Confucius and his empahsis on education
Confucius believed that knowledge and education was an important part of life and encouraged strongly the sharing of this knowledge amongst his students and peers (Confucius, 551-479 BCE). This is evident when he states in verse one chapter one of his analects, “To learn and then to practice it time and again is a pleasure, is it not? To have friends come from afar to share each other learning is a pleasure, is it not?” (Confucius, 551-479 BCE) .Confucius was very focused on the concept of gaining knowledge at all times and encouraged his students to spend any of their free time learning as indicated in verse six chapter one of his analects, “If after all these activies, he has any energy to spare, he should real widely to stay cultivated” (Confucius, 551-479 BCE). Messages such as this emphasis the dedication Confucius expected when it came to education. Confucius especially found the Odes to be a quite resourceful source of information when it came to knowledge as it taught what he believed was important in life such as ‘inspiration, socializing skills, complaining appropriately’ (Confucius, 551-479 BCE). He strongly believed these were the small pillars of life that should be taught in order to ‘immediately sere our parents well or serve the lords later’ (Confucius, 551-479 BCE). Finding joy in learning was also repeated by Confucius in his analects, for example verse eighteen chapter six, “To merely know is nothing compared to being interested to know, being interested to know is nothing compared to deriving joy from learning it” (Confucius, 551-479 BCE). This provides insight on the joy Confucius believed education would bring to his peers and the emphasis that enjoying learning was a major factor of his philosophies.