Functional education theory
It is believed that the essence is not to accept and master the content, but to use the content as a means to promote the formation, development and maturity of its ability, mind and intelligence. The ability that that young generation acquire through this kind of training can be transfer to other fields. According to this theory, it is necessary to choose those contents that are most likely to develop students' ability as training means in teaching.
Methodology education theory
Methodological education theory holds that there are countless teaching contents that affect students' future life, and the essence of education cannot be determined from the content. Methodology education theory pays attention to students' educational process and grasps the methods, feelings and values of thinking. In short, it focuses on students mastering various methods through education. This theory holds that once students master these methods, they can accept a series of contents. Whether it is appropriate to equate formal education theory with functional psychology, and whether it is reasonable to divide formal education theory into early and late stages, it is clear that to explore the ins and outs of formal education theory, it must be traced back to ancient Greece.
Socrates method
In the history of western education, Socrates' method, that is, talking and asking questions, has a great influence. Hegel thinks that Socrates' method mainly includes two aspects: (1) developing from concrete examples to universal principles, making the concepts hidden in people's consciousness clearly presented; (2) Disrupting general things, concepts or concepts that are usually recognized, fixed and directly accepted in consciousness are confused by their own concrete examples. "
In Socrates' view, knowledge cannot be taught to students by teachers. Real knowledge exists in people, and all it needs is to arouse knowledge and make it reach the realm of consciousness. He thinks: "If I look at things with my eyes or try to understand them with my senses, my soul will be completely blind. I think I'd better go to the spiritual world for help and go there to seek the truth of existence. " Therefore, Socrates based his knowledge on "memory", that is, "all inquiry and all learning are just memories." Questioning method's aim is to make a dialectical distinction between eternal form and ever-changing appearance, while the purpose of education is to arouse students' consciousness and discover the truth that exists in people's minds in a potential form.
Different from the wise men at that time, the wise men emphasized the practicality of knowledge, while Socrates emphasized the universal validity and moral value of knowledge. He paid attention to form and method, not content, thus planting seeds for the view that education is training.
Plato, a disciple of Socrates, inherited and developed Socrates' basic ideas. It can be said that the work that Socrates started was completed by Plato.
Plato
Plato divided the world into two kinds. One is a temporary phenomenon world, and the other is a real and eternal concept world. The world we live in is only a reflection of the concept world. In Plato's view, ideas are innate. However, although the concept is innate, when the baby came into this world, his concept was not fully developed, but only a vague copy of the eternal concept. The original idea of perfection becomes hazy after entering the body. In fact, this is the earliest innate concept theory in the history of western cognition. This view is inherited by modern idealism and rationalism.
According to this basic argument, Plato thinks that learning is a tuxedo of some ideas (abilities and concepts) from the inside out. "Learning is memory." Knowledge is composed of absolute ideas that existed before the existence of the earth. The process of learning is the process of recalling or reproducing the sleeping thoughts of the past. The purpose of education is to free the mind from the bondage of the body as much as possible. He believes: "Each of us has a feeling in our hearts. When this feeling is blinded or destroyed by other daily affairs, we can make use of these studies (that is, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy, etc. -the author) to clarify or rekindle it. Protecting the senses is more important than protecting the eyes, because only the senses can see the truth. "
So, how can we achieve this educational goal and make people reach the ideal world?
In Plato's view, mainly through two kinds of education:
First, music-in order to cultivate the mind, because music can be deeply rooted in people's hearts, leaving a profound impact and bringing everything good;
Second, exercise-for exercise, because when there is a good intention in the heart and the harmonious beauty of the body matches it, this is the most beautiful sight. Here we can see that Plato clearly distinguished between body and mind. He believes that the contribution of the mind to learning lies in providing ideas, and the contribution of the body to learning lies in providing feelings. This dualism of body and mind has a great influence on future educators. Of course, Plato did not treat these two parts equally.
He believes: "Being strong does not produce a beautiful mind and character. On the contrary, the Excellence of mind and character will make the body perfect. "
From Plato's exposition of arithmetic and geometry teaching, we can directly see the early embryonic state of formal education. Therefore, in his book History of Education, American Graves believes that formal training originated in the Republic. Plato believes that learning arithmetic means "understanding the essence of numbers through pure thinking." They don't have to consider its usefulness, just like businessmen or shopkeepers, to buy and sell, but to defend the country and make their hearts easily change from the changing world to the real and real world. ""Arithmetic is really necessary for us, because it obviously forces our minds to use pure thinking to reach the truth. ..... Anyone who is naturally good at calculation will almost learn other things soon; For people with mental retardation, through the training and practice of calculation, even if there are no other benefits, they can always become agile. "In a word, learning some subjects may be valuable for spiritual training, even if it is not of direct use. For example, "people who have studied geometry are more agile in learning other subjects." "Therefore, studying geometry can promote the study of all other subjects."
As Adams said, as far as Plato's concept of formal training is concerned, formal training theory coincides with the evolution stage of educational theory reached in the 5th century BC. Although formal training as a kind of stationery has undoubtedly appeared in recent years, it should be remembered that the stage reached in Plato's period is completely a special case, far exceeding what people can expect in the general process.
Aristotle is a man of great learning. As a student of Plato, he inherited the teacher's thought, but went further than the teacher.
Aristotle
Philosophically, Aristotle differs from Plato. He believes that the object of knowledge is not ideas, but real existence. Knowledge can only come from feeling. This is his famous theory of soul wax block. He regards feeling and experience as the basis of human understanding. "Who doesn't feel, who knows nothing and knows nothing." But at the same time, he thinks that feeling is the form of feeling being felt, not material. It's like a wax block with only the pattern of a gold ring printed on it, not the gold itself. Therefore, the object of understanding can only be form. What is worth noting here is Aristotle's distinction between form and matter in Metaphysics. Take himself as an example. If a person makes a copper ball, then copper is the material and the ball is the form. It is by virtue of form that matter becomes something certain, which is the essence of things. In his view, form is more real than matter.
Psychologically, Aristotle believes that the soul is the source of life. The soul not only gives life to the organism, but also shows its potential characteristics. As a dynamic primitive man, the soul has potential or function, and they move in various ways.
Aristotle described the five functions of the soul: (1) the function of growth, that is, the ability of organisms to preserve and develop themselves; (2) the faculties of desire, that is, the tendency to pursue good things to satisfy oneself; (3) Sensory function, including aesthetic function; (4) the function of sports, that is, the ability of sports; (5) rational function, that is, reasoning ability. Of these five senses, the last one is the most important for education. Because in Aristotle's view, the purpose of education is to develop the highest level of the soul-rationality. Rational education is the highest task of education. For people with noble souls, it is extremely inappropriate to seek only utility and utility. "Children should be taught what is really necessary and useful, but not all useful things. ..... children should teach them knowledge that is useful for their future, not make them vulgar. " Aristotle, like Plato, thinks that music should cultivate aesthetic feeling. Like painting, it should not be turned into a craft.
Many centuries after Aristotle, it was very popular to describe the mind or soul from the perspective of function, that is, from the perspective of what the mind can do. This is true of medieval scholastics, including St. Thomas Aquinas, and so is Catholic educational psychology. Even in the Renaissance and its later period, functional psychology was the most accepted theory. In such a long historical period, the main argument is not the principle of functional psychology, but the number of functions and how to describe them exactly. Some people insist that there is only one function, while others (such as 18 and 19 century phrenologists) think that there are more than 24 or 37 functions, and so on.
It is believed that the main feature of the soul is initiative. Through the description of human nature by various abilities or functions of the soul, it is concluded that learning lies in the practice of these abilities or functions, especially the practice of reasoning or cognitive functions. In other words, in order to acquire knowledge, functional practice is very important, and wisdom comes from functional practice. Education exists in the exercise of functions. The content of learning is not important, and the development of the senses is above everything else.
Socrates, who was born after Aristotle's love and died after Aristotle's love, also talked about similar views in his book Property Exchange. He said: "Gymnastics helps the body, and philosophy helps the mind. Physical training and mental training can also enhance various natural abilities. " But Socrates' evaluation of the role of training is not very high. So it doesn't matter much. Democritus also emphasized the importance of understanding in the process of education. He believes that "people should develop more understanding, not accumulate more knowledge" and "many learned people are not wise." As a large part of democritus's works have been lost, it is difficult to understand his views systematically.
Some people think that quintilian's Principles of oratory is "one of the earliest clear statements of formal training theory." This is a book that systematically discusses the ancient western teaching methods.
From quintilian's exposition of music and geometry, we can see his tendency of formal training. He insists on music education, because music can cultivate people's minds. He believes that geometry "has teaching value for children, because people realize that geometry can exercise children's minds, improve their intelligence and make their understanding sensitive." This value of geometry is realized in the process of learning, not in the knowledge learned. Quintilian further argued: "It is groundless to complain that' only a few people are endowed with natural understanding, while most people waste their time and energy because of their slow understanding'. On the contrary, we think that most people are ready to understand and can learn quickly. Because quick acquisition is human nature, just like birds are born to fly, horses are born to walk, and wild animals are grumpy, human beings are particularly suitable for understanding activities and are particularly keen on understanding. "
Quintilian devoted considerable energy to how to train public speakers. He believes that the purpose of teaching is not to let students acquire the knowledge limited by some scholars, nor to let students understand the rules of rhetoric, but to improve their speaking ability and eloquence. "Because generally speaking, in the art of rhetoric, the result of boring textbooks is to pursue technology too much, thus destroying and weakening valuable style factors and exhausting the vitality of imagination, leaving only bones." It can be seen that the main task of teaching is not to let students master knowledge and skills, but to have the ability and form.
To sum it up. The idea of formal education theory sprouted in ancient Greece and Rome. With the development of educational theory and practice, this ideological trend has gained the upper hand.