On August 11, to study and implement in depth General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on vigorously promoting the spirit of educators, further strengthen the building of teacher ethics and professional conduct, and enhance the educational capability of the faculty, the Group specially invited Professor Qu Jianwu, a former counselor at Dalian Maritime University, to deliver a special lecture titled "Forging the Soul of Education with the Spirit of Educators." Gao Chenglin, Executive Vice President of the college, presided over the lecture. All faculty and staff attended and listened, drawing inspiration and strength from educational stories and sincere devotion spanning decades as they reflected on the original aspiration of education.
During the lecture, Professor Qu Jianwu traced the thread of his more than forty years in education, looking back with deep feeling on his inner journey — from starting as a counselor at Liaoning Normal University, through posts as Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of a university, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee's University Working Committee, and Vice Director-General of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, to his decision in 2013 to voluntarily resign from his leadership post at the full department-director level and resolutely return to the front line as a counselor at Dalian Maritime University. In plain yet fervent language, he told of his years of persistent home visits and letter exchanges with students, and related one touching story after another of helping and supporting students in difficulty and accompanying ethnic-minority students in their growth with a sincere heart. The line "I was once young; you have not yet grown old" encapsulates a veteran educator's look back at youth and his hopes for the younger generation.
Professor Qu Jianwu pointed out that the essence of education lies in cultivating people — in lifting them out of ignorance and animality and nurturing an upward, good nature. Artificial intelligence can impart skills, but it cannot give students the warmth of humanity or emotional nourishment; only the spirit of educators can guide the direction of cultivation. "Virtue is the carriage that bears all things" — virtue is the foundation; the more knowledge one has, the more dangerous it becomes if one's character is wanting. He encouraged all teachers to ground themselves in curriculum-based ideological and political education, unify teaching with cultivation, guide students to understand patriotism and learn gratitude, and nurture a new generation of the era who listen to and follow the Party and are capable of shouldering the great responsibility of national rejuvenation. On Teachers' Day in 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the educator's spirit unique to China — the most profound and concise summary of educational work; teachers should take the spirit of educators as their yardstick to measure their own choices and perseverance.
After the lecture, Executive Vice President Gao Chenglin delivered closing remarks. On behalf of the college, he extended sincere thanks to Professor Qu Jianwu for his heartfelt teaching, and noted that the lecture precisely focused on the key points and difficulties of cultivation work in vocational education, bridging theory and practice and blending devotion with responsibility; its content was substantial and its meaning profound, with strong ideological guidance and practical direction. He called on all faculty and staff to take this lecture as an opportunity to deeply comprehend the rich connotations of the spirit of educators in the new era, transform what they learned, thought, and realized into conscious action in teaching and cultivation, refine their teacher ethics and enhance their capabilities in their own posts, carry the forging of souls and cultivation throughout the entire process of talent development, nurture fine study styles and school ethos through noble teacher ethics, and empower students' growth and success with solid expertise.
Applause broke out several times at the lecture, the atmosphere both warm and profound.
A year ago, the original musical "Guozhi Shaohua," created from the story of Professor Qu Jianwu, was staged on campus and moved countless teachers to tears; today, this "Role Model of the Times" in his seventies came to the podium in person to impart all he has learned over a lifetime, with emotions on and off the stage resonating in unison and original aspirations echoing together. The faculty present said one after another that this was not only an immersive, ideological-and-political "big lesson" full of warmth, depth, and strength, but also a spiritual baptism that reached straight to the heart — they not only grasped the profound weight of the "spirit of educators," but were also deeply moved to tears by Professor Qu's sincerity in "devoting his entire youth to education and to his students."
Moving forward, all faculty and staff will take Professor Qu Jianwu as their role model, consciously practice the spirit of educators, hold firm to the original mission of educating people for the Party and cultivating talent for the country, till the fertile soil of vocational education, and devote themselves to fostering virtue through education. With full educational enthusiasm and a pragmatic, rigorous working style, they will help drive the high-quality development of the college's education and teaching, and contribute their cultivative strength to nurturing more high-quality technical and skilled talent.
