On the Chinese characters ‘学’ and ‘教’: “学”与“教”

Schools and education have a long history in China. The ancient Chinese realized the great importance of education on personal development long ago. In Three-Character Classic (《三字经》), the primer for children in ancient times, there is the admonition: “苟不学，曷为人” (If you do not learn, how can you know how to behave?) and “人不学，不如物” (If a person does not learn, he is not as good as an animal.). From this, we see that it is a good tradition of the Chinese people to attach great importance to education. 在中国，办学校、兴教育有很久的历史。古人早就认识到学习对个人的成长是非常重要的，古代儿童启蒙读物《三字经》告诫说：“苟不学，曷为人”、“人不学，不如物”。因此，重视教育是 中华民族的优良传统。