Keywords: character education, moral education, colleges and universities
In foreign countries, character education has become a topic and research field of moral psychology in western countries. College students are a special group in China. The society's concern for this group has gradually shifted from its initial concern for its studies and achievements to its ideological quality.
First, what is character education?
In China, moral education is a very inclusive concept, which includes not only ideological and moral education, but also the cultivation of good behavior habits, civic moral education, mental health education and emotional education. Lockwood defines character education as "an activity initiated by the school and aimed at cooperating with other social institutions, directly and systematically shaping the behavior of teenagers by obviously influencing the non-relativistic values that can produce this behavior" [1].
The Institute of Character Education established in the United States defines character education as "the deliberate efforts made by schools, families and society to help teenagers understand, care for and implement core moral values" [2]. It is not difficult to see from these definitions that character education pays attention to the cultivation of students' core moral values, and emphasizes that correct moral values are the premise of making correct behavior choices.
The foundation of character education is the establishment and implementation of core moral values, and the establishment of correct core moral values is the premise and foundation of implementing character education. In view of the establishment of core moral values, the American Institute of Character Education put forward the famous "1 1 Effective Character Education Principles" [3]. This 1 1 principle involves the foundation, formation conditions, implementation methods and other aspects of character education, and is an important standard for evaluating the quality of character education.
Second, the lack of character education for college students.
With the continuous development of society, higher requirements are put forward for the ability of college students. The realistic employment pressure makes many college students devote more energy to the development of their ability level. Behind the upsurge of examination and textual research, the character education of college students is often ignored.
1, knowledge education as the core, ignoring moral quality education.
Education includes not only the cultivation of ability level, but also the concern for the moral quality of the educated. The reality in China is that there are many working-age workers, and examination has become an effective form of allocating educational resources and selecting talents. In reality, all kinds of entrance examinations make college students naturally regard test scores as the embodiment of their own abilities and the real ability to decide their destiny. Facing the realistic employment pressure, college students regard textual research and grade examination as the stepping stone to a happy life in the future. However, among numerous textual research and grading tests, only the test of college students' moral level is missing.
2. Pay attention to the cultivation of ability and lack the cultivation of moral quality.
The pressure of reality and the lack of group consciousness make contemporary college students lose the definition based on ability. Many college students define their ability as the ability to adapt to society, which is not wrong. But if a society wants to get real development, it is difficult to get long-term development without a good moral system as a support. Many college students do not regard moral ability and good character as their ability standards in their ability orientation. Many college students are confused about their core moral values. In the face of basic good and evil, many college students have lost their self-judgment ability.
Third, relying on universities to implement character education.
1. Colleges and universities should strengthen respect and care for students.
At present, university education focuses on imparting academic knowledge to students, and the contact between teachers and students in many universities is limited to classroom teaching. Although classroom teaching is an important way for college students to acquire knowledge, after all, classroom teaching has taken precedence over teaching professional knowledge. Although ideological and political education courses are offered in colleges and universities, they are of little help to college students' character education in a short time. There is a saying in ethics called "empathy", and the words and deeds of people around you will have a subtle influence on the subject. In college students' life, how people around them treat him, especially how teachers treat him, will have a great influence on his behavior.
2. Set an example and give full play to the power of example.
The power of example is infinite. Colleges and universities should set their own moral models among students and call on everyone to learn. Colleges and universities should set a moral example and let students understand that being a morally perfect and noble person is as worth learning as good academic performance.
3. Give students more right to speak
Character education in colleges and universities should break through the traditional one-dimensional education mode and give college students more right to speak. The university period is a period of gradual maturity of ideas. Giving students more right to speak and mobilizing their subjective initiative will be more conducive to the implementation of character education. Morality cannot be confined to the scope of thought, but also needs practice.
4. In higher education, teachers teach more academic knowledge and less actively discuss moral issues. To educate students' character, we must first establish students' core values and establish clear standards of good and evil in their hearts. If you want to know what is good and what is morality, you must know what is evil and what is immoral.
5. Provide students with opportunities for moral practice.
While strengthening ideological and political education, colleges and universities should provide students with more opportunities for moral practice. Practicing one's moral ideal in real life is an ideal mode of character education. Colleges and universities can strengthen contact with orphanages and nursing homes, provide assistance regularly or irregularly, cleanse the thoughts of contemporary college students in practice, let them truly feel the importance of character education in practice, and fill in the files with moral practice pacesetters and students' moral practice rewards.
Young students are the future of the country and the hope of the nation. As educators, exploring the comprehensive evaluation criteria of knowledge and ability education and moral quality education is conducive to cultivating more outstanding high-quality talents to meet the needs of modern social development.
References:
Lockwood, a? What is character education? [M] English version (1997) 180.
[2] Yang Shaogang: From moral relativism to core values [J] Xinhua Digest, 2004(8)
[3] Qi,: What is an effective character education? -American CEP and its basic principles of education.
About the author: Gao Siyuan (1958-), a native of Xiangcheng, Henan Province, Han nationality, Shangqiu Vocational and Technical College, senior lecturer, personal research interests: philosophy, economy and modern education. 65438-0984 engaged in the teaching of ideological and political courses, bachelor degree. He has published many papers on politics, education and economy in domestic and foreign journals, and has unique views on modern educational thoughts.