Cultivating Elites - Content and Methods of Personality Education

Author: Yan Xincai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features:
1. What is an Ideal?
What is an ideal? Let's look at two famous quotes:
"An ideal, yes, I see the ideal again. I don't mean cosmetics, empty talk, or the clichés people throw around. An ideal is so vivid, visible, and deeply connected to our very being. It is the ocean, and I am but a tiny drop; it is the mountain, and I am no more than a speck of dust. No matter how small I am, from it I can draw endless strength." (Ba Jin)
"Can a person go as far as they want? This question shouldn't be asked about the feet but about ambition; can a person climb as high as they want? This matter shouldn't be asked about the hands but about will. So, I want to use the heat of my youth to set up a lofty goal for myself. Not just to seek glory, but to pursue a realm. When the goal is achieved, it is glory; when the goal is unattainable, life will still be rich and fulfilling through the storms and struggles along the way. In my view, this is to live a life of meaning." (Wang Guozhen, "I Love Departure")
What is an ideal? Ba Jin says an ideal is strength; what is an ideal? Wang Guozhen says an ideal is a goal, a realm. As ordinary people, what is an ideal? The ideal we discuss in our moral education class, in short, is having ambition, hope, pursuit, and belief. When Mao Zedong went from Shaoshan to Changsha to study, he said: "A child resolves to leave their hometown, studying until fame is achieved, or never returning; where to be buried doesn't matter, life is a vast world of green mountains." This is an ideal. Zhou Enlai's "Reading to Rise China" is also an ideal.
Is it only great figures who have ideals, while we small people do not? Of course not. Ideals know no wealth or status; everyone can possess them. In the United States, a black sailor took his son to Denmark and stood before Hans Christian Andersen's former home. The son, confused, asked, "Dad, wasn't Hans Christian Andersen from a palace?" The father replied, "Hans Christian Andersen was the son of a shoemaker, and he lived in this attic." The black son's name was Earl Browder. Twenty years later, he became the first African American journalist in U.S. history to win the Pulitzer Prize. Looking back on his childhood, he said: "Back then, our family was very poor, and both parents worked hard labor. For a long time, I believed that people like us, born into humble circumstances, could never achieve anything. But Hans Christian Andersen's story told me that God had no such intention."
Chen Sheng's "If I become wealthy, never forget each other" is an ideal; Bruno, facing the stake of the Catholic Church, still proudly declared, "The Earth still revolves," which is also an ideal; the proletariat singing, "There is no savior, we must be the masters of the world," is also an ideal; and students studying hard to get into a good university is still an ideal. Ideals are diverse and vary in height, but we advocate: stand tall, see far, embrace the motherland, and broaden our horizons.
2. The Importance of Ideals
First and foremost, one must have lofty ideals. Ideals are like the morning star in the sky and a lighthouse at sea. As the Ming Dynasty scholar Wang Shouren said: "Without ambition, nothing can be accomplished in the world." As the saying goes: "Stand tall, see far." Du Fu wrote: "I will surely climb the highest peak, overlooking all the mountains." And Gorky also said: "The higher a person strives, the greater their ability..."