Research On Tang Wenzhi’s Dispositional Educational Thoughts

Mr Tang Wenzhi, courtesy name Yinghou, also known as Weizhi or Rujing, was born in Taicang and moved to Wuxi in his later life. He had first been a government officer for 15 years, especially as the minister of agriculture, Works and Commerce in the government of the Qing dynasty, then gave up the officer and taught school for more than 40 years. During his life, he was called Generation model, because he was tireless in teaching, and didn’t stop writing. In 1920, when the Wuxi Ancient Chinese Literature Search training hall(called Wuxi Guozhuan for short) was establish by him, his was 56 years old and almost blind. But he still insist on teaching for students by himself until 83 years old. At this age, he was eaten up with disease so that he couldn’t relocate from Shanghai to Wuxi with Shanghai Guozhuan School. Wuxi Guozhuan was established in the era that western learning was spread to the East, and old and new culture disputed with each other. However, it is not affected by the social atmosphere at that time. In this school, teachers researched ancient Chinese literature to reform the heart of the students intently, persevered in developing students’ disposition first rather than knowledge and career, inspired students’ national consciousness, culture students’ gentleman personality, pay attention to the Connotation sentiment of reading. The students in Wuxi Guozhuan were encouraged and affected by the character, which were venerable, erudite, and good at teaching, having many works, of the headmaster Tang Wenzhi and the other teachers of school. They affected each other, made Common progress, Forced for thrift, sincerely carried out the learning style, understood the spirit of ancient Chinese Literature. This school explored a road of saving the nation by education that was studying Confucian and neo-confucianism classics and for reforming the heart of the students and developing students’ disposition in the historical period of the early Republic of China when socio-economic andcultural was transforming sharply, which achieved a number of teachers and students who had true knowledge and true disposition.This article mainly analyzes Tang Wenzhi’s Practice achievement that he and his colleagues did scholarly research together according to the purpose of disposition education, generalizes the historical origin, basic connotation and practical method of formation of Tang Wenzhi’s disposition educational thought and concludes some inspiration for the current education.The first is the basic connotation about Tang Wenzhi’s disposition educational thought. This article discusses that based on his research experience, he inherited the “disposition” theory in Confucian classic and did research on neo-confucianism by inspired from the Zhu Xi’s doctrine of “man’s spiritual mentality consists of sense and sensibility”, so that he formatted the ideological pursuit which made disposition educational practice “Reforming the heart of people, Choosing the right fate and establish the he meaning of life for people” as the purpose of running a school. This enriched and perfected the ethical education in Chinese traditional Educational thoughts. His thoughts were the educational thoughts about keeping national consciousness, inheriting Chinese culture feelings, arousing people’s spirit of integrity, emphasizing practice by oneself and researching freedom. His also treated the disposition education more important than the moral education, because it was the root of engaging in scholarship and articles, and the main purpose of education. And he attributed the reason of Guozhuan existing more than 30 years by keeping the spirit of education to the getting teachers’ and students’ disposition together.The second is the Practical methods of Tang Wenzhi’s disposition educational thought. Firstly, on the cultural belief, he developed the cultural confidence and pursuit of running a school of “national characteristics” and “the national soul” by using “ancient Chinese literature” and “the quintessence of Chinese culture”. Secondly, on the compilation of teaching materials, he inspired students’ “consciousness” and “spirit” by studying and learning the canons. Thirdly, on the curriculum culture, he treated “Learning character” first as their teaching idea and personality cultivation as the core for the course offered. Fourthly, on the method of reading articles, he created “Tangdiao” reading method by himself after learning Wu Rulun’s “The method of reading”, so that the teachers and students in Guozhuan school developed their academic disposition by reading articles aloud. Fifthly, on the principle of choosing teachers, he paid attention to the teachers’ effect on disposition model, laid emphasis on engaging the student graduated from Guozhuan school for keeping the educational tradition, and carefully choosing the teachers with true knowledge and true disposition, so that the teachers and students affected each other by their disposition and gather together by their deep friendship. Lastly, Guozhuan school carried out academic research by fulfilling the academic atmosphere by practice, contacting the social and historical reality, enriching students’ emotional experience and leading students to absorb anything and everythingThe last is the current implication of Tang Wenzhi’s disposition educational practice. It mainly include the below aspects: paying attention to the inherition of ancient Chinese literature, keeping the “the national soul” and “national characteristics”, preserving the national spirit of the Chinese nation, choosing and using canons articles in Chinese teaching materials to let students understand the national spirit and Knowledge awakening temperament, going back to reading aloud education to let students develop their disposition in it, playing an important model role of teachers, attaching importance to develop and uplifting influence on students’ disposition by themselves, promoting teachers’ own professional development, take care of and close to students’ lives, bringing about the opportunities that can practice scholarly research with freedom for teachers and students actively, contacting students’ lives reality, enriching students’ life experience, then gain their goal of developing disposition during the learning process.With the rapid development of globalization and informationization, especially the developed countries expanding their economic power and cultural products and trying to penetrate their internal thinking mode and value orientation at the same time, the mode of social economic production and the way of culture transmission are changing day by day. In the new social transition period, how to achieve the transformation of education very appropriately and actualize the transformation of personnel training in education finally is a major problem faced now. As an activity for developing people, education not only directs economic and political life in modernization, but also directs people themselves, and the universe and life that human beings are in the midst of. Chinese traditional culture, especially the Confucian culture, is a kind of “learning for oneself culture” of inward cultivation, a disposition culture that lays stress on cultivating one’s moral character, exercising character and developing disposition, and is also a veritable culture that shows solicitude for people from the “Survival theory ”and makes people become “cultured”. Study Tang Wenzhi’s disposition educational thought can give us profound enlightenment about how to be closer to the spirit of ancient Chinese literature and develop students’ disposition and moral character.