Education in China

Regarding Chinese education, it has always been a controversial topic. Some people think that China’s vast territory, large population, and uneven education levels are normal. Although there are many unreasonable aspects of Chinese education, it is undeniable that it provides a large number of talent to the country and plays a key role in the development of society. In this way, Chinese education is successful, but some people believe that Chinese education is geared blindly towards exam-oriented education and does not play an important role in improving the quality of people. Regarding these two points of controversy, we will not express any such opinions for the time being. The good aspects of Western education can be used for reference by China, and areas where China’s education excels should continue to be carried forward. In recent years, some people living abroad have compared the differences between Chinese and Western education based on their experiences. On the one hand, these comparisons enrich our understanding of education. On the other hand, the binary opposition between model, conceptualization and abstraction also undermines our correct understanding of education. The differences are mainly reflected in the educational goal, Western education is based in civic education, Chinese education is more based on exam-oriented education; in the concept of education, Western education emphasizes freedom, respects each student’s personality and characteristics, and cultivates the students’ creativity, Chinese education emphasizes discipline and order,in teaching methods, Western education is a gentle inspiration-inducing educational experience, China is a narratively driven form of education; while Western education is based on equality, dialogue and communication, Chinese education demands listening to the words of  the parents etc. Due to the differences in history, culture, tradition, society, climate and environment, there are inevitably some differences in the phenomenon between Chinese and Western education. Before starting the discussion below, what we would like to seriously point out is that the Chinese education mentioned here does not only mean the current Chinese educational system, but the educational ideals, education traditions and education that has been confined from Confucius for thousands of years. Spirit, solving the problem of education in contemporary China, not only needs the eyes to look outward, learning from the Western educational concepts and models, but also needs the eyes to look inward, drawing wisdom and strength from the great educational thoughts and practices of ancient China. The Analects of Confucius “is one of the human education Bibles and is an inexhaustible ideological treasure of the Chinese. From this perspective, we can more clearly see the problems of the “face-to-face” comparison between Chinese and Western educational systems. The value of teaching people how to behave can be seen in Confucius’s highest educational ideal, “benevolence”. What is “benevolence”? Zi Yan: “Lover” Mencius also said: “The benevolent loves people, the rites are respectful and lover, the people are always in love; the respected person, the person is always respectful” it is not only the philosophy of the most influential Plato in the West, Wang’s educational thought, Rousseau’s natural education thought, Dewey’s democratic education thoughts coincides, and it is far more abundant and transcendence than the latter. In ancient China, the primary goal of education was morality, and secondly, the specific knowledge and skills of “scientific and literary.” Therefore, Confucius said: “Disciples, enter the filial piety, and then swear, and believe, and love the public, and the relatives. If there is more power, then learn the text.” After practicing a series of moral goals such as filial piety and love In addition, there is still room for learning cultural knowledge. “University” is openly stated that “the way of the university, in Ming, in being close to people, is at the best.” In Han Yu’s educational world, “preaching” is the primary responsibility of teachers, and “teaching” is second. The order is very clear. Since the 20th century, the pain of the narrowness brought about by professional education and the limitations of the overall development of people, the top universities in the West have carried out undergraduate educational reform marked by general education, Chinese universities have now also joined these ranks and followed suit. The core of general education is to overcome the increasingly serious professionalism and also professionalism in higher education, in order to gather the consensus of society, and to cultivate a complete person who has a comprehensive understanding of himself and his position in society and the universe . Such thoughts have long existed in Confucius’ educational practice, and the realm is even higher. As Western education only recognizes the value of “common knowledge”, Confucius emphasizes the higher level of “common virtue” and “common knowledge” as second. Morality is much more important than occupation. Three thousand disciples under Confucius, divided into four categories: virtue, speech, political affairs, and literature. Among them, the highest subject of moral behavior, followed by words, followed by political affairs, is the representative of literature (that is, knowledge) in the last virtues of Yan Yuan – is also the favorite disciple of Confucius – “use it, then hide it” even if I learned to be full of skills. If I violated the Tao, I would rather hide it without using the sub-discipline of the liberal arts. This educational philosophy of “heavy tactics” has profoundly affected the development of Chinese society since then. In ancient China, the technique was called “singularity and skillfulness”. Today, while criticizing Chinese education for stifling students’ individuality and creativity, people often highly respect the cultivation of Western students’ personality and creativity. As everyone knows, respecting the personality of students is precisely the essence of ancient Chinese educational thought. The most important contribution Confucius made to Chinese education was to put forward the great thought path of “teaching students according to their aptitude” Western education is a mirror that allows Chinese people to see their problems more clearly from the perspective of “others”. Education is not only a means of imparting knowledge, or even training. In final analysis, education and culture are closely linked to make students more mature and more intelligent, helping them to establish a cultural identity. Education requires people to know who you are, where you are and your roots. The symbol of success in education should be: to cultivate a healthy personality, good moral character, open mind, innovative values, and a strong sense of responsibility. We hope that everyone can have a well education!