What is the purpose of education？

"Freedom cannot be granted-it must be achieved through hard work. Education cannot be given-it must be obtained through hard work.

Lincoln didn’t liberate slaves-he just liberated himself. Black people don’t know that they are slaves, so they have no idea what freedom means.

Unless people really want to be free, every form of freedom is just another form of slavery. "

Sober, determined, and deafening-this is the feeling that this passage gives me.And there are many similar famous sayings in "Mr. Big" …

I’m a little ashamed to say that I haven’t read elbert hubbard’s super best-selling book "Letter to Garcia". So far, this book has sold more than 800 million copies around the world, and it is one of the best-selling books in the world. I must read it sometime.

Although I haven’t read "Letter from Garcia", this book "Mr. Big" really surprised me. Eleven sages who have made great contributions to education are selected in the book.

In fact, since ancient times, there are many educators who have made great contributions, and these "gentlemen" in Mr. Da are special. They are all sages who have influenced mankind for at least 3000 years.

These sages spanned more than 3,000 years from 1,300 years ago to the beginning of the 20th century. It covers three continents, Europe, Asia and America, and comes from eight different countries and civilizations. But their enthusiasm for education is highly consistent, tireless and unswerving …

This book is not thick, there are only more than 200 pages in total, and a few hours is enough to read it. However, I have great stamina. When I close the book, I can’t calm down, because the discussion on education in the book is so wonderful that people can’t help thinking about the current education, whether it is social or family level.

In fact, this book was published in 1916, which has been more than 100 years since now, and the sages in the book are very far away from us. But most of the ideas in the book are not out of date. On the contrary, they are like a pot of cold water, which is enough to wake us up and make us have to think:

What is the purpose of education?

Sadly, too many people nowadays make education utilitarian and habitually equate "education" with "money". It seems that education is to get money, otherwise it is a failed education.

This is actually contrary to the views of the sages, and even runs counter to them.

Confucius, the sage of our country, lived a poor but self-reliant life all his life: eating simple food, living a simple life and treating everything piously. He warned others and restrained himself:Do to others what you don’t want them to do to you.; Do one’s best to listen to destiny..

Without Freuber, a German educator, there would be no "kindergarten" and "female teacher", for which he paid the price of his life. He said: Women are born teachers. Education must "begin one hundred years before the child is born".Teaching is better than unification and governance.

By the way, he also put forward the concept of "school age" for the first time, thinking that children should go to school at the age of six, but before school, children have begun to learn and observe, which is also of great significance to their growth.

American black educator Washington told us:The purpose of education is to enable people to benefit themselves by serving the society.Emancipating slaves without teaching them how to make a living means another kind of slavery.

Hipatia in ancient Egypt is the only woman in the book and the first female mathematician in history. Father made her, but she got rid of his control. becauseObeying second-hand thoughts will only lose the right to think.

……

It can be said,"Mr. Da" is not only a collection of personal biographies that educated everyone in past dynasties, but also an evolutionary history of human educational thought and practice, and at the same time it is an archival record of exploring the human spiritual world.

The way of education of sages is worth thinking and learning at present. After all, people a thousand years ago were the same as they are now.

Remember: we are all children in God’s kindergarten.