Wu Jun: How to give children a better education?

What has the development of science and technology brought to education today? What kind of education can children receive to achieve better development? What role does general education play in the growth of children? Recently, Wu Jun, former vice president of Tencent, was interviewed by China Education News Network and talked with reporters about what he thought was "good education".

From "General Education" to "General Education"

What kind of education should children receive? Wu Jun believes that university education can be divided into two stages, the undergraduate stage with generalist education as the mainstay, and the postgraduate stage with professional talents as the mainstay. At the undergraduate level, students should accept the "Universal Knowledge" rather than just the "Skills" technique. At the master's level, students need to master a means of serving society and being able to survive, with the goal of learning some knowledge, and at the doctoral level, they require contributing new knowledge to the world.

Whether in different periods such as college, middle school, primary school, etc., Wu Jun advocates education that respects the law and takes advantage of the situation. "A 7-year-old, you can't raise him as a 12-year-old." Wu Jun said that in different formats of children's growth period to develop their different aspects of the ability, such as from image thinking to abstract thinking, education to adapt to nature, there will be no big problems.

So, what should children learn at each stage? Wu Jun highly admired spencer's "purpose of education" mentioned in his article "What Knowledge Is Most Valuable". Spencer believes that the purpose of our education is to prepare for the perfect life in the future. In his view, the perfect life consists of at least a few aspects: activities that contribute directly to self-preservation; activities that contribute indirectly to self-preservation from the acquisition of the necessities of life; activities aimed at raising and educating children; activities related to the maintenance of normal social and political relations; and activities devoted to the satisfaction of hobbies and feelings in the leisure time of life. Wu Jun summed it up as: necessary knowledge, knowledge of parenthood, knowledge of social citizenship, and knowledge of icing on the cake.

Wu Jun believes that in the "necessary knowledge", in addition to the skills education related to earning a living, the most effective way to improve the overall quality is to carry out general education. "Why study Chinese, mathematics, and even science? General education is the survival tool and art of life for the next generation. Wu Jun said, "Without a good general education, a person's career development will not have stamina." ”

Talent also requires "trial and error"

General education can lay the foundation for children's better development in the future. So, how to find the unique talent of children in the process of development? "What the child will do in the future, no one knows, he himself does not know. He may want to be a doctor when he's 14, a lawyer when he's 15, and a computer at 18. Wu Jun said, "You can't limit your children from an early age, and you should try to broaden your children's contact and knowledge." ”

In Wu Jun's view, every child has a curious nature and a strong desire to learn. The purpose of education is to stimulate their curiosity, to some extent to "indulge" children, so that they consciously learn and progress.

Based on this, Wu Jun gave parents two suggestions: First, chat more with their children. Parents are children's enlightenment teachers, and guiding children in many ways can stimulate their interest. "I wrote a lot of history books. The reason why I became interested in history was because my father told me a lot of historical stories when I was a child, and I began to read some history books, and later I found an opportunity to systematically study history. Wu Jun said.

The second is to create trial and error conditions for children as much as possible within the scope of ability. Wu Jun's second daughter also tried painting, volleyball and other projects in the process of looking for "talent", but in the end she did not continue because she did not like it, but she also slowly found two favorite activities in the company of Wu Jun, one is to play golf, and the other is singing drama. The Wu Jun family did not sing, and no one thought that the second daughter had vocal talent, her vocal range could reach the high pitch F, and after only one year of study, she won the award and performed at Carnegie Hall. "Children's talents depend on parents to observe and excavate." Wu Jun said, "Parents can't be lazy, they must really participate in the growth process of their children and be careful to discover." ”

Technology allows children to better understand the world

In Wu Jun's view, one of the purposes of general education is to let children better understand the world and understand how the world works. Technology is precisely the perfect angle for children to understand the world.

With this idea, Wu Jun set out to adapt his 2019 "General History of Global Science and Technology" into a popular science book more suitable for young people. Recently, this "History of Science and Technology for Children" also officially met with readers. By smashing nuts with stones, humans have opened their curiosity about the world. In order to eat hot, there is a drill wood for fire. In order to fight against the beast, weapons were invented. In order to convey experience, there are languages and words. For the sake of spiritual needs, the Renaissance was triggered... Through vivid and interesting explanations, Wu Jun took the children to read the history of human scientific and technological civilization, feel how science and technology from ancient times to the present has changed our lives step by step, so as to further appreciate the charm of scientific and technological development.

"Everyone acknowledges that the best doctor today is at a higher level than the best doctor in the field 50 years ago. But no one dares to say that a certain pianist today plays better than Chopin, and no one dares to say that a poet today writes poetry better than Li Bai. "Unlike art or other fields, science and technology have a set of methods, and if you follow this method, you can achieve further development on the basis of your predecessors." Advances in science and technology are repeatable and superimposed. ”

Wu Jun believes that it is precisely the characteristics of continuous updating and iterative progress of science and technology that play a key role in children's education. "Children who understand technology are more conducive to cultivating them to do things through a systematic approach, and they will be more adept at summarizing." Therefore, education on science and popular science education are very important for children. ”

The impact of science and technology on education is not only this, the development of science and technology itself has also provided more ideas for education. Wu Jun introduced the teaching practice case of a research and development institution in the United States, through data statistics and artificial intelligence methods, "teaching according to aptitude" for students with "uneven learning progress" in a class, under normal teaching conditions and teaching rhythm, an average of 9 months of courses need to be taught, and 4 months are learned. "A knowledge point, some students listen to it once to understand, some students may have to listen to it twice or even more times to understand." How to improve efficiency and maximize teaching effectiveness? Technology is the best helper. Wu Jun said, "From this point of view, the efficiency of teaching and learning is improved, in fact, the burden on teachers and students is reduced." ”

Wu Jun once wrote such a passage in "The Road to University": "Education is a lifelong thing, we don't have to worry about losing at the starting line, because most people in the world will not run again after running halfway, as long as you persist long enough on the road of self-education, you will be able to become the person who laughs to the end." "Just imagine, in the education of children, if we can also constantly update ourselves and iterate cognition like technology, maybe we can meet a more promising future."