Xue Ji was written in the 4th to 3rd century BC. According to Mr. Guo Moruo's textual research, its author may be Ke, a student of Mencius. The full text of Xue Ji consists of ***20 sections, 1229 words. Its length is short and pithy, its content is quite rich and incisive. It is a summary of China's pre-Qin educational thought and practice. ?
The Book of Learning mainly discusses the function and purpose of education, the principles and methods of school management, education and teaching, teachers' problems and other issues related to educational theory and practice:
First, the role and purpose of education
Xue Ji inherited the consistent thought of pre-Qin Confucianism and regarded education as the most effective means to implement political and social management. Therefore, at the beginning of Xue Ji, the function and purpose of education are discussed in the beautiful language of epigrams. It said, "worrying about the constitution and seeking goodness is enough to pay attention to it, but not enough to move the public." The sage is far away, enough to move the public, not enough to turn the people. If a gentleman wants to turn people into customs, he must learn it first. Jade is not cut, not a tool; People don't learn or know. Therefore, the ancient king, building the people, teaching first. " That is to say, since ancient times, any ruler (king) who has done something can't achieve his goal simply by issuing political orders and seeking talents. If the rulers want to make the people obey the social order, form good customs and habits, and thus achieve the purpose of governing the world, they must develop social education and improve the cultural literacy and moral consciousness of all the people through social education. In addition, although people are born kind, they can't understand the truth without receiving education and studying hard, let alone obeying the "king". It's like a beautiful jade. Although its texture is beautiful, it cannot be a beautiful musical instrument without careful carving. Ancient emperors knew this well. In the process of building the country and ruling the people, they always attach great importance to the development of education and give priority to education. ?
The author of Xue Ji expounds the role of education in changing customs and building the country, and emphasizes that the purpose of education is to serve social politics, thus closely linking education with personal development and social progress, especially highlighting the political function of education and forming the outstanding characteristics of ancient education in China.
Second, the education system and school management.
While emphasizing the role of education and clarifying the purpose of education, Xueji plans the school education system and puts forward specific measures for school management.
As for the school education system, the author of Xue Ji first planned the education system from ancient times to the present in a reformed way. It says:
"The ancient teachers have learned, the party has a dilemma, the technology is orderly, and the state has learned." Home, party, technology and country are administrative divisions from local to central. The author of Xue Ji proposed that schools of different levels should be set up in different local administrative institutions, and national universities and primary schools should be set up in the central government to form a criss-crossing educational network. Schools, schools, schools, schools are located at home, in the party, in technology and in the country. This idea had a great influence on the formation of China feudal social education system. After the Han Dynasty, an education system was gradually formed, in which the central and local governments and schools stood side by side. ? Secondly, the idea of establishing academic year system is put forward. The author of Xue Ji mainly talked about the study period and time arrangement of the university. He divided university education into two stages: "small success" and "great success". The learning cycle of "small achievement" stage is 7 years, and that of "great achievement" stage is 2 years, which is the bud of establishing hierarchical system in ancient school education. ?
With regard to the specific measures of school management, Xue Ji first paid special attention to college entrance education and the management of students' daily behavior. He said: "The university began to teach, and the skin was sacrificed to show respect for the Tao. The night is elegant, and the official is also beginning. Sun also had a career when he was at school. Xia and Chu, accept their prestige. I don't know the truth, I don't look at my studies, I just travel for my ambition. Watch the time to talk and keep your heart. The young people listened and asked, learning to raise or not. " These seven things are also of great significance to teaching. The Book of Learning regards entrance education as the beginning of university education, and requires that on the first day of school, the prince should lead officials from civil and military departments to attend the opening ceremony in Gong Xue, and offer sacrifices to sages and teachers with fresh fruits and vegetables to show respect for teachers and morality.
After the opening ceremony, the freshmen first learned three poems from The Book of Songs Xiaoya, namely, Luming Literature, Four Exquisites, and Flowers of the King, which were three poems enjoyed by the monarch and his ministers. Their purpose is to tell students that college education is to train government officials, and going to college is "the beginning of an official", which is equivalent to stepping on the first step of a career. After the entrance education, the daily teaching work must also be strictly implemented. In class, students can only open their books and take them out when they hear the drums, so as to cultivate students' attitude of serious study. Teachers should prepare a pointer to punish students before class (that is, "early summer"), so as to enforce classroom discipline and prevent students from neglecting their studies because of laziness.
The emperor or government officials appointed by the emperor himself are not allowed to come to the school to inspect and assess students' academic performance before the end of the summer vacation, so that students can have more time to study calmly according to their own interests. In the teaching process, teachers should always check students' learning situation, find problems in time and give correct guidance, but don't tell them too much what to do, so as to give students room for independent thinking, let them fully appreciate the fun of learning, and cultivate a strong thirst for knowledge and self-learning ability. Young students should pay attention to listening more and asking less, follow the learning order from shallow to deep, and achieve "learning without eating". This is the basic regulation and concrete behavior guide of daily education and teaching management in colleges and universities, which is clear, concrete and feasible. Among them, the emperor's system of inspecting students was inherited and became a fine tradition of China's feudal education system. ?
Thirdly, the author of Xue Ji advocates that universities must establish a strict performance evaluation system, and conduct regular quizzes and big performance evaluations every other year, with clear standards for each evaluation. "Xue Ji" said: "I will enter school the next year and take the middle-aged exam. Different from the classic year; Three-year-old professional music group; Be a teacher for five years; Seven years of study and making friends is a small achievement. " Nine years of experience, a firm stand and no opposition are great achievements. "It means that the university recruits new students every year and conducts a major performance assessment every other year: in the first year, it examines students' ability to distinguish between ambition and classics, that is, their ability to analyze sentences and their interest in learning; In the third year, we will examine whether it is a "dedicated music group"; In the fifth year, we will examine whether it can learn from others and learn from others. In the seventh year, the ability of "learning from friends" was investigated, and those who reached the standard were called "Cheng Xiao"; In another two years, that is, nine years, we will examine whether students can be "knowledgeable, stand firm and not oppose", that is, they can integrate knowledge and be firm in their thoughts and actions. Those who meet the standards are called "Dacheng". ?
It can be seen that the performance evaluation system advocated by the author of Xue Ji has the characteristics of gradual progress and equal emphasis on intelligence and morality, which embodies the tradition of attaching importance to morality, intelligence and physique in ancient education in China.
Three. Principles and methods of education
The author of Xue Ji summarizes the experience and lessons of success or failure of education since the pre-Qin period, and points out the principles that must be followed and the methods that should be adopted in the process of education and teaching. ?
First of all, he pointed out the problems existing in the education and teaching process at that time. He said:
Nowadays, teachers are moaning that they are full of information and words, and then they ignore their own safety. People can't help being sincere, and teaching people can't make the best use of it. What it does is the opposite, and what it seeks is Buddha. However, if you are a husband, you will learn from him and get sick from his teacher. You will suffer from his difficulties and not know his benefits. Although it will end in a career, it will go quickly. ?
The so-called "moaning at the end" means that the teacher only asks the students to read the text aloud, but does not let the students think independently; "Talking a lot" means asking complicated questions, blindly teaching and instilling, and not paying attention to the cultivation of students' initiative; The meaning of "the number of teachers doesn't care about their safety" means that in the teaching process, teachers only pay attention to speed, seize the time and ignore the students' acceptance ability; "Making people unwilling to be sincere" means that teaching only starts from the wishes of educators and does not consider the inner needs of students; "Teach people not to judge by appearances" means that teachers teach students in accordance with their aptitude regardless of their differences in personality and talent. These disadvantages do great harm to teaching, which leads students to hate learning, dislike teachers, regard learning as a painful thing, and fail to appreciate the fun. Therefore, although it seems that students are studying every day, they have not made substantial progress in their studies. Even if they barely finish their studies, they will soon be forgotten. In order to correct the problems in teaching, Xue Ji discussed "the reason of teaching" and "the reason of teaching".
Law of University: Pre-announcement is prohibited; When it can be called; Don't care, call Sun; Looking at each other is good, called friction. These four things are all taught by Xing Jiao. If you send it and then block it, it will be embarrassing and invincible. If you study outside your time, you will work hard and it will be difficult to achieve. Miscellaneous but not inferior, it is chaotic and not repaired. Studying alone without friends is ignorance. Yan Peng rebelled against his teacher, and Yan Bi abandoned school. What these six teachers taught was abandoned.
Foresight is the principle of putting prevention first. Xue Ji advocates "nip in the bud", that is, when students' bad ideas and habits have not yet formed, they will be eliminated in the bud. Practice has proved that it is much more difficult to transform the old than to mold the new. As the Book of Learning says, "If the old man forbids it, he will be defeated." Therefore, whether it is the teaching of cultural knowledge or the cultivation of moral quality, we must adhere to the principles of prevention first, shaping first and transforming into later. This is really an empirical talk. ?
"Time" means "free time", which is the principle of timely teaching. Xueji requires that teaching must grasp the appropriate opportunity and teach at the right time. Specifically, it includes two meanings: first, teenagers should enter school at the right time and at the best learning age so as not to miss the opportunity; Second, teachers should grasp the key opportunity of teaching in the teaching process, stimulate students' thirst for knowledge, and give timely guidance when students have a strong thirst for knowledge. Otherwise, we will miss the best age of study and the critical period of forming a certain psychological quality, which is "hard-working". ?
"Sun" means "giving without restraint", that is, the principle of gradual progress. Learning notes emphasize "learning without eating", and its main meanings include: first, we should consider the sequence of students' cognitive activities, that is, consider students' acceptance ability to arrange teaching content and design teaching methods; Second, we should follow the logical system within scientific knowledge in teaching, otherwise, "we will not learn from others, be in a mess, and not trim our margins."
"Mo" is the principle of "looking at each other and being good". The Book of Learning emphasizes that teachers and friends should learn from each other, learn from each other's strong points and make progress through collective discussion, contention and competition. Otherwise, if a person studies alone, refuses the help of classmates from the collective environment, and works behind closed doors, it will inevitably lead to the embarrassment of "being ignorant". However, you must choose your friends carefully. If you make friends with irresponsible people, you will not only fail to achieve the goal of "being kind to others", but also violate the teacher's teaching and even neglect your studies. As the saying goes, "Yan Peng didn't listen to his teacher" and "Yan Bi neglected his studies".
Xue Ji's greatest contribution in the history of education in China and the world is that he first put forward the teaching principle of "learning to save the lost", and inherited and developed the teaching principle of "good metaphor" advocated by Confucius. ?
1. Principles of doing good and saving the lost.
"Xue Ji" said: "When a scholar makes four mistakes, he must know it. People learn too much, or lose too little, or lose too easily, or stop. These four hearts are different. Knowing his heart can save his loss. " Four shortcomings or mistakes, or more than one can chew; Or the knowledge is too narrow and one-sided specialization; Or avoid heavy and light; Or try it and settle for the next best. These four shortcomings are caused by the different psychological States of students when they study, that is, "different hearts." As teachers, we must understand the learning psychology of students, understand the psychological differences of different students, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, make up for disadvantages and promote the normal development of students. ?
2. Tibet and the principle of complementary interests
The Book of Learning requires teachers to be good at dealing with the relationship between learning in regular classes and hobbies in the teaching process, so that learning in regular classes has a main direction, and hobbies are wide and diverse, and hobbies are helpful to learning in regular classes. Yukime said:
Teaching in a university also means having a proper career when teaching and a place to live when retiring. If you don't learn to hold the string, you can't set the string; If you don't learn bo yi, you can't learn poetry; You won't be polite unless you learn miscellaneous clothes. If you don't like your art, you can't enjoy learning. Therefore, a gentleman is learning, hiding and practicing, and traveling at rest.
Yukime pointed out that hobbies, that is, "living on campus", can assist regular classroom learning, because if you don't play various musical instruments outside class, you can't learn piano and musical instruments skillfully in class; If you don't learn to sing and recite miscellaneous poems after class, you can't deeply understand the Book of Songs in class. If you don't practice sweeping the floor after class to deal with these chores, you won't learn good manners in class. Therefore, in the teaching process, teachers must consciously guide students to correctly handle the relationship between classroom learning and hobbies, so that regular classroom learning, that is, "hiding", has the main direction and learning (repairing); Hobbies, that is, "interests" are vivid and diverse, which makes the whole teaching and learning activities a relaxed, serious and lively and pleasant process. ?
3. Inspiration and induction, that is, the principle of good metaphor.
Xueji inherits the teaching thought inspired by Confucius, and requires teachers to fully mobilize students' enthusiasm in the teaching process, encourage students to think positively, and make the teaching process a process of bilateral activities between teachers and students. This is the guiding principle that must be followed in teaching. So Yukime said:?
Therefore, the teaching metaphor of a gentleman is also: Tao leads the way; Strong and introverted; Kelfuda Road leads to harmony; Easy to be strong and easy to restrain; Open your mind. Harmony with Louise is a good metaphor. ?
This means that teachers should pay attention to inspiration and induction in the teaching process. Guide students but don't lead them by the nose, so that teachers and students can meet each other harmoniously; Be strict with students, but don't suppress their personalities and needs. Only in this way can students feel that although they are under pressure, they can easily achieve their goals and will not "be swayed by considerations of gain and loss"; Guiding students to open their minds instead of rushing to provide ready-made answers can cultivate students' habit of independent thinking and truly achieve "harmony and easy thinking" in the teaching process, which is considered as a metaphor. This is the inheritance and development of Confucius' enlightening and inducing teaching thought in Xue Ji.
Fourth, teachers and students.
Xue Ji inherited the glorious tradition of pre-Qin Confucianism, especially Confucius and Xunzi, which attached importance to teachers' problems, and believed that the key to the success or failure of teaching was teachers. With good teachers, unreasonable rules and regulations can be corrected, unscientific content system can be adjusted, and unclear educational goals can be clarified and highlighted. So teachers are the key to improve the quality of education.
On the role of teachers. Learning notes vividly illustrate the leading role of teachers in the educational process by saying that "a good singer makes people follow their voices and a good teacher makes people follow their aspirations". Because the growth of talents can not be separated from teachers, and the progress of society can not be separated from teachers, Xue Ji put forward the idea of respecting teachers and valuing morality.
On the basic qualities that teachers should possess;
Xue Ji puts forward that the main duty of teachers is to be good at saving losses, which says: "Teachers are good at saving losses." Teachers have great responsibilities, and the whole society should respect teachers: "Three kings and four generations are only teachers", which inevitably puts high demands on teachers' quality. Teachers should have the qualities of "being a monarch" and "being a monarch". The Book of Learning says, "A teacher can be a teacher for a long time and a monarch for a long time." When it comes to the qualities that teachers should have, they include the following aspects:
First, it has a high political quality and moral consciousness, because "a teacher is also a teacher, so learning is also a monarch."
The second is to have extensive knowledge. "It is not enough to be a teacher to study backrest problems. You must listen to the language." You can't be a good teacher just by preparing lessons in advance and then reciting ready-made answers. To be a qualified teacher, you must have a broad knowledge base, be proficient in the professional knowledge you teach, be profound, be able to answer students' questions at any time, and form a reasonable knowledge structure.
The third is to understand the laws of education. Knowing the truth that "teaching flourishes and teaching is abolished", "then you can be a teacher"; We should flexibly use educational principles and methods to achieve "metaphor" in the teaching process, that is, be good at inspiring teaching. "Xue Ji" said: "A gentleman knows the difficulty of learning and the beauty and evil, and then he can be metaphorical. You can be a metaphor and then be a teacher. " It is one of the basic conditions for a qualified teacher to understand the key points, difficulties and differences in students' quality, and to carry out targeted teaching on this basis.
Fourth, teachers are required to have good language skills. "What they say is true, what they promise is true, what they say is subtle, and what they say is hard to understand." . This means that when the teacher explains the problem, he should be concise, thorough, subtle and safe, with few but typical examples, which can fully explain the problem. ? On the question of how teachers can improve themselves, Xue Ji put forward the proposition that "teaching and learning should learn from each other" for the first time in the history of world education. Yukime said:
Although there are good dishes, food does not know its use; Although there is supreme Tao, Buddhism does not know its goodness. Therefore, learning is not enough, and teaching is difficult. If you don't know enough, then you can reverse; Advance despite difficulties, and then strive for self-improvement. So teaching and learning are also beneficial.
The original meaning of "learning from others" means that the teacher's own learning is a kind of learning, and so is the educational practice he teaches others. Because of the mutual promotion of these two learning activities, teachers have made continuous progress. Therefore, Xue Ji advocates that teachers should learn from books on the one hand, and only by learning can they find their own defects and deficiencies in knowledge accumulation and make continuous progress, which is an important way to improve themselves; On the other hand, we should study in teaching practice, and find that we still have some incomprehensible problems for students in teaching practice, that is, "making progress despite difficulties", so as to urge ourselves to constantly strive for self-improvement and constantly improve their professional level. "Learn from each other's strengths to make up for each other's shortcomings" originally meant that teachers themselves should constantly learn from books and educational practice, and later it was extended to the dialectical unity relationship of teachers and students complementing each other, promoting each other and encouraging each other. The glorious proposition of "learning from each other's strengths to make up for each other's weaknesses" is a great contribution of Xue Ji to the history of world education.