Read Tao Xingzhi 7: Acting is the beginning of knowing, and knowing is the fulfillment of acting.

This summer is very unusual, the heat is prolonged.

The global climate anomaly, typhoons also rare successive.

Days of torrential rain, over and over again, washing every corner of the earth unbearable.

In the blink of an eye, the school year is about to begin. Thinking back to the whole summer vacation, in addition to the necessary work and life, but also can only be accompanied by books, and computer.

"Either read or travel, body and soul, always have to have the same on the road." Such a beautiful sentence, reading is always exciting. However, because of mobility issues, the only way to spend the summer is by reading behind closed doors.

The good thing is that this is also a fulfillment of another noble maxim: the journey of life towards the world, the body can not reach the place, the vision can reach; vision can not reach the place, the thinking can reach.

A few days ago, I met an old colleague who worked at Xiaozhuang College, and he told me that today's Xiaozhuang College has two campuses, in Fangshan and Mochou, and that the old school is very small and the new school is very big.

The official website of the school describes it as "two districts, one park, and three annexes", with more than 16,000 students. I just wonder if Xiaozhuang today still carries out Tao Xingzhi's original intention of cultivating Chinese teachers in the countryside.

Tao said, "Xiaozhuang is a collection of poems that will never be finished."

[Teachers are the root of education]

Tao Xingzhi's emphasis on teacher education and physical practice, first in the concept, he believes, "We should know that the Republic of China is only a man in the people, there is no man on the people, and there is no man under the people." Education prepares people to compete, but even more so, it should prepare them to cooperate and collaborate. The ideal interpersonal relationship in a society is one in which "there is competition in cooperation, and collaboration in competition". The ideal society is one in which all people are equal, and therefore school education should cultivate people with a sense of equality. One of the most fundamental aspects of equality in society lies in the opportunities and conditions for education. As long as this bottom line is maintained, you can "get out of the place to be free" and realize the differentiated development of human beings.

"The biggest challenge to universal education is the training of teachers. We need at least 1.5 million teachers to popularize kindergarten education." Tao Xingzhi's vision is very wide, among his peers, he is not only concerned about the education of boys, but also noticed the girls and young people in the countryside; in the vertical age group, he is concerned about both kindergarten education and the education of the elderly, and thus realized that it is necessary to train teachers on a large scale.

With regard to elite education, Tao's view is roughly comparable to what is popular today. Today, it is common to say that the real elite is about five percent, while the very poorly endowed children are about the same number, and the rest of the population is not much different.

Thus, there is a sociological basis for a relatively equal and balanced promotion of primary and secondary education. "If we take a thousand men and arrange them in rows according to their cleverness, we know that the cleverest are a few, and the stupidest are a few, and that each is not much worse than those who are nearer."

He opposed the authoritarian thinking in the field of education, encouraging people to fight for "freedom of character", and contemporaries Chen Yinke, Wang Guowei advocated the "spirit of independence, freedom of thought" in the same way. He said, "Most of the emperors who started their businesses were geniuses. It is natural for geniuses to be jealous of geniuses." "The most powerful thing in the world is that a genius has gained true wisdom and knowledge. If the genius of politics has gained true knowledge about politics from experience, no one's kingdom will be secure."

He exposed the nature of education under the ancient Chinese dictatorship as leading the scholar to become rich, official and famous. "There are several ways for the emperor to lure geniuses into the trap of pseudo-intellectualism. One is to do his will and work hard on the pseudo-intellectual knowledge, then there will be hope for a good meal. Second, according to his will in the pseudo-intellectual effort will have the hope of becoming a big official. Third, if you follow his will and work at pseudo-intellectual knowledge, you will have the hope of honoring your ancestors." As we read it today, this passage is the vernacular expression of the poem that has been passed down for a long time and came from the hand of Emperor Song Zhenzong:

"A rich family does not need to buy a good field, and there are a thousand bells of millet in the book.

There is no need to erect tall buildings to live in peace; there are golden houses in books.

"You don't need to buy a good house to live in, there is a golden house in the book.

Don't be afraid to go out and be followed by others, for there are many cars and horses in the book.

If a man wants to fulfill his ambition in life, he should read the Pentateuch in front of the window."

But if there is only one or a few single or narrow career choices for the future of reading, then the relationship between individual reading and social enrichment must be problematic. The fact that there are thousands of people who are trying to become officials, and thousands of people who are trying to pass the exams, obviously hinders the development of the richness of the society, and limits the diversified development of the talents themselves, and the society is degenerated as a result.

Tao Xingzhi also has his own understanding of "knowledge", he believes that not all knowledge is valuable to the reality and future knowledge, there is also pseudo-knowledge. "The world after the twentieth century belongs to the people who endeavor to explore true knowledge. Any nation that worships pseudo-intellectual knowledge will be weakened to the point of extinction." China, on the other hand, was in the midst of "establishing virtue and speech without questioning the West and the East," and "New China is the product of two civilizations, the East and the West. The union of these two forces gives color and shape to China's present situation and determines its future destiny and hope." China's education should learn from all the strengths and share all the outstanding civilizational achievements of mankind, and then give full play to the charm and new life of traditional Chinese culture.

? [Teachers should have spiritual pursuits]

? According to Tao Xingzhi, education is "service" and "contribution", and only those who have the will to do so can enter this door. Teachers' life achievements, is reflected through the growth of students and the quantity and quality, just try to do, as the countryside Hu Shi motto said: "Try to do emblem camel".

"Educators should know that education is a nameless and honorless thing. An educator's opportunities are purely opportunities to serve, opportunities to contribute, and not the least of which is to be exempt from honor. His opportunities can be divided into four kinds: (1) those who can be taught; (2) those who can be taught but cannot be taught completely; (3) those who can be taught but cannot be taught evenly; (4) those who have been taught but cannot be taught well."

Tao Xingzhi's "life education" and "teaching and doing" are related. "The school is centered on life. There are both dead and living schools, and the one that centers on the whole person, the whole school, and the whole day's life of the students is considered to be a living school. The dead school works exclusively on books. What lies between the two can be regarded as a school that is not dead or alive."

Schools are spaces for life, places for culture, environments for interpersonal harmony, and gardens for mutual influence. "The school is a place where teachers and students *** live together. They must **** sweetness and bitterness. Sweet and bitter **** taste in order to get the spirit of communication, emotional harmony. National affairs and world trends must also be of concern to teachers and students. Teachers and students in the school should be dependent on each other, can not be separated, not to mention class. Personality should be mutual sensitization, habits should be mutual exercise. People only know Mr. sensitization students, exercise students, but do not know students with each other sensitization exercise and sensitization exercise Mr. power. Mr. and young people get along, unknowingly, the spirit to be a few years younger, this is Mr. love of the students' sensitization. The students questioned, Mr. study a moment can not slacken, is Mr. by the students of the exercise. This is inevitable, but also a good phenomenon. In short, teachers and students *** with life to what extent, the school anger also developed to what extent, this is not the slightest can not pretend."

"School life is the starting point of social life. Looking at the distance, starting from the near, the transformation of the social environment should start from the transformation of the school environment. The whole school should be in the spirit of fine arts **** with the transformation of the school environment. Wherever there is a need for remodeling, not even the slightest bit of it should be left to chance in order to show the true spirit of the school. Teachers and students can not *** with the transformation of the school environment and talk about social transformation, not to deceive themselves and others."

Tao Xingzhi advocates school education to lead people to experience and create a noble spiritual life, "de-materialization". "The noble spirit of life does not need to be bought with money, does not rely on money to invigorate, and cannot be shirked by the absence of money. What can be bought with money cannot be naturally bought without money; what cannot be bought with money can be obtained without money. Noble spirit is as inexhaustible as the moon in the mountains and the breeze on the river. No money is one thing, no spirit is another. I have seen schools with money but no spirit and schools without money but with spirit. Spirit is not bought by money. The spirit is in us. If we are willing to put in a little bit of spirit, we will have a little bit of spirit. It is not a question of whether there is money or not, it is only a question of whether I am willing to put out the spirit."

"Mr. Yangming said, 'Knowledge is the beginning of action, and action is the completion of knowledge.' I don't think that's right: action is the beginning of knowledge, and knowledge is the completion of action." Perhaps this is why he changed his name from "Zhi Xing" to "Xing Zhi".

[Together with the "line"]

Over and over again to experience Tao Xingzhi's "do middle school" and "teaching to do", compared to my educational career, dwarfed

Since the vacation, the heart has been secretly thinking about the situation of the children.

The first time I saw the movie was when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Yesterday, with the help of our colleagues, we once again took the initiative to step on Ningwu Road, through the "old place", into the triplet sisters in the old city rented home.

The children's father went to work.

This was the first time that the father did not wait for us to arrive.

The children's mother once again recounted that if the children's father had not put his savings into the transportation business the year before, and lost his money, he would have been better off now. Now, he only for others to open the truck, there are goods to pull when there is a wage, no goods to pull no money to send. In the summer vacation, a go to Nanjing to pull goods, only to have the opportunity to bring the three young daughters to Nanjing site to play a time.

The eldest daughter went to college this year, a vacation to the Golden Eagle hot pot restaurant, a day to earn eighty dollars. The university tuition fee is more than 10,000 yuan per year, as well as room and board and clothing costs, they must find a way to earn a little.

The eldest daughter told us that the hotel owner was afraid of this "prospective students", the future "stewardess" (air stewardess professional) was scalded, deliberately not let her contact hot pots, stove.

The class teacher of the triplet sister told us that the three children are very diligent in their studies, and their grades have improved, and they are all athletes in the games. Speaking of the Games, Mr. Song once again said with a smile on his face: with the three of them, the class of the "women's relay project" only need to enlist another girl, it's all there, and will certainly win the prize.

Next semester, the eldest daughter will go to the big city to study in the university, the triplet sister also brushed to the ninth grade. Every time I visit a home, the topic of sources of livelihood and financial pressure comes up. Every time, this pressure turned into a lingering cloud of worry in the corner of the eyes of the children's mother. Her smile was always imagined to be one of those "tearful smiles."

Of course, every time they visit this "populous" home, the teachers are unspoken, bring school supplies and gifts, but also based on prior consultation with the children's small wishes, and any donations are never publicized.

This time, about the children's new difficulties at home, on the way back, we are calculating how to continue to give a hand.

This is a family with temporary financial difficulties, tuition fees, living expenses, is the heart of the parents as if forever knot.

This is also a family full of unlimited hope: the eldest daughter in less than three years, with the civil aviation airliner air travel, realize the dream of the blue sky. The eyes of the triplets are full of spirit and ambition. Their bodies are healthy, and they are all making progress in their studies. I believe that in the community and more people's help, their excellent growth, very imaginative.

There is no need to think of giving help to people to return, of course, this is related to the cultural traditions of our affectionate society. Mencius studied the Chinese culture very y, and its views on the later generations of influence is also very deep: "old and old, as well as people old; young and young, as well as people's young". So it seems that the love of the country, there is a difference, there are close and distant, largely concentric circles.

The real purpose of helping people is the transmission and expansion of the recipient's consciousness and behavior. Love is not one-way, and the love of education should be more ripples, even waves.

What's more, the interaction with students' families enriches our vision of education and social observation, and the communication with students gives us a lot of inspiration and motivation. There is no such thing as absolute teaching and absolute learning, and there is no such thing as a teacher who only teaches but doesn't learn, and a student who only learns but doesn't teach, which is exactly the point of view of Mr. Tao.

One person "line", the small world of education has hope. Three people "line", then there must be my teacher. Together with the "line", education this "side of the pond" is due to the "living water", "clear as Xu". I would like to thank my colleagues for their participation!

[Note]? From the previous article China's educational transformation: Answer to the question of manipulating the Zhenqiu / How to make kindergarten education universal / "pseudo-intellectual" class / Art Friends system of teacher education to answer the questions of the guests; the next article Related articles Supplement: *** and the essence of / China in the transformation / Opportunities and Responsibilities of educators / Education and the scientific method / My view of school / Actions are the beginning of knowledge