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想孩提時代，農業背景的生活，人們以溫飽為生活追求的目標，知識水準固然普遍的低，而安居樂業的景象，卻處處可見。曾幾何時，知識爆長，科技猛進，早已不復見在泥地上塗鴉的兒童，代之而起的，是會說話的電腦字典。然而，浮躁不安的兒童，乖張暴戾的青年，破碎複雜的家庭，罪案層出的社會，公理泯滅的國家，即使是在極度富足與文明的護航之下，也無法駛出魘魅的漩渦！因為，教育一旦破產，斯文掃地，則父不父、子不子，人人寡廉鮮恥，無所不用其極，就是核子武器，也失去它的威力，社會福利也陷入不可自拔的泥沼中。迷茫的人群，縱欲的貪火，便像泛濫的洪水，會沖垮保命的堤防。倫理隳穨，道德敗壞的沉痾，若不深加體認，則世界毀滅的浩劫，便迫在眉睫了。這也就是一九九○年，上人歐洲弘法時，在聯合國教科文組織，正義參天地向世界各國人士，凜然指出：
我們在教育所犯下的錯誤，比愛死病、癌症還厲害！比原子彈的災難還嚴重！因為不良的教育，已無形中將我們的下一代殺了，叫他們都滅亡，叫他們失去做人的本性，把自己的靈魂不記得，甚至也不愛惜自己的生命了。
一對來自嚴格禮教約束家庭的夫婦，放心地將五個女兒留在育良小學，及培德中學讀書，因為他們知道，在這裡不會有結交異性朋友的問題。二十年來，為了真正杜絕當代世界的流弊，上人力主男女分校，教令彼此自尊自重，並且曉喻學生們說：
女孩子要等到二十歲以後，再交男朋友；男孩子要等到二十五歲以後，才交女朋友。這樣子，小孩子才不會受傷。要是早交男女朋友，這都不是好學生，不是好人，你們大家都要做好人、好學生，將來才能做好事。就像那小苗似的，還沒長成，就把它割下來，都變成稗子了，根本什麼用也沒有。將來的人，情欲早開的時候，就一代不如一代了。
這個國家的小孩，儘看電視，看得七、八歲，就懂得男女交朋友，這真是害人太厲害了！將來沒有人才了，為什麼不出人才呢？就因都糊塗了。
為了不教小孩子情欲早開，上人創辦的學校，均採男女分校，好讓同學們專心研究學問，將來成為真正的人才。在這裡，我們不禁要問一問，懷有崇高目標，深廣理念，豐富涵養的教育家，自然為數不少，可是，真能肩負起人類道德存續的使命，並且孤軍奮鬥，不畏世人譏諷者，又能有幾人？上人這種不合潮流的落伍觀念，請問我們可有擔當的勇氣？對上人而言，這是天經地義不過的事了，他之所以不辭疲倦，不避人譏地疾聲高呼，唯獨希望人人早點從迷夢中驚醒過來。因此，更可見上人深藏的真實性格，那就是：凡事只在一個「真」字，一個「誠」字，只想如何利益所有的人，而完全忘記自己！
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remember that in my childhood, people’s lives were centered around farming. Getting fed and clad was the goal of life people sought after. Although the level of education was pervasively low, everywhere people were seen living in peace, content with what they were doing. Later, with the swift growth of knowledge and the rapid development of science and technology, the children writing on the ground were no longer seen. Instead the talking computer dictionary has taken over. In a world filled with restless children, violent youths, broken and complex families, crime-ridden societies, and countries in which common rights have been suspended, even with the utmost affluence and civilization it is impossible to escape the whirlpool of nightmares. With the bankruptcy of education and the decadence of intellectual culture, fathers do not act like fathers and sons do not act like sons; people shamelessly resort to extreme means to satisfy their own purposes. Even nuclear weapons have lost their power. Social welfare is bogged down in the mire and cannot extricate itself. As the confused multitudes indulge in their desires, their greed is like a wild flood that crashes the life-saving dam. If we fail to deeply understand the grave illness caused by moral decadence and the corruption of virtue, then the end of the world is close at hand. That is what the Master righteously pointed out to people from all over the world at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris on his European Dharma-propagation tour in 1990:
The mistake we have committed in education is more severe than cancer, more serious than the disasters caused by the atomic bomb! Unwholesome education has invisibly killed our next generation. It has destroyed them, causing them to lose their basic human nature, forget their own souls, and no longer cherish their own lives.
A couple from a background of strict moral discipline feel reassured in sending their five daughters to Instilling Goodness Elementary School and Developing Virtue High School, because they know that the problem of dating among students is nonexistent here. For the past twenty years, the Master has sought to put an end to this bad practice which prevails in the modern world by advocating that male and female students be segregated and that they be taught to respect themselves. He also advised the students that:
Girls should wait until they are twenty before they have boyfriends; and boys should wait until they are twenty-five before they start dating. That way, children will not be harmed. If you start dating too early, you will not be good students or good people. You should all be good people and good students, so that you will be able to do good deeds in the future. If you cut down young grain shoots before they are fully grown, they will just be useless stalks. In the future, if people develop emotional desire at an early age, each generation will be worse than the one before.
Children in this country watch too much television. As a result, they already know about dating by the time they are seven or eight years old. This is extremely harmful! We will not have any capable people in the future, because people will all be muddled.
To prevent children from developing emotional desire too early, boys and girls study separately in the schools founded by the Venerable Master. That way, students can concentrate on their studies and become truly capable people in the future. Here, we must ask: while there are many educators with noble aims, profound principles, and great kindness and patience, how many of them can really shoulder the task of perpetuating the moral virtue of humanity, struggling alone despite the ridicule of people in the world? How many of us have the courage to undertake the Master’s old-fashioned idea? For the Master, that is just the way it should be. He has been crying out despite his fatigue and people’s ridicule, hoping that people will soon wake up from their deluded dreams. From this we can see the Master’s real character, which lies deep under the surface: he is true and sincere in everything he does and only thinks of benefitting all people while totally forgetting about himself!
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