In the era of fragmentation, do we still have the ability to read thick books?
Theme: "Humanities Lessons of Chinese and Western Studies" Shanghai Conference
Time: December 5, 2021
Location: Shanghai Library
Guests:
Fan Yang "Humanistic Walk" public welfare humanities reading promoter
Founder of Wang Sheng Baite Education
Jian Ping, writer, playwright, media person
Guo Chuyang Middle School Chinese Education Researcher
Do we no longer need to study when we leave school?
Moderator: This year is the 30th anniversary of Teacher Fan Yang's teaching.
For a long time, Mr. Fan Yang has advocated the "Humanities Walk" educational philosophy and insisted on the "Humanities Walk" public welfare humanities reading promotion activities. His years of persistence have also made today's book-"Humanities Lessons of Chinese and Western Readings".
In the era of fragmentation and informationization, reading is a topic that we are very concerned about.
This is especially true this year. Under the background of the "double reduction" policy, where is our education going?
Today we are very fortunate to invite several new media and innovative education teachers to discuss with Teacher Fan Yang.
I would like to ask all the guests, what do you think of our current reading situation?
Wang Sheng: I think in this fragmented era, compared with when we were young, reading is much more comfortable-there are a lot more readable things, and the time may not necessarily be much less.
The main reason is that you don't know how to choose. This is a big difficulty in reading now.
I graduated from college and went to work in a bookstore for 6 years, keeping my books all day long.
There are tens of thousands of books in a bookstore. Take any one of them, and I know what row and position it is in which shelf.
Now if you go to the bookstore and look at the books, you think they are all good books. If you don't know how many you have read, you can pick them at will, but the amount of information is too large, and you have to learn to choose the books that suit you.
Reading now is the age of fingers, and it is also an age that is very difficult to choose.
In addition, we have a lot of electronic reading-it cannot be said that it is not reading-a lot of people's articles are spread through WeChat, Zhihu, or other methods, and they are good articles, whether on paper or on electronic screens. .
It also takes up a lot of time.
Generally speaking, reading is readily available in this era, and selection is particularly difficult and important.
Fan Yang: My set of books is mainly aimed at such a fragmented era. People who are mainly middle school students (including people of all ages) face a dilemma and predicament-that is, when we leave school, we are Don’t you need to read books anymore?
I discovered this problem when I was a teacher.
After arriving in Shanghai, as time went by, I felt that this problem became more and more serious.
In addition to class representatives who have some interest in reading, for most students, reading is no longer the first requirement and first interest. They give more time to the computer—our class at the time was called Computer specialty classes were very fashionable at the time.
At that time, computers were generally the top class, so the students were more interested in it.
At that time, there was no Internet, and students were learning pictures, cartoons, and videos.
In contrast, reading books is much less than when I was teaching in Shaanxi.
In the future, under the circumstances of exam-oriented education, there are fewer and fewer people studying-I directly deal with students, but students no longer love reading.
I think this is very scary-if people in the learning period do not regard reading as the main theme of life, then I think there must be a problem with this education.
If people in society don't read books even more, is it that our nation and this future will inevitably make people feel a little worried?
In fact, this book of mine started from this line of thinking. I insisted on the humanities forum, and then penetrated into the daily life through the humanities forum, teaching the seeds of reading to my students, so that they can enjoy reading at the age when they need it most. .
In addition to textbooks, is there a memorable book in middle school?
Jian Ping: Three of the guests today are all educators.
I'm also teaching now, from elementary school students to junior high school students, to high school students, and I'm still teaching undergraduate courses at the university myself. This year I started to teach master students, but I can only be regarded as half a teacher, right?
Have you noticed that the three experts are all teachers in the school, and they say that students no longer study.
Do you find it strange?
Our students go to class every day, and when they meet their parents, they say like this-"I have gone to school", so how can you say that our children don't go to school?
So I think, maybe what you are talking about "reading" is not the same as what we usually say about "reading" as parents or in the society. This issue is worth discussing with you.
Before the outbreak of 2019, my entire summer vacation was in the United States.
Because of the long time, I rented a house by myself at Columbia University next to Hudson in New York. My roommates are all PhD students from Columbia University, and they are all graduate students in China.
When I was chatting with them, I asked them if you were in middle school, such as junior high school or high school (they all studied science), did you have the most memorable book for you?
In the end, none of my three roommates could answer. They all looked at me and felt that the question you asked was too inexplicable.
I just said that you tell me which books you read?
Don’t they say it’s just language books, math books, physics books, textbooks?
Only then did I know that what they said about reading was "reading textbooks."
So today we actually have another question, which is what Teacher Wang Sheng just mentioned, can fragmentation of reading be regarded as reading?
I personally think that with the improvement of the informatization of the entire society, with the advancement of science and technology, and with the advancement of human civilization, the way of reading, the form of reading, and the means of reading will only become more and more abundant in the future, so in this sense On the previous page, we totally reject e-reading today, and I think this is also unrealistic.
So on the other hand, why do we call it fragmented reading?
Is it because everyone has found out, what do we read every time?
They are all relatively short, right?
Every time we read a relatively long article, it will write you in advance "It will take 3 minutes, 5 minutes to read the article", and even tell you 20 minutes at the longest time, so I have a rough idea in my mind.
In this case, everyone knows that this is fragmented reading.
But I think this fragmented reading also needs to be watched.
The entire literary development history of human civilization up to now, at least what I have seen myself, as today’s literary works, are long, mighty, turbulent, and long novels with three volumes and five volumes.
I once filmed a TV series. We are a very famous modern writer in China, Li Jieren from Sichuan.
Both he and Ba Jin went to France to study in the 1930s, and then returned to Shanghai, where they wrote a trilogy together.
Either you don’t write a novel, you just write a trilogy, "Home", "Spring" and "Autumn", right?
Writers in many countries in the world, I have seen their prose and essays.
Many of the works that won the Nobel Prize in Literature are essays, one paragraph is not many, one paragraph is only two to three hundred words.
For example, everyone has read a lot of Nietzsche's works. He has never been a long story, and they are all very short, except for his individual works.
In this sense, I said that we might and should accept fragmented reading.
There is just one problem. When you only read a certain form of work, it will be a loss to you.
Because this is a diversified era and a diversified culture. With diversified reading methods, you only choose to read the short ones instead of the long ones. That is loss and incompleteness.
That's it.
Well, reading long books and reading such thick books requires training, and I think this training is a process.
Through training, you will find long-reading, short-reading unattainable reading pleasure, or reading gains.
So we can't say that we get this or give up that, but we have to have it, otherwise I think even people are incomplete.
So I told a Chinese PhD student at Columbia University, I feel very sorry, because I think there is something missing in your life. There was no book left in your middle school age. Think about how far you can go.
What kind of reading can lead children to love reading for life?
Guo Chuyang: I think there are other factors that may objectively lead to fragmented reading.
The texts in most of the textbooks for elementary and middle schools are short and flimsy because of limited space and capacity.
Until now, it is still like this. As a way for children to lead to literature, the selection of language books objectively leads to fragmentation.
Another point is that we have become accustomed to this modern way of education.
Forty or fifty years ago, there was an American author named Ivan Illich, who wrote a very shocking book, which was later translated by a professor at Nantah University, called "Non-School Society."
What he meant was that the school is a product of an industrial society, we don’t need a school, we just need a bookstore.
How interesting it is for us to read scripts and learn filming with teacher Jian Ping, right?
It’s so fun to walk along the humanities with Teacher Fan Yang. Why do we need a school?
The school is based on the curricularization of such a school system established by the industrial society, which will inevitably lead to fragmented reading.
Last night, I participated in teacher Fan Yang’s humanities book club, which started at 6 o’clock and ended at 9 o’clock, which lasted more than two hours.
Finally, he said, "You can go," but no one left, and they were still staying there.
When you arrive at the site, you will experience such a miniature learning community, where everyone discusses and loves the same book, that kind of warm, reluctant, and very wonderful feeling.
Wang Sheng: Reading is indeed a personal matter, but why do you want to read?
As Mr. Guo said just now, one is love.
What do you love?
I think there are three different types of reading: one, for example, when we read novels. I just bought a copy of Shi Tiesheng’s "Ming Ruo Qin Xian". Reading literary and artistic books, you will be immersed in the beauty of literature and art. Go in, that's something you can appreciate.
The second type is an application-oriented book. For example, we are engaged in management. You can see what is entrepreneurship, what is innovative spirit, and what is execution.
When it is applied, take a look and use it immediately. This is one kind.
There is also academic reading.
Like our own college, the first year children go to liberal arts education.
What are the textbooks used in the "Chinese History" class?
The history of Shi Jingqian.
We use Shi Jingqian's history books as teaching materials for children to learn modern Chinese history.
Then this is an academic reading.
I think different ways of reading and different content bring you different happiness.
An important point in the era of fragmented reading, how can you develop the ability to read a thick book?
The key is how to get happiness from it.
You are willing to spend time reading a thick book because the happiness it brings is something you can't bring.
Allowing children to experience the happiness of different types of reading is an important point for a person to be able to read for a long time.
Although "Humanities Lessons in Chinese and Western Reading" is very thick, it is a fusion of interesting, literary, and informative. This kind of reading can bring children to it, and it may make him enjoy reading for life.
Build relationships between people. This is why we want schools.
Jian Ping: When we talk about textbooks, are language and literature the same concept?
This is very important.
In fact, I think there is really a difference between language and literature.
I have many teachers and friends myself. They really don't read books, never read children's literature or literature books.
I will tell them: "You don't study by yourself, how can you let your child go to study?" Even the child reads better than him.
One day I went to do an experiment.
I took fifth-grade children from a famous school in Shanghai to Shanghai Shiguang Bookstore, and gave each person 100 yuan to choose books by themselves, and teachers and parents should not keep up.
As a result, all the books chosen by the children are beyond our expectations—neither are textbooks, but even more philosophy books, which explore nature—and this nature is already far away from our perception, such as human development. In the early stage, the state of the entire world before humans; including some futures, such as "A Brief History of Time" and so on.
This is beyond our imagination.
Both of our teachers said just now that we must cultivate children's reading habits.
I think it’s not enough to get used to it. I have to cultivate my lifelong reading style.
When reading becomes one's own way of life, reading is truly on a state and a peak.
So to do this, we have to read more books, not just textbooks.
I once read a very famous article written by Nobel Prize-winning writer Kensaburo Oe called "Why do children go to school?"
"I very much agree.
If children want to accept knowledge, then you can accept knowledge at home.
Let the child play games, then he can play games at home. It is enough for him to go to the park or Disney to play games. Why does he go to school?
He said that, in the final analysis, going to school is to build a relationship between people. I think this is the reason why we want school.
I found no. In the future, with the development of our entire technological means, including online teaching after the outbreak of the epidemic, everyone has to accept it. Online education will also be a development trend.
But if you just study in this way, I think it is not enough.
We should develop a life style.
All subjects, whether language, mathematics, physics, chemistry, or English, I think it is a kind of humanities education.
What are humanities education and humanities?
It is nothing more than three points: First, we must at least know how many achievements human civilization has produced, and we must cherish it; second, I want to know why we still have ideals in the development of the entire human civilization, and yet There must be pursuit.
Because this world is not beautiful, we have to build this world better, we have to achieve this goal through reading; third, to become a complete and healthy person.
Reading is a way to help a person become a sound person.
Living alone in this society, what do you fight with others?
Isn’t it about fighting personality?
Fight to the end is your personality charm.
How did this personality come from?
I think the shaping of personality comes more from reading.
Children with a passion for reading will eventually gradually move towards great books
Moderator: Could you please talk about reading in a small environment—family reading?
Teacher Wang Sheng, there are two daughters in your family, right?
How do you create a family reading atmosphere in this era?
Wang Sheng: The boss is now in the third year of university, studying in Canada.
The second child is now in the fifth grade of elementary school.
Two people are 10 years behind, that's a bit special, and it's a bit different from being within 5 years of age.
There are books everywhere in our bedroom, study, and living room. The boss may have been edified since he was a child, and he has liked reading.
Of course, we also have the habit of reading stories to our children before going to bed. I remember "Hilarian Art History" and "Hilarian World History". I read one chapter with her every day.
So the boss can read novels in elementary school, and she still likes reading very much until now in the third year of college.
I have read a lot in Chinese and English, and I have also written a lot. I also participated in Teacher Fan Yang's humanities walk. I was very excited and I could read a lot of books.
The second child has lived in a very scholarly environment since he was young, but the second child did not read.
After trying many methods, she doesn't particularly like reading, she likes one type of books-detectives. She can read all detective books, and she also likes to read funny comics.
She really likes to use her brains, because there are some small details in the book. She likes to think about it. She likes Holmes's comics and text editions. She reads it and discusses it with me.
I found that she could not read many words, but when she was discussing the case, she could observe a lot of details, such as how the window snake climbed in and how it came down... She saw it from this type of book. world.
I later thought that the two children should not be compared, each has its own strengths, and each has its own direction.
Guo Chuyang: The creation of a family reading atmosphere is actually very simple. I often recommend to my parents a book that has been published for more than ten years, called "The Power of Reading".
It is very simple, as Teacher Wang said, when I was young, I read stories before going to bed, and there were books at my fingertips everywhere in my home.
High-quality books do not force children to read, but which book he wants to read is readily available.
The so-called free and autonomous reading means that you want to read, not to read, to read at any time, or to not read at any time, there is no pressure, no tasks, no tests, no after-class practice, no exams.
In fact, children like reading very much, and they are also readers of in-depth reading.
The book "The Power of Reading" has a chapter devoted to it. Even a comic book, as long as it can arouse a child's interest in reading, it is also good.
And when a book awakens a young reader's enthusiasm in reading, from then on, he has experienced "Wow, reading is so good". You have to read it when you hide in the bed, and you have to read it even if you risk being confiscated by the teacher, and so on. The book is "Home Run Books".
Children with avid reading interest will eventually gradually move towards great books.
Teacher Jian just said that if you give you 100 yuan to buy books, he will definitely choose books that are slightly higher than him to improve himself, which is especially interesting.
Wang Sheng: In fact, the child has cultivated his appreciation ability and his ability to choose things through reading. This is very important.
The liberal arts education taught by our own college is actually the same. It cultivates children’s three qualities: one is the ability to appreciate, knowing what is good and what is not good, he will choose what suits him; the second is his The ability to think independently, think independently of one's own opinions.
The third is the sense of responsibility, his sense of responsibility to society, his sense of responsibility to his family, his own responsibility, and the cultivation of his personality.
These three aspects are brought about by liberal arts education. This is mainly from reading and discussion. I think it will be better if there is this atmosphere in the family.
The indispensable reading in life brings you strength, courage, imagination and warmth
Moderator: I just talked about "The Power of Reading". I know that teacher Jian Ping encountered a low point in his life in 2011. How did reading give you strength at that time?
Jian Ping: In 2011, I suddenly got cancer.
My mother stayed with me for a whole year. One year later, she suddenly said that she was unwell and that going to see a doctor was also an advanced liver cancer. The doctor said that at most six months to one year.
In this case, let's say it, we don't have much time, we have to walk as soon as Teacher Fan Yang said.
I took my mother everywhere. My mother later lived for two years and four months. During this time, we really traveled a lot of places.
I had never read a book with my mother before. One day the Chinese Writers Association asked me to go to Beidaihe to recuperate, and I took my mother with me.
One day I told my mother that we should read books. We walked so many roads together. We will be the first parent-child reading in our lives.
My mother is over 70 years old and I am over 50 years old. We read "Guess How Much I Love You".
After reading it, for about 10 minutes, neither my mother nor I spoke, but only heard sea waves, blue sky and white clouds.
I felt that what I wanted to say to my mother, and what my mother wanted to say to me, we all received in our hearts.
So I think reading for a person, it will bring you hope, strength, and warmth.
Isn't this kind of reading indispensable in your life?
Reading will really bring you what you want, such as strength, courage, imagination, such as what I just said, warmth.
Fan Yang: The aspects mentioned by you just now fit in with the problems that I have thought about and discovered in the past few decades, as well as some of my own practices.
I have always felt that if it is only the study of textbooks, the practice of Chinese is actually incomplete.
So through our humanistic reading, we actually broke this kind of fragmentation, and realized the use of the most quintessence of human civilization to penetrate a person's understanding of the world and human life.
This is also a very important way for us to practice in the era of fragmentation.
At first, I was like a literary youth, basically focusing on reading literature.
But then I discovered that every child has different points of interest at different ages, and not all of them like literature.
So my subsequent lectures are no longer limited to literature, but always combine history, geography, art, technology and other aspects.
We are now particularly emphasizing the "integrated" curriculum, which is actually more able to satisfy children with different points of interest and stimulate their interest in reading.
In addition, we have been doing humanistic walks for many years, and we have combined book reading with life practice through a practical way of reading.
This kind of humanities line reading actually broke the age limit, and now many parents have participated in it.
Many of the parents who came here today brought their children with them, and many more parents also realized that reading by reading, reading while reading, is actually a manifestation of the essence of human life.
People of all ages should have such a consciousness, practice method, and lifestyle, which will bring us lifelong happiness.
Finishing/Yuyi