Educational method
• 1. The emphasis on teacher’s role in education • 2. The emphasis on practice • 3. The emphasis on both sense organs and heart
The emphasis on teacher’s role in education
3. Confucians with virtue principles

大儒，鸿儒
those who are qualified with good moral characters, firm determination and faith and can take them into practice
Xunzi
外国语学院
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2 3 4
The aims of education
Educational contents
Educational thoughts
Educational method
Three kinds of sages
1. Confucians with common principles
• 2. perseverance 锲而不舍
• 骐骥一跃，不能十步；驽马十驾，功在不舍。锲而 舍之，朽木不折；锲而不舍，金石可镂。 • The finest thoroughbred cannot travel ten paces in one leap, but the sorriest nag can go a ten days’ journey. Achievement consists of never giving up. If you start carving and then give up, you cannot even cut through a piece of rotten wood; but if you persist without stopping, you can carve and inlay metal or stone.
• 青,取之於蓝，而青於蓝；冰,水为之，而寒於水。 • Blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself. Ice is made of water but is colder than water ever is.
俗儒
those who follow the previous moral principles dogmatically
2. Confucians with elegant principles
them can take what they follow into practice
雅儒
those who attach great importance to manners and justice but few of
Educational contents
• • • • • • Classic of Poetry 《诗》 Inner will of a person Classic of history 《书》 History containing experiences and lessons Classic of Rites 《礼》 Guiding principles of manners to regularize behavior
The emphasis on both sense organs and heart • “天官”—— sense organs • “天君”—— heart
• Classic of music
《乐》
• Expression of emotion and harmony
Educational thoughts
• 1. accumulation 积累
• 故不积跬步，无以致千里；不积小流，无以成江 海。 • But unless you pile up little steps, you can never journey a thousand li; unless you pile up tiny streams, you can never make a river or a sea.
The emphasis on practice
• 故不登高山，不知天之高也；不临深溪，不知地 之厚也；不闻先王之遗言，不知学问之大也。
• If you do not climb a high mountain, you will not comprehend the highness of the heavens; if you do not look down into a deep valley, you will not know the depth of the earth; and if you do not hear the words handed down from the ancient kings, you will not understand the greatness of learning.
• In the course of education, Xunzi put special emphasis on teacher’s status and role. He holds that human beings are born with desires that, if not being guarded and restricted, would lead humans to conflict and strife, so it is the teacher who plays the key role in converting the good from the bad.