Exploration on the Path of Integrating Labor Education into the Work of Educating through Financial Assistance in Universities in the New Era ()
1. Introduction
With the advent of the new era, colleges and universities have assumed an important mission in cultivating socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physicality, aesthetics and labor. The importance of labor education as an effective way to cultivate college students’ correct labor concepts and enhance their hands-on ability and practical ability is self-evident. However, there are still many problems in the integration of labor education into financial aid in colleges and universities, such as the marginalization of the status of labor education, the homogenization of the content, and the disconnection between labor education and humanities education. Therefore, it is important to explore the effective path of integrating labor education into the financial support work of colleges and universities in order to improve the effect of financial support and promote the overall development of students.
2. The Connotation and Value of Integrating Labor Education into Financial Aid Work in Universities
2.1. Guiding Funded Students to Develop Correct Labor Values
University students are in a crucial period of forming their worldview, outlook on life, and values. They often lack a profound understanding and perception of life, making labor education particularly important. Firstly, labor education fosters a sense of national pride in “working hard to prosper the country” and cultivates a humanistic concern for “respecting labor”. Through interactions with nature, collaboration with others, and communication with society, students gradually develop self-awareness, learn self-discipline, and cultivate a sense of social responsibility. Secondly, labor education encourages students to understand, sympathize with, and care for others, fostering a love for labor and affection for working people. This, in turn, prompts students to cherish the present, focus on the moment, and strive to contribute their part in ordinary life. Furthermore, labor education helps students form correct views on wealth and reinforces the labor virtue of “honest work”. By advocating for labor and creativity, it enables students to recognize the value of obtaining wealth through honest labor and reject values that advocate opportunism and getting something for nothing (Sun, 2020). An Exploration of the Path of Financial Aid and Education in Universities from the Perspective of Labor Education in the New Era.
2.2. Establishing a Multi-Angle and Comprehensive Education
System through Financial Aid
Strengthening labor education in universities is a requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The 2019 National Conference on Educating through Financial Aid emphasized the need to focus on the new requirements of the times, strengthen an overall awareness, and establish a comprehensive education system through financial aid after addressing the financial difficulties of economically disadvantaged students. This system should revolve around the fundamental questions of “what kind of people to cultivate, for whom to cultivate them, and how to cultivate them”, guiding students to consciously practice socialist core values. Integrating labor education into the education system through financial aid and throughout the entire process of educating through financial aid is an inevitable requirement for cultivating socialist successors who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects. This integration holds significant practical implications for innovating and expanding the content and methods of financial aid work.
2.3. Implementing the Fundamental Task of Cultivating Talents with High Moral Standards
The mission of universities is to cultivate talents with high moral standards. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed “six areas where efforts should be made” at the National Education Conference, clarifying the specific directions and tasks for cultivating such talents. Each of these tasks is inseparable from labor education. Student financial aid work is an important part of university operations, with its fundamental purpose lying in educating people. Cultivating students’ moral character and nurturing their talent is the foothold of financial aid and education in universities (Huang, 2023). The Value and Implementation Path of Integrating Labor Education into Financial Aid and Education Work in Universities in the New Era. It is crucial for promoting equity in higher education, comprehensively improving the quality of talent cultivation, vigorously developing quality education, and cultivating socialist builders and successors who are comprehensively developed. Labor fosters morality, enhances wisdom, strengthens the body, and nurtures beauty, making it an integral part of moral education. Therefore, integrating labor education into financial aid work is a basic requirement for effectively implementing the fundamental task of cultivating talents with high moral standards in universities.
3. Current Situation and Problem Analysis of Integrating
Labor Education into Financial Aid and Education Work
3.1. Current Situation
To understand the current situation, a questionnaire survey was conducted among undergraduates from freshmen to seniors at Wenzhou Medical University. A total of 397 valid questionnaires were analyzed, revealing the following characteristics of financial aid recipients: most come from rural areas, are not only children, have parents with a low level of education, face poor family economic situations, study hard, have average academic performance, and highly agree with the value of labor.
However, several issues emerge regarding the integration of labor education into financial aid work:
1) Marginalization of Labor Education’s Status: Parents prioritize intellectual development over labor, lacking correct labor concepts. Although financial aid recipients tend to be more mature and understanding of their family’s economic situation, parents still deprive them of the opportunity to participate in household labor.
2) Lack of Continuity in Labor Education Implementation: Students indicated that labor education is occasionally conducted (56.3%), with only 13.1% stating it is frequently conducted and 25.7% indicating it is almost never conducted.
3) Homogenization of Labor Education Content: The content of labor education activities is largely similar, lacking distinction between grades and majors. Furthermore, the design is general and not implemented in a layered manner according to students’ developmental characteristics.
4) Separation of Labor Education from Education: Labor education in universities has overlooked its inherent educational value, resulting in situations where only labor is carried out without education, or only education is provided without labor. Additionally, it often focuses solely on physical labor, neglecting the educational function of labor in ideological and political education.
3.2. Analysis of the Causes of Problems
The integration of labor education into financial aid-based education in universities is not optimistic due to several reasons:
1) Insufficient Attention Paid for Labor Education by Universities: Despite the Guiding Outline stating the need to incorporate labor education into professional talent training programs, some universities face issues such as not opening courses in a timely manner, short class hours, and an imbalance between theory and practice. Even in universities where labor education is relatively well-developed, there are problems with course effectiveness. The development of labor education courses requires practical venues, teaching staff, funding investment, etc., which are often lacking.
2) Inadequate Mechanism for Nurturing through Labor Education: There is insufficient linkage between families, schools, and society, as well as between teachers and students. Additionally, college labor education lacks an effective safeguard mechanism, mainly manifested in the lack of material and institutional safeguards, and a reasonable evaluation mechanism. Influenced by exam-oriented education, evaluation focuses on task completion, neglecting the impact of labor education on students’ ideology and lacking the cultivation of their labor spirit and creativity.
3) Negative Impact of the Social Environment: Traditional hierarchical beliefs value mental work over physical work, affecting the positioning of labor education in families, schools, and society. Additionally, adverse social trends, such as corruption, seeking quick success and instant benefits, aversion to work and indulgence in pleasure, have negatively impacted college students’ physical and mental development.
4. Paths to Integrate Labor Education into Financial Aid and Education Work
4.1. Taking Labor Education as a Hand, and Playing the Value Leading Role of Financial Support and Education
4.1.1. Giving Play to the Value Leadership of Model Workers
Model workers are valuable spiritual wealth of the society, and they play an exemplary role in labor education in colleges and universities. The financial aid departments of colleges and universities should pay attention to its value-led function, invite influential model workers to hold special presentations, let students feel the advanced deeds of workers, and guide college students to learn from the model workers through the positive energy qualities of their personal experience, so as to give full play to the motivational, guiding and corrective functions of labor education.
4.1.2. Carrying Out Practical Activities on Labor Topics
The “New Youth Going to the Countryside”, “Hundred Groups of Public Welfare” and “Community Practice Program for College Students” are the main ways for college students to participate in labor practice. Social practice activities can enhance students’ awareness of understanding, knowledge and service to society, and provide college students with labor practice channels and exercise opportunities. The financial aid departments of colleges and universities can give priority to the participation of subsidized college students, leading them to enhance their sense of social responsibility, cultivate the spirit of labor in the new era, and motivate them to repay the country and society through labor. In addition, student associations can be guided to carry out practical activities on labor topics to motivate sponsored college students to take the initiative to participate, so as to achieve the effect of educating people.
4.1.3. Strengthening Labor Belief Education
To address the problem of weak labor concepts among some college students, colleges and universities can carry out thematic education on honesty and glory of labor in conjunction with regular work such as student loans and work-study assistance, so as to strengthen the value of honest labor and set up the ideal belief that labor creates value. Combined with campus cultural activities, they can carry out lectures, debates, forums and other activities on the theme of labor education, so as to influence college students to enhance their belief in labor and internalize the concept of respect for labor. With the help of microblogs, public numbers and other media, we push out thematic works on labor education, so that labor education always accompanies college students and makes them realize the important value of labor.
4.2. Broadening the Practical Platform of Financial Aid Work with the Goal of Educating People through Labor
4.2.1. Expanding Off-Campus Practice Bases to Build Bridges for Poor College Students to Carry Out Labor Education
Colleges and universities have formed an organically integrated system of “awards, grants, loans, diligence, supplements and exemptions” for poor students, but financial assistance is only the foundation, and it is more important to enhance the self-help consciousness and self-development ability of the poor students. To build a labor practice platform for sponsored college students, it is of great value to enhance their self-help ability, and labor education also needs a specific carrier to realize. Colleges and universities can take the initiative to integrate into the development pattern of rural revitalization, set up labor bases combined with the construction of new rural areas, and provide a platform for students’ labor education through the establishment of “labor week” and “labor month” and other ways to make labor education come to fruition.
4.2.2. Building Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training
Bases and Encouraging Poor College Students to Take the
Initiative to Participate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training
Innovation and entrepreneurship practice exercises students’ hands-on ability, exploratory spirit and cooperation and communication ability, helps students expand their horizons, and lays the foundation for their employment and entrepreneurship. Colleges and universities can Upgrade the existing work-study program at the school into a model that guides and encourages recipient students to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, or provide more opportunities, financial and policy support, as well as guidance for innovation and entrepreneurship to impoverished college students within the existing policy framework for college student innovation and entrepreneurship (Li, 2019). Exploring the Developmental Financial Aid and Educational Guidance System for Universities in the New Era. The financial aid departments of colleges and universities can utilize the national innovation and entrepreneurship policy, integrate on- and off-campus resources, and build innovation and entrepreneurship training bases to provide a practical platform for sponsored students. They can also expand social resources and organize innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, so that poor college students can realize the significance of self-help through innovation and entrepreneurship. Colleges and universities can also set up innovation and practice projects or entrepreneurship training programs, so that sponsored college students can have more opportunities to exercise and improve their practical ability.
4.2.3. Broadening the Self-Help Path of Economically Disadvantaged Students through School-Enterprise Cooperation Model
Colleges and universities should innovate the contents and methods of school-enterprise cooperation. In addition to providing traditional practical training, they can also jointly build labor education practice courses and provide reasonable labor positions to provide students with more practice opportunities. Colleges and universities should make use of campus business incubation bases, raise funds for business start-ups, and set up school-enterprise cooperation programs to cultivate the ability of assisted college students to form self-reliance and independence, and to innovate and develop. Labor education is a part of comprehensive education in colleges and universities, through which college students can better integrate into the society and give full play to their ability to create social value.
4.3. Using Labor Education as a Carrier to Enhance the Practical Effectiveness of Financial Support for Human Development
4.3.1. Giving Full Play to the Precise Support Function of Work Study
Colleges and universities guide poor college students to participate in work-study activities by categories and levels through precise management. For freshmen who lack practical experience, they should focus on participating in on-campus manual service positions to cultivate basic labor skills; senior students can participate in intellectual labor, such as scientific research assistants, administrative assistants, researchers, etc., to guide students to combine professional learning with labor education and enhance their comprehensive literacy. The financial aid work of colleges and universities should change the universal financial aid method, reflecting personalization and customization, designing customized contents of work-study for students’ different individual needs and interests, enriching the opportunities for development and quality enhancement, and reflecting the effectiveness of financial aid for educating people. Colleges and universities should standardize the construction of financial aid system, especially the need to have a practical system of evaluation of the effect of work study, change the egalitarian mentality, will participate in the time, content, effect of work study into the assessment standards, the formation of long-term tracking and feedback mechanism, the outstanding performance of the students to give focus on financial support, rewards and publicity, to guide the poor college students to consciously and independently participate in labor education, and to cultivate the character of hard work. Meanwhile, universities should connect the cultivation of the labor spirit with specific labor practices, help students participate in standardized labor practices, and foster the labor spirit, enhance labor competencies, and form correct labor concepts through labor practice courses (Nie, 2023). Exploration on the Path of Integrating Labor Education into Financial Aid and Education in Universities in the New Era.
4.3.2. Making Full Use of the Educating Function of the Main Channel of the Classroom
Labor education should make full use of the main channel of the classroom, and strengthen the organic combination with moral education, intellectual education and aesthetic education to form a synergistic effect. For example, the “situation and policy” course can combine practical cases to talk about the spirit of labor, sort out the labor force situation, analyze the forms and characteristics of employment, and help sponsored college students understand the dialectical relationship between labor and social development, know their positions and responsibilities, and take responsibility for the development of the country and national rejuvenation. Colleges and universities can also carry out labor-themed education in conjunction with the admission of new students, telling the history of the development of the school and the arduous process of running the school; in conjunction with the graduates’ conference, inviting outstanding alumni to tell their employment stories, so that students can understand the greatness of hard work and endurance in the examples of role models.
4.3.3. Playing the Role of Talent Cultivation in Financial Aid Education
Firstly, enhance college talent cultivation by integrating labor education into curricula and promoting it in classrooms. Integrate labor education with professional education to boost students’ social adaptability, such as by integrating general education and career planning into labor education content, and strengthening practical courses and skills training to improve labor skills and form vocational abilities. Secondly, it is also necessary to tailor comprehensive skills training programs, such as office skills, writing skills, and business etiquette, to individual students’ needs through student organizations. By offering targeted quality improvement courses and engaging, fun quality development activities, students’ intrinsic motivation for development can be stimulated (Gu & Zhang, 2021). Reflections on Integrating Labor Education into Financial Aid and Education in Vocational Colleges. Colleges should mobilize teachers and counselors to form a professional service team to support students and promote their all-round growth. Labor education is crucial for college students’ healthy growth and should be incorporated into financial aid systems, highlighting its nurturing value in the new era.
5. Conclusion
In summary, the integration of labor education into the work of financial aid and human resources training in colleges and universities is of great significance in enhancing the effect of financial aid and human resources training and promoting the overall development of students. However, there are still many problems in the integration of labor education into financial support in colleges and universities. Therefore, colleges and universities should actively explore the effective path of integrating labor education into financial aid education, take labor education as a hand to play a leading role in the value of financial aid education; expand the practical platform of financial aid education to enhance the effectiveness of labor education; strengthen humanistic care to promote the deep integration of labor education and humanistic education. Through the implementation of these measures, we can promote the work of financial support and education in colleges and universities to achieve new results and progress.
NOTES
*First author.
#Corresponding author.