Professor Feng Jianjun, Ph.D., School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University.
Brief introduction: The "home-seeking" process of education in China.
(1) From "society" to "people";
(2) From people who care about "parts" and "abstractions" to people who care about "completeness" and "concreteness".
As a living individual, life is the real "home" of education. Education pays attention to life, which is not only the requirement of modern society, but also the true embodiment of education.
In order to distinguish it from the previous "socialized education", we call it "life education".
First, the nature of life-oriented education
(A) life and its characteristics
Two understandings of "life";
Biological viewpoint: Feng Qi's Dictionary of Philosophy points out that "life is a complex system with cells as the unit, mainly composed of nucleic acids and protein macromolecules".
Ge Li's Philosophy of Life: A Dictionary of Modern Western Philosophy points out that "life is the absolute and infinite source of the world. It is different from matter and consciousness, and it is an active, diverse and eternal movement. Life cannot be understood by feeling or logical thinking, but can only be grasped by intuition and experience. "
There are two different ways of thinking: biology pays attention to the naturalness of life, and philosophy of life pays attention to the spirituality of life, and even mystifies life. The latter regards life as a god.
What is life? Marxist interpretation.
"Man is himself" and "Man is man" profoundly reveal the essence of human life.
Duality of life: for human beings, life is not single, but dual, which is the unity of natural life and supernatural life. People have the characteristics of animals and gods, but they are not animals and gods, and they are in the "spectral belt" between animals and gods.
Characteristics of human life:
The integrity of life;
Life autonomy;
Transcendence of life;
The uniqueness of life.
(2) Life education and life education
From a global perspective, since the second half of the 20th century, some countries have clearly put forward life education and moral education that respects life.
Life education in some parts of China mainly aims at the problems of adolescent suicide, lack of life meaning and animal protection.
Life education mainly teaches people to know life, protect life, cherish life, appreciate life, explore the meaning of life and realize the value of life.
Life-oriented education is a new understanding and definition of the essence of education from the perspective of life.
(C) the nature of life-oriented education
Professor Ye Lan of East China Normal University once defined education as "education is a social activity to improve the quality of life through human life". This kind of "education" is the life-oriented education we expect.
1, life-oriented: taking life as the basic point of education
The nonspecific nature of human life puts forward requirements and possibilities for education;
People's supernatural spiritual life and cultural life need education.
Whether it is natural life or supernatural life, its development is inseparable from education. Therefore, life is the origin of education, and education occurs because of life. Enlightening and nourishing life is the core of education. Any education that ignores life, deviates from life and destroys life is "alienation" of education, so it is also "anti-education".
2. In life: According to the characteristics of life.
Life-oriented education should aim at "people" first, and then treat people as "people" in the process of education.
First, give birth to a complete life;
Second, highlight the agility of life;
Third, stimulate the motivation of life;
Fourth, publicize the personality of life.
3. For life: Enjoy a beautiful life and a happy life.
Education needs to make people understand the meaning of life and pursue a beautiful life and a happy life, which is the purpose of "for life". A happy life and a good life include three levels:
First, cherish, respect and appreciate life.
Second, open the wisdom of life.
Third, enhance the realm of life and realize the value of life.
To sum up, life-oriented education, at the starting point, directly faces human life; In this process, it runs through people's life and follows the nature of life; Therefore, we should nourish the soul, pursue the meaning and value of life and improve the quality of life. Facing life directly is the premise, following life is the guarantee and perfecting life is the goal. Only when the three are in harmony can education realize its life essence, which is the connotation of complete life education.
Second, the criticism of alienated life education.
1. Education, the school's forgetting of life
School has become a tool of social politics and economy, and education is not about life itself, but about "individual socialization" to meet social needs.
The school has deviated from its original function, that is to say, the school has "forgotten" its object. "Schools have prospered, education has declined, and there has been an educational vacuum in schools." .
Students also "forget" the school and become a group of "aimless scholars" and "unintentional scholars". They don't like any subjects, just want to get high marks; They don't like learning, but only seek benefits from learning;
2. The dismemberment of life integrity by education
"Education has become a machine for manufacturing workers. Through the shaping of education, it is the whole purpose of education to turn people into people who pursue material interests and master production technology. In this way, the more educated people are, the more they are bound by technology and professionalism, and the more they lose their spiritual attributes as a complete person. " .
Education only teaches people to master the skills of "how to make a living" and gives up the thinking of "why to make a living". Students have knowledge, skills and rationality, but they have no love, no emotion and no humanity. They suffer from "emotional apathy" and become completely "cold-blooded animals".
Einstein said: "The goal of a school should always be that young people should be a harmonious person when they leave school, not an expert." .
Our education needs reflection: emotion, conscience, attitude and values. We can't give up just because we can't pass the exam. In today's era of science and technology, we don't want humanistic education and emotional education, but we need humanistic education and emotional education more.
3. Education inhibits the vitality of life
"Moving" is indeed a child's nature. If this positive, energetic, happy, beautiful, imaginative, energetic and frank childhood is regulated according to the "adult" model, then the child will not become a complete child. In fact, only children who live in a truly great and colorful children's life can quickly become real adults. (Japan
Life is free and full of vitality, which comes from the internal needs of life.
"Education now is like taking off a beetle's leg and letting it tame people." (Froebel, Germany)
4. Education castrates life personality.
Famous cartoonist Feng Zikai
Comic book "Cut Holly Association"
A modern school is like an education factory, which uses the class teaching system for "batch" production, making everyone a "standard" on the teaching machine.
Institutionalized education, while emphasizing scientific norms, forgets everyone's existence and becomes the "culprit" of castrating personality.
Third, the principle of life-oriented education.
Naturality principle
The "industrial" metaphor of China's education and the "agricultural metaphor" of Western education. "The mission of teachers is to cultivate, not to change" (Comenius, Czech Republic).
Education should first respect human nature.
Secondly, we should follow the characteristics of children's physical and mental development.
Third, we should respect the uniqueness of children's lives.
Principle of autonomy
Thoughts on animal captivity and wild release.
Education should not be a kind of "telling", but a kind of "exploring". Students should not be "containers" full of knowledge and passive followers, but should be growth people who seek the wonderful display of life.
First of all, we should return the initiative of life development to students.
Secondly, we should handle the relationship between autonomy and guidance and guide them reasonably.
Third, in view of the relationship between autonomy and guidance, we should properly handle the relationship between teachers and students, and teachers are the "chief among equals."
(3) the principle of experience
Human life is a meaningful existence, and meaning is to resort to experience.
Experience is a different way of understanding from science.
To implement the principle of experience, we must first change the concept of knowledge from rational knowledge to life knowledge.
Secondly, the principle of experience makes education a communicative activity between subjects.
Third, life can get real experience in educational life.
(4) Principles of life
Life takes life as the carrier, and paying attention to life-oriented education must also implement the principle of life-oriented education. The principle of life-oriented education is to take life as the origin, educate in life and guide people to improve their lives, improve their quality of life and live a better life.
First of all, education should be life-oriented and the purpose of "education for life" should be established.
Secondly, education is carried out in life, which requires "life education" and "educational life".
Third, education should improve life and guide people to pursue a better life.
(5) the principle of individuality
The key to personalized education is to respect the uniqueness of individuals and create development space for the uniqueness of individuals.
First of all, education should respect and adapt to individual differences.
Secondly, it embodies students' independent choice in the process of education and enhances the differences in education.
Third, according to the uniqueness of individual life, carry out characteristic education.
Summary of opinions
Life is the source of education;
Touching and nourishing life is the core of education;
It is the mission of education to return to the true nature of life and show the agility of life;
Giving life dignity, freedom and happiness is the eternal pursuit of education;
Therefore, life-oriented education needs:
Concerned about the existence of life;
Defend the dignity of life;
Stimulate the potential of life;
Improve the quality of life;
Realize the value of life.
Reference books: The Responsibility and Dream of Life-oriented Education by Daxia Book Department of East China Normal University Press and The Growth of Obsessed People —— The Classroom Discovery of 20 Teachers.