Meng Lu also expressed many noteworthy opinions on primary and secondary education, teaching methods and natural science teaching. He said: "The first three years are general subjects, and the last three years are divided into several subjects. Students can choose one at will. This method is called parallel discipline system in America. There is a science in it, which is a practical subject to prepare students for studying medicine, agriculture and industry in the future. In addition, there is business, 30% of American middle school students study business, and ... liberal arts who will study politics and law in the future. " Meng Lu attaches great importance to running middle schools well. He said: "I am partial to middle school because it has a great relationship. On the one hand, I want to enter the university; On the one hand, preparing for college entrance examination; On the one hand, to prepare for a career, whether the university is good or not depends on how high school graduates are. High school graduates may not all go to colleges and universities, so we should let them have the ability to engage in a career in order to make a living by themselves in the future. Quot On one occasion, when talking about China's teaching methods, he said: "Today's middle school teaching methods in China are lecture-style teaching methods, and students are in a passive position and have no automatic spirit. This method can be used to learn China ancient prose, and it can also be used. After learning today's science, I can't do anything! "。" "Seeking knowledge by doing things" is the core of Meng Lu's teaching thought, which is worth learning from. In order to give full play to students' enthusiasm and initiative, he also advocated the use of "design teaching method". He said: "The latest trend in American education not only enables students to participate in the learning process automatically, but also further enables students to solve specific problems automatically. This method is called "design teaching method". This law originated in law school. Learning law is not about learning principles, but about studying existing cases in court, so that students can judge for themselves first, and then teachers can guide principles and prove theories. Medical research also allows students to make on-site diagnosis and research principles. "
Meng Lu attached importance to education because he fully realized the importance of talents to the country. In a conversation, he said, "If China has three or four hundred scientific experts, it is better than China's three or four million troops."
Meng Lu (P Monroe, 1869— 1947) is an American educator and educational historian. 1869 was born in North Madison, Indiana. 1892, graduated from Franklin College of Indiana University with a bachelor of science degree. In the next four years, he taught in a public middle school and became the principal. 1897, Ph.D., University of Chicago. In the same year, he was a lecturer at Teachers College of Columbia University. 190 1 year to study at the university of heidelberg, Germany. 19 13 was appointed by the U.S. government to lead a delegation to visit the Philippines for education. 19 15 to 1923 as dean of the school of education of Columbia university. 1923- 1928, Dean of the School of International Education of Columbia University. 1925 to 1928 as an education professor named after the famous educator Barnard. 1931-1933, founded China college in the United States and served as president. From 1932 to 1935, he successively served as the dean of American Women's Education College and Robert College in Turkey. During the period of 1935- 1943, he served as the president of the International Federation of Education Associations. He has successively served as the dean of Syrian Smyrna College, Sophia College in the United States and Lingnan University in China, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by Columbia University, Peking University, university of basel and Elysee Palace University in Berlin. The Japanese, China, Polish and other governments have awarded this prize. 192 1 year, Meng Lu came to China to publicize his educational thoughts, which had a certain influence on 1922 China's educational system reform and the formulation of the "new academic system".
Meng Lu wrote many things in his life. Mainly include: Greek and Roman education history materials (1904), Thomas Pratt and16th century education renaissance (1905), education history textbooks (1905), and education encyclopedia (1905). Among them, the textbook of educational history is the most famous.
In the modern history of the world, Meng Lu's main contribution lies not only in the educational development of the United States and some Asian countries, but also in the further maturity and development of the subject of modern educational history, which has had a very extensive and far-reaching influence.
A textbook on the history of education was published by new york Macmillan Company in 1905, and has been reprinted many times since then. The text of the book is 760 pages, about 5 million words.
The textbook of educational history systematically expounds the development of western education from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century. This book consists of 14 chapters. Chapter L "Primitive Education" discusses the characteristics, purposes, contents and methods of primitive social education, analyzes the influence of primitive education on later educational development, and clearly puts forward the theory of psychological origin of education. The second chapter, "Oriental Education", analyzes the purpose, content, organization, methods and basic characteristics of ancient education in China, and investigates the examination system and family education in ancient China. It is believed that ancient education in China fully embodies the common characteristics of oriental education. The third chapter "Greece-education as gradual adjustment" comprehensively describes the historical development of ancient Greek education. This paper specifically discusses the development of Greek education and the evolution of educational theory in various historical stages from Homer's period to Hellenistic period, and analyzes the influence of Greek education on the development of modern western education. Have a far-reaching impact. The fourth chapter "Rome-education as practical training" focuses on the development and decline of ancient Roman education. The fifth chapter "Middle Ages-Education as Training" focuses on the influence of Christian teachings and church organizations in the Middle Ages on education in Western Europe, as well as the rise, development and organizational structure of medieval universities. The sixth chapter "Renaissance: Humanistic Education" focuses on the basic ideological content of humanistic education in the Renaissance and the theory and practice of humanistic educators. The seventh chapter, "Religious Reform and Anti-religious Reform: Religious Education View", focuses on the development and changes of education in Western Europe during the Religious Reform period, analyzes the influence of the Religious Reform on education, and specifically discusses the educational theories of Martin Luther and others and the achievements of school education during this period. Chapter 8 "Realistic Education" respectively expounds the educational thoughts of humanistic realism represented by Erasmus and others, social realism represented by Meng Dan and sensory realism represented by Comenius, and their influences on school practice in western Europe in the15-17th century. Chapter 9 "The Concept of Education and Training" focuses on the educational thought of the training theory headed by Locke and its origin, principles and influence in European and American educational practice. Chapter 10 "Naturalism in Education" focuses on the formation, development and practice of naturalism education represented by Rousseau. Chapter 1 1 "psychological trends" discusses the origin, development, dissemination and practice of modern educational psychology movements represented by Pestalozzi, Herbart and Froebel in some European and American countries. Chapter 12, "scientific thoughts", analyzes the changes of scientific education thoughts and their implementation in all levels of education through learning the educational thoughts of Spencer and Huxley. 13 Chapter "Sociological Trends" specifically discusses the ideological basis and development of the modern national education movement. Chapter 14 "Conclusion: eclectic thoughts in recent years" focuses on the analysis of the educational thoughts in western countries at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, and holds that the basic tendency of these thoughts is to reconcile the educational theories that have been wrestling since modern times.
The book specifically expounds the following basic points:
1. On the psychological roots of education. When discussing primitive education, the author clearly pointed out that because primitive people's consciousness is still in the initial development state, the educational activities that primitive people engaged in are essentially an unconscious imitation of the behavior of the younger generation to the older generation. This unconscious imitation activity is the earliest form of human education, and the education of civilized society is developed on this basis. Although subjectively, Meng Lu didn't explicitly take the viewpoint of unconscious imitation as the theory of the origin of education, he actually involved the origin of education because he thought that primitive education embodied the basic characteristics of all education in the simplest form.
2. About ancient oriental education. When discussing the ancient oriental education represented by China, Meng Lu pointed out that education in eastern countries, like politics, is closely related to national cultural customs, and its purpose is to maintain social traditions. Because of this, ancient oriental education was obviously conservative. It does not change with the changes of the times, but remains static and has not changed significantly for thousands of years. Obviously, Meng Lu's view of ancient oriental education was influenced by Hegel and others, showing a very obvious tendency of Eurocentrism.
3. Staging of the history of western education. In the textbook History of Education, Meng Lu clearly put forward the stages of the development of western education history. He believed that ancient Greece and Rome were the ancient stages of western education, and then entered the Middle Ages (Middle Ages) which lasted for thousands of years. Since the Renaissance, the development of western education has entered a modern stage.
4. About the generation and function of educational thought. Although the textbook of educational history covers educational thoughts and practices, it mainly discusses the development of educational thoughts. When analyzing the origin and motivation of educational thought, Meng Lu mainly discussed it from the perspective of ideological concepts and cultural environment in a specific historical period. In his view, educational thoughts are mainly produced under the influence of philosophy, culture, politics and other concepts in a certain historical period, and change with the changes of culture and concepts. Related to this, Meng Lu believes that in the historical development of education, educational thought is more important than educational practice, and educational practice is the basis and guidance of educational thought. Therefore, the progress and development of educational practice mainly depends on the power provided by educational thought.
5. The position and influence of Greek education. In the textbook of educational history, Lu Meng used a lot of space to discuss the development of ancient Greek education. By studying the changes of Greek education in different historical periods, the evolution of educational ideas and the basic characteristics of Greek education, Meng Lu believes that Greek education has laid a solid foundation for the all-round development of western education. The Greeks' ideal of free education and their understanding and practice of the relationship between individuals and society for educational purposes have provided a strong impetus for the development of modern education in the West. Therefore, to a certain extent, the historical development of western education is the extension, expansion, practice and enrichment of Greek educational ideal.
6. About the development of modern educational thought. On the one hand, Meng Lu emphasized the changes in modern philosophy, natural science, political theory, sociology and psychology, which played a great role in the development of western modern educational thought. It is believed that the development of ideas in some fields directly related to education is the direct driving force to promote the progress of educational ideas. On the other hand, Meng Lu attaches great importance to the interrelation between educational thoughts, and thinks that any important educational theory not only has its historical origin, but also has certain influence on the research of educational theory in later generations. Therefore, there are internal relations between different educators in different historical periods; There is an inevitable logical relationship between different educational thoughts. For this reason, an educational history (the history of educational thought) is essentially a process of people's continuous understanding of educational phenomena and laws in different times and the continuous development of this understanding.
The publication of Textbook on the History of Education marks a new development stage in the study of American educational history. At the beginning of the 20th century, it has been the standard teaching material for the history of education in American normal universities. It also has a wide influence on the study of educational history in other countries in Europe and America. Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), this book has been an important teaching reference book for the history of education in most normal universities in China. Anyway. Textbook of Educational History is a classic work of educational history.
The basic features or strengths of this book are as follows: (1) Emphasizing the development process of education from the historical relationship is conducive to a deeper understanding and revealing of educational historical phenomena and their inherent basic logic. For this reason, Meng Lu's thoughts on the relationship between different educators, as well as Rousseau's, Pestalozzi's and Herbart's discourses on educational thoughts, have obvious characteristics and have a great influence. (2) Pay attention to the dissemination and practical research of educational ideas. When discussing the educational thoughts of modern educational thoughts such as Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart and Froebel, Lu Meng used a lot of space to explain the spread, promotion and practice of some educational thoughts in different countries, and explained the role of educational thoughts and their relationship with educational practice. (3) Rich historical materials correctly handle the relationship between history and theory. When discussing the educational situation in various historical periods, Meng Ludu used a large number of historical materials, and based on this, made a theoretical analysis and summary of various educational historical phenomena. This not only avoids the disadvantages of historical materials accumulation, but also avoids the defects of empty theory.
The main defects of the textbook of educational history are: (1) obvious Eurocentrism tendency. In fact, Meng Lu's exposition of the characteristics of ancient oriental education and his high evaluation of ancient Greek education reflect a very obvious tendency of "Eurocentrism". This made it impossible for him to look at ancient oriental education objectively and historically, thus affecting the scientific value of the book. (2) Obvious tendency of historical idealism. Meng Lu's view of educational history is obviously influenced by Hegel's philosophy of history. When expounding the origin of education, the foundation and motive force of education development, Meng Lu overemphasized the role of culture, thought and other factors, but neglected the role of economy and society and the role of educational practice in educational thought. This makes it difficult for him to truly comprehensively and profoundly expound the historical phenomena and laws of education. (3) Over-emphasis on educational thought and neglect of educational practice. Although it is a textbook of educational history, it focuses more on educational theory and relatively ignores the discussion of educational practice.