Three Important Elements of Improving Current Education

陶婷

【摘要】基于當下的教育发展现状，本文主要讨论了在当今教育中异常匮乏的却非常关键的三个因素即德育、美育和自我教育。针对这三个因素，笔者首先阐述了它们至关重要的原因或者它们在当下教育中扮演的角色，接着进一步分析了在教育过程中提高这些因素所需的具体途径方法。本文寄予了我们对儿童、我们的教育以及国家的长期发展的忧虑和希冀之情。

【关键词】德育 美育 自我教育

Ⅰ. Introduction

Whats the essence of education？ To be humanely conveyed， education is to wake up humans nature of pursuing truth， virtues， happiness and liberty in ones lifetime. Its a lifelong pursuit which shouldnt come to a halt until death knocks our door.

To a person， good education means helping him or her become a human being with certain traits and capabilities. To a country， good education means cultivating people from different social classes with certain traits and capabilities to meet their demands and realize their potential or values so that they can make contribution to the country.

Undoubtedly， education plays the most significant role in the long-term development of both a person and a country， whose function is similar to the foundation of a building. If the foundation is so weak and unstable， the whole building will be collapsing some day.However， on the contrary， our education is developing in a distorted and unhealthy way nowadays which is completely against the essence of education and makes us deeply concerned.

In China， because of our exam-oriented education system， school is more like a factory where teachers function as workers and students act as stereotyped products lacking initiative， passion and uniqueness. What we teach and what we learn completely cater for examinations， while important characteristics of our species like courage， kindness， wisdom， good humor are not the part of our curriculum.

Tragically， Parents and teachers attach utmost importance to grades， which makes students suffer overwhelming stress and depression. According to a recent research， the rate of youth delinquency accounts for 80 percent of all the crimes in the society and the number is on the increase. Besides， much more political governance and officers standard value orientation result in Chinese schools especially universities lacking academic atmosphere. Schools have obviously become the places which resemble the miniature of our society and where noble thoughts， truth and wisdom can be rarely shared and conveyed.

Our distorted education demonstrates that moral education， aesthetic education and self-education considered as critical elements of education， however， are now in great short supply.

Ⅱ. Moral Education

“By far our biggest worry is youth violence， and that alone should warrant a national declaration of emergency. Peer cruelty is steadily increasing. Other disturbing indicators include substance abuse among kids； the growing disrespect for parents and teachers； the rise of incivility； the increase of vulgarity； and widespread cheating and commonplace dishonesty.” （Michele Borba，2001： 234） For instance， in 2013， in one of the top universities in China， a postgraduate felt jealous of his roommates academic achievement， so he put poison into his drinking water and then put his roommate to death.

Whats more， the relationship between teachers and students has also caused great concern and heated debates recently. It was reported that a student assaulted on his teacher and even a student murdered his teacher with a knife.

Why do those tragedies happen on our campus now and then？ Thats mostly because we have missed one critical piece： the moral side of our childrens lives. “It is plain that one may gain no inconsiderable body of learning in some special field of knowledge without at the same time acquiring those habits and traits which are the marks of an educated man.” （Nicholas Murray Butler， 280）

“Confucius through his life and teaching taught only four things： a knowledge of literature and the arts， conduct， conscientiousness and truthfulness.”（Gu Hongming， 107） Among the four things， Confucius gave top priority to moral education instead of the sole knowledge acquisition.

Unfortunately， teachers and parents devoted most of their time to helping students and their children achieve high grades by cramming language points， skills of taking exams and forcing them to take supplementary courses nowadays. Actually， “academic work is a narrow， neatly defined highway compared to the unmapped rolling country you will encounter after you leave school，” （Robert Oliphant， 1986） while lacking moral education， our killers are getting younger and younger.

Of course， an educator once said，“it is neither educators responsibility nor their right to promote among students political ideology or religious principles. But good educators do teach values， not personal， private values but common values of courtesy， mutual respect， integrity， forgiveness， self-confidence， self-reliance and so forth. ” It is our best hope for our children and next generations developing traits of solid character in this often morally toxic world.

Ⅲ. Aesthetic Education

The fact that students are brought up in a competitive atmosphere that sometimes their happiness and sense of pride are based on others failure and misery is undoubted. The overloaded assignments and stress make students become numb to both the internal and external world such as peoples subtle feelings， our beautiful nature and other hidden beauty surrounding us.

But ridiculously， once they get free time， the only thing they want to do is to indulge themselves with sensual and superficial excitement like playing video games， going to karaoke bar， watching TV series or gossiping all day in the dormitory. Surprisingly， most students especially girls are addicted to reading romantic fictions online written by modern people who convey twisted values like money-worship and sensuality.

It reveals that aesthetic education is really undermined and neglected in our teaching notions. However， aesthetic education plays an integral role in students mental development which can guide them to be a whole well-being.

The first step of aesthetic education is to help students gain such an appreciation and understanding towards nature. If students discover the beauty of nature while they are young， they will respect nature and try to preserve it when they are older. They are willing to explore and use their sense of touch， taste， smell， sight and hearing， which can help children perceive subtle feelings both physically and psychologically.

The company of good books is of significance in the process of aesthetic education. “The best books are treasuries of good words， the golden thoughts， which， remembered and cherished， become our constant companies and comforters.” （Samuel Smiles， 207） In addition， as Samuel Smiles mentioned， “books possess an essence of immortality because time is of no account with great thoughts.” Under the influence of the great men of old， students desire to pursue truth and virtues is undoubtedly inspired and enlightened. In the process， their aesthetic standard is elevated and bettered.

Ⅳ. Self-education

In 2009， Nobel Prize winner Zhu Diwen delivered a speech in Harvard University. He said，“ the ability to teach yourself is the hallmark of a great liberal arts education and will be the key to your success.” Donna Farhi Schuster also said： “as a teacher I have come to feel weighted by these expectations and have begun to see that it is really not possible to teach. All the words and theories and techniques are of no use to students who have yet to open themselves with receptivity and to take it upon themselves to practice.” （1987：194）

What both of them conveyed reveals that self-education is the most significant procedure in our education. Apparently， successful education can only and finally be accomplished by students themselves rather than their parents or teachers.

The power and habit of reflection should be highlighted firstly in self-education. “Human beings for the most part live wholly on the surface of life. They dont look beneath the surface or far beyond the present moment and that part of future which is quickly to follow it.” （Nicholas Murray Butler，280） As a student， reflecting what you have learned every day is a must. “It is by no means uncommon to find men whose knowledge is wide but whose feelings are narrow.” （Bertrand Russell， 1956） Reflection helps students cultivate the capacity to take account of all the important factors in a problem and to attach to each its due weight.

Critical thoughts also play a crucial role in self-education. Richard Charles Levin， a famous educator and the headmaster of Yale from 1993～2013， said in his book The Work of the University，“ the core of liberal education is to help students cultivate the ability of thinking independently and critically.” Critical thoughts help students out of the vicious circle of submitting themselves to totally believing what teachers and books tell them， which is the first step to emancipate them from the shackles of the existing theories and stereotypes so that they could become a human with truly free mind.

Additionally， the quality of appreciation should be underlined in self-education. Its not difficult to find that most students nowadays take what they have for granted and always complain about or feel jealous of what they dont have. Appreciation means showing understanding and gratitude towards the things youve already got. And if you embody such a quality， you are destined to live a peaceful and easy life without plenty of complaints and jealousy， and will probably receive gifts from God unexpectedly.

Ⅴ. Conclusion

As we all know， Education is a complicated system involving resources distribution， departments and people concerned. But one thing we should always keep in mind is that students are the leading characters in the play of education.

Its apparent that my perspectives on our education may not be comprehensive， and any constructive suggestions from you will be welcomed. But the truth is that the concern is deeply rooted in my heart and I really want to see our education can be changed for better so that our society and our country could develop in a virtue circle.

References：

[1]Michele Borba，The Importance of Moral Intelligence in Children，Building Moral Intelligence，Jossey-Bass，2001.

[2]Nicholas Murray Butler，Five Traits of the Educated Man，An Integrated English Course 1，Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2013.

[3]GU Hongming（辜鴻铭），The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius，云南人民出版社，2011.

[4]Robert Oliphant，Letter to a B Student，Liberal Education，1986.