Confucius (孔子) is the greatest teacher in Chinese history. He was born on September 28, 551 BC (公元前) in the Kingdom of Lu, in today’s Shandong Province. When he was young, he and his mother had a hard life. At the age of fifteen, he began to learn music, and he did well in it. Then he went on learning other subjects. When he was thirty, he became a teacher. He started his own school. He believed everyone should have a chance to get education whether they were rich or poor. He had about 3,000 students and many of them became famous.

Chinese regard Confucius as the greatest thinker and also the greatest teacher. His most important ideas are kindness and good manners. He said young people should respect the old. People should stop thinking of ourselves and think more of others. His ideas are around in people’s everyday life. Today people can still remember his thoughts. And they are spread to East and South Asia.

During the Qin Dynasty in China, there was a boy named Han Xin. He was born in a very poor family and often had nothing to eat. He often went fishing but almost caught nothing. He was always hungry.

One day, Han Xin was fishing at the river. An old lady saw that the boy was very thin and looked hungry. She gave him a bowl of rice.

“Thank you so much,” said Han Xin as he bowed down to the old lady. Since then, every time Han Xin met the old lady at the river, he never went hungry. Han Xin was very thankful to the old lady. “I will find a way to pay you back someday,” he said.

“Why do you promise so much when you have nothing?” she said. “I give you rice because I feel sorry that you don’t have anything to eat. I don’t expect you to repay me. If you are a real man, you will find a way to support yourself.”

When Han Xin grew up, he became brave and kind. He joined the army and then became a general. And later he became the “King of Qi” and the “King of Chu” in the Han Dynasty. He did many good things and helped many people.

Han Xin never forgot the old lady. He went back to the village and took her to his palace. Han Xin bowed down to her and gave her a bowl filled with gold.

“I promised I would pay you back someday,” he said.

The old lady refused. “Thank you for the gold,” she said. “You have already paid me back by becoming a strong and kind man.”

The Chinese idiom “one rice, thousand gold” (一饭恩，千金酬) comes from this story. It tells us that we should always give a hand to others without expecting anything in return, and we should also forever remember the help from someone else.

Maria Montessori lived between 1870 and 1952. She was an Italian educator who has left her mark on education today. Her methods of education are widely used all around the world. She was nominated (提名) for the Nobel Peace Prize three times for her work.

Montessori was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome’s Medical School. She trained as a psychiatrist (精神病学家) and was very good at educating the children with learning difficulties.

Hearing about Maria’s achievements, Rome’s government asked her to start her own children’s school. In 1907, the school opened in a poor neighborhood of Rome. She continued her ways, it meant letting children develop and learn on their own way. Her methods once again met with great success. More schools opened and she was famous around the world.

Montessori had to leave Italy because she refused to allow her schools to turn children into soldiers (士兵). She lived in Spain until the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936. In 1939 she moved to India and spent ten years working on training courses, which are still seen to be innovative today. She traveled the world to make a speech until her death in 1952.