Keywords: moral core, reflection on the premise of fair moral education
China Library Classification Number: G64 1 Document Identification Number: A.
Reflection on the premise of school moral education
plum
(Wuxi Radio and TV University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 224 100)
At present, in the practice of moral education in China, there is a problem that the premise of moral education is unclear, and the premise of moral education is not clarified and reflected, that is, our understanding of morality itself, especially the core morality, is out of order. Therefore, if our moral education is to get out of the predicament, we need to criticize and reflect on some basic problems and concepts in the current school moral education, and we must have a new understanding of the core content of morality and return morality to its original appearance. Only in this way can school moral education have a solid foundation and make a real breakthrough in the new situation and new social conditions.
Keywords moral education; Moral core; Fairness; Preconditional reflex
Moral education has always been an important part of China's education, the direction and soul of school education, and plays a leading role in promoting the all-round development of students. Our party and government have always attached great importance to school moral education and put "school moral education" in a very important position, but the effect of moral education is not satisfactory. Although in recent years, China has carried out many reforms in the objectives, contents, methods and organizational forms of moral education, and the contents and organizational forms of moral education have become more active, the overall effect of moral education is not ideal.
At present, in the practice of moral education in China, there is a problem that the premise of moral education is not clear, and the premise of moral education has not been clarified, reflected and criticized. The premise of moral education is our understanding of morality itself, especially the core of morality. An important reason for the lack of effectiveness of moral education lies in our improper understanding of the premise of moral education. Because of the misunderstanding of morality itself and moral core, the reform of moral education in schools is naturally futile. Therefore, in order to get out of the predicament, moral education in China must first criticize and reflect on some basic problems and concepts of current school moral education, and must have a new understanding of the core connotation of morality. If this premise of moral education cannot be clearly defined, it will be difficult for us to carry out effective moral education.
Moral education is an activity that the society internalizes the moral principles, norms and knowledge it advocates into the moral consciousness of the moral subject, that is, the internal virtue of the moral subject, and externalizes it into the moral practice of the moral subject, that is, the external virtue of the moral subject. Although "sage morality" is very touching and has certain educational significance, it is difficult to transform it into the moral behavior of ordinary people in practice. There is a simple reason. These moral standards have no minimum respect for reasonable personal interests, lack the core of fairness and justice, and deviate from the core of morality. This kind of "deified" moral education is immoral education that is divorced from students' real life, suppresses human nature and ignores individual life.
If we trace back to the source of moral problems, we will find that morality, as the most primitive rule of human society, should originate from human awareness of property protection. In the primitive state, the distribution of human means of subsistence completely obeys the most basic needs of survival and the needs of human beings' reproductive instinct as animals. The personal interests of all members are highly consistent with the collective interests, because the limited means of subsistence are not allowed to be privatized at all, and people can only rely on the collective to survive. In other words, without private property, rules are meaningless. We can judge according to rationality: rules appear with the contradiction of group interests. Without contradiction, there is no need for rules. These rules are obviously beneficial to the interests of the owners. Man is a member of the biological world, and the uniqueness of the reaction of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages determines that man's nature is selfish. As long as people are a member of the biological world, this selfish nature of people will not change. The core of morality is that people can't do whatever they want according to their selfish nature, but they must restrain and give up some of their own needs to be altruistic, so that interpersonal relationships in society can be harmonious, division of labor and cooperation in society can be carried out smoothly, and greater interests and needs can be obtained from it. We should restore the true nature of morality.
Therefore, the core of morality must be fairness, that is, justice and equality. The so-called fairness means the reasonable and equal distribution of social and political interests, economic interests and other interests among all members of society, that is, equal rights, reasonable distribution, equal opportunities and judicial justice. Otherwise, there is no morality at all. "Guanzi" said, "Heaven is fair and selfless, so beauty and evil are covered; Land is fair and selfless, so small and big are included. " Frankner, a contemporary American moral philosopher, also pointed out in Introduction to Moral Philosophy: "Generally speaking, morality requires society to treat individuals fairly, and don't forget that morality is beneficial to individuals' better life, rather than interfering with individuals unnecessarily. Morality is produced for people, but it cannot be said that people live to embody morality. " Justice is the exchange of equal interests. One good turn deserves another. You give me boots and I scratch you, that is, the exchange of interests is positive, positive and fair. What goes around comes around, a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, that is, the exchange of equal harm, is negative, negative and negative justice. Fairness-equal harm exchange and equal benefit exchange-is the most fundamental, important and effective principle to ensure the existence and development of society and ultimately enhance everyone's interests, so it is the most fundamental and important moral principle and social governance.
However, in the past school moral education, we always regarded "altruism" and "dedication" as the essence and core of morality, and we have been reluctant to admit and dare not admit the inevitability and rationality of "self-interest", and the core of morality is fairness. We can't deny that the qualities of altruism, dedication and sacrifice are noble in themselves, but the problem is that what we call altruism is often unconditional, so it lacks the core of fairness. This will make students feel that it is really difficult and even daunting to be a moral person. On the other hand, students will also think that being a moral person is often a person who suffers losses everywhere and harms himself in everything, so they simply retreat and lose their enthusiasm for moral participation. If we only encourage self-sacrifice, only advocate dedication without seeking return, we may not fight for our legitimate rights and interests, which is not conducive to social justice, social justice and the establishment of fair rules. This kind of morality, which only talks about cultivation but not harvest, only talks about obligations and not rights, makes people lose the balance of interests and the internal motivation of moral participation.
Morality is a code of conduct to regulate the relationship between people, and it is also the sum of corresponding psychological consciousness and behavior activities. Its essence lies in that it is an important way for people to explore, recognize, affirm and develop themselves, and it is a special manifestation of people's needs and life activities. In the final analysis, the emergence of moral concept is determined by the material living conditions, economic basis or production relations of the society at that time. In the modern society with market economy as the basic social lifestyle, people should follow the economic principles of equality and fairness, and should also establish moral principles that embody socialist justice and equality in interpersonal relationships.
Therefore, our moral education must be linked with the reasonable needs and legitimate interests of individuals. The reform of moral education in China's schools is to move from "heroic morality" to "popular morality", so that morality can move towards the public, be close to the people and become the morality of the people. The morality of most members of society advocates that "we should not only meet the basic psychological needs, value needs and legitimate interests of individuals, but also do not harm others and society subjectively and objectively, and can work together with others." We should make students understand that morality is not equal to dedication or gain, because the core of morality is fairness. We must criticize and reflect on school moral education, have a new understanding of the core connotation of morality, and return morality to its true colors. Only in this way can school moral education have a solid foundation and achieve a real breakthrough in school moral education under the new situation and social conditions.
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