The purpose of education is an educational ideal linked with social ideal, which is naturally restricted by social ideal. When determining the purpose of education, a country and an educator should not only consider the needs of productive forces and political system, as well as the laws of physical and mental development of the younger generation, but also be guided by their political views and ideals. Different doctrines have different educational purposes. The purpose of socialist education is based on Marxist theory of all-round development of human beings.
Marxist theory of man's all-round development is rich in content, and its main points are as follows:
1, the significance of people's all-round development
2. The root of man's one-sided development is the old division of labor and private ownership.
3. All-round development of human beings is the necessity of historical development.
The all-round development of human beings is the objective requirement of large-scale industrial production, and at the same time, large-scale industrial production also provides the possibility for the all-round development of human beings.
4. Conditions and methods to realize people's all-round development
(1) The high development of social productive forces is a necessary material prerequisite for people's all-round development.
(2) Reasonable social relations of production create conditions for people's all-round development and make people's all-round development become a reality.
(3) The combination of education and productive labor is the way and method to cultivate people with all-round development.
Theoretical basis for setting educational goals
The aim of socialist education in China is based on sufficient science. Marx and Engels, the pioneers of socialism, comprehensively studied the laws of social development and human development, founded the theory of human's all-round development, discussed human's all-round development and its conditions, and provided theoretical basis for the purpose of socialist education in China.
(A) the all-round development of people
Marx and Engels used the viewpoint of historical materialism to scientifically analyze the relationship between human development and social material living conditions, and historically investigated the process of one-sided development of human physical strength and intelligence due to the separation and opposition of mental work and physical work caused by social division of labor, and demonstrated that the development of large-scale industrial production inevitably requires the all-round development of human beings and expounded the necessary conditions for realizing the all-round development of human beings. On this basis, it is pointed out that the future society will cultivate all-round new people through education.
Marx and Engels believe that a man with all-round development is a man with fully developed intelligence and physical strength, and a man who combines mental work with physical work. Such people will get rid of the slavery of the old division of labor and be able to "treat different social functions as alternate ways" and "transfer from one production department to another in turn according to social needs or their own hobbies".
Marx and Engels also attached great importance to the development of people's spiritual and moral consciousness when they investigated people's development. When criticizing capitalism for destroying human development, the founders of Marxism not only analyzed the one-sided development of human intelligence and physical strength caused by the separation and opposition of mental labor and physical labor, but also exposed the spiritual emptiness and moral degradation caused by the capitalist system. They believe that after the elimination of the exploitation system, people must get rid of all the shackles of the exploiting class consciousness, so that the communist consciousness will generally emerge, thus realizing the freedom and liberation of people's personality. Therefore, the all-round development of human beings also includes the development of morality, interest and intention.
Marx and Engels believe that after the elimination of the exploitation system, when the society becomes the master of all means of production, with the high development of productive forces, the great wealth of society, the further shortening of working hours and the increase of people's time engaged in educational, scientific and cultural activities, the society will gradually eliminate the difference between mental work and manual work, so that all members of society can completely get rid of the occupational limitations and one-sided development caused by the old division of labor and get rid of all the shackles of exploiting class consciousness in spirit. By then, the society will cultivate new people with all-round development through education.
(B) the basic idea of the theory of all-round development of human beings
Human development is related to social living conditions.
Marx and Engels first pointed out that human development, fundamentally speaking, depends on the social and material living conditions in which people live. "The essence of man is not an inherent abstract concept. In its reality, it is the sum of all social relations. " In other words, people's different status in social production, life and social relations will lead to different development opportunities and different development results. In the abstract, without any social relations and social practice, there will be no "human development".
2. People's one-sided development is caused by the old social division of labor.
The development of human personality in many aspects is the requirement of human development, but it has long been hindered by the old division of labor in class society, resulting in one-sided development of human beings. On the one hand, the broad masses of working people only engage in manual labor and have no education, so they cannot develop their intellectual activities such as politics, law, science and art; On the other hand, a few exploiting class members monopolize political and cultural activities, but do not engage in manual labor at all. In terms of people's physical and mental development, both of them are flawed and one-sided.
Marx and Engels pointed out that one-sided development and division of labor go hand in hand. Engels said in "Anti-Turin Theory", "Because labor is divided into several parts, people themselves are also divided into several parts. In order to train a single activity, all other physical and mental abilities have become victims. " Farmers are bound by land and only engage in agricultural labor, and other abilities are sacrificed. A craftsman is bound by a certain skill, but at the same time he sacrifices the development of other abilities.
This one-sided abnormal development has reached the most serious level in capitalist handicraft workshops. In Das Kapital, Marx pointed out: "Workshop handicraft industry has turned workers into deformed things, suppressed workers' overall production interest and talents, and artificially cultivated workers' one-sided skills." In capitalist handicraft workshops, the all-round development of workers' intelligence and physical strength is seriously damaged because workers are engaged in local operations of a certain process all day.
3. All-round development of human beings is the inevitable requirement of large-scale industrial production.
Division of labor is a great progress of human society. The one-sided development of people caused by division of labor is inevitable. However, the continuous development of large-scale industrial production, especially the increasingly advanced modern production, puts forward the all-round development of human beings as a matter of life and death.
Marx and Engels believe that, on the one hand, the technological foundation of modern industry is revolutionary, because the application of new science and technology in production has brought about the continuous updating of machinery and equipment and the continuous transformation of production technology, which has caused some industries to disappear rapidly and others to appear rapidly, causing a large number of workers to move from one production department to another. Therefore, Marx said: "The nature of large industry determines the transformation of labor, the change of functions and the overall flow of workers." In this way, modern production requires "replacing a local individual who only undertakes a local social function with an all-round individual who regards different social functions as alternating activities", that is, replacing a one-sided development person.
On the other hand, with the development of large-scale industrial production, natural science and technology have also developed rapidly, thus creating conditions for workers to be familiar with the basic principles and skills of the whole production system. At the same time, with the development of large-scale industrial production, labor productivity has also increased rapidly, so that workers can shorten their working hours, have sufficient leisure to study culture, scientific and technological knowledge and engage in sports, literature and art, communication and other activities, and develop their intelligence and physical strength in an all-round way.
Marx and Engels scientifically demonstrated large-scale industrial production from the above two aspects and objectively put forward the necessity and possibility of all-round development of human beings.
Man's all-round development can only be realized in a communist society.
Marx and Engels believe that the requirement that large-scale industrial production enables people to achieve all-round development cannot be realized under the capitalist system. Because of the large-scale industry in the form of capitalism, the old division of labor has been copied again. Capitalists possess the means of production and continue to enslave workers. In order to get more profits, they not only strengthened the degree of exploitation of workers, but also expanded the scope of exploitation of workers, using female workers and child workers, causing a large number of workers to lose their jobs, thus hiring workers cheaply. In order to make a living, workers are forced to sell their labor, become accessories of machines, and continue to develop abnormally. Therefore, although large-scale industrial production puts forward the requirement of all-round development of human beings, capitalists have to give workers' children the right to go to school and receive education in order to obtain greater profits, but the capitalist exploitation system makes workers unable to get rid of the dilemma of one-sided development. In capitalist society, not only the intelligence and physical strength of workers are not fully developed, but also the bourgeoisie is enslaved by capital and profits, bound by bourgeois prejudice and limited by its occupation, and its intelligence and physical strength development is one-sided. Marx and Engels believe that the only way to solve the contradiction that large-scale industrial production requires the all-round development of human beings and the capitalist system restricts the all-round development of human beings is to establish a communist society through proletarian revolution.
The way to cultivate new people with all-round development is to combine education with productive labor.
The founders of Marxism not only profoundly expounded that the all-round development of human beings is possible only if the exploitation system is eliminated, but also put forward the ways and methods to realize the all-round development of human beings in the future society. As early as in the Declaration, Marx and Engels pointed out that "education should be combined with material production". Then, when they inspected the capitalist factory system, they found the seeds of future education from Owen's practice of running schools for workers in factories. Marx pointed out in Das Kapital: "For all children who reach a certain age, the future education is a combination of productive labor, intellectual education and sports. It is not only a way to improve social production, but also the only way to cultivate all-round development. "
Marxist theory on the all-round development of human beings is the theoretical basis of the purpose of socialist education in China, and it is of great significance for us to deeply understand the spiritual essence of the purpose of education in China.