Current location - Education and Training Encyclopedia - Educational Knowledge - What are the three different theories about the origin of education in the history of education?
What are the three different theories about the origin of education in the history of education?
There are three representative views on the emergence of educational activities in the history of pedagogy, including the biological origin of education, the psychological origin of education and the origin of labor.

(A) the biological origin of educational theory

French sociologist Little Noel put forward the theory of biological origin. He believes that education exists not only in human society, but also in the animal kingdom. Education comes from animal instinct. Animals, especially higher animals, are born with a potential educational ability derived from heredity, so that future generations can continue to reproduce. The most obvious mistake of biological origin theory is to equate animal instinct with education and deny the sociality of education.

(B) the psychological origin of educational theory

American psychologist Lu Meng believes that education originated from children's unconscious imitation of adults, so he put forward the "psychological origin theory" of education from the perspective of psychology. In primitive society, children constantly imitated adults' work, accumulated life experience and learned various survival skills by observing their activities such as gathering, hunting and knitting. The theory of psychological origin regards education as a simple imitation and fails to recognize the purpose of education.

(C) the origin of labor theory

Marxist historical materialism criticizes the view that biological origin theory and psychological origin theory deny the sociality of education, and holds that education originated from the productive labor practice of human society. The fundamental difference between humans and animals is that humans can make and use tools. In order to continue the production and life of the race, the older generation purposefully passed on production skills, skills and experience to the next generation, and education was born in this kind of experience transmission. When people live in society, they must act according to the common code of conduct. In the long-term labor process, language expressing meaning and emotion has been produced, human brain and limbs have been further developed, and activity ability and coordination have been continuously enhanced. Therefore, labor promotes human development and provides a prerequisite for the emergence of education. It can be said that without labor, there would be no development of human society and no education. Education originates from labor and depends on social production and life practice.