Walking on the streets of the north, you can often hear many teachers' names: for example, when you meet a friend who is not familiar with you, the other party will honor you as "XX teacher"; in variety shows, whether it is a singer, actor or host, you will be called a "teacher" to show respect; visit a shopping mall, the waiter will run over enthusiastically and tell you: "Teacher, do you want to consider this year's new coat?" ”
Even if you go to a barbershop, you will meet all kinds of teachers tony and Kevin. It is said that even those who kill pigs can now be called teachers. Feng Gong said in the sketch that there was also an associate professor scrubbing the bath.
Teacher, originally a sacred title. How did it come to this day, but it has become as common as the big brother, comrade, uncle, aunt?
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="140" > the evolution of the title "teacher"</h1>
The word "teacher" is the most commonly used title for teachers after the founding of New China. However, "back to history", in fact, from ancient times to the present, the title of "teacher" did not exist at the beginning, but constantly changed with the different times.
Primitive society
In primitive societies, education was carried out in daily life and labor practice. Teachers became a specialized profession in the true sense of the word, after the emergence of specialized educational institutions, schools. Our schools arose at the end of primitive societies or in the early days of slave societies. Ancient texts record that there were already universities in the time of Yao, Shun, and Yu, called "Cheng jun", and the school at this time doubled as a place for the elderly and hiding rice.
Pension is the tradition of clan society and the fine tradition of the Chinese nation. The elderly with rich production experience and common sense of social life are gathered together, and these elderly people naturally assume the responsibility of educating the next generation, and the places for the elderly are gradually transformed into schools for imparting knowledge. At this time, the teachers were these old people, and they already had the initial ranks, that is, "national elders" and "old people".
Western Zhou
By the western Zhou Dynasty, this was the heyday of slave society. The rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to education and had a high degree of monopoly, forming a situation of "learning in the official government" and "official observance of study", integrating politics and religion, and integrating officials and teachers, and making every effort to cultivate the ruling class's governing talents.
At this time, the school was divided into two types: Chinese studies and rural studies. Guoxue was specially established for the children of slave owners and nobles in the capital, and the township school was built locally for the children of ordinary slave owners and common people. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the titles of teachers were "Situ", "Rank Sect", and "Dian Le", forming a situation of "learning in the official palace" and establishing a relatively complete system of learning. But only the children of the nobility had access to education, while ordinary people could not enter the schools to receive education.
Spring and Autumn Warring States Period
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the slave system collapsed and the feudal system began to be established. The royal family and princes were busy with war and social turmoil, and had no time to take care of the school. The slave-owning aristocracy and those who had acquired a certain amount of cultural knowledge were exiled to the lower strata of society and became teachers of private learning.
At this time, the educational process was separated from political activity, and teachers ceased to be officials, but became a relatively simple, independent social profession, where they could lecture everywhere. Therefore, the wind of private lectures prevailed, the sons sprang up, and private learning spread everywhere
During the Spring and Autumn Period, teachers were called "teachers", and people compared "teachers" with "jun", indicating that the status of teachers at that time was quite high. During the Warring States period, Confucius pioneered private teaching, which can be said to be the first person in China's private education. Confucius's disciples honored Confucius as "Master", and later "Master" gradually developed into an honorific title for teachers.
After the Tang Dynasty
After the Tang Dynasty, the duties of "teachers" gradually evolved into "teaching," "learning," and "teaching." Han Yu's "Sayings of the Master" proposes that "ancient scholars must have teachers" and "teachers, so preach and teach karma to solve puzzles". During this period, teachers were also called "professors", "lecturers", "teachings", "scholars", "scholars", "academic records" and "supervising studies".
Qing Dynasty
In 1905, the Qing government promulgated the Statute of the Gongding Academy, which was "a national statutory system of learning promulgated and implemented by the central government for the first time in modern China", and since then, "teacher" has begun to appear as a title for ordinary school teachers.
Republic of China period
In 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen established the Republic of China to replace the Qing Dynasty, China's education further towards modernization, this period, teachers are generally called "Mr.", the status of teachers is relatively high, it is said that Lu Xun a monthly salary to today can buy more than 2,000 pounds of pork, even in Beijing to buy a courtyard is not a big problem.
Until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, he Ziyuan, Qiu Fengjia and other founders of modern Chinese education introduced Western learning (American education) to China, and after founding new schools, they began to clearly define the title of "teacher" as "teacher" in the "Student Conduct Code". However, the vast majority of students agreed to change the name of "sir" to "teacher", which began in the era of the National Government and has continued to this day.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="141" > ranging from a respected title to a person with specialized skills</h1>
The traditional character of Shi is "Shi", the left side is called 垖 (pronounced dui, tongdui), which means mound, and the "帀" on the right is the original character of "匝", which means encirclement and encirclement. Xu Shen said in the "Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts", "Master, two thousand five hundred people are teachers. "In the Shang and Zhou dynasties in ancient times, the division was the largest army formation in an army. So, the literal meaning of the word "division" is that many people surround a mound.
The commander of the army of two thousand five hundred men will certainly be particularly respected. Gradually, the teacher expanded into other areas to refer to respected and learned people.
It is precisely because the "teacher" has knowledge and culture that he is respected. The "Heaven and Earth Emperor's Teacher" became the ancient "Five Luns of Man", and the status of the teacher was second only to that of his parents. Parents give you body, while teachers give you soul. If you want to be an upright person who knows etiquette and integrity, you must have a teacher. Therefore, in the "Lü Shi Chunqiu Persuasion", it is said: "The father of the teacher is also a jude." "Treat teachers like fathers." To be born is to be nurtured, to die is to be sacrificed, and this way of honoring the teacher is also. This means that for the teacher, when he is alive, you must be filial to him, and if he dies, you must often pay tribute to him.
In ancient times, the status of the teacher was so high, but in modern times, under the influence of Western ideological trends, anti-traditional movements such as the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement appeared in China, and the image of the teacher was destroyed by a cliff. One of the important changes is that people are starting to think of teachers as people with some kind of professional skills.
After liberation in 1949, people often referred to industrial workers, drivers and other practitioners as "masters". After the reform and opening up, the "master" is too "rustic", people mention the "master", always think of the image of a middle-aged man with sleeves in the factory workshop. The use of "master" to refer to women is even more unusual. Thus, the word "teacher" came alive again.
Workers in the eighties
Many people say that they use the words "teacher" and "master" to call others, mainly to show their respect for each other. Our country has always been a country of etiquette, with thousands of years of tradition of respecting teachers and valuing the Tao, and calling others teachers is a kind of respect. In our minds, teachers have always been a glamorous, tall profession, knowledgeable and virtuous. Teachers have a considerable weight in people's hearts. In addition, Confucius once said, "If you do three people, you will have my teacher; choose those who are good and follow them, and those who are not good will change them", and Han Yu's "Sayings of the Master" also mentions: "The teacher, so preaching and receiving karmic solutions are also ... Therefore, there is no nobility, no low, no length, no less, the existence of the Tao, the existence of the teacher. Therefore, in addition to respecting others, calling others teachers also carries some humble meaning of asking for advice and learning, which can also be used as a kind of humility.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="142" > changed from a professional title to a widely applicable identity symbol</h1>
Of course, it is precisely because of the above reasons that the title of "teacher" has also begun to become a kind of "false title", so it can be used in various occasions, referring to all kinds of people. Today's society can be said to be facing the problem of "title dilemma", as we all know, those previously very elegant titles, such as "comrade" and "miss", are now given a special meaning. Other titles are also restricted by age, region, occasion, and identity. In entertainment occasions, it seems too serious to call the leader; in commercial occasions, it seems too restrictive to call the chief; it is a bit tacky to call the literati the boss (of course, there are now many masters and doctors who call their instructors "bosses") ...
Scenes of old teachers preparing lessons
Many times, for people we have just met, we are not very good at judging their identity, occupation and age and other specific information, if you take the liberty of calling, it may be self-defeating, and both sides will be a little embarrassed. Then at this time, "teacher" as an honorific title, there is no too obvious hierarchical distinction, and relatively not limited by factors such as identity and occasion, widely used, low cost, small risk, good effect, the word "teacher" naturally becomes the best choice.
Elementary school classroom in the 1980s
There is also a saying that there is a little more "routine". Just like many units in the past, subordinates used to call their bosses "bosses", which made people mistakenly think that they were in a mixed society. Later, it was renamed "boss", which gave people the illusion of being among the business elite. Now he shouts "teacher", and the cultural atmosphere is full. Friends who teach travel abroad, no matter by car, eating, shopping, the locals are very enthusiastic to call him "teacher", so he can't help but swell his heart, thinking that he reads too much, and there is a natural flow of bookish atmosphere between the eyebrows, and others know that he is a teacher. Later, I learned that this was a tribute to everyone in order to set it up.
What happened to him is reminiscent of an old Hong Kong film: an old maid played by Cheng Yu-ling passes through the vegetable market, and the vendor enthusiastically calls her Miss. She thought that she was praising her young face, and she was happy that she did not want to buy vegetables, and paid for a large handful of green vegetables. But then she saw the vendor greeting another passing grandmother, also called Miss, and only then did she know that the vendor called everyone the same name, so she angrily threw the green vegetables in the peddler's face...
In general, at the moment, because of the title of "teacher", many people save time and avoid embarrassment. However, because of this, the title "teacher" has become cheaper today. The ancients called "the master a teacher", but now all walks of life, regardless of knowledge, conduct, and identity, are called "teachers". Whether this is blessing or sorrow, who knows?
In the 21st century, the meaning of the word "teacher" has become more diverse. Some say it's disrespectful, even a form of blasphemy, of the word "teacher." Fang Zhijun felt that this was nothing more than a title, just like "senior", "sir" and "lady".
However, it is not known whether people's abuse of the word "teacher" makes people disrespect the profession of teacher. However, now we regard school teachers too much as people who teach some kind of professional skills, and ignore the more important role of teachers, that is, to shape our values and reshape our hearts and ways of thinking through words and deeds, which deserves the attention and reflection of our modern people.
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Reference Articles:
1, China News Weekly: when you see people, you are called a teacher
2. New Book World: Why do northerners call everyone "teacher" and southerners call "boss"?
3. Internet Daily: Do you know the historical change of the title "teacher"?
Review: Zhu Zhenxin
Posted by: Yizhe Zhang