SHENMO MOTTO: Virtue & Wisdom

Every Shenmo person knows that the school motto of Shenmo is "Great virtue & enlightened wisdom (厚德明智)”. In the four concise words, you can see that the focus is onvirtueandwisdom. But if you delve into the cultural implications of these four words, many people can't say it. Today, we will talk about the profound meaning of "Great virtue & enlightened wisdom" as a school motto.
 
What is school motto?
 
The school motto is the basic code of conduct and ethics that the teachers and students should abide by. It is not only a reflection of the school-running philosophy and the spirit of school administration, but also an important part of the school culture construction. Moreover, it is a concentrated expression of the school's teaching style and learning style as well as the core content of the cultural spirit of the school.
 
For example, the school motto of Nankai University is "Dedication to public interests, acquisition of all-round capability and aspiration for daily progress", which means that students are expected to love the country, know how to give, and apply what they have learned to the society, and remain determined to make progress and keep moving forward. These few words have embodied the hard work of the older generation of educators and also pinned their hopes. It has become the direction of training students in Nankai in the past 100 years.
 
Therefore, though short, the school motto is profound with a great effect. If you don't understand the meaning in the school motto, you can't really understand the soul of this school.
 
“Virtue (德) ” and “Wisdom (智) ”
 
The “great virtue (厚德) ” is from The Book of Changes: "The Heavens are in motion ceaselessly; The enlightened exert themselves constantly. While the Earth is supportive and natural, Only the virtuous can bear the utmost." It means that a gentleman should possess virtue and broad-mindedness, and think more of public interests instead of personal gains and losses. As a generalization of Chinese virtue, it has always been the highest moral level advocated by people with lofty ideals. To become a useful person, the great virtue is a premise and foundation. Confucius remarked, “If in government you depend upon the moral sentiment, and maintain order by encouraging education and good manners, the people will have a sense of shame for wrong—doing and moreover, will emulate what is good.” “He who rules the people, depending upon the moral sentiment, is like the Pole-star, which keeps its place while all the other stars revolve round it.” (from Governing, The Analects of Confucius), which emphasizes the important role of virtue in human nature transformation, in the way of being a man and doing things, and in administering a country.
 
The “enlightened wisdom (明智) ” is from Geng Zhu, Mo Zi, “Which are wiser, the ghosts and spirits or the sages?” It means above-average intelligence, extraordinary insights that can perceive everything in the world, as well as decisions that conform to facts and laws. Enlightened wisdom is the foundation of talents. It’s the main indicator for measuring talents and the embodiment of modern talents' thinking and cognitive abilities. Enlightened wisdom is an important premise for the realization of “great virtue”. The possessing of profound wisdom should be an important factor in improving moral standards and achieving moral perfection. Mencius, the Second Sage, had put forward the basic composition of human nature of “benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom”. “The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of human-heartedness. The feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness. The feeling of modesty and yielding is the beginning of propriety. The sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom”
 
It can be seen that in the heart of the ancient sages,
only the people with both ability and political integrity truly benefit the society and the public. Two thousand years later, some people have concluded that people with both ability and political integrity is talent, people with neither ability nor political integrity is fool, people with only ability is villain, and people with only political integrity is mediocrity. Our society needs talent for its development, but no one is born with both ability and political integrity. This is why education is necessary--it cultivates the virtue and wisdom of people and supports the social development and prevent it from hindering by the fool, the villain and the mediocrity.
 
“Great (厚) ” and “Enlightened (明) ”
 
After understanding “virtue” and “wisdom”, let’s talk about “great (厚) ” and “enlightened (明) ”. These two characters “厚” and “明” can be used in two different ways, which will also give the school motto different meanings.
 
Firstly, when “厚” and “明” are used as adjectives, the school motto indicates the goal of the education of Shenmo, that is, to cultivate the child with great virtue and enlightened wisdom. The duty of Shenmo is education, what do we want to educate our children into? A high IQ child that only gets high test scores but can’t speak in public, or a well-behaved child that can't keep up with his knowledge coursework? The school motto gave us the answer.
 
Secondly, when “厚” and “明” are used as verbs, the school motto is the requirement for our educational work. That is, we should infuse our children with great virtue and enlighten their wisdom. Many parents and even teachers think that Shenmo only teaches children how to learn and make their children smarter. But actually, Shenmo Education strives for “equality, respect, trust, appreciation, concern, and encouragement”. These words expresses not only what we should do in the process of educating our children, but also the way by which we will influence the formation of children's moral character. The school motto of “Great virtue & enlightened wisdom” not only affects students, but also deeply influences our teachers.
 
“Great virtue & enlightened wisdom” represents the viewpoint and direction of Shenmo in terms of education. We should cultivate well-rounded person who will benefit society. “Great virtue” indicates that Shenmo will put the moral cultivation of students as the first priority and attach great importance to moral cultivation as the key to talent cultivation. “Enlightened wisdom” means that a very important task of Shenmo is to enlighten students. But the cultivation of wisdom should not be limited to teaching of book knowledge; more importantly, we should cultivate students' thinking ability and learning ability through knowledge teaching, so that they can be gain the wisdom that benefits them for a lifetime.
 
Education is to let the child know what to do and how to do. We hope that our teachers can deeply understand the meaning of “great virtue and enlightened wisdom”, improve the quality of teaching, and pay more attention to children's moral education.