In our first episode of the Three Character Classic (三字经) we explored the belief that people are fundamentally good when they’re born, and how that can change under the influence of environment and education. In this episode, we look at the role of education in keeping bad habits and attitudes at bay.

The三字经 was written by the Song Dynasty (宋朝) scholar Wang Yinglin (王应麟). This 1,134 character text was one of the first textbooks used by students, and provided lessons on education, morality and ethics, science, literature, and history.