Liu Hsin's theory has been greatly elaborated by later scholars, especially by Chang Hsüeh-ch'eng (1738-1801) and the late Chang Ping-lin. In essence, it maintains that in the early Chou dynasty (1122?-256 B.C.), before the social institutions of that age disintegrated, there was "no separation between officers and teachers". In other words the officers of a certain department of the government were at the same time the transmitters of the branch of learning pertaining to that department. These officers, like the feudal lords of the day, held their posts on a hereditary basis. Hence there was then only "official learning" but no "private teaching". That is to say, nobody taught any branch of learning as a private individual. Any such teaching was carried on only by officers in their capacity as members of one or another department of the government.
刘歆的理论经后来的学者，特别是章学诚（公元一七三八至一八〇一年）、章炳麟（公元一八六九至一九三六年）予以发展。刘歆的理论主要是说，在周朝（公元前一一二二{一〇四六}至前二五六年）礼崩乐坏（即社会动乱、政制解体）之前，即周朝前期，吏与师不分。换句话说，政府各个部门的官员便负责把有关这一部门的知识传下去。这些官吏和贵族诸侯一样，是世袭的。因此，当时只有“官学”，没有“私学”。这就是说，当时没有任何私人教师，担任教师的都是政府的官吏。
According to this theory, however, when the Chou ruling house lost its power during the later centuries of the Chou dynasty, the officers of the governmental departments lost their former positions and scattered throughout the country. They then turned to the teaching of their special branches of knowledge in a private capacity. Thus they were then no longer "officers", but only private "teachers". And it was out of this separation between teachers and officers that the different schools arose.
按照这个理论，当后来周朝皇室失去权力时，官吏们也失去了原来的优裕地位，而散落民间，他们便以私人身份招收学生，传授他们的知识。这时，他们已经不是“官”，而成为“师”。就在教师与官吏分化的过程中，兴起了诸子百家。
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