The Livelihood Attribute of Ideological-Political Education and Teaching

Education is a livelihood project, which determines that ideological-political education and teaching possess a livelihood attribute. Grasping the livelihood attribute of ideological-political education and teaching is of great significance for better understanding that the construction of ideological-political education is a top priority in the Party’s leadership of educational work.

教育是民生工程，决定了思政课教育教学具有民生属性。把握好思政课教育教学的民生属性对更好认识思政课建设是党领导教育工作的重中之重具有重要意义。

Livelihood is the unity of material life and spiritual life

民生是物质生活和精神生活的统一

Historical materialism holds that we must first determine the first premise of all human existence, and thus the first premise of all history: that people must be able to live in order to “make history.” But to live, they first need food, drink, shelter, clothing, and some other things. Therefore, the first historical act is the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself. Moreover, this is a historical act that people must engage in every day and every hour, from thousands of years ago to the present, simply to sustain life; it is the basic condition of all history. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC [1]1 The 19th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2017. pointed out: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. The principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. China has steadily solved the problem of feeding and clothing its over one billion people, has basically achieved moderate prosperity, and will soon complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The people’s needs for a better life are increasingly broad. Not only have they put forward higher requirements for material and cultural life, but their demands for democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and the environment are growing day by day.” This clarifies that material life needs such as “food, drink, shelter, and clothing” serve as the real premise for real people, grounding the livelihood orientation on a materialist foundation. After the problem of food and clothing is solved, people’s needs also continuously rise and reconstruct the connotation of basic needs, emphasizing the unity of spiritual needs and material needs, spiritual life and material life, and spiritual production and material production, reflecting the dialectical thinking of the livelihood orientation.

唯物史观认为，我们首先应当确定一切人类生存的第一个前提，也就是一切历史的第一个前提：人们为了能够“创造历史”，必须能够生活。但是为了生活，首先就需要吃喝住穿以及其他一些东西。因此第一个历史活动就是生产满足这些需要的资料，即生产物质生活本身，而且，这是人们从几千年前直到今天单是为了维持生活就必须每日每时从事的历史活动，是一切历史的基本条件。党的十九大报告中指出：“中国特色社会主义进入新时代，我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。我国稳定解决了十几亿人的温饱问题，总体上实现小康，不久将全面建成小康社会，人民美好生活需要日益广泛，不仅对物质文化生活提出了更高要求，而且在民主、法治、公平、正义、安全、环境等方面的要求日益增长。”明确了“吃喝住穿”等物质生活需要作为现实的人的现实的前提，将民生取向建立在唯物论基础上。在温饱问题解决之后，人的需要也不断提升并重构着基本需要的内涵，强调精神需要和物质需要、精神生活和物质生活、精神生产和物质生产的统一，体现了民生取向的辩证思维。

Fostering virtue and nurturing people is the unity of public opinion and popular sentiment

立德树人是民意和民心的统一

Fostering virtue and nurturing people is the fundamental task of education, and ideological-political education is the key course for fostering virtue and nurturing people. Fostering virtue and nurturing people answers the fundamental question of what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom to cultivate them. From the strategic height of the Party and the state, this question concerns the fundamental plan for the socialist cause to have successors. From the perspective of the family, it concerns the family’s hopes. From the perspective of the individual, it concerns self-improvement and development.

立德树人是教育的根本任务，思政课是立德树人的关键课程。立德树人回答的是培养什么样的人、如何培养人和为谁培养人这一根本问题。这个问题，从党和国家战略高度而言，关乎社会主义事业后继有人的根本大计。从家庭而言，关乎家庭的希冀。从个体而言，关乎自我完善与发展。

On the one hand, fostering virtue and nurturing people has a political attribute and a strategic attribute. What kind of people to cultivate is the primary issue in education. Modern Chinese history tells us that only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics well, and building China into a great modern socialist country, is a long-term task that requires the continuous struggle of generation after generation. General Secretary Xi Jinping, in his important speech at the National Education Conference [2]2 The National Education Conference was held in September 2018., pointed out: “China is a socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, which determines that our education must take cultivating builders and successors of socialism as its fundamental task, cultivating generation after generation of useful talents who support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and China’s socialist system and are determined to strive for socialism with Chinese characteristics throughout their lives.” Only by adhering to fostering virtue and nurturing people, and continuously cultivating builders and successors of socialism who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and in labor, can the cause of the Party and the state flourish and have successors, can the great cause be advanced and the great dream realized. Our education must never cultivate destroyers and gravediggers of socialism, nor must it cultivate people who “have a Chinese face but lack a Chinese heart, Chinese feelings, or Chinese flavor”! That would be a failure of education. The socialist cause is the cause of the people, and socialist education is education for the people. Ideological-political education makes this truth clear, and makes it clear with full confidence, and it will inevitably win popular sentiment.

一方面，立德树人具有政治属性、战略属性。培养什么人，是教育的首要问题。近代以来我国历史告诉我们，只有社会主义才能救中国，只有中国特色社会主义才能发展中国，才能实现中华民族伟大复兴。坚持好、发展好中国特色社会主义，把我国建设成为社会主义现代化强国，是一项长期任务，需要一代又一代人接续奋斗。习近平总书记在全国教育大会上发表重要讲话强调指出：“我国是中国共产党领导的社会主义国家，这就决定了我们的教育必须把培养社会主义建设者和接班人作为根本任务，培养一代又一代拥护中国共产党领导和我国社会主义制度、立志为中国特色社会主义奋斗终身的有用人才。”只有坚持立德树人，不断培养德智体美劳全面发展的社会主义建设者和接班人，才能让党和国家事业兴旺发达、后继有人，才能推进伟大事业、实现伟大梦想。我们的教育绝不能培养社会主义破坏者和掘墓人，绝不能培养出一些“长着中国脸，不是中国心，没有中国情，缺少中国味”的人！那将是教育的失败。社会主义事业是人民的事业，社会主义教育是为了人民的教育。思政课讲清楚这个道理，而且理直气壮地讲清楚，必然得民心。

On the other hand, fostering virtue and nurturing people has a livelihood attribute. Education is a livelihood project. Ideological-political education and teaching are also a component of the livelihood project. This follows logically. The key to understanding this issue lies in the individual value, family value, and social value of fostering virtue and nurturing people. From the individual perspective, ideological-political quality is the core quality for growth and talent development. Usually, human qualities are divided into elements such as morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor. Among them, morality occupies the first place. The morality referred to here is broad, including great virtue, public virtue, and private virtue. It involves ideological quality, political quality, moral character, mental health, and other aspects. For the individual, the formation process of these qualities is also the process of individual socialization and individual integration into society. Morality is the basic guideline for individuals to handle social relations and face the contradictions between humans and nature, humans and society, and humans and themselves. If ideological-political quality goes wrong, no matter how strong other qualities are, they are useless to society. The so-called “having both virtue and talent is a genuine product, having virtue but no talent is a defective product, having neither virtue nor talent is waste, and having talent but no virtue is a dangerous product” describes the relationship between virtue and talent. From the family perspective, fostering virtue and nurturing people concerns family happiness. The family is the basic unit of society, and family virtues affect the happiness index of family members. At the same time, children’s education is an important factor affecting the family’s state. In other words, no parent wants their child to turn bad. For society, public morality is the guarantee for establishing a healthy social public order. A healthy, orderly, rational, and peaceful social atmosphere is the foundation of safety, stability, and emotional well-being for every social member. Conversely, once anti-social behavior occurs, even if only by a very small number of people, its destructive power is unimaginable.

另一方面，立德树人具有民生属性。教育是民生工程。思政课教育教学也是民生工程的组成部分。这是顺理成章的。认识这个问题的关键是立德树人的个体价值、家庭价值、社会价值。从个体视角而言，思想政治素质是成长成才的核心素质。通常，人的素质被划分为德智体美劳等要素。其中，德居于首位。这里所说的德，是广义上的，包括大德、公德、私德。涉及思想素质、政治素质、道德品质、心理健康等方面。对于个体而言，这些素质的形成过程也是个体社会化、个体融入社会的过程。德是个体处理社会关系，面对人与自然、人与社会、人与自我矛盾的基本遵循。如果思想政治素质出了问题，其他素质再强，对社会都是无益的。所谓有德有才是正品、有德无才是次品、无德无才是废品、有才无德是危险品，描述的就是德才关系。从家庭而言，立德树人关乎家庭幸福。家庭是社会的基本单位，家庭美德影响到家庭成员的幸福指数。同时，子女教育是影响家庭状态的重要因素。换言之，没有哪个父母想让自己的孩子学坏。对于社会而言，社会公德是建立良性社会公共秩序的保障。一个良性有序、理性平和的社会氛围，对于每一个社会成员来说都是安全稳定、心情舒畅的基础。反之，一旦出现反社会行为，哪怕只是极少数人，其破坏力都是无法想象的。

Through ideological-political education and teaching, obtaining people’s political identification, ideological identification, theoretical identification, and emotional identification with the Communist Party of China and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and cultivating new generations of the times who have ideals, skills, and a sense of responsibility, is both a project of popular sentiment and a livelihood project.

通过思政课教育教学获得人们对中国共产党和习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的政治认同、思想认同、理论认同、情感认同，培养有理想有本领有担当的时代新人，既是民心工程，也是民生工程。

Teachers of ideological-political education must be good teachers who establish a destiny for the people [3]3 “Establish a destiny for the people” (为生民立命) is a classical allusion from the Northern Song dynasty scholar Zhang Zai’s “Four Sentences,” expressing the scholar’s commitment to securing the well-being of the common people.

思政课教师要做为生民立命的好老师

China has a tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education. The people’s emphasis on education and teachers is consistent with their emphasis on the growth and success of their children. “A person meeting a good teacher is a stroke of luck in life; a school having good teachers is the school’s glory; a nation continuously producing batches of good teachers is the nation’s hope.” From the “Four-Haves” good teacher [4]4 The “Four-Haves” good teacher (四有好老师) refers to having ideals and convictions, moral sentiments, solid knowledge, and a benevolent heart, as proposed by Xi Jinping in 2014., to achieving the “Six Essentials” [5]5 The “Six Essentials” (六个要) refers to political strength, deep feelings, broad vision, self-discipline, positive personality, and integrity, requirements for ideological-political education teachers proposed by Xi Jinping in 2019., to vigorously promoting the spirit of educators, General Secretary Xi Jinping continuously emphasizes the mission of teachers and the responsibility of ideological-political education teachers, serving both the country and the people.

中国有尊师重教的传统。人民对教育和教师的重视，同重视子女成长成才是一致的。“一个人遇到好老师是人生的幸运，一个学校拥有好老师是学校的光荣，一个民族源源不断涌现出一批又一批好老师则是民族的希望。”从“四有”好老师，到做到“六个要”，再到大力弘扬教育家精神，习近平总书记不断强调教师的使命和思政课教师的担当，既为国，也为民。

On the one hand, teachers of ideological-political education must have a sense of family and country. The sense of family and country is an important component of fine traditional Chinese culture and also a personality trait of the Chinese people. Without a country, there is no family; without family happiness, there is no national stability. The social development mechanism of the isomorphism of family and state [6]6 “Isomorphism of family and state” (家国同构) is a traditional Chinese concept viewing the family and the state as structurally analogous, with filial piety at home extending to loyalty to the ruler. further strengthens the sense of family and country. In the New Era, the sense of family and country means achieving the unity of loving the Party, loving the country, and loving socialism, and insisting that education serves the people, serves the governance of the Communist Party of China, serves the consolidation and development of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and serves reform and opening up and socialist modernization. It means keeping the country and the nation in mind, always standing with the Party and the people, and consciously becoming a firm believer and faithful practitioner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Actively guide students to love the motherland, love the people, and love the Communist Party of China. Good teachers should be active disseminators of the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, helping students build dreams, pursue dreams, and realize dreams, so that generation after generation of young people become positive energy for realizing their dreams.

一方面，思政课教师要有家国情怀。家国情怀是中华优秀传统文化的重要组成，也是中国人的人格特征。没有国哪有家，没有家庭幸福哪有国家安定。家国同构的社会发展机制又强化了家国情怀。在新时代，家国情怀就是做到把爱党爱国爱社会主义统一起来，坚持教育为人民服务、为中国共产党治国理政服务、为巩固和发展中国特色社会主义制度服务、为改革开放和社会主义现代化建设服务。做到心里装着国家和民族，始终同党和人民站在一起，自觉做中国特色社会主义的坚定信仰者和忠实实践者。积极引导学生热爱祖国、热爱人民、热爱中国共产党。好老师应该做中国特色社会主义共同理想和中华民族伟大复兴中国梦的积极传播者，帮助学生筑梦、追梦、圆梦，让一代又一代年轻人都成为实现梦想的正能量。

On the other hand, teachers of ideological and political courses must possess a heart of benevolence and love. Education is a cause that is “benevolent and loves people”; love is the soul of education, and without love there is no education. The love of education requires that teachers have students in their hearts and have the growth of students in their hearts. Having students in the heart means treating students as human beings, which is mainly directed against the educational value outlook that treats students as objects. Marx used the category of alienated labor to criticize capitalist society, where, after labor power becomes a commodity, human labor does not belong to the person themselves but becomes an alien existence driven by the logic of capital. Under the capitalist system, the purpose of education is to cultivate labor power, serving the capitalist production process, rather than serving the comprehensive development of the human person. The socialist system has laid a solid political foundation and economic foundation for the comprehensive development of the human person. For the sake of fostering virtue and nurturing people through education and teaching, serving the spiritual maturation of students, is a means of promoting the comprehensive development of the human person. Having the growth of students in the heart is the essence of the love of education. The outlook on growth belongs to the category of the outlook on educational development. To respect the growth of students, one must appreciate their progress, tolerate their mistakes, and correct errors in their growth. Respect students, understand students, and be tolerant of students. Be adept at discovering the strengths and shining points of each student, so that all students can grow into useful talents.

另一方面，思政课教师要有仁爱之心。教育是一门“仁而爱人”的事业，爱是教育的灵魂，没有爱就没有教育。教育之爱要求教师心中有学生、心中有学生的成长。心中有学生是把学生当作人看待，主要针对的是将学生当作物看待的教育价值观。马克思用异化劳动这个范畴，批判资本主义社会在劳动力成为商品后，人的劳动不属于人本身，而在资本逻辑驱动下成为异己的存在。资本主义制度下教育的目的是培养劳动力，服务于资本主义生产过程，而不是服务于人的全面发展。社会主义制度为人的全面发展奠定了坚实的政治基础和经济基础。为了立德树人教育教学，服务于学生的精神成人，是促进人的全面发展的手段。心中有学生的成长是教育之爱的本质。成长观属于教育发展观范畴。尊重学生的成长，就要欣赏学生的进步，包容学生的失误，纠正成长中的错误。尊重学生、理解学生、宽容学生。善于发现每一个学生的长处和闪光点，让所有学生都成长为有用之才。

In summary, ideological and political courses not only have a political attribute and a strategic attribute, but also have a livelihood attribute. High-quality ideological and political courses not only are reasonable and sensible, but also enlighten wisdom and moisten the heart. Excellent ideological and political course teachers not only transmit the Way and clarify principles, but also foster virtue and nurture people. The growth and success of students, the parents’ hope that their children will become dragons [7]7 “Hope that their children will become dragons” (望子成龙) is a Chinese idiom expressing the common parental aspiration for their children to achieve great success and high social status., and the fundamental plan of the Party and the state to have successors [8]8 “To have successors” (后继有人) is a standard phrase in Chinese political discourse, referring to the Party and state’s need to cultivate reliable younger generations to carry forward the socialist cause. mutually support each other, unified in the fundamental issue of what kind of people to cultivate, how to cultivate people, and for whom to cultivate people.

总之，思政课不仅具有政治属性、战略属性，更具有民生属性。高质量的思政课不仅通情达理，而且启智润心。优秀的思政课教师不仅传道明理，而且立德树人。学生的成长成才、父母的望子成龙、党和国家的后继有人根本大计相互支撑，统一在培养什么样的人、怎样培养人和为谁培养人这个根本上。

(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, Sun Yat-sen University)

（作者系中山大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧