the students in the affiliated middle school is not only in China, but also to show their unique charm on the world stage. Only by thinking of the motherland, looking at the world and cultivating the ability of communication, dialogue and full development in the international environment can we truly achieve "outstanding development", truly become a world citizen and an international talent, and truly take the world as our responsibility.
The school has been adhering to the goal of "China Excellent Middle School in the Era of Globalization", striving to "introduce the world into the affiliated middle school, let the affiliated middle school go global, and build a direct bridge between the affiliated middle school and the world", and explore its own way for cultivating world citizens and international talents. In July, 2007, the High School Attached to South Normal University was authorized by the Geneva headquarters of IB International Diploma Organization (IBO) and officially granted the right to offer IB international diploma courses, becoming the first public school in China to offer IB courses and recruit domestic students. This course is a high school course for students all over the world, and it is also a pre-university course. For two years, the teaching language is English. Its main purpose is to enable students to receive international education and cultivate their logical thinking ability, creative ability and critical ability on the basis of accepting excellent cultures of different nationalities and inheriting the basic knowledge of advanced human science and culture. Become an international talent facing the future.
Through this special carrier, many students are gradually becoming "people with international feelings". At present, all the graduates of the first IB course have successfully completed the academic tasks of the international diploma course, all put on graduation clothes, and all have been admitted to international institutions of higher learning. Zhu Haokang, a 2007 student, was selected as a member of the World Youth Leaders Summit-American Presidential Classroom Project during his study and life in the United States, and his proposal became the second proposal adopted by all countries since the establishment of the Presidential Classroom Project for more than 40 years. In May this year, two IB senior three students, Heng, Wang Majie and Dai Xingjie, were formally invited by the organizing committee of the annual meeting of international system dynamics to attend the 27th annual meeting of international system dynamics held in the United States in July this year.
Although the experience of running a school in the middle school attached to South Normal University cannot be copied, no matter what kind of school, "devoting itself to the free and all-round development of people should be its place to settle down and its foundation, and the liberation, freedom, transcendence and perfection of people should be its fundamental connotation" (Xiaochuan dialect). On the way to tomorrow, I hope that the Middle School Attached to South Normal University will continue to surpass itself and continue to lead. I also hope that more and more schools will embark on the road of exploration that suits them under the call of ideals.