Unconfusing Confucianism

Understanding Confucius’ Confucianism may be a bit confusing but his view of education was clear. Although based on reading his philosophy, he defined his thoughts in an abstract manner but then again he was consistent in stressing and promoting virtue as a basis in any educational process. And practicing virtue has a lot to do with the concept of self-discipline, he believed that a leader needed to exercise self-discipline in order to remain humble and treat his followers with compassion. Same thing can be applied in a classroom setting; a teacher also has to treat his students with compassion in order to obtain respect from them.

I could certainly say that Confucius’ teachings center on the importance of education in the formation of a person’s character as he held that “What you do not wish others should do unto you, do not do unto them” which rooted in the principle of basic respect for the inherent value of all human beings. And by stressing that kind of virtue, we can say that Confucius wants to create gentlemen who carry themselves with grace, speak correctly, and demonstrate integrity in all things. I believe that the reason behind his giving so much emphasis about values and virtues was because he finds himself in an age in which values are out of joint. Actions and behavior no longer correspond to the labels originally attached to them. He was able to observe a situation wherein rulers do not rule and subjects do not serve. This means that words and titles no longer mean what they once did. Moral education is important to Confucius because it is the means by which one can rectify this situation and restore meaning to language and values to society.

Nowadays, I believe that Confucius teaching is really helpful especially among us teachers; we should rule our classroom with virtue instead of imposing proper behavior with stiff law and rules. Because as I have experienced, being too rigid inside the classroom only causes fear instead of respect towards the teacher. We teachers must be just in dealing with our pupils. Classroom rules should not be one sided wherein teacher gets all the respect and recognition, pupils also deserves respect and recognition and not just the teachers as what is commonly practiced in many school settings nowadays.

Although during Confucius death he was convinced that his teachings had not made a significant impact but fortunately over series of studies based on his ideas and concepts, Confucius is now one of the world's most influential philosophers. Today, his philosophy continues to influence large groups of people across Asia and throughout the world. Countries that show the most significant imprint of Confucianism are China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucianism manifests itself in the way children defer to their elders and parents (filial piety) and in the hierarchical structure within offices among employees of different ages and levels of experience. Confucianism also plays a role in the expectations people place upon government and upon its legitimacy.

It is said that the most effective way to let a tradition die is to make it boring and forgettable in everyday life. And this is the state of Confucianism today when it is taught with no connection to history, and people's real lives, or with the modern ways of education. Therefore, I believe that if we want to save Confucianism from being forgotten, we must try to save it from the old way of teaching and managing. We must encourage free debate and creative thinking, and change the focus of learning from reciting the book to relating to real life meaning real people's real actions.