My name is Fan Yang
Since I became a teacher
I have been thinking about what on earth students should learn from Chinese
I have been giving non-profit cultural lectures for over 30 years
I got enrolled by the Chinese Department of Sichuan University in 1987
I was the top scorer of my high school
I became a teacher in my alma mater in Xianyang
In 1991
Other teachers all reminded me
I shouldn’t smile at the students in classes
The teachers hated the students interrupting them
But I think that’s fine
They are actually discussing with us
Students are really active in my classes
“Caicai fuyi, boyan caizhi”
“Caicai fuyi, boyan youzhi”
Students learned single texts in Chinese lessons
Then I made some changes
Book reading was introduced
After over 20 years
The consensus of “whole-book reading” was finally achieved
For a long period
People didn’t understand
Why a Chinese teacher taught the teenagers free of charge
In the new age, we are used to fragmented reading
Less and less people read a whole book
And the utilitarian mentality is more and more popular
People pay more attention to improving scores instead of educating children
We absolutely go against using scores as the only standard
I think the students should learn more about civilization origins
And explore by themselves
Such as The Book of Songs, Qu Yuan, Tao Yuanming, ancient Greek mythology and ancient Greek tragedies
Chinese literature and culture should be given the priority
And the contrast between Chinese and western cultures is also a path
I’m very proud that my students are intelligent and good at thinking
They’re creative and they’re not willing to sink down
We don’t aim at obtaining high grades
But if our students have their eyes opened in the humanities
Their performance in class will not be poor
We are among the best in Shanghai
In Qing dynasty
There were several places of banishment
The most famous and horrible one was called Ninggu Tower
Our students have a wide range of knowledge
Because they go out a lot
Yangpu (in Shanghai) is very close to the place where Lu Xun lived during his last 10 years
I always take my students there when we learn Lu Xun’s articles
And they will obtain some experiences
Which the stay-at-home scholars will not get
From 2009 until now
We have travelled to 25 provinces and nearly 200 cities
When we visited Du Fu’s former residence
There was a big jujube tree at the gate
The students read his line together
“Pears and jujube fruits in front of the house are ripe in August”
“I can climb the trees for a thousand times”
Then they suddenly found the teenage Du Fu was totally different
From the poor man who was concerned about his country and people
In their imagination
In 2017, we held an activity of “Exploring the Silk Road”
It inspired them to study and think about civilization
And traditional cultures
Among all the participants
Four students later took the path
To study in top colleges and majors of the humanities
We have turned our 100 lectures of Chinese and western cultures
Into 4 volumes of book
Humanistic education is in accordance with the essence of education
It pays attention to the completeness of human life
Instead of a repressed or an extremely utilitarian process
So it has vitality