chen baoping: there is such a teacher
2024-09-26
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her name is xiao weimin. she has been engaged in vocational education for 38 years. she has won many awards and is a judge of the national expert pool in this field. but she is still confused and still thinking: what is the essence of education? because you are facing different lives, they join in as subjects, not just objects to be educated.
she was only 21 years old when she first served as a class teacher. one day, she stepped onto the podium during a class meeting. she saw a blackboard eraser lying horizontally in the middle of the podium, with a white chalk standing on each end. she stood in the middle, looking like a portrait. she quickly suppressed her displeasure and asked calmly, "who did it?" half a minute later, a boy stood up, shaking his body, and looked at her with disdain: "i did it!" teacher xiao said calmly, "oh, then stay after school." after school, his mother also came as agreed. she was angry and raised her hand to hit him, and held the child down to make him kneel down and apologize to the teacher. teacher xiao said she almost laughed out loud, "don't, don't, if he kneels down, i will really become that thing." then, she said to the boy in a friendly manner, "do you think i didn't do well? this is my first time as a class teacher, and there must be many things i did not do well. tell me, it's okay, only if you tell me can i change." the boy looked up at her, as if judging whether teacher xiao was mocking him. teacher xiao continued: you gave me advice for my own good and for the good of our class, i won't blame you. but you did this because i'm young and don't mind, but if you were an older person, you would definitely feel unhappy, don't you think? "the boy showed a guilty look on his face, moved his lips, and said, "i didn't mean it, i was just joking."
teacher xiao handled the incident in a nonchalant manner, which could have intimidated other students by making him angrily accuse the whole class, asking him to write a self-criticism, or even asking the school to punish him for being disrespectful to the teacher. it is certainly true that teacher xiao is magnanimous and tolerant enough, but as an educator, teacher xiao understands every life and communicates with the heart, which is the most important thing.
the monitor is the student that the head teacher trusts the most, and is also a leader who is elected by the students for his excellent character and learning. but once, the english teacher told teacher xiao that the monitor of your class actually took out a small piece of paper to cheat in the exam today. teacher xiao was shocked. he usually has good english grades and 90 points is no problem. why? teacher xiao talked to him patiently, and he bowed his head and admitted his mistake. it turned out that he wanted to get a higher score. teacher xiao still asked him to host the class activities the next day. and told him what to do. after the activity, the monitor stood on the podium and admitted the mistake of cheating to everyone. he said: "teacher xiao, classmates, i hand over the position of monitor. i am sorry for everyone's trust in me." as he said, he bowed deeply. the whole class was silent. teacher xiao, who was at the back, stood up and clapped his hands. the second and third claps, the rhythm went from slow to fast. the students seemed to wake up and applauded, feeling proud of a monitor who dared to take the initiative to admit his mistakes. with everyone's consent, he continued to be the monitor. after that, he devoted more to the class. this incident made teacher xiao reflect: "why let him stand alone on the top of the mountain so proudly and give him all the 'highest'? does he have self-confidence or inferiority? is he being his true self? a tolerance and a real sense of existence that can be given to him are like the wings of a butterfly in the butterfly effect. the unintentional fluttering of them has become a unique motivation and permanent driving force in his life." the child still suffered hardships in his later life, but he held on.
there are unremarkable children in every place, and the most inconspicuous students in every class. in teacher xiao's opinion, what vocational school students need to build up most is "confidence". and this cannot be solved by talking about general principles. only when their minds are freed from shackles can their vitality bloom. once, the school organized a trip to wuyi mountain, and the students were very excited. only this student who was usually the most obscure took the initiative to find teacher xiao and said that he would not go to wuyi mountain. he said that his family had no money. teacher xiao felt very distressed. he had been paying attention to this child for a while and decided to visit his home on his day off. teacher xiao later wrote: "that day, i pushed open the door of his house... i couldn't believe my eyes: there was only a faded cabinet, a shabby table, and a sofa that seemed to have a broken leg. normal families would probably throw away something better than this. her mother was lying on a bed, which was very low and shabby. how could there be a family in our city with such a living environment! her mother struggled to sit up, and i hurriedly said: 'it's okay, you lie down, i'll come to see you.' 'teacher, i'm sorry, our family's gas has been cut off recently. i should have poured you tea, but there's no place to sit.' i said: "i'll stand for a while, it's okay." this home visit finally made me understand his situation. his father abandoned them early in life. his mother was paralyzed due to a serious illness. the boy had to get up early every day to make breakfast and lunch, and watch his mother finish breakfast before going to school. the lunch was placed not far from his mother for her convenience. the daily expenses depended on the subsidy given by the street. recently, because part of his mother's medical expenses had not been reimbursed, he could not even pay the gas bill. at that moment, i wanted to cry, but i had to hold it in. "finally, teacher xiao persuaded them to lend him money to go to wuyi mountain first, and asked the neighbors to take care of his mother. after returning, he contacted the computer company that cooperated with the school through the school leaders and asked him to take time to learn computer maintenance. as a non-staff member, he repaired the computers of the school boarding students and received corresponding remuneration. soon, the child not only made progress in his studies, but also repaired better and better computers. he also returned the money for going to wuyi mountain to teacher xiao. a year later, he was recommended by his classmates as a three-good student in the school.
the above stories are all recorded in teacher xiao’s new book, where does “education” go? (published by shanghai people’s publishing house). in her 38-year teaching career, she has experienced more than 30 cases, including her tolerance of children’s april fool’s day jokes, her painful reflection after holding back a girl who wanted to commit suicide... teacher xiao said that she suddenly realized that she “was actually living in an unconscious and inadvertent ‘chaotic ecology’, which was a natural expression from the inside out... i suddenly realized that the previously inexplicable ‘chaos’ and ‘perception’ and ‘feeling’ could be traced back to their roots... those students whom i have been diligently and persistently attached to, and those ‘fragments’, turned out to be ‘pieces of feathers’ in the ‘chaos’, shining with ‘good luck’, swarming like stars in the sky, they will eventually... it will form an educational philosophy, motivate me to study the essence of education, apply it to my future teaching stage, inspire our young head teachers, and bring out the infinite possibilities of each other. i suddenly realized that i regretted not having enough books when i needed them, and the exhaustion of thinking comes from the poverty of knowledge. i think that for the rest of my life, i will be accompanied by books, inspired by books, and filled with books. i finally know who i am, what i have done, what is the meaning of what i have done, and what is real education - real education is ultimately irreplaceable by ai. "teacher xiao's review and self-reflection are particularly well written, like a clear stream wandering in his heart, with crystal water beads beating from time to time. respecting heaven and loving people is originally simple, and only by tracing back to the source can we know that there is a way.
i remember wu peifang, the founder of a private primary school in shanghai when we were young. her educational philosophy of "teaching every student well" benefited many children from poor families. her story was later made into a shanghai opera "chicken feathers flying to the sky", which influenced the whole country. more than half a century has passed, and time is enough to wash away the noise, but from wu peifang to xiao weimin, a spirit has been condensed. this spirit is what mr. xiang bingjian wrote in the preface of the book: influencing life with life.
(chen baoping)
