整理/余冰玥 制圖/張玉佳

教學(xué)為先

教育要放在首位。這里的“先”，既表示其重要性，也表示其先行性。歸納古人相關(guān)論說，其蘊含的意思主要是：個人的成長成才；良好社會風(fēng)尚的形成；國家的建設(shè)及有效治理；發(fā)現(xiàn)事物固有原理，發(fā)揮其固有屬性，成就事功等，均離不開教育。因此，興辦教育是國家重要職能之一。

Education Must Be Placed First.

Here"first" expresses both the importance and priority of education. A summary of ancient works on this subject argued that education's meanings include: nurturing individuals and their talents; forming good social mores; developing the country and its effective governance; discovering the inherent principles of things and making full use of their attributes in order to fulfill tasks-these are all inseparable from education. Therefore the promotion of education is one of the important functions of the state.

引例：古者建國，教學(xué)為先，所以道世治性，為時養(yǎng)器也。（《三國志·吳書·孫休傳》）（古代圣王建立國家，將教育放在首位，用它來引導(dǎo)世人修養(yǎng)品性，為當(dāng)世培養(yǎng)所需的人才。）

Citation：Whenthe ancient sage-kings established their states, they gave education the highest priority in order to guide the people to cultivate character, and nurture the talent needed by the times. (The History of the Three Kingdoms)