If there is no education without class advocated by Confucius in the late Spring and Autumn Period, will ordinary people still have access to written knowledge?
If the imperial examination system was not implemented in Sui and Tang Dynasties, could ordinary people still study Confucian classics in private schools?
If there is no compulsory education in modern times, can ordinary people learn knowledge systematically?
In China before Confucius, only aristocrats could study, and the illiteracy rate was as high as 99%. Since the Imperial Examination in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the illiteracy rate in most dynasties was above 90%, and only in Song Dynasty, 20% of the population claimed to be literate. 1949 the illiteracy rate before literacy in new China is 80%.
The entrance of knowledge used to be very scarce, so the main value of education is to spread knowledge. This is why our evaluation of good teachers is often "learning to be rich and getting five cars".
Because for an ordinary person, this teacher may be the only entrance to knowledge in his life. If you can meet an "erudite" teacher, it means that you can absorb more knowledge; On the contrary, the knowledge we can absorb is very limited.
Therefore, when reading historical classics, you can often see disciples who followed their teachers all their lives: Yan Hui followed Confucius for 26 years until he died before Confucius; Wang Ji and Qian Dehong gave up the imperial examination and followed Wang Yangming for life until his death.
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However, with the development of information network, knowledge dissemination has become more convenient and extensive than before, and even a bit rampant.
In order to study Buddhist scriptures, Xuanzang had to travel 50,000 miles west, narrowly escaped death, and arrived at Nalanduo Temple in India, where he obtained more than 500 scriptures at that time.
But now, I can read Buddhist scriptures from all countries, from Indian to China, Japanese to Thailand and Bhutan, with a click of a mouse.
Kelpolo came to China from Italy for four years, traveled in Chinese mainland 17 years, and The Travels of Marco Polo was born. It brought the knowledge of geography, humanities and commerce of China in Yuan Dynasty to the Europeans at that time, and promoted the change of ideological trend.
But now, when I open the electronic map, I can easily browse the world and see the local real-time news.
Yan Hui, Wang Ji and Qian Dehong all need to be with their teachers all their lives to hear their lectures and teachings.
But now, when I log on to the online education platform, I can listen to the excellent courses of famous schools far away from the other side of the ocean, and I can also ask questions to teachers at any time and even communicate in real time.
When the entrance of knowledge becomes simple and the spread of knowledge becomes rampant, the unique entrance function of knowledge originally carried by education is rapidly losing. When spreading knowledge is no longer the main value of education, what is the unique value of education? What is the essence of education?
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20 16 Beijing satellite TV's "I am an orator" has a speech, which is Dong Zhongli's "The Meaning of Education".
This speech is really wonderful. Teacher Xiao Dong's eloquent speech made countless people cry. But unfortunately, Mr. Xiao Dong failed to see the essence of education.
There is a passage in this speech. Teacher Xiaodong said that for a moment, he was doing "education":
Once I talked about CET-4 translation and how Mr. Lin Yutang translated Jia Dao's When I Ask Your Students Under a Pine Tree, he replied, "My teacher went to collect herbs."
On how Mr. Xu Yuanchong translated Li Qingzhao's Search, Lonely and Sad.
Speaking of Mr. Wang Zuoliang's translation of samuel ullmann's Youth, "getting old is not getting old, but giving up ideals will lead to getting old."
I can't help dancing, and my pride as a teacher is bursting. At this moment, a girl at the bottom directly questioned me: What's the use of saying this? Can I get points in the exam? You are wasting our time.
I think I have a glib tongue, but at this moment, I am speechless. Yes, she's right. It's no use. Can't get points
But dear students, I didn't waste your time. Because at this moment, I'm not teaching you exams, I'm doing education.
If I may, please allow me to tell Teacher Xiaodong that you are teaching, not educating people!
In the CET-4 translation class, if I were on the scene, I would also ask you: What's the use of talking about this? Why do I have to spend time listening to this knowledge which is available everywhere in a CET-4 remedial class?
Did your dance satisfy your ostentatious speech or change me? The real "education" is not from imparting examination skills to imparting humanistic knowledge.
In 20 10, the illiteracy rate in China has dropped to 4.08%; 20 12, Cusella began to spread knowledge on the internet; 20 15 when the knowledge represented by Luo Ji's thinking is flooding among network celebrities, spreading knowledge should no longer be the main value of education, whether it is exam knowledge or humanistic knowledge!
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In the twentieth chapter of The Doctrine of the Mean, Zi Si has a famous sentence about scholarship: "Be knowledgeable, interrogate, think carefully, distinguish clearly and stick to it".
In the era when knowledge entrance is scarce, it is very important to have the opportunity of "erudition", so the main value of education lies in imparting knowledge. However, in today's flood of information and knowledge, the focus of academic research should be "interrogation, deliberation, discernment and perseverance".
Some people think that children's learning should start as early as possible, preferably from the uterus; However, some people think that children should not learn mathematics knowledge before the age of three, which will affect the normal development of children's brain neurons.
Some people think that the brain is divided into left and right brains, so it is necessary to develop the right brain of the doll from an early age and do whole-brain learning; However, some people think that there is no division of labor between the left and right brain, many functions are operated by the left and right brain, and everyone's brain control function is different.
This information will come to you when you search for brain development, and each one is plausible. Which one do you believe?
Therefore, there is no shortage of "erudition" in learning in this era, and all knowledge is at your fingertips. But you need to "interrogate it, think about it carefully and distinguish it clearly", that is, you should have the ability to think independently and distinguish right from wrong; You need "persistence", that is, you need to be able to change your behavior and achieve the unity of knowing and doing.
And education is to guide people to think independently and help people change their behavior. This is the essence of education in this era.