My Humble Insight on Educating Students about Life

By Ru Zhen

(Clearwisdom.net) Before an educator teaches his students about life, he has to understand the value of life so that he will know how to help others learn to treasure their lives and respect the lives of others. If a student has the ability to do this, I think the educator has done a successful job because this student has entered a cycle of kindness. He has become an educator on life because he now knows the value of life.

As a schoolteacher, I stand on the front line of education. The behavior of many students are a great concern to us. Some of them have difficulty in getting acceptable grades, some have problems with their interpersonal relationships, and some are overcome with the pressure of getting into top schools and commit suicide. Hence, we schoolteachers have our work cut out for us in terms of guiding children to learn the value of life. Our students will become an integral part of society in the future. If we should fail to protect and nurture any child's heart, he might be a danger to others or to himself. We are most reluctant to see such an outcome when so many resources have been invested in education.

In my first year of teaching after graduating from college, I decided that I would not only impart knowledge to children, but also become their mentor. In order to enrich my knowledge on giving consultations, I signed up for a consultation-training program in Taiwan as soon as I read the advertisement. I thought to myself that this is the only way I will learn how to solve a myriad of problems with today's youth.

It was not until I started practicing Falun Gong that I realized that a professional consultant would become a bigger, and better influence if he has a clear understanding about human life. Oftentimes we schoolteachers and professional consultants don't have a good understanding on the value of life or a right understanding about education ourselves.

Because of my cultivation practice of Falun Gong, I have a new opportunity to refresh my understanding about human life. I am willing to discover my flaws and to rectify them. When I am willing to rectify my understanding, I am more capable of looking after other people. I no longer just try to apply superficial approaches or strategies to fix others' problems.

When you give a student advice and when you care about him, the energy you send out will be very weak if your condition is not good. Sometimes you feel you are terrible because you cannot even solve your own problems, let alone helping students solve their's! Sometimes you feel you are contradicting yourself -- how can you ask children to handle their emotions and problems in life if you cannot handle your own?

During my cultivation practice, I realize that as I come to know myself better and become more willing to rectify myself, things I say become more powerful, and the result of my work improves.

Life education is not just a design of an activity. It is not just a one-day or one-week activity. I think life education goes on each and every day because it is about helping people at all times to identify the purest state of their lives and attain that state.

Since I started cultivating Falun Gong, I have loved children from the bottom of my heart. Education is no longer just a job. It now means love and encouragement! In my teaching job, I often share lessons, stories in society, and stories about students and myself as adjuncts to my interactive life education. The process itself is very rewarding and inspiring! I thoroughly enjoy it!

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