Xi Jinping on the Guiding Role of Teachers: Unobtrusive and Imperceptible Moral Influence

Xinhua, via sina.com, January 4, 2012

The CCP’s Central Committee Organization Department, the CCP Propaganda Department, and the CCP’s party committee at the Ministry of Education held their twentieth national meeting on party development work at institutions of higher education. Member of the CCP Central Committee’s Politbureau Standing Committee, secretary of the CCP’s Central Committee Secretariat, and State Vice Chairman Xi Jinping met with delegates and gave a speech. He emphasized that higher education is an important field [or garden] for the education and training of young talents, and an important front for arming the young with socialist core values and ideology. The development of party work at institutions of higher education should closely surround the training of a reliable generation of successors, in correspondence with the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics as a fundamental task. For the building of high-quality socialist universities which are able to train students, strong ideological, political and organizational guarantees needed to be provided [by the party].

新华网北京1月4日电(记者周英峰)中共中央组织部、中共中央宣传部、中共教育部党组4日在北京召开第二十次全国高等学校党的建设工作会议。中共中央政治局常委、中央书记处书记、国家副主席习近平在会前会见会议代表并讲话。他强调，高校是教育培养青年人才的重要园地，也是用社会主义核心价值体系武装青年的重要思想阵地。高校党的建设要紧紧围绕培养中国特色社会主义事业合格建设者和可靠接班人这个根本任务，为建设能够培养高质量大学生的社会主义大学提供坚强的思想、政治和组织保证。

Xi Jinping pointed out that teachers^*) are the engineers of the human spirit, and guides for growing-up students. [Teachers’] ideological and political qualities and noble morality had a strong influence on young students, and played a most important role in ideological dissemination. This required our teachers to persist in imparting knowledge and teaching people with an attitude of high social responsibility, to be worthy of the name of teacher [or to be a model of virtue for others], and to unobtrusively and imperceptibly influence the students with good ideological and moral qualities. Young teachers were an important force within the institutions of higher education, as they communicated and interacted with students more frequently, and thus had a strong influence on students. To strengthen the young teaching staff’s ideological and political development was an important task for the party. The deepening of meticulous ideological guidance of young teaching staff, increased development of party members among them, and the perfection of party membership structures at institutions of higher education needed to be carried out well.

习近平指出，教师是人类灵魂的工程师，是青年学生成长的引路人和指导者。他们的思想政治素质和道德情操，对青年学生具有很强的影响力和感染力，在思想传播方面起着十分重要的作用。这就要求我们的高校教师以高度的社会责任感坚持教书育人、为人师表，以良好的思想道德品质给大学生以潜移默化的影响。青年教师作为高校教学的重要力量，与学生沟通互动多，对学生影响很大。要把加强青年教师队伍思想政治建设作为高校党的建设一个重大问题来抓，深入细致地做好青年教师的思想引导工作，加大在青年教师中发展党员的工作力度，优化高校党员队伍结构。

Xi Jinping emphasized that our party will hold its 18th National Congress this year, which was a great event in the political life of the entire party, and the entire nation with all its nationalities and people. [Those in the development of party development] at institutions of higher education needed to highlight and welcome the great victory of the 18th National Congress, and study, propagate and put into effect the 18th National Congress’ spirit, perform still better as party commissions, as  the leading core at institutions of higher education, and party organizations on all levels needed to function as bastions, and broaden their role as pioneering models.

习近平强调，今年我们党将召开十八大，这是全党全国各族人民政治生活中的一件大事。高校党建工作要突出迎接党的十八大胜利召开和学习宣传贯彻党的十八大精神这项重要任务，更好地发挥高校党委的领导核心作用、各级党组织的战斗堡垒作用和广大党员的先锋模范作用。要深入开展高校创先争优活动，推动高校党组织和广大党员在全面落实党的教育方针、坚持内涵式发展、全面提高办学质量、加强自身建设的实践中创先争优，并使创先争优活动常态化。要以更加扎实有力的措施维护高校的和谐稳定，加强日常管理，为党的十八大胜利召开营造良好氛围。

Activities of excellence needed to be developed further, the broadening of party members’ role in the implementation of the educational policies be promoted and widened, internal development be upheld, learning management comprehensively be raised further, excellence be brought into the practice of self-strengthening, and excellence activities become a regularity.  Practical and powerful measures needed to be taken to maintain harmony and stability at institutions of higher education, daily management be strengthened, and a good atmosphere be created for the victorious 18th National Party Congress.

习近平强调，今年我们党将召开十八大，这是全党全国各族人民政治生活中的一件大事。高校党建工作要突出迎接党的十八大胜利召开和学习宣传贯彻党的十八大精神这项重要任务，更好地发挥高校党委的领导核心作用、各级党组织的战斗堡垒作用和广大党员的先锋模范作用。要深入开展高校创先争优活动，推动高校党组织和广大党员在全面落实党的教育方针、坚持内涵式发展、全面提高办学质量、加强自身建设的实践中创先争优，并使创先争优活动常态化。要以更加扎实有力的措施维护高校的和谐稳定，加强日常管理，为党的十八大胜利召开营造良好氛围。

Politbureau member, Central Committee Secretariat secretary, and Central Propaganda director Liu Yunshan, Politbureau member and state councillor Liu Yandong, Politbureau member, Central Committee Secretariat secretary, and central organization department director Li Yuanchao attended the meeting.

中共中央政治局委员、中央书记处书记、中央宣传部部长刘云山，中共中央政治局委员、国务委员刘延东，中共中央政治局委员、中央书记处书记、中央组织部部长李源潮参加会见。

According to the Xinhua article, Liu Yandong summarized or reviewed the ideological and political education work at institutions of higher education during the years after (last) 17th National Party Congress, and emphasized the need to deeply understand the new situations and tasks party work there was facing. She also made the usual references to using the latest achievements of Marxism to arm mentality (or brains), and repeated Xi Jinping’s definition of training of a reliable generation of successors, in correspondence with the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. She added some remarks about the importance of patriotism and national pride.

Li Yuanchao presided over the meeting.
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Note

^*) I’ve chosen the term teachers as the (probably) most universal translation of 教师. The term may refer to fully-grown professors just as well, in the context of Xi’s speech.

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» The Newest Angry Professor, June 2, 2011

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Updates/Related

» Vice President orders Thought Control, Telegraph, Jan 5, 2012

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