Confucius was China's first educator. He taught students all his life, and put forward many important educational principles and effective teaching methods. He held that all men were educable, because by nature men were quite alike, and they were made different by learning and practice.

This was in his day an epoch-making view, because it meant that not only the nobles，but people of all other classes，were entitled to receive education. His teaching methods included the eliciting method, giving instructions according to students' peculiarities, and combining theory with reality and practice. To deepen his students, understanding, he discussed with them real people and events of earlier times and his day, expressing his own views, making analys, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses, and urging his students to weigh and decide issues. It was regrettable that the master was not free from prejudices against women and never accepted a female student.