弟子入则孝章

Original text

子曰：“弟子入则孝，出则弟，谨而信，泛爱众，而亲仁。行有余力，则以学文。”

Translation

Confucius said, "You pupils should follow filial piety at home, and show respect to the elders outside. You should also put attention to your behavior, and be trustworthy. You should deliver your love to the people in an across-the-board way, and make intimate contact with the benevolent. Once you have carried the things mentioned above out, and still have spare energy, you may go on with study of booklore."

Annotation from research

The education philosophy explained by Confucius is also binded with a benevolent core. He didn't agree that everybody should become learned, especially, he emphasize the civilizing effect generated outside school. Don't forget that Confucius is a pioneer in school education, but his school is actually his living place, his home.

This verse is a direct demand on which disciplines "pupils" of Confucius should follow in their daily life. Confucius set series of criteria on how his disciples should deal with difference people: their parents, their elders, common people, and the benevolent ones. In Confucius' opinion, these disciplines is the education itself. We can easily deduce from the previous verses that these disciplines are also playing the core value of Confucius' philosophy of benevolence. According to Confucius' idea, these two things are really identical. It can be easily understood since one cannot become a good intellectual before he or she gains a good name. In modern terminology, Confucius discovered the importance of emotion quotient more than two thousand years ago, and consider it a premise of the formal school study, the book study, or the study for intelligence quotient. He wants his disciples to have a fundamental knowledge of the society, and become social, but only perform book study in spare time. The society, or more concrete, the knowledge of how to deal with the people in the society, is the purpose of Confucius' education, or it is the Confucius' education itself. Only intellectually educated, in Confucius' view, is but meaningless. How different it is between Confucius' and nowadays common ideas in the field of education!