Paper Keywords: Germany; Political education; Target; perform
Abstract: Contemporary German political education has a profound social and historical background. It takes the "political identity" of capitalist countries as its basic goal and dialectically demonstrates its "political legitimacy". Its mission is to destroy Nazi ideology and promote bourgeois democratic thought. It is based on its own political attributes as a national political resource and has achieved high political achievements in practice.
German political education has experienced "Staatbürgerliche Erziehung" in the feudal autocratic Second Reich, "Stat und Volk Bezug Punkte Politische Bildung" in the bourgeois Weimar, "Politische Erziehung" in the German Reich and "Politiques Education" in the Nazi-ruled Third Reich. After World War II, in view of the need for the Federal German government to expose and deeply reflect on the dark history of Nazi rule, help the German people to establish a correct "historical view of World War II", establish and improve bourgeois parliamentary democracy, eradicate political extremism, cultivate and educate the younger generation according to bourgeois political ideas, and enhance people's enthusiasm and ability to participate in political cooperation, political education has been carefully established as an important aspect of ideological work, and a relatively complete theoretical and practical system of political education has been gradually established. They played a unique and important role in post-war Germany's political and economic development, national unity and social transformation.
At present, political education is not only an important way for the German Federal Parliament and government to build political civilization and social governance, but also a basic function of the government. German political education led by government administration is a democratic education developed on the basis of criticizing Nazi rule and inheriting Weimar political education. Contemporary German political education is essentially an important part of bourgeois ideological work, which is closely related to the political interests, political system and political thoughts of the German bourgeoisie. Based on this, political education has been brought into the German capitalist political system and the public function of the government, and it has been built from the height of national political resources.
First, the political goals of German political education
German political education has its profound social and historical background. At the beginning of the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany, "according to the history of Nazi dictatorship, the federal government and society need to perform a special task, that is, to promote the development of political consciousness based on democracy, tolerance and pluralism." Based on this, the West German government established "Bundes Zentrale fü r Politics Che Bildung" in 1952, which marked the official start of independent political education in Germany. In essence, the federal political education center and its political education work are, in the final analysis, to solve a "political identity" problem. The improvement of "political identity" is helpful to enhance the "legitimacy" of the political system, and then enhance the people's political trust and political responsibility, which is conducive to the stability of the political order. As an important ideology, political education is the "ideological resource" of political identity. It is precisely because ideology plays the role of connecting point and bridge between people and their ruling political power that ideology becomes the rational basis of political identity. The task of German political education is to establish this rational foundation in German society, and then "raise the democratic consciousness among the people, give play to the initiative of the Federal German people, and let all people who have reached the legal age actively and critically participate in political life".
The fundamental purpose of political education with the German Constitution as its core value is to promote the people's "collective recognition" of the German bourgeoisie's political thought, political power and political system, so that the whole political system can gain a "legitimacy" basis. Based on the special national socialist history, the realistic predicament in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and Germany's geopolitical ideal, this recognition must be based on a comprehensive reflection and eradication of the Nazis. Therefore, on the one hand, political education should continue the "non-Nazi" movement during the occupation period in the social and political ideological field, on the other hand, it should also let the German people accept and identify with the existing democratic political system in their hearts. In other words, helping people to establish a correct "Nazi historical view", especially "World War II historical view" and capitalist democratic view, are the two major historical tasks facing German political education under the new social conditions. This is not only the need for Germany to realize its geopolitical ideal and win the trust of the international community when carrying out European integration diplomacy, but also the inevitable requirement for establishing and perfecting bourgeois parliamentary democracy, eradicating political extremism and educating the younger generation according to bourgeois political ideas.
In all kinds of schools in Germany, the basic goal of political education is to promote the formation of young people's political character based on the development of political cognition through various educational means, and effectively participate in social and political life, and finally complete their own political socialization. As two key words of political education in German schools, "political cognition" and "political participation" are the basis and main way to realize the political socialization of teenagers. Among them, political cognition is the basis of political participation, and effective political participation must be based on the full development of political cognition.
In the development of teenagers' political cognition, German political education theory not only attaches importance to the teaching of various political knowledge, but also emphasizes the cultivation of political skills and the unity of knowledge teaching and ability development. Because teenagers only have complete political knowledge and skills, they can lay the foundation for making political judgments, engaging in political activities and choosing appropriate political behaviors in the future. In the process of the development of individual political cognitive ability, the related theories of modern pedagogy and psychology have been paid attention to. The traditional "education view" and "cultivation view" of German classical humanism also have great influence on the teaching concept and practice of school political education. The purpose of political cognition lies in the improvement of political ability and the formation of political quality. So it pays attention to students' self-cultivation and internalization of knowledge. This requires students to rely on the experience of social and political practice, that is, the so-called "integration of knowledge and action."
The goal of political cognition education in German schools is to make students have the ability and enthusiasm to participate in social politics. German political education theory holds that political participation is an important parameter for citizens to accept and identify with the political system and its political culture. In the first ten years after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the inertia of bitter historical traditions made the German people's orientation towards the political system relatively passive, belonging to the subject orientation rather than the participant orientation. This not only affects the legitimacy of the new political system, but also affects the political loyalty of the German people. Therefore, political participation is not only the basic right of German citizens, but also the inevitable requirement of political education. "The higher the degree of citizens' political participation, the more sensitive the political system is to citizens' wishes, which will improve citizens' integration and recognition of the political system and directly promote the stability of the political system. "
Second, the political nature of German political education
Contemporary German political education, which originated from the political "re-education" movement of allied occupation forces, has been paid more and more attention by the federal parliament and government since the 1960s. Theoretical discussions and academic debates on political education are increasing. The theory of political socialization, which was popular in Europe and America during this period, combined with German social reality and became the basic guiding theory of German political education. In many academic works in Germany, it is closely related to political education, and even equates the concept of political socialization with political education itself, and the two are often used interchangeably. On the social level, political socialization is a way to make the political culture of a political system permanent, which requires continuous political education for every member of society to complete the socialization process of "accepting political norms-identifying with political system-participating in political life". In other words, the ultimate goal of political socialization focuses on "universal political participation based on broad political identity"
In the process of political socialization, compared with Britain, the United States and other countries, German political education attaches more importance to the role of the state and government. Political education is regarded as an important and special political resource in Germany. Although it does not have obvious "material" characteristics like state institutions and political parties, it has great political exchange value. Through political education, the value foundation that supports the German political system (that is, the German Constitution) can be transformed into the value foundation of social public political identity. Obviously, German political education, as an integral part of the real political process, is not only an educational act, but also a political act of the political system. Therefore, political education with political attributes has become the political resources of state power institutions. The basis of political socialization is the rational allocation of political resources such as political education by the state. One of the important functions of national and government political education is to carefully cultivate, develop, manage and distribute such political resources. Schools, specialized institutions for political education, mass media, political parties and even government departments are all important political education resources. Under the macro-control of the state and the government, these major political socialization institutions actively cooperated and coordinated, creating a harmonious and unified political and cultural environment, thus laying the foundation for gaining broad political recognition. Since the 1950s, the Federal Republic of Germany has gradually established a relatively perfect national resource system for political education, which has been incorporated into the overall planning of the government as a national political resource and social product, forming a criss-crossing network of political education resources in the whole society, organically combining with the country's political, economic and cultural work, becoming an indispensable part of social governance and giving full play to its due role. The main components of the system include parliaments at all levels, governments, political parties, schools and social organizations, which play their respective responsibilities and roles in German political education. It has formed a political education work pattern of "the overall decision-making supervision of the federal parliament, the organization and management of the federal government, the implementation led by schools, and the participation of social organizations".
In the national system of post-war German political education, the Federal Political Education Center under the Ministry of the Interior is at the core, and it is the planning, organization, implementation and management institution of specific work. Its work is directly managed and supervised by the Federal Parliament. The supervision of the Federal Parliament over the Federal Political Education Center is exercised by a special management committee. Members of the Committee are appointed by the Speaker on the recommendation of various parliamentary groups and usually consist of about 20 federal members. The powers and responsibilities of the management committee specifically include: first, to supervise the political stance of the Federal Center for Political Education in its work and whether it violates the "principle of nonpartisan" (ü berparteilchet). The so-called principle of non-party affiliation means that the work of political education centers cannot reflect the will of individual political parties in order to prevent them from violating the basic principles of democracy and pluralism in the Basic Law. It should be pointed out that this "super-partisan principle" is actually very concealed and deceptive. Can transcend individual parties, but can not transcend their bourgeois nature; The second is to make resolutions on major issues of the federal political education center, including the determination of the theme of political education, financial budget (including formulation and implementation), annual work plan and annual work report. Its work shall not violate the principles and policies formulated by the management Committee. The management Committee has the final decision. Thus, the Federal Parliament controls the overall decision-making power and the overall situation of German political education.
The main functions of the Federal Center for Political Education include: first, to formulate political education plans for schools at all levels, formulate unified syllabus and examination requirements for political education in various schools, and train political education teachers; Second, organize experts and scholars in the field of political education, edit all kinds of political education teaching materials, provide reference for classroom political education teaching, and provide it to the public free of charge; Third, organize colorful political education activities for the whole society and people from all walks of life, such as lectures on current affairs, exhibitions, tours, theme festivals, knowledge contests, etc. Fourth, study important issues in the field of political education, closely combine real political and social issues, constantly investigate and analyze social and political processes, and carry out theoretical research on political education; Fifth, with a large number of various forms of publications as the carrier, provide political information to the public, guide the public to establish correct views and judgments on complex political fields, and play the role of all citizens as information disseminators in political education duties; Build and maintain the website of the Federal Center for Political Education, and carry out political education through the Internet. The most important function of the Federal Political Education Center is reflected in the construction and allocation of political education resources in Germany. Actively guide, encourage and support various social forces to participate in political education, and promote the cultivation and construction of political education as an important political resource. With the help of mature socialized operation and administrative contract, social non-governmental organizations are entrusted to carry out political education, and through the constraints of rules and regulations and contract terms, the purpose of supervision and control is achieved, so that the political education activities organized by them do not violate the national ideology and political education principles, thus realizing the fundamental goal of political education. Usually, these social institutions involved in political education are mainly divided into two categories: one is various museums, exhibition halls, memorial halls, historical sites and so on. Open to the public free of charge, with financial support and management provided by the state; The other is a social and political education institution certified by the administrative department of political work, including various registered associations, societies, scientific research institutes and social organizations. These social and political education institutions have strict management systems. The usual procedure is as follows: firstly, the government department in charge of political education makes clear all kinds of "soft" and "hard" conditions that social institutions that want to undertake political education activities must have, such as personnel quality and venue conditions, especially the content and theme scope of political education activities undertaken by these institutions. Second, these social organizations should submit a formal application, and submit their articles of association, proof of economic status, list of leading members of the organization, and the content and form of political education activities they wish to engage in. Third, the competent department conducts qualification examination. After passing the examination, allocate funds for the activities, give guidance or suggestions to the political education activities to be held by the undertaker, and evaluate the effects after the activities. The Federal Center for Political Education subsidizes hundreds of social organizations to apply for political education activities every year. The key to the fruitful political education in Germany lies in the construction of this relatively perfect national political education resource system, and the formation of a political education management system and operation mechanism of "the combination of state-led and social organizations under the guidance of government administration".
Third, the political performance of German political education
Promoting the collective political identity of German society and people through systematic and continuous political education has experienced a social, political and psychological transformation from doubt to acceptance to identity. At the beginning of World War II, the Federal Republic of Germany, built on the ruins of war, faced a series of serious difficulties in politics, economy and diplomacy. Despite the strong support of western allies led by the United States, this new bourgeois democratic regime has not been widely recognized by the people from the beginning. This can be seen from the results of the public opinion survey of German citizens in Armond's book Citizen Culture: People's Political Attitude and Democratic System in Five Countries: 1963 Only 7% of Germans regard the Basic Law, which symbolizes the political power of democratic countries, as the source of national pride. Opinion polls in the early postwar period showed that Germans were generally quite indifferent to democratic politics and still attached to the authoritative political system of the past. Voters lack understanding and enthusiasm for democratic procedures, and they still hold a passive subject rather than a positive citizenship attitude towards politics. At that time, the attitude of Germans towards political parties and institutions was "acceptance, indifference, excessive pragmatism and cynicism." The deep-rooted remnants of Nazi ideology, the lessons of Weimar Republic, the harsh political and diplomatic environment for the survival of the Middle East and the West in the Cold War, and the devastating blow to the German economy have caused widespread distrust and political indifference among the people. It is in this case that the political education with the value orientation of the Federal Constitution of West Germany has been highly valued by the authorities and endowed with a great historical mission. Eradicating Nazism and building a democratic political culture are the two most important political tasks of political education. "Cleaning" is the basis of "construction". Only by thoroughly rethinking and liquidating Nazi thoughts can we develop a democratic political culture of "constitutional patriotism" as Habermas said. This unattainable political culture in German history is precisely the ideological basis for the Federal Republic of Germany to gain the "legitimacy" of its existence and the "collective identity" of the people.
By the end of 1970s, Germany's new democratic political system had been clearly accepted by ordinary citizens. The opinion polls at that time showed that a democratic political culture had been formed in the Federal Republic of Germany. The same attitude towards a democratic political system. By 1978, the recognition rate rose to 3 1%, by 1988 it was 5 1%, and the support rate for the Basic Law even reached 7 1%. At the same time, the people's high support for parliament and political system and the high participation rate in federal parliamentary elections also reflect the gradual development and formation of democratic political culture in Germany. About 30 years later, the Federal Republic of Germany basically solved the problem of "political identity". The reason is, of course, the historical opportunity of economic take-off, political stability and confrontation between the East and the West, and the political and cultural construction with political education as an important way has also contributed.
Since the reunification of Germany in the 1990s, the political education with the basic theme of "democracy and tolerance" has not only made outstanding contributions to eliminating the ideological differences between the two parts of Germany and realizing the real reunification of the two parts of Germany, but also played an important role in cultivating the German people's awareness of "European citizens" and promoting the process of European integration. More importantly, after reunification, the federal government paid more attention to political education and raised it to an unprecedented political height in the form of national legislation. This also reflects the political reality that the German bourgeois parliament and government have always attached importance to ideological work in order to solve the heavy historical heritage of the German nation and stabilize its bourgeois regime.
References:
[1] German Central Broadcasting Station. Bonn: German Central Broadcasting Station, 2002. 13.
[2][ America] David Easton Systematic analysis of social life [M]. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 1997. 136.
[3] Cheng Tongshun. Contemporary comparative political theory [M]. Nanjing: Nankai University Press, 200 1.57.
[4] Gabriel Armond and Sidney Verba. Civic culture: political attitudes and democracy in five countries [M]. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.