Integration of the Historical Initiative Spirit into the Ideological and Political Course of Colleges and Universities：Value Implication, Main Contents and Practical Dimension

Dongming LI, Ying WANG

1. School of Marxism, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541001, China; 2. School of Marxism, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China

Abstract The value implication, main contents and practical dimension of integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities were studied. From the perspective of value implication, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities is helpful to promoting the integrity and innovation of the ideological and political course in colleges and universities, deepening the historical cognition of students and building the cornerstone of students’ belief. From the perspective of main contents, teachers of ideological and political course should clarify the theoretical connotation of the historical initiative spirit, give a thorough exposition of the generation logic of the historical initiative spirit, and explain The Times value of the historical initiative spirit lively. From the perspective of practical dimension, it is necessary to give full play to the educational function of the historical initiative spirit by enriching the content of curriculum teaching, innovating the ways and methods of education and teaching, integrating theory and practice, and online and offline interaction.

Key words Historical initiative spirit, Ideological and political course of colleges and universities, Educational function

1 Introduction

Carrying forward the historical initiative spirit is an important judgment put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the critical moment of marching toward the second centenary goal, and it is a theoretical innovation of the Communist Party of China, reflecting the political consciousness and political initiative of Chinese Communists to deeply grasp the laws of history and act along the trend in the new era. Ideological and political theory course in colleges and universities (hereinafter referred to as ideological and political course in colleges and universities) is an important link in cultivating new people of The Times, and its training goal is deeply coupled with the historical initiative spirit. In theNoticeoftheMinistryofEducationandotherdepartmentsontheissuanceoftheWorkPlanforComprehensivelyPromotingtheConstructionofthe"BigIdeologicalandPoliticalCourse", it is stressed that it is necessary to focus on the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, promote the use of the Party’s innovative theory to educate people, constantly enhance pertinence and improve effectiveness. Based on this background, the reform, innovation and high-quality development of ideological and political course in colleges and universities, the solution of college students’ ideological confusion, the improvement of college students’ historical literacy, the enhancement of college students’ historical self-confidence, and the training of college students’ historical responsibility are undoubtedly of extremely important practical significance.

2 Value implication of integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities

The historical initiative spirit originated from the great practice and successful experience of the Communist Party of China in the hundred-year struggle, contains rich connotations, and is a valuable educational resource for cultivating people of a new type in The Times. Therefore, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities is the inherent requirement and inevitable way to carry out the fundamental task of building moral education. Specifically, the important value of integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities is shown in the following three aspects:

2.1 It is helpful to promoting the innovation of ideological and political course in colleges and universitiesIn theSeveralOpinionsonDeepeningtheReformandInnovationoftheIdeologicalandPoliticalTheoryCourseinSchoolsintheNewEraissued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, it is pointed out that the ideological and political course should adhere to the unity of integrity and innovation, implement the reform and innovation requirements of ideological and political course in the new era, and constantly enhance the ideological and theoretical property, affinity and pertinence of ideological and political course[1]. The historical initiative spirit comes from the innovation theory of the Party, and integrating it into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities is conducive to promoting the integrity and innovation of the teaching content and teaching form, can enhance the initiative and creativity of teachers and students, and improve the teaching effectiveness of ideological and political course to a certain extent.

Firstly, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities is helpful to promote the integrity and innovation of the teaching content of ideological and political course. The historical initiative spirit originated in the century-old Party’s history, and has rich connotation. Integrating it into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities can effectively expand teaching resources. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities must arm their minds with the Party’s innovative theory, take the initiative to transform the Party’s latest theoretical achievements into teaching practice, and implement the historical initiative spirit into the whole process of teaching activities. Based on the local advantages, it is needed to fully tap the local historical resources to deepen the innovation of teaching content and improve the effectiveness of ideological and political course. Secondly, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities is helpful to promoting the innovation of the teaching form of ideological and political course[2]. The reform and innovation of ideological and political course is a clear manifestation of the historical initiative spirit. Faced with new tasks in the new situation, the teaching of ideological and political course should constantly innovate and develop combined with The Times and reality. According to the cognition of the educatees, it is needed to carry out a variety of teaching forms, increase the emotional experience of the educatees, and maximize the transmission of knowledge to the educatees. Therefore, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course in colleges and universities can promote the innovation of the teaching content and form of ideological and political course to some extent.

2.2 It is helpful to understanding history and deepen students’ cognition of historyGeneral Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the history of the Party is the most vivid and persuasive textbook[3]. Therefore, the integration of the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities is conducive to the understanding of history and the deepening of students’ historical cognition. The historical initiative spirit runs through the century-old practice of the Communist Party of China, and it is a clear historical consciousness, a high degree of political consciousness and a scientific theoretical consciousness displayed by Chinese Communists on the basis of a deep grasp of historical laws. Hence, integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities can enable students to understand the historical process of the Party’s century-old struggle more comprehensively and deeply, draw useful experience from the century-old struggle, and constantly deepen historical cognition and enhance historical wisdom. First of all, the historical initiative spirit follows the general law of the development of human society, and fully demonstrates the scientific nature. In different historical periods, the Communist Party of China has always actively explored and applied historical laws, reflecting the unity of law and purpose. Secondly, the more comprehensive the understanding of the historical process, the deeper the grasp of historical laws, the richer the Party’s historical wisdom, and the more active it will be in mastering the future[4]. This judgment of General Secretary Xi Jinping provides scientific compliance for the integration of the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities, which requires not only to guide students to profoundly grasp the history of the Party’s 100-year struggle and grasp the essential logic of historical development, but also to strengthen students’ learning of historical experience, and make students grasp the historical law and the historical initiative in the study of historical experience and consciously shoulder the heavy responsibility entrusted by The Times.

2.3 It helps to building the foundation of students’ faithAt present, the struggle situation in the field of ideology in China is extremely complicated, and erroneous thoughts such as historical nihilism, liberalism and universal values are intertwined and keep rising one after another. With the development of new media technology, the dissemination ways of these wrong thoughts are more hidden, wear a new "digital" and "electronic" coat, and shake the cornerstone of students’ faith. The ideological and political course is an important position of public opinion. Integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities will help to build the foundation of young college students’ belief, make them establish a correct view of history, and consciously resist the influence of various wrong social thoughts.

On the one hand, the historical initiative spirit embodies the value pursuit of ideals and beliefs, and provides rich nourishment for students to build a solid foundation of faith. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that ideals and beliefs are the Communists’ spiritual ‘calcium’, and if there is no ideal and belief, or ideals and beliefs are not firm, the spirit will have ‘calcium deficiency’, and you will get ‘chondrosis’[5]. Although this is mainly for Communists, the same is true for young students! As successors to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, young people need to deeply understand the historical initiative spirit and build a solid foundation for faith. On the other hand, the growth of college students in the new era needs the value guidance of the historical initiative spirit. Young students are in the critical periods of the formation, shaping and development of values, and are easily affected by wrong social trends of thought. In the face of wrong thoughts such as historical nihilism, it is necessary to analyze it with a realistic attitude, to vigorously counter historical nihilism with a clear and conscious spirit, to guide students to enhance their awareness of opportunities and risks in the "hundred-year changes", to deepen their scientific grasp of historical experience, and to form critical thinking in the face of wrong social thoughts. Integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities, helping young people get rid of the impact of wrong social thoughts, and improving the ability to distinguish right from wrong are key to debunk the mask of historical nihilism and other wrong social thoughts.

3 Main contents of integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities

The ideological and political course of colleges and universities should find out the intersection of the historical initiative spirit and ideological and political education, and make precise efforts in the teaching content. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities can improve students’ historical accomplishment, enhance students’ historical self-confidence and cultivate students’ historical responsibility by clarifying the theoretical connotation of the historical initiative spirit, giving a thorough exposition of the generation logic of the historical initiative spirit and explaining The Times value of the historical initiative spirit lively.

3.1 Clarifying the theoretical connotation of the historical initiative spirit to improve students’ historical accomplishmentThe historical initiative spirit is the precious spiritual wealth formed by the Communist Party of China in the process of analyzing and solving China’s practical problems with the guidance of Marxism and historical materialism. It is mainly manifested in the self-consciousness spirit of striving to overcome difficulties, unremitting self-improvement spirit, the spirit of taking the initiative to take actions, the scientific spirit of following laws, the spirit of people-centered subjectivity, and the pioneering and innovative spirit[6]. The historical initiative spirit contains a scientific world view and methodology. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should explain clearly the theoretical connotation of the historical initiative spirit to improve the historical quality of college students.

In the practice of the centennial struggle of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the connotation of the historical initiative spirit has gradually become concrete. On the one hand, taking respecting the objective historical law as the premise, the historical initiative spirit emphasizes giving full play to the subjective initiative in practice and actively transforming the real society. Human subjective initiative is an important force in the development of social history. The historical initiative spirit embodies the unity of respecting historical law and exerting subjective initiative. On the other hand, the CPC has a scientific grasp of the central tasks and historical laws in different historical periods. The ideological and political course in colleges and universities should teach the historical initiative spirit from different historical periods. During the new Democratic Revolution, the CPC complied with the law of historical development, made a winning decision of changing from passive to active based on the actual national conditions, led the people to overthrow the three mountains, and won the victory of the new democratic revolution. During the socialist revolution and construction period, the CPC followed the general trend of historical development, led the Chinese people to complete the three major reforms, established the socialist system, and embarked on a new journey of socialist construction. During the period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, the CPC further carried forward the historical initiative spirit, emancipated the mind, forged ahead with determination, and successfully created socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the new era, the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as its core has a profound grasp of the domestic and international situation, grasped history, taken the initiative and worked hard to write a new chapter in the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The high degree of historical consciousness displayed in each historical period reflects the spirit and character of Chinese Communists who bravely take the lead, forge ahead and bravely shoulder the historical responsibility. Therefore, teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should adhere to the unification of theoretical logic and historical logic, guide students to establish a correct view of Party’s history, and enhance students’ historical consciousness in teaching. In short, the ideological and political course of colleges and universities should clarify the theoretical connotation of the historical initiative spirit, deepen students’ understanding of the historical initiative spirit in different periods, guide students to establish historical materialism and the concept of grand history, connect individuals with society and the country, improve their historical literacy on the basis of a deep grasp of historical laws and historical trends, and consciously undertake historical missions.

3.2 Giving a thorough exposition of the generative logic of the historical initiative spirit to enhance students’ historical self-confidenceHistorical self-confidence comes from the past and concerns the future. Enhancing students’ historical self-confidence is a necessary meaning in the subject of ideological and political course in colleges and universities. The historical initiative spirit embodies the inherent requirements of historical materialism, and is highly consistent with the teaching objectives of ideological and political course in colleges and universities. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities can give a thorough exposition of the generative logic of the historical initiative spirit from the four dimensions of theory, history, value and practice. From the perspective of theoretical logic, Marxism has always been the theoretical basis and ideological guidance for the CPC to carry forward the historical initiative spirit. On the one hand, it scientifically points out the development law of human society, and provides theoretical guidance for the CPC to carry forward the historical initiative spirit. On the other hand, it provides scientific methods to analyze and solve problems. In the teaching of ideological and political course in colleges and universities, revealing the theoretical logic of the historical initiative spirit is conducive to "conquering" students theoretically. From the perspective of historical logic, the historical initiative spirit has profound traditional Chinese culture. The historical initiative spirit has inherited and continued the excellent traditional Chinese culture, drawing on the concept of change and progress, pioneering and innovative, and the spirit of self-improvement and effort in the fine traditional Chinese culture. In the teaching of ideological and political course, it is necessary to cultivate students’ historical initiative spirit with the excellent traditional Chinese culture as the soil, and guide students to be willing to contribute and dare to take responsibility in combination with the characteristics of The Times and the realistic needs, so as to achieve the organic integration of history and reality. From the perspective of value logic, the CPC has always taken serving the people as the value purport of the century-long struggle, and has always taken safeguarding the people’s interests and satisfying the people’s will as the starting point and goal of all its work. In the teaching of ideological and political course, it is necessary to use historical materialism to explain clearly that the people are the basis for generating the historical initiative spirit, and explain how the CPC led the Chinese people to exert the historical initiative spirit to achieve the great cause of history, so as to guide college students to integrate youth struggle and personal development into the cause of the Party and the people. From the perspective of practical logic, the historical initiative spirit originates from the great practice of the CPC leading the people in their century-long struggle. The Jinggangshan spirit, Long March spirit, Yan’an spirit and other great spirits of the Party as well as the historic achievements and historic changes since the new era are vivid manifestations of carrying forward the historical initiative spirit, and provides valuable experience and action guide for college students to carry out practice in the new era. In short, giving a thorough exposition of the generative logic of the historical initiative spirit can help enhance the historical self-confidence of college students, guide them to consciously stand firm in their political stance, correctly view the success and setbacks of the Party on the road forward, and effectively resist historical nihilism.

3.3 Emphasizing the value of the times of historical initiative spirit and cultivating students’ historical responsibility

The historical initiative spirit can provide a clear value coordinate for young people to take responsibility, and answer the growing confusion of who to take responsibility for. In the ideological and political course of colleges and universities, it is needed to explain The Times value of the historical initiative spirit lively, promote the historical initiative spirit to truly enter the mind and heart, and constantly enhance the subjectivity and sense of responsibility of college students.

On the one hand, the ideological and political course of colleges and universities should deeply analyze the value orientation of the historical initiative spirit. The 100-year history of the CPC is a history of struggle for "seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation". Taking initiative is the inherent meaning of the historical initiative spirit, runs through the century-old struggle of the Party to fulfill its original mission, and helps guide young people to combine personal growth with the happiness of the people, and consciously combine the specific goal of learning with the grand goal of national rejuvenation. It is necessary to adhere to the materialist view of history and the correct view of Party history, and see clearly why we were successful in the past and how we can continue to be successful in the future from the Party’s century-old struggle, so as to carry out the original mission more firmly and consciously, and better uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era[7]. The ideological and political course of colleges and universities should make use of typical stories in the process of the Party’s century-old struggle, highlight the ideological and political education value of the historical initiative spirit, and bring the contemporary value of the historical initiative spirit to life. On the other hand, the ideological and political course of colleges and universities should deeply explain the practical direction of the historical initiative spirit. Marx pointed out that to be thorough is to grasp the root of things, and the essence of man is man himself[8]. Only by transforming the historical initiative spirit into human practice can it promote social development. In the teaching process, teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should grasp the practical direction of the historical initiative spirit ,and guide students to actively carry forward the historical initiative spirit. They should not only help students recognize their own social responsibility and historical mission, but also guide students to actively participate in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, blooming their youth and realize their dreams in the process of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and a new journey of Chinese-style modernization.

4 Practical dimension of integrating the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities

To integrate the historical initiative spirit into the ideological and political course of colleges and universities, single and rigid indoctrination should be avoided. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should fully explore the relevant contents of the historical initiative spirit, and further build fine courses to integrate the historical initiative spirit into the teaching system, so as to make the Party’s innovative theory live in the teaching. To be specific, it is necessary to give full play to the educational function of the historical initiative spirit by enriching the content of curriculum teaching, innovating the ways and methods of education and teaching, integrating theory and practice, and online and offline interaction.

4.1 Enriching the content of curriculum teachingThe historical initiative spirit contains rich theoretical materials and spiritual elements, including historical figures, historical events, historical stories and so on. The teaching of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should fully tap the rich connotation of the historical initiative spirit, integrate its different connotations into the teaching content at different levels, and expand the breadth and depth of the teaching content of ideological and political course. The century-old history of the Party is a fresh textbook for the teaching of ideological and political course in colleges and universities, and the Party history data in different periods reflect the historical initiative spirit from different levels. Teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities should have a comprehensive cognition of the historical initiative spirit, dig deep into the rich literature resources of Party’s history, select representative content reasonably according to the characteristics of the course, and integrate it into the classroom teaching in a targeted way. Specifically, in the teaching design, important contents such as the history of the Party, the history of New China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of the development of socialism can be classified and summarized to construct a specific and complete knowledge framework, extract the historical initiative spirit and explain it to students in a systematic and thematic manner.

4.2 Innovating the ways and methods of education and teachingThe teaching of ideological and political theory course in colleges and universities should actively use scientific teaching methods and means, not only to enhance the ideological nature of teaching content, but also to enhance the pertinence and interest of teaching methods. First of all, according to the growth law and cognitive characteristics of students, they should choose appropriate teaching methods, such as immersion teaching, heuristic teaching, topic teaching, second class,etc., and apply different teaching methods to different fields. At the same time, it is necessary to actively use information teaching methods, such as smart classroom, rain classroom, cloud classroom and other novel teaching methods, to mobilize the enthusiasm of students. Secondly, in the teaching process, it is needed to make good use of on-site teaching, situational teaching and other methods to create an "immersive" scene for students and bring students an "integrated" experience. Historical events and typical historical figures embody or reflect the historical initiative spirit from the spiritual level, and provide action models for students to take responsibility and serve the society. The use of these examples in teaching can make the historical initiative spirit more vivid. Only by educating and inspiring people with true feelings can the historical initiative spirit become more apparent. Moreover, VR technology can be used to create an immersive experience for students, so that students can personally feel the historical initiative spirit contained in the role model, and draw the power of endeavour from it. In addition, through the red theme lecture, the Party’s history story meeting,etc., the historical initiative spirit can be displayed in an all-round and multi-angle, and college students’ emotional cognition of historical initiative spirit can be strengthened.

4.3 Integrating theory and practiceCarrying forward the historical initiative spirit is an important conclusion put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and it is a theoretical innovation of our party. The ideological and political course of colleges and universities should attach great importance to carrying forward the historical initiative spirit, integrate the historical initiative spirit into the whole process of ideological and political course teaching in combination with the characteristics of The Times, contemporary China’s national conditions and students’ growth needs, encourage young people to devote themselves to practice, make up for the weak sense of experience brought by the "lying down" and "Buddha" of contemporary young people through the practice of large classes, and form a new pattern of integration of innovative theory and practice. Specifically, it is needed to make full use of revolutionary memorial sites to organize students to visit red old sites and Party’s history education bases, carry out red day reading, organize students to exchange and study, and use fresh cases to educate and guide college students to carry forward the historical initiative spirit. Meanwhile, college students are encouraged to actively participate in the red theory lecture group, classic works study meeting, oral history interview and other activities to deepen emotional experience in specific social practice, so as to integrate the historical initiative spirit truly into the mind.

4.4 Online and offline interactionModern science and technology have opened up the connection between traditional teaching and network teaching, and effectively expanded the teaching space of ideological and political course. The teaching method of online and offline interaction reflects the characteristics of compatibility and inclusion, and is conducive to giving full play to each other’s advantages, highlighting strengths and avoiding weaknesses. On the one hand, online teaching has perfect technical support and resource reserve, and students can use fragmented time to preview and watch teaching videos, effectively expanding the teaching space and extending the teaching time. On the other hand, with the help of online teaching, teachers of ideological and political curse can use classroom research, classroom discussion and other ways that college students are willing to accept to carry out teaching. Based on this, teachers of ideological and political course in colleges and universities can build an online resource library of the historical initiative spirit, including case database, material database, video and audio database, and promote students’ autonomy and personalized learning through an open and shared teaching mode that integrates virtuality and reality, so as to improve the interest and effectiveness of ideological and political teaching.