The Value of Moral Education Thought of Mohist School for the Cultivation of Sense of Social Responsibility of Young Students

Yi Jianhua(Shaoyang University,Shaoyang　Hunan　422000)



The Value of Moral Education Thought of Mohist School for the Cultivation of Sense of Social Responsibility of Young Students

Yi Jianhua
(Shaoyang University,ShaoyangHunan422000)

The moral education thought of Mohist School has rich content with the “universal love” as its essence.This paper discusses the inspiration of moral education thought of Mohist School for cultivating the sense of social responsibility of young students through analyzing the manifestations and reasons of the lack of sense of social responsibility in order to increase the efficiency of cultivating the sense of social responsibility of young students.

Mohist School;moral education;young students;sense of social responsibility

China is now experiencing the rapid development of social economy and it is an important task to pay close attention to ideological and moral situation of young students and discuss the cultivation of their sense of social responsibility.The moral education thought of Mohist School provides positive references for the cultivation of sense of social responsibility of young students in China.

Ⅰ.The content of moral education thought of Mohist School

1.The “universal love”

The universal love is the core of Mohist School and not limited by scope,status,time and space.It means that people should be treated equally and love each other.

2.The “dyed human nature”

Different from Confucius,Mencius,and other scholars,Mo Zi thinks that education will exert great impact on human nature.Comparing it to dyed silk,he comes up with the idea of “dyed human nature”.The character of a person can be acquired and changed by education and environment.So it is necessary to enhance education and improve the environment to raise moral standard.

3.To love people and value righteousness

Mo Zi puts forward the idea of “universal love and mutual benefits”.He encourages people to use his strength to help others,give his money to the poor and use his knowledge to educate others.This is the righteousness he advocates.It refers to not only helping others materially but also educating and influencing others spiritually.

4.To love people and benefit others

Mo Zi points out that loving people includes loving oneself.To love others and love oneself are the unity of opposites.To gain love from others,first love others.To benefit oneself,first benefit others.Mo Zi thinks the interests of society and others are higher than that of individual and one shall sacrifices his own interest when there is conflict between them.

Ⅱ.The manifestations of the lack of sense of social responsibility of young students

1.To value individual value above social value

With the abolishment of socialist planned economy and establishment of socialist market economy,the subject consciousness of people develops.Due to the intense market competition,young students become self-centered and pursue for self-value.For example,they will consider whether it has high income and bright prospect when choosing a job.With the improvement of material living standard,they are easily lured by money and eroded by money worship and utilitarianism.Finally they only care how to acquire maximum individual interest regardless of social interest completely.

2.To value individual ideal above social ideal

Influenced by western adverse values and social atmosphere,many students think they have nothing to do with socialist modernization and economic development.They care individual ideal and future too much regardless of the country,society and collectivity.Social ideal and individual ideal should be combined and one with only individual deal but no social ideal will lack the sense of social responsibility.Some students even have no individual ideal and can’t take responsibility for themselves.

3.To value individual responsibility above social responsibility

With the establishment of socialist market economy,people get used to think and behave based on individual interest.The self-consciousness and responsibility of young students develop in the process of realizing individual ideal and value,but their value on social responsibility does not.According to an investigation,young students are able to take into account both individual and society,but they always value individual responsibility above social responsibility.〔1〕

Ⅲ.The reasons of the lack of sense of social responsibility of young students

1.The reasons of society

First is the negative impact from economic development.The socialist market economy injects vitality into young students’ values and the competition mechanism provides conditions for them to realize individual values,which make them more care individual interest and even form wrong values meanwhile.Influenced by this,young students deny social values and are not willing to sacrifice individual interest and take the social responsibility.

Second is the erosion by western negative culture and thoughts.Thanks to the reform and opening up,western culture enters China,both positive and negative.Influenced by western individualism,some young students prioritize individual interest above all else and likely benefit themselves at others’ expense to achieve their goals.

Third is the negative impact from Internet.In 21st century,the network has become an important tool in people’s living,working and studying.However,it is necessary to keep alert with its negative impact on young students.The information on the Internet is farraginous and some illegal and harmful information may influence students whose ability of self-control is weak;the network features openness,invisibility and freedom,which dilutes the sense of social responsibility of young students;in the virtual network world,students may ignore the real life and their social responsibility.

2.The reasons of school

First is school education.The school is the key position for the cultivation of sense of social responsibility of young students.But the result of moral education is far from satisfying.Firstly,although the schools offer moral education course,they pay less attention to course teaching.Under the background of exam-oriented education,schools and teachers mainly focus on the knowledge instruction regardless of cultivation of humanistic spirit.Then,teaching methods are single and inflexible and lack efficiency and pertinence.Last,school education values theoretical instruction above social practice.

Second is weak influence of teachers.The strength of sense of social responsibility of teachers influences the cultivation of sense of social responsibility of students directly.If a teacher lacks sense of social responsibility,especially professional ethics,his students will neither acquire knowledge nor form the sense of social responsibility.

Third is the loss of campus culture.Campus culture includes material culture,spirit culture and institution culture and some schools neglect the construction of spirit and institution culture.It is hard for students living in such an environment without rich spirit culture,strict regulations and rules and moral standards to develop sense of social responsibility.〔2〕

3.The reasons of family

Parents are the first teacher of children and there are many problems with family education in China.Due to the intense competition,parents wish children to master all knowledge and skills to survive in society,so they always only care children’s academic records and neglect moral education,not helpful for the cultivation of sense of social responsibility and healthy development of children.Besides,in most only-child families,parents dote on children and shoulder everything for them in family,making them take everything for granted.It is impossible for them to take social responsibility initiatively in a long run.

Ⅳ.Inspiration of moral education thought of Mohist School for cultivating the sense of social responsibility of young students

1.To enhance the education of collectivism

Benefiting others prior to benefiting oneself is one of the most important ideas of Mohist School.Facing the erosion of western thoughts,the ideas of righteousness and interest of Mo Zi shall be advocated in moral education.Young students should understand that only through safeguarding collective interests can one acquire individual interest,only through taking social responsibility and creating value for society can one realize individual value.

2.To cultivate teachers’ moral sentiments

Firstly,teachers should shape the soul.The teacher’s soul is their love for students,conforming to the universal love of Mohist School.If students can feel the love,they will trust and accept teachers and become interested in their courses.Only if teachers possess the love,can they improve professional skills and moral standards,acquire respect from students,and shoulder the responsibility of education.

Second,teachers should shape themselves.Teachers should learn “hardship as principle” of Mohist School,be strict with themselves,take social responsibility and safeguard social moral standards consciously.〔3〕The role of a teacher is not only to impart knowledge but also help students to form correct views of life,value and world,master the principle of living,take social responsibility and contribute to the socialist construction.So teachers should strengthen self-shaping,insist on self-study,self-examination,self-excitation and self-alertness,and set a good example for students.

3.To optimize educational environment

The “dyed human nature” of Mohist School emphasizes the influence of educational environment on physical and mental development.Thus,educational environment should be optimized to cultivate the sense of social responsibility of young students.

Firstly,create a harmonious campus cultural environment.A healthy cultural environment exerts a subtle impact on regularizing students’ behaviors.The school should first build a beautiful campus suitable for studying and living and then provide a high-quality campus environment for students to participate in practice through various social activities.The school should also optimize the campus environment of public opinions through carrying forward Chinese great traditional culture and socialist core values.

Secondly,create a social environment of public opinions.On the one hand,the moral construction and rule of law should be strengthened to establish a just social competition mechanism for students.On the other hand,give gull play to mass media,guide people with correct public opinions,carry forward the spirit of the times to infect young students.

Thirdly,purify network environment.The construction and supervision of network should be stressed to avoid its negative influence.Firstly,govern the network by law and restrict netizens’ behaviors.Secondly,curb the invasion of harmful information.Finally,spread healthy information through Internet to enhance the sense of social responsibility of young students.

In conclusion,the moral education thought of Mohist School is helpful and we should discard the dross while assimilating the essence in order to cultivate the sense of social responsibility of young students and train qualified successors for socialist construction.

(Translated by Dai Jiabao)

References:

〔1〕张昌勋：《浅析当代青年学生社会责任感的培养》，《成都教育学院学报》2005年第1期，第36-37页。

〔2〕于浩华：《当代青年人社会责任感的培养》，《辽宁师范大学》，2011年。

〔3〕范琳玮：《墨子的教育思想与当代思想政治教育》，河北科技大学，2010年。

About the author：Yi Jianhua (1974—),bachelor of Laws,master of Ethics,lecturer of Department of Ideological and Political Education,Shaoyang University,engaged in Marxist Theory.