Luo Yongkuan: Explaining Politics Through Scholarship and Seeking Practical Results Through Pedagogical Reform
Ideological and political theory courses (sizhengke [1]) are the key curriculum for implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education. The course "An Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" (hereafter "the Introduction") occupies a core and leading position within the ideological and political curriculum system of higher education institutions, serving as the top priority for the development of these courses in the New Era. To uphold the fundamentals and break new ground in promoting the connotative development of this core course is an inherent requirement for advancing ideological and political course construction in tandem with the Party's innovative theory, persistently using Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to forge the soul and cultivate the person, and implementing the New Era project of fostering virtue through education. It is a key measure for cultivating "new youth of the era who are trusted by the Party, patriotic and devoted, and capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation."
On the new journey of the New Era, we must follow the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on the construction of ideological and political courses and the spirit of the National Conference on Promoting the Construction of Ideological and Political Courses in Schools in the New Era. We must accurately grasp the course positioning and general requirements, precisely understand the ideological dynamics and theoretical needs of our students, and earnestly enhance our capacity to "discuss politics through scholarship" [2]. We should explore the use of case-based teaching and give full play to the educational and inspirational role of the great practices of the New Era, thereby increasing the leading power, persuasiveness, and appeal of this core soul-forging course for young students.
Accurately grasping the course positioning and general requirements, while consciously shouldering the epochal mission of teaching the core soul-forging course well.
The "Introduction" is the core course for universities to use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to forge the soul and cultivate the person. It aims to systematically explain the historical background, theoretical origins, core tenets, spiritual essence, and practical requirements of this important thought. It guides university students toward a deep understanding of its historical status, theoretical value, and guiding significance as contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st-century Marxism. This ensures that students truly understand "why the Communist Party of China is capable, why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, and ultimately, why Marxism works, particularly Marxism that has been Sinicized and adapted to our times." This continuously strengthens the "Four Confidences" [3] and helps students become new youth of the era capable of shouldering the responsibility of national rejuvenation. Based on this understanding, my colleagues at the Course Center and I have stood at the vantage point of realizing the development goals of school education in the New Era, enhancing the cohesion of socialist ideology, and interpreting and disseminating the Party's innovative theories. From a perspective that unifies the strategic needs of the Party and the state, the requirements of national rejuvenation, and the students' aspirations for growth and success, we deeply grasp the core positioning and strategic significance of this course within the New Era ideological and political curriculum. We resolutely shoulder the key responsibility of teaching this key course and proactively practice our epochal mission of guiding ideological values, fostering virtue through education, and innovating pedagogy. In recent years, in my teaching practice, I have strived to "transform the Party’s innovative theoretical achievements into lucid theoretical consciousness, firm political convictions, and scientific methods of thinking." I have continuously explored pragmatic and effective paths and methods, emphasizing a leading role in enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of teaching. I aim to ensure this course functions effectively as the primary channel for systematically teaching the Party’s innovative theories and the main front for arming university students with the Party's scientific theories, guiding them to consolidate their ideological foundations at a theoretical level and achieve deep understanding and identification with socialist ideology. Our team integrated these explorations into a "Five Integrations" teaching model for New Era ideological and political courses. This achievement won the first prize of the 2022 National Teaching Achievement Award for Higher Education (Undergraduate), and the course was selected as a national-level first-class undergraduate course.
Emphasizing research into the ideological dynamics and theoretical needs of students to enhance the pertinence of course teaching.
Precisely grasping the characteristics of the students is an important prerequisite for enhancing the pertinence of ideological and political teaching. Thus, it is particularly necessary to conduct continuous and detailed research into student conditions (xueqing [4]) to ensure that teaching hits the mark regarding their ideological dynamics and theoretical needs.
Since 2015, I have been deeply involved in a series of research projects, conducting large-sample analyses on the value orientations, political identity, ideological dynamics, learning characteristics, and intergenerational traits of young college students in the New Era. This has enhanced our holistic understanding of the ideological and political status, development trends, and influencing factors of students ranging from the "post-95s" to the "post-00s" and "post-05s." Simultaneously, we leverage "Sixiang Luo Jia" [5], a research data platform for Chinese university students independently developed by our university, to comprehensively and accurately grasp students' ideological realities. To perform solid analysis of student conditions, I conduct a comprehensive survey before teaching each semester regarding students' professional backgrounds, theoretical foundations, interests, and hot topics of concern. This helps identify difficulties, interests, and doubts regarding each teaching topic. Together with teaching assistants, I conduct discussion-based investigations on typical problems reflected in the surveys to pinpoint ideological concerns, theoretical needs, emotional triggers, pedagogical entry points, and areas of ideological resonance, thereby bridging potential intergenerational cognitive gaps between teachers and students. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Ideological and political teaching cannot do without the leading role of the teacher, while simultaneously it must adhere to being student-centered, increasing research into students' cognitive laws and acceptance characteristics." The analysis of student conditions is the starting point for teaching this course well. Its logical premise is a high focus on established teaching goals, a rational positioning of the content of student analysis, the collection of information on students' theoretical needs through multi-dimensional channels, and a precise pulse-taking of students' ideological dynamics. This leads to the refined tailoring of teaching plans for specific audiences, achieving a precise connection and integration between student demand and teacher supply, thereby enhancing the pertinence, effectiveness, compatibility, and satisfaction of the course.
Emphasizing deep research into the Party’s innovative theories, enriching the supply of ideological and theoretical resources, and enhancing the academic rigor of teaching.
In my teaching, I consciously follow the philosophy that "teaching provides the topics, scientific research produces the articles, and the results enter the classroom," viewing teaching as the "living water" [6] of scientific research. Students' confusion, the clash of ideas, theoretical difficulties, and social hot spots are the most direct and vivid sources for research topics. An excellent ideological and political teacher should be a keen "capturer of classroom problems," adept at transforming the difficult and hot-button issues of teaching into subjects worthy of deep study. Research must serve as the deep support for teaching. Teaching without the support of research tends to be superficial, lacking theoretical depth and persuasiveness. Deep and focused research allows teachers to understand the Party's innovative theories more thoroughly, grasp reality more accurately, and navigate teaching more freely, truly achieving the goal of "discussing politics through scholarship." I actively participate in "organized research" projects and emphasize the integration of disciplinary research directions with the teaching of this course. Driven by major and key projects of the National Social Science Fund of China, I continue to deepen research into the academic and intellectual history of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, as well as the principle-based achievements and original contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Since the 20th National Congress of the CPC, I have worked with teachers from Marxist theory and related disciplines to tackle key problems, immersing myself in the research and compilation of the "Explanations of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" book series. Based on a holistic grasp and accurate understanding of the scientific theoretical system of Xi Jinping Thought, we start from General Secretary Xi Jinping’s most representative and original texts and important propositions. Focusing on the integration of academic foundations, practical orientation, international vision, and historical dimensions, we explain the principles, theoretical logic, and philosophical underpinnings (daoli, xueli, zheli [7]) contained therein, exploring new ideas, genres, and styles for the research and interpretation of the Party's innovative theories. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that ideological and political courses must "respond to students with thorough theoretical analysis, persuade students with complete ideological theory, and guide students with the powerful force of truth." If university teachers are to achieve the integration of "technique, scholarship, and the Way" (shu, xue, dao [8]) and possess "complete ideological theory" and "persuasive methods," they must deeply study the Party's innovative theories. They must earnestly improve their theoretical literacy and academic level, cultivating the solid skills of having a firm theoretical basis, strong professionalism, innovative thinking, and "rejoicing when encountering problems" [9]. They must become rare "teachers of people" who are "firm in faith, profound in knowledge, and deep in theoretical foundation." With a deep and broad academic background, they can profoundly analyze, respond to, and solve students' deep-level ideological understanding problems, deepening students' theoretical cognition and rational identification with the course content, thereby making ideological and political teaching more pertinent, attractive, and persuasive.
Emphasizing the reinforcement of content support, actively exploring case-based teaching, and giving full play to the educational and inspirational role of the great practices of the New Era.
The key to teaching the "Introduction" well is to enrich and strengthen the content support of the course. I applied for and completed the university-level key educational reform project "Development and Application of Case Teaching Resources for Ideological and Political Courses," focusing on utilizing the vivid "textbooks" of Chinese-path modernization in the New Era. Through case-based teaching, we bring the vivid practices of reform and development in the New Era into the classroom. In instructional design, I focus on the vivid practices of advancing Chinese-path modernization in the New Era, centering on experiences and practices that are highlights of Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. I link these to typical cases mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping in important meetings and inspection tours, using "small entry points" to introduce "great principles" and "small stories" to reflect the "Great Era," guiding students to perceive the great practical power of the Party's innovative theory. In building this course, we proposed exploring the construction of standards for case teaching, clarifying a flow of "phenomenon description—contradiction analysis—theoretical explanation—value sublimation," building a "slices of the era" case database that advances with the times, and forming cross-disciplinary teams to decode ideological and political elements from current affairs and hot spots. In recent years, our "Introduction" Course Center has adhered to "open-door teaching," collaborating to create versions of the course that take place "on the move," in the University History Museum, the Wanlin Art Museum, the Aiping Concert Hall, and the Old Library at Cherry Blossom Summit. We have partnered with over 70 units inside and outside the university to jointly build "Great Ideological and Political Course" [10] practice teaching bases and constructed a digital map for such practice. By effectively connecting the "small classroom" of the school with the "large classroom" of society, we guide students to better understand principles, increase confidence, value morality, and practice what they learn. Under the theme "The Power of a Beam of Light," we organized students to visit three technology enterprises in Wuhan's Optics Valley that General Secretary Xi Jinping had inspected, conducting on-site research to learn the "Optics Valley experience" of invigorating the country through science and education and innovation-driven development. This guided students to deeply grasp the spirit of the General Secretary’s important discourses on scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, as well as technological innovation. Using diverse and multi-dimensional social practices, we promote the unity of knowledge, belief, and action [11] among students, enhancing their sense of reality, intimacy, and gain in course learning.
On the new journey, to deliver a high-quality "Introduction" course, we must keep in mind the earnest instruction that "the key to running ideological and political theory courses well lies in the teachers." We must improve our qualities according to the "Six Requirements" [12] and improve our teaching level following the "Eight Unifications" [13]. We must strive to become ideological and political teachers with a high sense of responsibility, a profound foundation in books, a broad range of knowledge, true skills that do not fear questioning, the hard strength to quote extensively, and new concepts of educational reform, shouldering the glorious mission of cultivating the roots and forging the soul of the new youth of the era with practical actions and responsibility.