The tendency of utilitarianism and pragmatism has brought disadvantages to education that cannot be ignored. Mainly manifested in: First, the selection competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Today's school system in China is not so much an education system as a selection system based on examinations, and more precisely, it is based on employment and survival. Higher education is now popular, but after popularization, competition seems to have intensified instead of decreased. Second, the burden is getting heavier and heavier, and there are great pressures on further studies, schooling, economy and employment. Third, the quality of education is getting more and more severe. If it is too utilitarian and too instrumental, it will inevitably lose a lot of things. For example, education is out of touch with education, "education without education"; Knowledge is out of touch with quality. It is the basic demand of education to improve the comprehensive quality and realize the all-round development of the educated. However, under fierce competition, things that originally belonged to the quality category are externalized into competitive conditions, such as various artistic grades. Education is out of touch with learning. At present, there is a strong demand for higher education, especially doctoral education, which is mainly driven by successful people such as corporate executives and government officials. The reason is self-evident.
It is true that as a developing country, education should naturally focus on the development of human resources. Without mastering knowledge and skills and developing human resources, the value of education cannot be highlighted. However, only by mastering knowledge and skills, the purpose of education is less than half realized, and the social responsibility of education is not so simple, so we can't stop there. We should not neglect the long-term because of the needs of reality, let alone forget the ideal and soul of education. To build a well-off society in an all-round way and realize the sound and rapid development of education, we need to emphasize the word "good".
To solve the utilitarian and instrumental tendency in educational development, we should adhere to the people-oriented value orientation, aim at realizing the all-round development of people, and promote the all-round, coordinated and sustainable development of education. Attention should be paid to the following aspects:
Correctly handle the relationship between the current urgent need and the long-term goal of educational development. The modern school education in China copied the modern western school education system to a great extent, believed in instrumental rationality and pure scientific pragmatism, and was secular and utilitarian. Education in contemporary China should have educational function. Education is the main channel for the inheritance of civilization and the main driving force for the construction of ideals, values and social spirit, which is the essential feature of education. The orientation of education should not be based on the number of students trained and graduated, but should be guided by all-round development, and take the construction of a learning society as the strategic goal of reform and development, so that education can move from school to society, from a society with academic qualifications to a learning society, and education should be socialized and socialized, so as to reach a new realm of all-people learning and lifelong learning, and strive to learn and teach.
Correctly handle the relationship between highlighting key points and all-round development. Promote the comprehensive and balanced development of education, and build a lifelong education system while building a relatively perfect modern national education system. There is no doubt that the school education system is the focus of education development. However, we can't say that education is a simple school education, but a simple chain from primary school to middle school to university. In fact, in order to form a relatively perfect modern national education system, the construction of lifelong education system has been emphasized for many years, but it has not attracted great attention.
Correctly handling the relationship between singleness and diversity can not only develop human resources, but also promote the diversified development of education, broaden the channels of talents and lay a solid foundation for the all-round and free development of human beings. People are increasingly aware that learning used to be mainly carried out at school, but now it is happening more and more outside the school, especially in the adult stage. This development trend tells us that education is facing a new strategic space. Adult education, community education and lifelong education are the higher stages of educational development. At this stage, education is non-selective and non-competitive. Instead of choosing people who are suitable for education, choose education that is suitable for people. Only a comprehensive education can make a comprehensive person.