How to be a "Tao Xingzhi" today

Editor's note: Today marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great people's educator, Mr. Tao Xingzhi. 130 years ago, Mr. Tao Xingzhi was born in semi-colonial and semi-feudal China in the depths of the waters, but with his firm faith and unremitting pursuit, he worked hard for the future of the Chinese nation and China's educational cause, struggled all his life, and also left a lot of valuable spiritual wealth for future generations; for more than a hundred years, Mr. Tao Xingzhi's broad and profound educational ideas such as "thousands of teachings, teaching people to seek truth" and "thousands of studies, learning to be real people" have always guided his successors to cut through thorns and forge ahead. His great life pursuit of "holding a heart, not taking half a blade of grass" and "coming for a big thing, doing a big thing" also encourages more teachers to make selfless dedication to the cause of education. What enlightenment does Mr. Tao Xingzhi's educational thinking and life pursuit have for today's teachers? How should today's teachers learn Tao Xingzhi? Zhu Yongxin, president of the China Tao Xingzhi Research Association and professor of Soochow University, was specially invited to give an in-depth interpretation for the teachers.

The 130th anniversary of the birth of the great people's educator Mr. Tao Xingzhi, and his farewell to the world has also been 75 years. But we have always felt that Mr. Tao Xingzhi has not left us, and our road to educational reform is still on the extension line of Tao Xingzhi's educational thought. Some of Mr. Tao Xingzhi's ideas, propositions and practices a hundred years ago are still suitable for education in China today. His incisive educational viewpoints such as "life is education", "society is school", "teaching is one", "teaching people to seek truth", "learning to be real people", "liberating children's creativity" and so on seem to be put forward in response to the current education problems, which coincide with the quality education measures such as "double reduction" advocated by the party and the state today.

Combined with the current situation of our education, our teachers can still get direct guiding significance from Tao Xingzhi's educational thought.

"Bearing in mind the great responsibility of transforming the people"

Mr. Tao Xingzhi attaches great importance to the social responsibility of the teaching profession. In his view, education is to transform society, and teachers are the leaders who transform society. Therefore, he attaches great importance to teacher education, advocating that teachers should always take the construction of an ideal society as their life goal, keeping in mind that they shoulder the great responsibility of transforming the people.

How to realize the great responsibility of transforming the people? Mr. Tao Xingzhi asked teachers to "have an ideal society hanging in their hearts." He believes that as a teacher, if there is no spirit to transform society, work will feel boring. The teacher's mind determines the pattern of the teacher. If you only see the space under your own eyes, you will not feel that the teaching profession has any value, and such a teacher must not go far. On the contrary, if the teacher has a broad enough vision, if he has a lofty enough ideal, if he has the courage to transform society, he will see the future of education, and he will change himself, improve himself, develop himself for the future, and ultimately benefit children and the country.

In Mr. Tao Xingzhi's view, education and social transformation are not two different things, but one thing. To transform society, we must start with transforming people's hearts and minds, and we must start with education. If the people who run education do not have the mission of transforming society, they have no purpose, no meaning, and no vitality. "In the hands of teachers, the fate of the young man is in charge of the fate of the nation and mankind." Therefore, our teachers don't just focus on the score, that pattern is small, that kind of education, the direction is wrong.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi has always believed that education is the foundation of the country, and the future of the country and the nation is in the hands of teachers, so teacher education is very important. He pointed out that "teacher education can rejuvenate the country, but also promote the demise of the country." On the positive side, teacher education can help a country become strong and prosperous; on the negative side, teacher education can promote the decline and demise of the country. Why? If teacher education is completely divorced from reality, "just teaching the foreign eight strands there and making nerds", these "big nerds" cultivated by teacher education will be distributed to primary schools everywhere after graduation, and then "create small nerds at a geometric acceleration rate"; if "another gust of compulsory education wind blows", the seeds of nerds can be spread all over the country, so that the people of the whole country will become nerds. Isn't such a vicious circle promoting the decay and demise of the state? Therefore, Mr. Tao Xingzhi constantly called for kindness to teacher education and respect for people's teachers.

"Come with a heart, don't take half a blade of grass with you"

"Come with a heart, don't take half a blade of grass", "Come for a big thing, do a big thing", "Teach a thousand teachings, teach people to seek the truth", "Learn from thousands of people, learn to be a real person"... These words are the most famous aphorisms of Mr. Tao Xingzhi, who are familiar to our teachers, which express Mr. Tao Xingzhi's views on the mission of teachers and his expectations for teachers in a popular, vivid and profound way. To achieve such a mission, teachers must "change themselves" on the one hand, be able to grow, develop and change continuously, and become growth-oriented teachers; on the other hand, they must "teach people to change" and have the ability to let students grow, continue to develop and change.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi has a poem that encourages and inspires comrades at the same time: "Between the heavens and the earth of life, each has its own endowment. Come for a big thing, do a big thing go. How many white-haired men, stumbling and regretting the wrong way. Send a message to the young man, do not mistake the teenager. He told the people engaged in education that although everyone's ability is high or low, and the endowment is different, as long as they make up their minds, work hard for the big thing of education, and be unswerving, they will not waste time and waste years, so that they will have a regret-free life.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi said: The duty of teachers is to "teach thousands of teachings, teach people to seek truth", and the task of students is to "learn thousands of lessons and learn to be real people". Man is the center of education. The most important purpose of education is to cultivate people. This person should be a person who pursues the truth and has a true disposition and true feelings. Therefore, thousands of teachings teach people to seek truth, and thousands of people learn to learn to be real people. Seeking truth and knowledge, having a true disposition, pursuing the truth, being an honest person, and telling the truth are the true meanings of "teaching people to seek truth" and "learning to be real people".

"Come with a heart, but don't take half a blade of grass with you" is also one of Mr. Tao Xingzhi's most famous aphorisms. The non-utilitarian nature of education dictates that teachers should have dedication. Mr. Tao Xingzhi has a four-word poem that vividly expresses this idea: "Twilight, happy and happy." All your life into old age, running around. For the sake of the bitter child, the sweet is the camel. Good for people, cows and horses also do. "An excellent teacher, from morning to night, can enjoy the time with the children happily, without complaining, without worrying, and turning every day of education into a sunny day." He hoped that the teachers would have the camel spirit of not being afraid of hardship, be tireless in the face of the long road, persist in the long journey in the harsh desert environment, and walk step by step to the oasis that symbolized hope.

When Analyzing the Problem of the Teaching Force, Mr. Tao Xingzhi once pointed out that many people who become teachers do not come because they love the cause of education. Many of these male teachers do it temporarily because they can't find a suitable career at once; many female teachers do it temporarily because they have not found a suitable person to marry. In this way, it is of course impossible to make the teaching profession a stopgap measure for a certain period of life. Therefore, he hoped that since he had become a teacher, he would have to devote himself to teaching with an iron heart, male teachers should regard education as their wives, and female teachers should regard education as their husbands, unswerving, never abandoning, going to the soup and fighting the fire, not quitting, bowing down, dying and then dying, and having the spirit of sacrificing youth and dedicating children and grandchildren. Many of our teachers now do not allow their children to succeed as teachers, which is of course related to the attractiveness of the teaching profession, but also to our understanding and belief in education.

"The self-respect of the teacher is the head of the division"

The level of civilization and development of a country depends to a large extent on whether the best talents in the country can become teachers, and whether the teaching profession can be truly respected. Only the best people as teachers can cultivate the best students. Only when the whole society respects teachers can we attract the best talents to be teachers. Therefore, Mr. Tao Xingzhi said, if agriculture does not attach importance to teachers, agriculture will go bankrupt; if industry does not attach importance to teachers, industry will be shoddily manufactured; if the people do not attach importance to teachers, the country and the people will not be rich and strong; and if mankind does not attach importance to teachers, the world will not be peaceful. However, as a teacher, "those who want to be respected must first respect themselves." The head of the division is the self-respect of the division". That is to say, teachers must first respect themselves, learn to be a teacher, and be a model in order to win the respect of the world.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi once criticized the part-time salary practice of teachers in that year, believing that this weakened the connection between teachers and students, weakened the relationship between teachers and schools, and was not conducive to the development of education. It is recommended to ensure that each teacher's income is "sufficient for the requirements of life" and sufficient to lead a decent life. Of course, protecting the rights and interests of teachers is not contradictory to advocating the service spirit of teachers, because only the service spirit of teachers is the real "lifeblood of education" and "moneyism, which most fully undermines the honor of the teaching profession". Mr. Tao Xingzhi's words are still deafening and inspiring, and they are worth reading carefully by each of our teachers.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi once imitated Dewey's educational creed and wrote his own educational creed. Some of them are about teachers: "We are convinced that teachers should lead by example. We are convinced that teachers must learn without getting tired in order to teach others tirelessly. We are convinced that teachers should use difficulties to develop their minds and spirit of struggle. We are convinced that teachers should be friends of the people. ...... We are convinced that if teachers throughout the country have the determination to 'bow down to the best of their ability and die' in the education of children, they will be able to create a great new life for our nation. In Mr. Tao Xingzhi's view, Confucius's proposal of "learning without tiring and teaching others tirelessly" is the basic quality of teachers, and the former is the basis of the latter. He believes that "the most important spirit of teachers is to seek the growth of career ability", to ensure that the teaching materials and teaching methods "grow day by day", and it is not possible to "sell old goods" every year, take an old ticket for education, and repeat yesterday's story every day.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi advocated that teachers' reading, doing, and behaving should be an organic whole and should not be abandoned. He clearly stated, "Sir should not specialize in teaching, his responsibility is to teach people to be human." The student should not concentrate on studying, his responsibility is to learn the way of life." The teacher's duty is not to keep an eye on the score, only to teach people to read and get high scores, not to teach students to do things and master the way of life. Teachers and students should become "knowledgeable, powerful, and responsible citizens", not nerds who just sit and talk.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi believes that teachers should not only learn from books and practice, but also willingly learn from their own students and ordinary people: "We should worship two kinds of teachers who have never thought of: First, we should learn from our students. ...... Second, there is another greatest teacher, that is, the common people. Only in this way can teachers retain the "youth of thought" and thus "never fall behind." Only by studying diligently all the time and everywhere can teachers continue to surpass themselves and continue to grow.

"Create people worthy of your own admiration"

Mr. Tao Xingzhi believes that the success of teachers is to create people worthy of their own admiration. "Sir's greatest joy is to create students worthy of his own admiration. To put it correctly, Sir creates students, and students create Sir, and Mr. Students cooperate to create living people worthy of mutual admiration." Cultivating talents who are better and more outstanding than themselves, who are beyond themselves and therefore worthy of their own admiration, is the greatness of teachers and the source of their happiness. Therefore, the best teacher should be a teacher who grows up with students. Teachers create students, and students create teachers. Teachers and students achieve each other and grow together, which is the highest state of education.

Education requires faith, and faith in enlightenment can become a spiritual force that supports people to move forward. Therefore, teachers should have faith in education, should firmly believe in the power of education, should create the possibility of education, and should "believe that education is a promising thing, and it is not temporary, it is permanently beneficial to the world." This requires teachers to get rid of the selfishness of the chicken belly, get rid of the narrowness of the mouse's eyes, "eliminate the prejudices, arbitrariness, selfishness, idol psychology, formulaism, and dogmatism of themselves and their students" and treat their work with a more open mind and a clearer understanding.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi advocated that teachers should have a Daguanism of construction and a lot of creativity. He once said: "In Xiaozhuang everything is poetic: difficult poetry, so interesting; pain poetry, so coke; danger poetry, so peace of mind; life and death poetry, so fearless." This is the Daguanism of construction, and it can also be said to be the optimism of creation. "Tao Xingzhi's life education is essentially a poetic education, which is embodied in how to deal with difficulties, pains, dangers and life and death. Taking difficulties as stones under one's feet will become a ladder and become "interesting"; taking pain as a growing pain, as an indispensable experience in the process of growth, we will be able to accept it calmly and face it happily; we will regard danger as an opportunity, and we will find and create opportunities in the midst of danger, so that we will not be anxious and nervous, but will be at ease; we will regard life and death as the reality that people will face sooner or later, they will cherish every moment of life, and they will face all problems without fear. In short, as long as we use the attitude of construction and the optimistic attitude to treat life and the problems in life, we can deal with various problems with a smile and enjoy our educational life.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi advocated that teachers must be indifferent to fame and fortune. He hoped that teachers would be able to "not be famous one and not profitable", as long as they could do a good job in education; at the same time, they would be able to "not be afraid of difficulties, and at the same time, they would not be afraid of death", but they were afraid that they would not be able to do a good job in education. Now it seems that for teachers not to be a little detached from reality from fame and fortune, the key is whether they can not be afraid of floating clouds to cover their eyes, and do not put fame and fortune above the interests of students and the cause of education.

Twenty years ago, Mr. Zhang Shenghua, the former editor-in-chief of China Education News, once issued a message: "Have we abandoned Tao Xingzhi today?" Now, we can answer with satisfaction that not only have we not abandoned Tao Xingzhi, but more and more teachers are truly entering Tao Xingzhi's soul and practicing Tao Xingzhi's thoughts.

(Author: Zhu Yongxin, President of China Tao Xingzhi Research Association)