Lu
abstract:
From the perspective of value subject, curriculum value has two orientations: society and students, and the factors leading to this binary opposition are: educational value choice, educational facts and social substitution. The lack of human nature is the hidden worry of the value orientation of modern curriculum. The idea of optimization should be adopted to promote the curriculum value orientation to find different points of combination of humanities and science at different levels, to ensure the development of students from low levels to high levels and to carry forward the subjectivity of education. Curriculum value orientation; Subjectivity; On the value orientation of human nature curriculum from the perspective of value subject, there are two orientations of curriculum value: society and students, and the factors leading to this binary opposition are educational value choice, educational facts and social replacement. The lack of human nature is the hidden worry of the value orientation of modern curriculum. The idea of optimization should be adopted to promote the curriculum value orientation to find different points of combination of humanities and science at different levels, to ensure the development of students from low levels to high levels and to carry forward the subjectivity of education.
Keywords: curriculum value orientation; Subjectivity; The value orientation of human nature curriculum has always aroused widespread concern in the field of education, which not only involves educational theory, but also directly affects many realities of education, such as the choice of educational content, educational methods and methods, educational evaluation standards and so on. This paper attempts to discuss from the dimension of value subject.
First, the opposite poles: the historical choice of curriculum value
Throughout the long history of curriculum development, through the analysis of the choice of educational content at home and abroad, it is not difficult to sum up that the value orientation of curriculum for thousands of years is nothing more than social center and student center. Social center is the most obvious curriculum in Sparta and Athens in ancient Greece, and student center is represented by Dewey and the "three philosophers" curriculum thought in ancient Greece. The differences and opposites about the choice of curriculum value have long been noticed by some educators and flashed in their educational speeches. Baglai once pointed out that in the long history of education, there have been two opposing educational theories, which can be summarized by some paired concepts of conflict: individual and society, freedom and discipline, interests and efforts, games and work, current needs and long-term goals, personal experience and ethnic experience, psychological organization and logical organization, and students' initiative. He pointed out: "The basic principle indicated by these terms is dualism, which has lasted for many centuries." (1) In addition, Dewey, Noel and German school of cultural education also summarized and studied some opposing educational theories. But as far as the subject of value is concerned, it can only be divided into student center and social center (including collective, state and society).
Second, the binary opposition mode of either/or: the misunderstanding of curriculum value orientation in history
In history, there is a lack of rational thinking on the choice of curriculum value, and there is a metaphysical binary opposition choice model, which has its far-reaching social roots.
(A) the binary opposition mode of educational value choice will inevitably lead to the binary opposition mode of curriculum value choice.
The choice of educational value has both subjective and objective reasons. The subjective reason is the binary opposition mode of people's way of thinking. Due to the long-term argument between the opposing poles in philosophy, people have never been unified, and people have formed an either-or form of understanding and judgment in epistemology and axiology. In education, the dilemma of value is caused by epistemology and axiology, and value is the unity and opposition of monism and pluralism. "When the monism of value is affirmed and the pluralism of value is denied, the choice of educational value will be limited to the ideal direction of educational value and divorced from the realistic direction of educational value, falling into idealism divorced from reality. When the pluralism of value is affirmed and the monism of value is denied, the choice of educational value will do the opposite and fall into realism without ideal pursuit. " ③
There are also objective reasons for the choice of binary opposition mode in educational value, mainly in two aspects: 1. The complexity of social life, the diversity of social needs and the resulting conflicts of social interests among people. 2. The complexity between educational adaptation and serving social development and educational adaptation and serving human development. These two factors will also cause contradictions in the choice of human educational value and move towards opposite poles.
Marx once said that "man is the sum of social relations". As individuals, people and the whole society are always developing in the constant movement of contradiction and consistency. The choice of educational value is manifested in the synchronization with the overall social values, cognitive views and outlook on life, while the curriculum value, as a subsystem of the educational value system, naturally maintains the synergy of the whole system with its parent system, and the phenomenon of following the trend appears. When the choice of educational value falls into idealism because it is limited to the ideal orientation and divorced from the reality orientation, the value orientation of curriculum also shows idealism divorced from the reality; When the choice of educational value is limited to the realistic orientation and divorced from the ideal orientation, it falls into realism without ideal pursuit, and the value orientation of curriculum also shows realism regardless of ideal.
(2) The deviation of educational facts causes reflection on the choice of educational value, thus affecting the change of curriculum value orientation.
Take the emergence and development of Renaissance education in Europe as an example. After the establishment of feudal society in Europe, the purpose of education is to train ruling talents who are armed with religious theology to govern the country, and the choice of curriculum value must obey this purpose. At that time, all the educational contents of missionary schools were religious education, and even the "seven arts" handed down from ancient Greece and Rome were covered with theological colors, and their contents always ran through theological thoughts. Theology has become the "crown" of all teaching subjects, and various natural disciplines (science) have been put in the cold. This is the value orientation of the curriculum at that time, but the educational content (curriculum) at this time can still meet the needs of the newly established feudal society.
With the development of society, from the 10 century, handicrafts and commerce in feudal society in western Europe gradually developed, and early capitalist handicraft workshops appeared, which led to the development of new production technologies. At this time, the discovery of the new continent and the new sea route broadened people's horizons, so there was a struggle between emerging capitalists against the feudal main class and urban autonomy against the shackles of feudal regime. At this time, due to the lack of natural science knowledge, feudal theological education appeared a major crisis (education has not adapted to the requirements of social development, and there has been a deviation). On the contrary, the educational value orientation of advocating scientific knowledge, emphasizing skill training and breaking the feudal shackles conforms to the call of social and historical development, so the education of "restraining gods and promoting people" in the Renaissance came into being and created a new curriculum system. Intellectual education, physical education, moral education and aesthetic education practiced in ancient Greece and Rome have been picked up, expanded and deepened, thus creating a splendid culture in the Renaissance, but Boccaccio focused on this.
It can be seen that the deviation of educational facts will inevitably cause people to re-examine it, thus changing educational values and educational value choices, and then establishing a new curriculum value orientation. It is in this contradictory movement between practice and value that human education and curriculum are developing and progressing, and gradually moving towards ideal goals.
(3) The change of society urges the new rulers to use their power to force education to serve them, which also causes the binary opposition of curriculum value orientation.
When a new social form replaces the old social form, the new rulers will critically look at everything in the old society and rebuild a new value system, because "breaking the old world and building a new world" is the wise saying of all rulers. In this way, under the guidance of new political views and new values, new educational value choices and new curriculum value orientations have emerged. This is most obvious in class society. A vivid example is the replacement and change of the educational purpose of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911. 19 12 under the auspices of Mr. Cai Yuanpei, the chief education officer of the Republic of China, formulated the first educational purpose of the Republic of China: "Attach importance to moral education, supplemented by practical education and military education, and complete its morality with aesthetic education." Unified view is the educational policy of harmonious development of morality, intelligence, physique and beauty. This is the value orientation of education and curriculum in the early Republic of China. However, it was not long before Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of the victory of the Revolution of 1911 and established the Beiyang warlord government. 19 15, Yuan Shikai personally promulgated the educational purpose. "Its essence is a replica of the five educational purposes of' loyalty to the monarch, respect for Confucius, respect for the public, respect for martial arts and respect for reality', which has further developed into' patriotism' and' respect for martial arts'. This completely revived the feudal education purpose under the new term that Yuan Shikai pretended to play with. " ⑤
It can be seen that in different social forms, the value orientation of education and curriculum is mostly shifted around the values and value orientation of the ruling rulers, showing the distinct times and class nature of the value orientation of education and curriculum.
Third, the integration of humanities and science: the correct orientation of curriculum value
First of all, it must be clearly pointed out that the word "humanity" here refers to people's characteristics, essence or nature, that is, "free and conscious activities are people's characteristics", humanity is "the sum of all social relations" and "their needs are their nature". ⑥
(A) the lack of humanity: the hidden worry of modern curriculum value orientation.
Since the development of society, human disasters have mainly come from human beings themselves, not the outside world! When mankind entered the 20th century, some people issued the slogan "knowledge is power". The prosperity of science makes people get carried away, and the dual thinking mode comes again. People only saw the great power of science, because science broke through the cage of feudal theology and religion according to its own internal logic, broadened the field of human understanding, made the flowers of human wisdom bloom and greatly liberated the productive forces. Mankind has gained great material wealth from nature, and its ability to conquer and transform nature has been fully demonstrated. Some people say that today's era is an era of new scientific and technological revolution, with the first, second and third waves coming one after another, and the fourth wave coming quietly. At this time, looking forward to tomorrow, it seems that mankind is only one step away from paradise on earth.
Although modern philosophers always want to find some certainty in binary poles to overcome the painful binary division, it seems that this is only a matter for philosophers. Humans are still addicted to the dream of science, and the value orientation of scientism in the curriculum is constantly expanding. The negative effect of scientism is calling for the recovery of human nature, and the human nature education that has been despised for many years is whispering, "When will the bright moon shine on me?" . After tasting the bitter fruit of scientism, the United States had to publish the report "Saving Our Spiritual Heritage-Humanities in Higher Education" in 1984, which shocked the United States and aroused the vigilance of all countries in the world. It is urgent to restore the true nature of human nature education in order to correct the distorted human nature, pursue the noumenon value of education, save those distorted souls with conscientious courses, cultivate the younger generation, and let human beings really "learn to care" and "learn to survive".
(B) Human nature and science: the call of the theme of the times.
Peace and development are two major themes in today's world, and they are the awakening of mankind after painful meditation. How can human beings coexist peacefully? How can we survive and develop ourselves? There is only one answer: everyone on earth can not only master scientific knowledge, but also be rich in humanity. Peace and development need science. Since its birth, science has shown its magical power and brought happiness to mankind, so it has also received unprecedented attention. Marx has long said that science and technology are productive forces. In the conversation with Hu in 1988, comrades clearly put forward that "science and technology are the primary productive forces".
Human beings can't live without science from the beginning, and the future peace and development can't live without science. Peace and development need humanity more. Science makes peace and development possible, and human nature is the premise of peace and development. The harm of scientism without humanity has been discussed before, because of the limitations of science education. "First, science education itself cannot guarantee that mankind will use science and technology for the benefit of mankind." "Second, the one-sided development of science education not only does not help to solve the world problems such as the conflict between man and nature, the conflict between people and the imbalance in people's minds, but also makes these contradictions and conflicts more prominent to some extent." ⑧ For this reason, at the end of 1989, UNESCO held the "International Seminar on Education Facing 2 1 century" in Beijing. Based on the review of the development of education at the end of this century and the prospect of the development direction of education in 2 1 century, it put forward the declaration of "Learn to care". This declaration reviews the human world today. Although the material civilization is highly developed, it is facing more and more challenges from the living environment. It clearly puts forward that "care about one's health, family, friends and colleagues, others, the economic and ecological interests of society and the country, human rights, other species, the living conditions of the earth, truth, knowledge and learning."
In a word, human beings are required to have richer humanity, which is reflected in education, and the curriculum is required to have a value orientation: humanity. Peace and development are the universal themes of the world, "learning to survive" and "learning to care" are the themes of global education, and humanities and science are the value orientation of the curriculum.
(C) A high degree of organic integration of humanities and science: the correct value orientation of the curriculum.
How to reconcile the conflict of curriculum value orientation between humanities and science, avoid paying attention to one thing and losing the other, and find the best combination of the two under different conditions is the problem to be solved in optimizing thinking. The optimization idea in economics refers to finding the most suitable standard or proportion and the best action plan under specific standards in order to obtain the most ideal effect. The premise of optimization is quantification, such as the optimization method and tax rate with the coefficient of 0.6 18 in tax revenue. In 1970s, American young sociologist Rafer successfully explained the relationship between tax rate and income with a curve. Laffer curve is intended to show that low tax rate can increase government revenue by stimulating production; On the contrary, excessive tax rate will hit or restrain production by creating disappointment, and at the same time, the government will reduce revenue. Finding the most suitable E point at both ends of curves A and B is the demand of optimization. Although this E point is constant and varies from place to place (the most feasible point is not necessarily at the midpoint of 50%), it can be approached through trial and error and continuous adjustment.
The value orientation of curriculum is to find the best combination of science and human nature, and to coordinate the contradiction between society and individuals in need and development. Of course, this E point is not a simple addition or harmony between human nature and scientific algebra, but a highly organic integration of the two under different conditions (such as levels, disciplines, majors, etc.). ) (that is, this e point is unchangeable, depending on the conditions). The result of this integration is the unity of humanity and science. Its significance lies in: firstly, this unified physical ability coordinates all kinds of conflicts between curriculum and educational value orientation and completes all kinds of integration; Secondly, through this unity, we can cultivate people with all-round and harmonious development, so that such people can achieve the perfect and harmonious unity of truth, goodness and beauty when they understand and transform the world. This is the fundamental purpose and essence of education, and also the ultimate goal and highest goal of curriculum value orientation. What is comprehensive and harmonious development? It refers to the full and free development of individuals according to the needs of society and individuals. Such people have strong adaptability and adaptability to society, can give full play to their subjective initiative at any time, at any place and under any conditions, undertake their obligations and responsibilities as much as possible, and realize the maximum harmony and unity between individuals and society, and between man and nature.
It is necessary to distinguish different levels of individual development here. The first level: comprehensive and harmonious development, the second level: harmonious development, the third level: general development, and the fourth level: one-sided development. These four levels are arranged from high to low, and different levels have different requirements for human nature and science. We start from the bottom (one-sided development). One-sided development is an obvious binary opposition mode of either or. During the Renaissance, individuality was the orientation, which required one-sided promotion of human nature. After entering the modern society, he praised science unilaterally and took science as the guide. People trained by these two orientations will often cause conflicts and contradictions between individuals and society, and will also cause alienation of human nature. General development. Zankov put forward his theory of "universal development" according to Vygotsky's principle of "zone of proximal development". "The general development we understand refers to the development of children's personality and its development in all aspects. So general development, like all-round development, is the opposite of documentary and one-sided development. " ①0 "All-round development" includes not only the development of intelligence, but also the development of psychology, personality and ideological quality, and also the development of body, that is, "the all-round development of human beings". ① 1
Zankov put forward all aspects of human development here, but did not point out the degree of development, but we can see from his book "Promoting the All-round Development of Students with as Great a Teaching Effect as possible" that he emphasized the development of students from the perspective of teaching, which is one of the reasons why we advocate big education and "lifelong education".
It can be seen that the curriculum oriented to "all-round development" can not meet the fundamental purpose of human education in terms of humanistic and scientific requirements, and still needs to be sublimated and developed. Harmonious development. Looking back at the history of education, we can find the beautiful image of "harmonious development" from the educational theories of ancient Greek Athens and later educators such as Comenius, Pestalozzi and Dostoevsky. However, they only discuss harmonious development from the perspective of "people themselves, both inside and outside are just a kind of harmony", or from the perspective of harmonious coordination between the state and society, which is an unscientific and incomplete theory of harmonious development. "Real harmonious development" means the internal identity of personal needs and social needs, so that individuals and society can achieve consistent development. 14 If this is the value orientation of the curriculum, the cultivated people will better master science and technology and develop their personalities than the "general development" people in zankov.
However, human beings are pursuing the most ideal state, which requires human beings to not only learn to care about themselves, others, the collective, society and their own development, but also learn to care about nature, which is, after all, the most important living environment for human beings. Comprehensive and harmonious development. Suhomlinski put forward the theory of "all-round and harmonious development" through the development of the former Soviet Union for decades and various problems in education. "He talked about the harmonious development of mankind, which means that he has the ability to undertake various tasks. He should be the creator, user, appreciator and protector of the material production and spiritual production of the whole society, a person with cultural literacy and moral values, a citizen who actively participates in social activities, and the founder of a new family with a moral foundation. " To realize the educational task of all-round development, it is necessary to make "intellectual education, physical education, moral education, labor education and aesthetic education penetrate deeply and interweave with each other, so that these aspects of education present a unified and complete process." Based on the limitation of historical conditions at that time, Suhomlinski, like Marx (who understood education as intellectual education, physical education and technical education, which were the main contents of Marx's all-round development), only talked about all-round development and all-round harmonious development from the perspective of individual development. Perhaps at that time, mankind did not realize that with the development of mankind, the ecological environment also posed a severe challenge to mankind. These understandings of development are not perfect, and they are not all-round and harmonious development in the true sense.
Since the development of human beings, ecological problems such as environment have increasingly troubled human development, so environmental education and other related topics have been put forward. These can be summarized as follows: human beings should not only be kind to themselves, but also have a conscience about their living environment, otherwise they will be punished by nature, so conscience and humanity are one of the curriculum value orientations. All-round and harmonious development needs a high degree of organic integration of humanities and science. Courses organized with this orientation are the most ideal courses for human beings, and individuals armed with this knowledge can realize the comprehensive and coordinated development of individuals, society and nature. Thank you for your careful guidance, Professor Guo!