Gansheng unified | scribes are easy to seek, and teachers are rare

【Guangming Forum· Wen Gu】

Author: Gan Shengtong (Professor, College of Literature, Hainan Normal University)

"Teachers are easy to find, but teachers are rare." It is an old saying quoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping when discussing the duties and missions of teachers in the ideological and political science class. In the important article of the general secretary published by Qiushi magazine, "Ideological and Political Science Course is a Key Course for Implementing the Fundamental Task of Li De Shu People", it was pointed out: "'Teachers are easy to seek, and teachers are rare. 'Teachers bear the heavy responsibility of the times of disseminating knowledge, spreading ideas, spreading truth, shaping the soul, shaping life, and shaping new people. Teachers of the ideological and political science class should sow the seeds of truth, goodness and beauty in the hearts of students and guide them to button the first button of life. ”

The sentence "The teacher is easy to seek, and the teacher is rare" was first found in the book "Later Han Dynasty" written by Yuan Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The "Later Han Dynasty Lingdi Jishang" records that Guo Tai was the leader of Shilin at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and many people came to defect to him, and a young man named Wei Zhao volunteered to be a miscellaneous envoy for him, guo Tai pretended to be a strict reprimand to test him, and Wei Zhao replied: "Gaiwen jingshi is easy to meet, and people and teachers are difficult to encounter." Guo Tai was touched by his sincerity and accepted him as a disciple. During the Western Wei Dynasty, the famous scholar Lu Shi was "young and bright, erudite and colorful", and later because of his outstanding deeds, "Confucian scholars, promoted by the world", Wei Di te issued an edict to commend him, commenting that he said: "The teacher is easy to seek, and the teacher is rare." The children are a little longer, and they want to make Qing a teacher. (LingHu Dedi and other "Northern Zhou Shu Lu Birthday Biography") The accounts of these two documents are slightly different, but the meaning is exactly the same, compared to the Northern Zhou Shu, the expression in the Northern Zhou Shu is more popular, so its scope of dissemination is wider.

This often quoted sentence, although only eight words, is extremely rich in meaning.

First of all, there is both a difference and a connection between the "scribe" and the "human teacher." The term "scribe" has two basic meanings: one refers specifically to those who recite religious scriptures, and the other refers specifically to the instructors who taught Confucianism in the local official schools of the Han Dynasty. The "scribe" in "scribe is easy to seek" refers to the latter. In the long process of dissemination, this concept has kept pace with the times, and its connotation has been continuously enriched on the basis of the original meaning, and its meaning has gradually been fixed after the Tang and Song dynasties, becoming synonymous with those "specialized masters" and "teachers with teachers" in a certain field (Hu San Province's "Zizhi Tongjian Hanji" note). The emergence of the term "human teacher" is earlier than that of "scribe," and the "Confucian Effects" of the great Confucian Xunzi in the pre-Qin period has clearly pointed out: "Therefore, those who are close to him sing and enjoy it, and those who are far away are eager to go to it, and if there is a family in the four seas, those who are accessible are not obedient, and those who are masters are called human teachers." The "Han Poetry Biography" also says that the human teacher is "as wise as a fountain, and the line can be the instrument." Judging from the meaning of the sentence, the "human teacher" has a super personality charm, is supported by people, can recruit far away from the neighborhood, and everyone is happy to get along with it and is willing to obey its arrangements. Compared with the two, the characteristics of the "scribe" are skillful in business, and the main responsibility is to teach and solve puzzles; the characteristics of the "human teacher" are high morality and purity, and the main task is to promote the Tao and cultivate people. Although there are differences between "scribes" and "human teachers", they are not the same situation, but have a close relationship: on the one hand, both are indispensable roles in social development and are important carriers for the inheritance of human civilization; on the other hand, the two have natural complementarities, and the advantages of "scribes" in professional education and the advantages of "human teachers" in personality cultivation are the two indispensable wings of a complete education system.

Secondly, compared to the "scribe", the "human teacher" is rare. Since ancient times, because teachers want to "know both the cause of teaching and the reason for the abolition of teaching" (Li Ji Xue Ji), they must not only "teach people to the Tao" ("Zhou Li Di Guan" Zheng Xuan's note), but also "teach things to metaphor for virtues" ("Li Ji Wen Wang Shizi"), so it is difficult to cultivate and not easy to obtain. "Scribe" and "human teacher" are naturally the same, but the difficulty of training between the two varies greatly depending on their duties, etc. Although "scribes" - that is, "specialized masters" who have received professional training, profound knowledge and high literacy, are also rare in real life, but because "scribes" focus on the accumulation of knowledge and the improvement of ability, therefore, in the education system that attaches importance to practicing "skills" and teaching "karma", it is easier to cultivate. Relatively speaking, the cultivation of "human teachers" is more difficult, and those who are "human teachers" must "practice carefully, which is enough to set an example." (Hu San Province's "Zizhi Tongjian Hanji" note) Its most important symbol is to have an inspiring personality. Although in traditional Chinese culture with Confucianism as the core, there are extremely rich theories of personality cultivation, there are clear cultivation paths such as "character, zhi, sincerity, righteousness, cultivation, qi, rule, and peace", and there are also a series of practice standards that can be emulated by saints, gentlemen, great husbands, adults, etc., due to the limitations of people themselves and the complexity of reality, the cultivation of ideal personality is not a one-time thing in practice, and its arduousness is from Confucius's "saints, I can't see it!" Whoever sees a gentleman, Skkoyi" (Analects, Shuer, 7) can be seen in the sentiments. Therefore, in the process of cultivating "human teachers", it is often "the good starter is really prosperous, and the one who overcomes the end is widowed" (Wei Zheng's "Ten Thoughts of Emperor Taizong"), and the scarcity of quantity has caused objective "rarity".

Finally, the ideal teacher is the perfect unity of the "scribe" and the "human teacher." Since the "scribe" and "human teacher" have their own strengths, the ideal teacher is what the educator Xu Teli called "the unity of the 'human teacher' and the 'scribe'." The ancients said, "Teachers, models of man." In the cultivation of "models", at the practical level, it is necessary to attach equal importance to "learning" and "cultivation", and "honorability" and "Taoist learning" go hand in hand; it is necessary to be proficient in teaching and solving puzzles, but also to attach importance to preaching and cultivating people, to learn from the five cars of wealth and to be humble, to help the world at the same time, and to be independent of themselves. The ideal teacher is not only the practitioner of the ideal personality, the inheritor of excellent culture, but also the creator of both ability and political integrity.

This important article is the main part of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the teachers' forum of the school's ideological and political theory class in March 2019, and the article put forward the requirements of "strong politics", "deep feelings", "new thinking", "broad vision", "strict self-discipline" and "correct personality" for the majority of ideological and political science teachers. These six points are not only the basic standards for a good teacher in today's ideological and political science class, but also form the connotation of the times that "it is easy to seek a teacher, and it is rare for others to learn a teacher." In short, facing the mission of the new era of Lide Shuren, this ancient proposition still emits a brilliant light of reason.

Guangming Daily ( 2022-03-31 02 edition)