(A) the theory of the origin of myth

This is the oldest view of human beings on the origin of education, and all religions hold this view, which is inseparable from the ontology of creation.

Viewpoint: Education is created by a personified God (God or Heaven), which embodies the will of God or Heaven and makes people convert to God or obey Heaven. This view is fundamentally wrong and unscientific. The reason for this is mainly because of the limitation of the understanding level of the origin of human beings at that time, and the origin of education can not be correctly put forward and understood.

(B) the theory of biological origin

1. For: Percy? Li tuo er Nuo neng

2. Viewpoint: Education is regarded as a biological phenomenon, and the educational process is attributed to instinctive teaching activities according to biological laws. It is believed that the animal kingdom is educated, and in order to preserve its own species, animals will impart their "knowledge" and "skills" to young animals through genetic instinct, which is the reflection of vulgar evolution theory in studying the origin of education at that time. In other words, education comes from the survival instinct of animals.

The theory of educational biological origin is the first formal theory about the origin of education in the history of education, and it was also put forward as an academic issue earlier. It is guided by Darwin's biological evolution theory. Compared with the theory of myth origin, this is a great progress, which indicates that the origin of education has begun to shift from myth interpretation to scientific interpretation.

Its fundamental mistake lies in its failure to grasp the purpose and sociality of human education, thus failing to distinguish the qualitative difference between human educational behavior and animal feeding behavior, and only discussing the origin of education from the perspective of external behavior without internal purpose, thus discussing the origin of education from the perspective of biology.

(C) the theory of psychological origin

1. Representative: Meng Lu.

2. Viewpoint: Meng Lu believes that the initial forms and methods of education are mainly children's unconscious imitation of adults in daily life. In Textbook of Educational History, Meng Lu judged that education should originate from children's unconscious imitation of adults from the perspective of psychology, according to the original historical facts that there were no schools, teachers and textbooks in primitive society. He wrote in the book "Textbook of Educational History": "The common educational method in primitive society is simple unconscious imitation". In this primitive society, children's unconscious imitation of older members is the initial development of education.

The theory of psychological origin criticizes the vulgar educational viewpoint that "the origin of educational biology" does not distinguish between human education and animal instinct, and holds that education exists only in human society, not in the animal kingdom.

(D) the origin of labor theory

1. Representatives: Midinsky, Kailov.

2. Viewpoint: The labor origin theory of education, also known as the social origin theory of education, was formed under the guidance of Marxist historical materialism theory on the basis of directly criticizing the biological origin theory and the psychological origin theory. It originated from Engels' theory that labor created man and human society originated from labor. There are many scholars who hold this view, mainly the Soviet Union and China. Most educators in the Soviet Union and China agree with this view.

The origin of labor theorists believe that education originated from labor, which is the dialectical unity of social production needs and human development needs in the process of labor.