structural:expansion
Cultivation of self in East Asian philosophy of education

The legacy of Chinese philosopher Confucius, among others (for example, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Mencius), has provided a rich domain of Chinese philosophical heritage in East Asia. Firstly, the goal of education, and one's most noble goal in life, is to properly develop oneself in order to become a "profound person" (君子, jūnzǐ). Young people were taught that it was shameful to become a "petty person" (小人, xiǎo rén), as that was the exact opposite to "sage" (圣人, shèngrén). However, as both Confucian and Daoist philosophers adopted the term shèngrén, there has been divergence that led to differences in educational concepts and practices. Besides Confucianism and Daoism, the Hundred Schools of Thought in Ancient China also included Buddhist and other varieties of philosophy, each of which offered different thoughts on the ideal conception of self.