China News Agency, Shenyang, June 24th: How does the university motto reflect the cultural spirit and educational philosophy?
——Interview with Sun Lei, Vice President of Northeastern University
China News Agency reporter Diao Haiyang Li Wei
University motto is a comprehensive expression of cultural spirit and educational philosophy.
Through the university motto, we can see the educational philosophy, educational tradition, value orientation and even the development of national character of Chinese and Western universities.
Where did the earliest university motto appear?
What are the characteristics of the school motto of Chinese and Western universities, and what cultural spirits and philosophies do they reflect?
China News Agency "Dongxi Wen" recently interviewed Sun Lei, the vice president of Northeastern University and a professor at the School of Marxism.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: Where did the earliest university motto appear? What is the significance of the school motto to the university?
Sun Lei
: Among modern Western universities, the University of Bologna and the University of Paris, known as the "mother of universities", did not have a clear school motto in the early days. At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, the University of Oxford (founded in 1167) and the University of Cambridge (founded in 1209). school) to design and activate their own school logos, which is recognized as the earliest school motto in the West.
Western schools are accustomed to calling the school motto "MOTTO", which means concise inscriptions, inscriptions, and inscriptions.
It can be seen from this that the school motto was born in response to the needs of educational development, and has been valued in education both ancient and modern, at home and abroad.
A university is a field for educating people. A university's motto, school spirit, and cultural traditions that arouse the consensus of teachers and students are the foundation for a university to become a person.
The key point of school motto educating people is "training", its meaning lies in educating people, and its function lies in the guidance, guidance and supervision of educators and educated people. There are hidden cultural characteristics, which silently affect the behavior and even the values of teachers and students.
University of Cambridge, UK.
Photo by Zhao Wei issued by China News Agency
China News Service reporter: What cultural spirits and philosophical thoughts are reflected in the school motto of Western universities?
Sun Lei
: The above-mentioned Oxford University and Cambridge University gradually formed their respective school mottos in the 15th century after many years of establishment. is the place of enlightenment and the source of wisdom).”
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Harvard Veritas (truth) and Yale Lux et veritas (truth and light) came into being in the United States. The ideas infiltrated by the school motto of these long-standing Western universities are similar to those of the original Oxbridge: the pursuit of true knowledge, freedom, and with Strong religious background.
This is closely related to the Western Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment.
In the development process of the school motto of Western universities, especially in the Middle Ages, it advocated "undifferentiated love, equality of identity before God, an undifferentiated man and God". These ideas and value orientations were the products of the feudal hierarchy in Western Europe at that time. .
In modern times, influenced by the "universal values" advocated by enlightenment rationality, the school motto of Western universities began to advocate "individual freedom, independence, equality, democracy, human rights" and the associated "Science, progress" and other concepts are a product of modern history and a product of modern capitalist private ownership.
China News Service reporter: Where does the word "school motto" in Chinese come from?
Sun Lei
: The Chinese school motto can be called "early birth and endogenous". In ancient times, there was a school motto, but it had no name. At the beginning of its birth, it carried the function of "education and education". , until the emergence of the church university in the late Qing Dynasty, thus realizing the unification of the name and reality of the school motto.
After the modern Chinese Christian universities successively formulated their school motto, the entity of "MOTTO" (school motto) has already appeared and promoted. However, because the traditional Chinese "university" does not have the words "school" and "motto" together, there is no "school motto" yet. this name.
Until the Sino-Japanese War of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, the sages of education borrowed Japanese to name "School Motto" (Hiragana: こうくん, pronounced koukun) in Chinese characters. The pronunciation is similar to the Chinese "School Motto", because Japanese The zhongyin pronunciation itself comes from the ancient Chinese language south of the Yangtze River in ancient China.
From this point of view, although the word "school motto" is an imported product, it has a deep local karma.
So far, the word "school motto" has been perfectly connected with the ancient Chinese "school motto" and the "MOTTO" of Western universities, realizing the concept and prototype of the school motto, and further clarifying the school motto of Chinese universities.
Yuelu Academy in Changsha, Hunan.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Huafeng
China News Service reporter: What are the characteristics of the school motto of Chinese universities, and what cultural spirit and philosophical thinking does it reflect?
Sun Lei
: I think the characteristics of Chinese university motto can be summed up in four spiritual dimensions: the length of history, the depth of philosophy, the temperature of literature, the thickness of aesthetics, and the four spiritual dimensions. The university motto is a synthesis of the four. The presentation and expression confirm that the spiritual dimension of the university motto contains cultural attributes and reflects the cultural spirit and philosophy.
The motto of Chinese universities is deeply influenced by the excellent traditional Chinese culture. The form is a Chinese-style literary expression, and the connotation is quite deep in Chinese-style philosophical speculation. For example, Sun Yat-sen University's "erudition, interrogation, careful thinking, discernment, and earnestness", all have a solid philosophy Supported by cultural heritage, it is full of Chinese wisdom.
Among them, the golden mean is particularly striking.
Wang Yangming's "unity of knowledge and action", from the initial point of view, is "the golden mean".
He Yan's collection of solutions: "Yong, often is, and neutrality is the way to be practiced".
As the so-called "this mind does not move, it moves randomly", don't be burdened by emotions, enter the state of "undisturbed" moderation, seize the opportunity, act according to conscience, and the action must be "in the middle", that is, knowledge (conscience) and action. one.
The school motto of Northeastern University "unremitting self-improvement, unity of knowledge and action" fully exemplifies this point.
During the period of Japanese imperialist aggression, Dongda still did not forget to save the nation and survive.
In 1928, Zhang Xueliang said to his students: "I look forward to all the gentlemen. We must strengthen our aspirations and use what we have learned. If scholars from all over the country can do this, then China will become self-improving." Action, knowledge is the first of action, action is the end of knowledge, and on the road of the middle way of persevering in pursuit of truth and hard work, seize the opportunity to form a qualitative leap.
This is a kind of inheritance and innovation of the traditional golden mean, but also a kind of transcendence and breakthrough.
China News Agency reporter: The school motto is a dematerialized form of educational philosophy. Through the school motto of Chinese and Western universities, what are the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western educational concepts?
Sun Lei
: Through the university motto, we can see the school-running philosophy, school-running tradition, value orientation and even the development of national character of Chinese and Western universities.
The motto of Chinese universities is based on the principle of virtue and goodness.
Chinese culture is a virtuous culture with Confucian culture as the main body, blood family as the foundation, and human ethics and morality as the basis for maintaining the society.
In particular, with the rise of the "scholar" class, "cultivating one's own family, governing the country and the world", the Chinese have developed a high sense of responsibility and obligation to the nation and the country, and have strong vitality and cohesion.
For example, the school motto of Tsinghua University, "Unremitting self-improvement, and great virtues" is when Liang Qichao gave a report on the title of "Gentleman" at Tsinghua University in 1914, citing the "Book of Changes" in "Heaven Xingjian, a gentleman is self-improvement; terrain Kun, A gentleman carries his virtues with great virtues" to encourage Tsinghua students to have a fighting spirit that will never give up and a broad-minded gentleman's character.
The motto of Tsinghua University is "Unremitting Self-improvement, Great Virtue".
Photo by Xu Wendong issued by China News Agency
In contrast, the motto of Western universities is straightforward and eager to pursue truth and freedom, often directly quoted from the Bible.
The ideological content of the school motto of Western universities has undergone the evolution from "emphasis on spirits", "emphasis on God", "autonomy" and "freedom" to "intellectuality", "seeking truth" and "service", showing the concepts and pursuits of Western universities.
For example, the motto of the University of California, Los Angeles, "Fiat Lux" (May the light of knowledge shine on the earth), advocates that God's revelation is the source of truth and knowledge.
Through the school motto of Chinese and Western universities, I summed it up with the word "beauty and commonality" in the school motto of the Minzu University of China. The educational philosophy of Chinese and Western universities is harmonious but different.
On the road of building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics, Chinese higher education in the new era must not only adhere to the uprightness of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, but also continue to innovate towards the world's universities, and ultimately realize the all-round development of people.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Sun Lei is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Northeastern University, vice president, professor and doctoral tutor of the School of Marxism.
He was an alternate member of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, a member of the 11th Shenyang Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the 12th, 13th and 14th Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shenyang Municipal Committee and a member of the Standing Committee.
The main research directions are university culture, urban culture, ideological and political education and management in colleges and universities.
He also serves as the vice chairman of the Ideological and Moral Construction Professional Committee of the China Education Development Strategy Society, the vice chairman of the China Metallurgical Education Society, and a research expert in the new liberal arts education of the Ministry of Education.
In recent years, he has published more than 60 articles in academic journals such as "Xinhua Digest", "China Higher Education", "Journal of Northeastern University", as well as newspapers and publications such as People's Daily and National Governance Weekly, and presided over and participated in the later-stage funding projects of the National Social Science Fund , the Ministry of Education's first batch of new liberal arts research and reform practice projects, Liaoning Province ideological and political theory teaching reform research projects and other more than 60 ministry, provincial and municipal projects, published "The Logic Cultivation and Institutional Construction of Socialist Cultural Confidence with Chinese Characteristics" "More than 10 monographs such as "University Culture Perspective under the Modern University System", "University Motto" and "Introduction to the Construction of College Campus Culture in the New Era".