When one speaks of civilization of China, the name Confucius is one of the most outstanding figures in their national history. His influence is wide disseminated in the minds of every Chinese people. The utmost significance to him before one engaging in those related discipline is learning or education. What makes education important as a requisite towards becoming a better person in the society?
Psychological Dimension of Education
Education, for Confucius, is vital in the development of the human person. Why did he say that? It is because human nature itself is neutral. What does it mean by ‘neutral?’ It is neutral in the sense that human nature from its birth is harmonious. Confucius says that men, by nature, are close to one another, and that only when men are engaging in practice, they drift far apart. The harmony of men is destroyed when one engages in the activity of the world. And since practice separate them from each other, only the help of environment and of education can straighten up their human development.
Instructional contents of Education
The instructional content of education for Confucius is liberal art. There is an instance when a certain fellow approaches Master Confucius asking for a sort of demonstration on planting vegetables, and the latter has made his reply the he is not good in that matter. Education for intellectual purpose is an indication that the learner has a higher aspiration in life. And he urges students to learn instead rituals, poetry and music. His education is neither for practical nor for scientific purposes. (The last part of his article has little comment on this: China would not be a developed country when they stick to Confucius’ aim of education solely for intellectual purpose.)
Education for Moral Development
For Confucius, education is not only the development of one’s self alone. The goal of education is not for self-aggrandizement. A person by his nature in its birth is neutral – in harmony with other persons. This is the theory on why he put up a private school for every one – elite or commoner. In order to achieve this, education is also for one’s moral growth. He instructs the importance of moral conduct, wholehearted sincerity, and truthfulness. This means that the education espoused by Confucius has two directions – not only for individual development but also for relational development too. The learner has to equip himself with moral values in order to establish the primal origin of human nature - close relationship with one another.
Goal
We learn simple thoughts from Confucius that education is very important for human beings living in the society. Indeed the society is bombarded with different ideas that may hamper closeness among us. But having acquired and chose the right idea by going to school does not mean that each learner has already achieved what is natural, and eventually closeness may just happen. Aptitude does not guarantee this. The role of moral values is the final topping of intellectual education to make the society a better place to live – free from isolationism and individualism.
