Confucius
4 min readEducator as well as Philosopher
One of the most famous people in ancient China was a wise philosopher named Confucius.
He was born Kong Qiu, styled Zhong Ni. Confucius was an educator as well as philosopher. He made many wise phrases and theories about law, life, and government. It’s these thoughts and theories that teach other people lessons about moral principles and rules of life. He traveled about and instructed the small body of disciples that had gathered around him. He lectured to them on the ancient classics. His fame as a man of learning and character and his reverencefor Chinese ideals and customs soon spread through the principality of Lu. His theories andprinciples were spread throughout China by his disciples, and soon many people learned from his wise sayings.
Confucius had, however, no opportunity to put his theories to a public test until, at the age of 51, he was appointed magistrate of Chung-tu, and the next year minister of crime of thestate of Lu. His administration was successful; reforms were introduced; justice was fairly dispensed; crime was almost eliminated. So powerful did Lu become that the rulerofa neighboring state maneuvered to secure the minister’s dismissal. Confucius left his office in 496B.C., traveling about and teaching, vainly hoping that some other prince would allow him to undertake measures of reform. In 484 B.C., after a fruitless search for an ideal ruler, he returned for the last time to Lu. He died in Luin 479 B.C.
Yet, when the philosopher died, people honored all of Confucius’ work by building temples in every city in China to honor Confucius. Confucius’ teachings and philosophy have been influencing China for nearly 2,500 years. It is called Confucianism.
Confucius and Education
A hallmark of Confucius’ thought is his emphasis on education and study. He disparages those who have faith in natural understanding or intuition and argues that the only real understanding of a subject comes from long and careful study. Study, for Confucius, means finding a good teacher and imitating his words and deeds.A good teacher is someone older who is familiar with the ways of the past and the practices of the ancients. While he sometimes warns against excessive reflection and meditation, Confucius position appears to be a middle course between studying and reflecting on what one has learned.”He who learns but does notthink is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger(Analects of Confucius).”
Confucius, himself, is credited by the tradition with having taught altogether 3,000 students, though only 72 are said to have truly mastered the arts he cherished most. Confucius is willing to teach anyone, whatever their social standing, as long as they are eager and tireless. Hetaught his students morality, proper speech, government, and the refined arts. While he also emphasizes the “Six Arts”-ritual, music, archery, chariot-riding, calligraphy, and computation-it is clear that he regards morality the most important subject. Confucius’ pedagogical methods are striking. He never discourses at length on a subject. Instead he poses questions, cites passages from the classics, or uses apt analogies, and waits for his students to arrive at the right answers.”Ionly instruct the eager and enlighten the fervent. If Ihold up one corner and a student cannot come back to me with the other three,I do not go on with the lesson(Analects of Confucius).”
Confucius’ goal is to create gentlemen who carry themselves with grace, speak correctly, and demonstrate integrity in all things. His strong dislike of the sycophantic “petty men” whose clever talk and pretentious manner win them an audience, is reflected in numerous Analects of Confucius passages. Confucius finds himself in an age in which values are out of joint. Actions and behavior no longer correspond to the labels originally attached to them.
“Rulers do not rule and subjects do not serve(Analects of Confucius),”he observes. This means that words and titles no longer mean what they once did. Moral education is importantto Confucius because it is the means by which one can rectify this situation and restore meaning to language and values to society. He believes that the most important lessons for obtaining such a moral education are to be found in the canonical Book of Songs，because many of its poems are both beautiful and good.Thus Confucius places the text first in his curriculum and frequently quotes and explains its lines of verse.For this reason，the Analects of Confucius is also an important source for understanding the role which Confucius’poetry and art play in the moral education of as well as in the reformation of society.
