Edit/Bubble
The background to the emergence of moral education in Athens in ancient Greece
Hegel said: "The mention of the name Greece gives a sense of cultured European homeland."
As the source of Western civilization, ancient Greece played a pivotal role in the hearts of Europeans.
European and American historians have always believed that the education of ancient Greece laid the foundation for the development of education in Europe, and the moral education with the main content of cultivating citizens' noble moral behavior is particularly prominent.
Looking at the historical background of the development of moral education, there are mainly the following aspects:
(1) The need to maintain the slave democracy of Athens
Athenian democracy was based on slavery, and its essence was a polity centered on the city-state, led by the industrial and commercial slave-owning class.
The basic characteristics of the Athenian democracy were the sovereignty of the people and the rule of turns, and the citizens' assembly was the highest organ of power, responsible for deliberating and deciding on all major state affairs.
In such a democratic political atmosphere, the citizens of Athens actively sought virtuous and knowledgeable administrators to serve their rule.
At the same time, Athens pursued the principle of the supremacy of law, and the law was extremely binding on morality.
In order to meet the needs of stable and harmonious political rule, the rulers also strongly advocated the moral education of the people.
In this way, in the social environment of pursuing political democracy, people need to improve their own moral cultivation, and moral education comes into being.
(2) The prosperous economy of the city-state of Athens laid the foundation for moral education
Ancient Greece was close to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and its favorable geographical location provided unique conditions for its developed maritime trade.
In the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., especially after the Greco-Persian Wars, handicrafts and commerce developed rapidly, and the prosperous economy provided a solid foundation for the development of education on the one hand, and citizens were no longer tired of life and had plenty of leisure time to receive education.
At this time, the Greeks no longer focused solely on economic status, but paid more attention to the cultivation of virtue for themselves and their children.
Xenophon explains this attitude: it is natural for the bourgeoisie to have a bad reputation in their profession, because it destroys their bodies, so that they become weak and their character suffers.
The economic power provided the Athenian populace with the basis for a free education, and during this period, the virtuous and intellectual man became the goal of the citizens.
(3) The development of school education in Athens provided the conditions for moral education
Athens in ancient Greece, on the basis of inheriting the Homeric period and the Aegean civilization, continued to develop and create its own city-state culture, and after Solon's reforms, the culture continued to grow in a harmonious social environment.
At this time, the Athenian people, in a developed economic and democratic political atmosphere, attached importance to the spread of wisdom and education.
At the same time, the economic prosperity gave the Athenian people ample time and capital to meet the needs of their own development, and they diligently pursued knowledge and had a strong desire to learn Xi virtues.
The Wise Men possessed profound knowledge and noble character, and were favored by the people.
With the continuous expansion of the scale of education in Athens and the deepening of the Xi of knowledge, there were fixed teaching places, such as Plato's Lyceum and Aristotle's Lyceon.
In educational institutions that advocate virtue and pursue truth, students learn from wise professional teachers and Xi receive the influence of virtue easily and happily.
The advent of school education has led to the gradual professionalization and systematization of moral education.
The cultivation of moral education in ancient Greece and Athens
The famous German philosopher Jaspers once said: "The essence of education means: a tree shakes a tree, a cloud pushes a cloud, and a soul awakens a soul", and moral education is even more so.
Moral education in Athens, ancient Greece, was not taught directly and systematically, but was hidden in the Xi and life, and existed in a way of penetration and edification.
Jaspers believes that cultivation is a way of life and second nature.
As early as the Athens period of ancient Greece, people's moral education was carried out in a way of "moisturizing things silently", and this subtle edification and penetration is a major feature of its moral education, which is manifested in the following aspects:
(1) The cultivation of literature and art
For the Greeks, education meant the cultivation of character and connoisseurship and the harmonious development of body, intellect and imagination.
To the Greeks, the use of Xi professional skills to "make money" was vulgar and uneducated, which was very different from the "utilitarian" view of contemporary education.
Therefore, when the Greeks chose the content of education, they paid more attention to its inner spiritual values and character-building power, and they were indifferent to whether it was practical or not.
Both Plato and Aristotle believed that everything around the growing child, no matter how insignificant, must adhere to the best principles of art.
This prompted the ancient Greek schools to pay more attention to whether the choice of literature and art was conducive to the formation of students' good character.
First, the teacher's selection of classic poems for students contains moral teachings, and the poems often introduce and praise the heroic spirit as the main content, and inspire students to follow this example.
The clear heroic viewpoint in the book allows students to understand what is righteous and what is noble, and through the recognition of virtue, the students' hearts are cleansed.
The moral value of poetry and literature goes beyond the works themselves, and students are nurtured with good character in the process of reading and learning Xi.
At the same time, when students study and Xi classic literary works, they will think about their spiritual values, and through thinking about what is noble, they will reflect on and evaluate their own behavior, and carry out self-education, which plays an important role in motivating the formation of students' virtues.
Second, in ancient Greek school education, students often recited classic poems accompanied by dance and dramatic performances, reproducing and restoring scenes from classic works, and intuitively expressing the spiritual core of the works by playing the role of great heroes.
Allowing students to experience the virtues in poetry or other literary works through the help of dance, drama and other forms of artistic performance will help young people form correct concepts and good character.
Third, the ancient Greeks attached great importance to music education, which was considered an effective medicine for healing the body, soul and mind.
Music is seen as the best way to develop character, because its virtues are obvious: "It can motivate men to face war and other violence bravely, to face wounded and dead or any misfortune with courage and perseverance against fate".
Music schools represented by teaching lyre usually focus on playing the works of great lyric poets, pay great attention to the moral appeal of musical works, and emphasize that the spirit conveyed by music penetrates into the hearts of students, so that students can behave elegantly and behave well.
It is a good way for students to feel and learn Xi music while receiving moral influence.
(2) The penetration of sports
The ancient Greeks spared no effort in achieving their character development goals, and they carefully prepared boys for gymnastics training and athletic competitions, with a complete and thorough training plan and a variety of training forms.
According to the Greeks, physical condition and training had a profound effect not only on intellectual development but also on character development.
First, in the primary education period of 6~14 years old, gymnastics is an important part of it.
Usually played in gymnasiums and arenas, discus throwing, bidding, running, wrestling and boxing are regular sports, and students can start learning any of them according to Xi their interests and physical fitness, with no fixed age limit.
In the process of physical training for students, they are accompanied by special coaches to provide professional guidance to students, and at the same time, coaches will also organize various competitions to stimulate and cultivate students' courage, willpower and tenacity.
Second, at the stage of secondary education at the age of 14~18, even if the emphasis is Xi advanced courses such as rhetoric, logic, and mathematics, there is still no shortage of physical training.
At this time, sports often took the form of walking and walking.
The School of the Wise Wanderers, who wandered and lobbied, often did not have a fixed place of teaching, and the teachers came and went at home and abroad, and the students followed them.
In the process of traveling with teachers, students not only increased their knowledge and exercised their bodies, but also deeply influenced by the School of Wisdom on "virtue is knowledge", felt the charm of noble character, and imperceptibly improved their own moral level.
In the Akadesmi Academy, Plato himself often discussed virtues and knowledge with his students while walking; in Aristotle's Lucion, he was also Xi to teaching while walking in the garden, in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, both exercising and cultivating sentiments, which had an infiltrating effect on the cultivation of students' character.
Thirdly, in the 18~20-year-old Everby stage, Everby youth spend most of the first year in the gymnasium for compulsory rigorous physical training and military drills, and in the second year, they are mostly required to carry out military tasks, garrison fortresses or go to the front line to patrol.
The training, which is comparable to formal militarization, sharpens the willpower and patience of the youth, cultivates a firm patriotic spirit, and makes the youth of Everby have a high sense of responsibility and a good spirit of collectivism.
(3) The edification of religious morality
Emile S. According to Durkheim, "religion is a unified system of beliefs and rituals relating to sacred things that are at once distinct and inoffensive."
In ancient Greece, religious education took place in family and public life, religious forms and activities were rich and colorful, and children almost imperceptibly Xi the knowledge of religious virtues.
First, the belief in the spirit of Greek mythology or Homer's epic poems and great poems is considered a divine revelation and absolute truth.
It has been argued that "the holy Homer was able to win so much glory and prestige because he educated the people to do good, and made his troops well-trained and brave." ”
In their daily lives, in the religious atmosphere of singing praises of virtues and promoting heroic spirits, children are fully influenced by the knowledge of virtues through book reading, singing and dancing performances, drama displays, sacrificial activities, etc., and consciously accept, recognize, and learn Xi virtues under the propagation of good and correct religious doctrines.
Second, since not all religious stories are perfect and sublime, the element of fiction still exists. The most objectionable thing is to indoctrinate children with these immoral legends of the gods at the age when they are most malleable, i.e. in early childhood education and primary school.
Therefore, Plato, Isocrates and others believed that the characters in religious history or mythology should be anthropomorphized, should have ethical and moral concepts acceptable to the people, and should be entrusted to people with the ability and sense of responsibility to configure, and social groups should not be allowed to make things up.
This rigorous view of religion holds that religion is the guide and navigator of a kind of social fashion, and if the doctrine and spirit of religion cannot purify the hearts of the people and cleanse the spirit of the masses, then religion will destroy the people's minds like a strong poison, and society will also become morally corrupt and the world will deteriorate day by day.
It is the right choice for the development of religion to always pay attention to the rational core and spiritual essence of religious doctrines, to restrain and correct their development trajectory, and to let religious belief stand in the hearts of the masses of the people as the banner of morality.
In this regard, the practice of the ancient Greek philosophers provides a good reference.
The enlightenment of moral education in Athens in ancient Greece to the moral education work of colleges and universities in mainland China
General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward at the National Education Conference "persistently taking the cultivation of virtue as the fundamental task of education," and clearly defined the position, role, task and mission of building virtue and cultivating people.
At present, mainland colleges and universities are faced with the current situation that the effect of moral education is not obvious and the timeliness of ideological and political courses is not effective, and the cultivation method of moral education in Athens, ancient Greece has given us important enlightenment, which has modern value, and its specific performance is as follows:
(1) Integrate moral education into literary and artistic education
The three sages of ancient Greece once agreed that "beauty and goodness are difficult to separate." "The organic combination of moral education and literary and artistic education, which integrates the two, has been perfectly interpreted in the moral education method of ancient Greece Athens.
Moral education in Athens was not a rigid curriculum indoctrination and blunt preaching, but the use of literature, music, drama and other forms to integrate moral ideas into it, so that students could receive literary and artistic education while also receiving the influence of virtue.
(2) Efforts should be made to strengthen physical exercise and promote the spirit of labor
The ancient Greek Athens sports training throughout the whole process of individual growth, the Greeks generally believed that sports not only bring a strong body, but also improve the personality, play an important role in the cultivation of willpower and tenacity, physical education and labor education is one of the important ways to cultivate virtue.
(3) Cultivate the moral cultivation of college students with noble moral thoughts
In the moral education of Athens in ancient Greece, the way of cultivating and infiltrating students' moral cultivation with rigorous religious doctrine is worthy of our reference.
Thought is the guide to action, and noble moral thoughts and concepts are the foundation for the cultivation and practice of moral character.
In view of the low effectiveness of moral education indoctrination in mainland China, it is very necessary to inspire and cultivate the method.
For example, in the daily teaching process, when encountering problems related to moral judgment and evaluation, teachers and students can adopt the form of enlightening dialogue, which is not only an open self-spiritual exchange between the two parties, but also a process of rational self-exploration to the outside world, and a process of moral thinking training.
This kind of enlightening dialogue is based on the teacher-led, both sides participate together, dialogue on an equal footing, and the collision of ideas with the purpose of practice can avoid falling into the trap of direct indoctrination.
At the same time, in the teaching organization, extracurricular activities, and even in the potential curriculum, we should pay attention to the cultivation of students' ideology and morality, guide students to establish correct moral concepts, learn Xi truth, goodness and beauty, and pursue lofty moral realms.
As Plato said, "It is in the young and tender stage that it is easiest to accept and cultivate, and you can mold it into whatever pattern you want."
Create a good moral atmosphere and adopt a variety of moral education methods, so that students can cultivate their moral character in a relaxed and happy environment.