Since the implementation of the new curriculum, there is a very strong and universal concept that has been affecting the basic trend of curriculum reform in primary and secondary schools, that is, classroom teaching, the "main channel" for implementing quality education, has been misinterpreted as the "fundamental channel" or even the "only channel". Under the control of this concept, in the new round of basic education curriculum reform, although the reform of curriculum structure has made some breakthrough progress, in practice, the vision of curriculum reform is still very narrow.
In fact, worldwide, since the second half of the 20th century, the connotation of curriculum has undergone important changes. One of the important contents is from emphasizing the actual curriculum to paying attention to the role of "empty curriculum" in students' growth. "Empty curriculum" is a concept put forward by E.W. Eisner, a famous American aesthetic educator and curriculum expert. Eisner called those courses which were intentionally or unintentionally excluded from the school curriculum system by the school and society in the process of curriculum reform "empty courses". He analyzed that many courses that are extremely important to human development have no place in the current curriculum system and become "empty courses". He pointed out that some "empty classes" are consciously rejected by schools and society for certain needs, and some "empty classes" are caused by the influence of customary forces and the failure to realize their values. Therefore, in the curriculum reform, we should not only think about the rationality of the current actual curriculum, but also think about the "empty curriculum" in school education and its causes, so as to enhance the purpose and rationality of the curriculum reform. Reflecting on the fundamental problem of the current curriculum system of basic education in China is mainly the utilitarianism of curriculum values. Curriculum prominence has become a tool to drive students to continuously participate in examination competition through classroom teaching and academic evaluation, but the fundamental purpose of curriculum "educating people" has not been properly demonstrated.
The first article of Dewey's My Education Credo wrote: "All education is carried out through personal participation in human social consciousness. This process begins almost unconsciously at birth. It constantly develops personal ability, cultivates personal consciousness, forms personal habits, exercises personal thoughts and stimulates personal feelings and emotions. Because of this unconscious education, individuals gradually share the wisdom and moral wealth accumulated by mankind. " It can be seen that this kind of education, which starts from unconsciousness and exists in a broad vision of life, is how important it is to a person's life! Therefore, this kind of education characterized by "unconsciousness" and "freedom"-"leisure education" cannot but enter our curriculum vision. This is an "empty course" that has long been ignored or excluded by the "formal education" of the school, but it is precisely related to the life growth of students.
Leisure education has a long history. Both ancient China and ancient Greece attached great importance to leisure education. In the west, Aristotle specifically discussed the significance of leisure to the development of life in his book Politics, and thought that leisure was an important and even lofty concept. Its meaning is not idleness and pure play, but a free and meaningful activity. The word "school" in the modern west can be traced back to the Greek word "skholk", which originally meant "leisure" and "rest". In the East, Xue Ji, a famous educational treatise in ancient China, put forward the educational thought of "hiding, learning, relaxing and traveling" more than two thousand years ago, and advocated the combination of respecting morality and leisure and entertainment, so that the educated could get all-round development in all aspects. However, since entering the modern society, with the accelerated pace of social life and the rapid development of school education, the education in the scientific world has gradually replaced the education in the life world, and leisure education has gradually declined.
Marx once divided the time phenomenon into "working time" and "free time" from the perspective of economics. Working hours include "necessary working hours" and "extra working hours". Here, "free time" in a broad sense only refers to the time that workers are completely free to control and the part of time that is not dominated by capitalists, that is, "leisure time". He pointed out that saving labor time is equal to increasing free time, that is, increasing the time for individual's full development, and individual's full development, as the greatest productivity, reacts on labor productivity. Here, Marx closely linked the increase of free time, the all-round development of human beings and the development of labor productivity, and revealed the significance of leisure time to human and social development. Marx also affirmed that "wealth is disposable time" is a "wonderful proposition" and asserted that "free time, disposable time is wealth itself".
The "leisure education" in the real modern sense was put forward by Spencer, a British philosopher and educator, in the second half of the 9th century. He believes that human life can be divided into: "(1) activities directly related to maintaining one's own survival; (2) activities indirectly related to maintaining one's own survival in order to obtain daily necessities; (3) Normal activities aimed at raising and educating children; (four) activities to maintain normal social and political relations; (5) All activities that satisfy hobbies and emotions in leisure time. " The function of education is to provide knowledge for the successful completion of these activities. Accordingly, education should be "prepared to appreciate various forms of nature, literature and art". He predicted that when the mode of production is more perfect and the labor reaches the most economical height, the importance of leisure education will be greatly improved. Tao Xingzhi, a people's educator, put forward as early as the beginning of last century that if a middle school student does not go to school after graduation, he should have the following elements: "(1) personality necessary to cope with the social environment; (2) Knowledge and skills needed to protect the natural environment; (3) Knowledge and skills necessary for obtaining profits; (4) Knowledge and skills necessary for leisure. " It can be said that the vision is profound!
After the 1920s, leisure education rose rapidly in the United States. By 1960s, leisure education has become a research hotspot in many developed countries. From 65438 to 0974, the United States established the first national leisure education committee and held a national leisure education conference every year. The World Leisure Congress held in Paris, France from September 65438 to September 0984 marked that leisure education has become a new topic in the global education field. However, as far as the current education situation in China is concerned, few people pay attention to students' leisure education under the background of "exam-oriented education". Even in the vigorous curriculum reform of basic education after the new century, leisure education is still an "empty curriculum" that has faded out of educators' vision. China's leisure education does not meet the needs of China's social transformation and educational modernization at all.
Under the background of long-term "exam-oriented education", few people care about students' leisure conditions, and students' "difficulty in learning, little activity and heavy burden" has always been a chronic disease in basic education. The most common practice we can see is that educators (including parents) try their best to reduce students' "free time" to a minimum. Although this kind of comprehensive education seems to be orderly, efficient and positive, it is often at the expense of restricting students' personality development, losing students' subjective spirit and sacrificing students' current quality of life. Today, while many countries in the world are trying to simplify the curriculum content of primary and secondary schools, reduce students' burden, let students learn knowledge easily and develop their personality, we still cling to the old adage that "learning is endless, but desperately forcing students to trudge through the mountains and rivers"! Suhomlinski, an educator in the former Soviet Union, also regarded providing students with "free time" as "creating valuable wealth". He believes: "having free time is an important condition for personality development. A child's quality and talent can only be brought into play when he has time to engage in the labor he chooses every day. " Regrettably, such educational ideas and practices are still hard to find around us!
With the increase of leisure time and the arrival of lifelong learning society, the life journey of "study-work-leisure" will be replaced by the harmonious and unified form of the three. In such a social form, leisure life will not be arranged reasonably, which means that you will not study and work. As Professor Sang Xinmin pointed out: "In the education stage of 2 1 century, leisure education will not only play a moving movement of the unity of truth, goodness and beauty on the other side of material production, but also infect and influence the vast fields of material production, spiritual production and human production with its strong rhythm and melody, so that labor, education and life caused by social division of labor can be more harmoniously integrated."
A lifelong learning society must pay attention to people's sustainable development potential. The freedom, autonomy, aesthetics and creativity of leisure life are the necessary conditions for students to obtain the potential of sustainable development. Therefore, it can be predicted that with the continuous progress of society and the continuous advancement of educational modernization, actively promoting leisure education and fully cultivating students' personality and creative spirit will become an important content of common concern for educators and even the whole society. Leisure education will participate in the overall reform of basic education in China with its unique style.
I believe that leisure education will play an irreplaceable role in the overall implementation of quality education, and will also open up a fascinating new world for the realization of China's educational modernization!