Education of China
1 min readChina, like many other ancient cultures, has a long tradition of attaching great importance to education. Chinese people often quote the saying,”Respect the teacher, value the teaching,”indicating the equal importance given to these two aspects of education. The teacher is seen to be the embodiment of knowledge, ethics, and morality. This deeply humanist tradition originated with the great philosopher Confucius(Kongzi)(551-479 BC).
Confucius lived during China’s Spring and Autumn Period(770-476 BC). He was the first individual in Chinese history to gain a large following of students. Confucius traveled through China’s various nation-states for thirteen years hoping to find an opportunity to implement his social ideals, but never saw his ideas implemented by the rulers of the time. Legend has it that 3,000 students followed Confucius on his travels, seventy-two of whom later became famous sages in their own right.
The philosopher Mencius(Mengzi)(372-289 BC) inherited and expanded the teachings of Confucius. Later generations therefore came to refer to Confucianism as”the Way of Confucius and Mencius.”One hundred years after Confucius established his private school, the Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) established his Academy in the suburbs of Athens, giving rise to the famous “Academic sect”of classical Greece. Thanks to their early recognition of the value of education, these two great ancient civilizations of East and West were able to achieve relatively high levels of cultural development at an early historical stage.
