What kind of school motto do we need

Liang Hao's school motto is the soul of a school, the concentrated expression of its spiritual culture and the accumulation of its history and culture. Good school motto can alert students and play an important role in guiding their spiritual growth, drawing their spiritual background, standardizing their manners and behaviors, and promoting their positive progress. Therefore, the motto of every school should be integrated into the concept of running a school, highlight the characteristics of running a school, and be profound, far-reaching and distinctive.

But in reality, the school motto of some primary and secondary schools has become a formal slogan, which is difficult for students to understand and practice. Not long ago, I visited more than 20 schools in several towns, and found that the school mottos of most schools are the same, which are limited to the words of unity, forge ahead, truth-seeking and innovation. It is true that "unity", "endeavor", "truth-seeking" and "innovation" are indeed admonitions to students. But the actual impact is of little significance, and sometimes even school leaders are not clear about how to implement it, let alone primary and secondary school students. Therefore, school leaders must use their brains in the process of formulating school mottos, rather than copying others. In my opinion, a good school motto should highlight the following three characteristics:

First, the school motto should be integrated into the school concept.

If a school wants to develop steadily, it must have its own clear concept of running a school. What kind of school motto there is. The school motto is the essence of the school-running concept, and the similarity of the school motto shows that the school-running concept is vague or chaotic. Tsinghua University's educational policy at the beginning of its establishment was "studying in Germany and striving for self-improvement". Later, Mr. Liang Qichao encouraged students by "striving for self-improvement, cherishing virtue and carrying things". Later, these eight words were cast into the school emblem and became the school motto that teachers and students should abide by. It can be seen that Tsinghua University's school motto is a vivid interpretation of the educational policy and the result of the continuous evolution of educational thoughts. Therefore, the relationship between school motto and school philosophy should be that the concept comes first, the school motto comes last and the school motto comes first. With the continuous evolution of school philosophy, the school motto is constantly condensed and improved. Therefore, when we primary and secondary school administrators formulate school motto, we should clearly ask ourselves: What kind of school philosophy does our school pursue? Only by thinking clearly about the concept of running a school can we be qualified to formulate a school motto. In other words, the school motto should be integrated with the school's philosophy to reflect the school's cultural accumulation. The motto of a middle school is: learn to be a man, learn to seek knowledge, learn to do things, and learn to keep fit. As can be seen from this motto, the school's philosophy is to cultivate students with all-round development in morality, intelligence and physique. Of course, the school motto can't fully reflect the school-running concept, but at least it needs to reflect one aspect of the school-running concept, which should be important and prominent.

Second, the school motto should highlight the characteristics of the school.

Different school-running ideas are doomed to be colorful and diverse. If the school motto of each school tends to be consistent, it also shows that our school has no characteristics at all. Characteristics are the life of the school, and school motto is the label of school life. When we talk about "striving for self-improvement, respecting morality and carrying things", we will think of Tsinghua University. When we talk about "unity", "seeking truth" and "innovation", which school can we think of? Therefore, the school motto itself is also the embodiment of the school's characteristics, the invisible business card of the school and the best propaganda language of the school. Primary and secondary school administrators should be proficient in concentration, be willing to think, refine carefully, discover and create school characteristics, and embody them in school motto with characteristic language. For example, Tangqiao No.1 Primary School in Pudong New Area of Shanghai is a national experimental school of calligraphy art. Calligraphy education is the school's characteristic and advantage, and the school motto is "practice calligraphy with one stroke and one painting, and be a real person all your life". The school motto skillfully links calligraphy education with life, which not only leads students, but also highlights the characteristics of running a school, making people remember the school motto and leave a deep impression on the school characteristics.

Third, school motto should lead students' spiritual growth.

School motto is an important part of school culture, and its direction is also very clear, aiming at leading students' spiritual growth and giving them a development direction. In the process of long-term edification, students will naturally memorize it and become their own code of conduct and direction of efforts. So a good school motto must tell students how to do it and how to do it. The warning of the school motto must be clear and clear, and it cannot be as grand and difficult to capture as "seeking truth from facts and innovation". The motto of Harvard University is: be friends with Plato and Aristotle, but be friends with truth more. Chinese translation means "be friends with Plato and Aristotle, but be friends with truth more". This school motto tells students that it is necessary to learn the knowledge of predecessors, but it is more important to learn to think independently and pursue the truth. Such school motto is the direction of students' spiritual growth and plays an important leading role in students' thoughts and values.

Of course, the school motto is by no means isolated. It must be integrated with the series of educational activities of the school and is a part of the school's spiritual culture. In this way, the school motto can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and play a role in silently educating people.