In recent years, some people living abroad have compared the educational differences between China and the West according to their experiences. On the one hand, these comparisons enrich our cognition and understanding of education, but on the other hand, the binary opposition of patterning, conceptualization and abstraction also damages our correct cognition and understanding of education. Generally speaking, the common differences are as follows: in terms of educational objectives, western education is civic education, while China education is exam-oriented education; In terms of educational concept, western education emphasizes freedom, respects each student's personality and characteristics, and cultivates students' creativity, while China education emphasizes discipline and order, which obliterates students' personality and creativity. In terms of teaching methods, western education is mild heuristic education, while China is strict cramming education; Moreover, the education in the West is equality, dialogue and communication, while the education in China is a tiger mother and a wolf father, and so on.
This either-or "Facebook" and the very popular BBC documentary last summer-"Are our children strong enough? Education in China has reached a climax. In that documentary, China's education was portrayed as a rigid, rigid and stern "ferocious face", but unexpectedly, in the final exam contest, it defeated the British education that the British were proud of, which triggered an unprecedented comparative discussion between Chinese and Western education. What puzzles me is that despite the overwhelming discussion, few people question the authenticity of this documentary. I'm not saying that the documentary is fake; I mean, the documentary is true, but the problems it shows may be false. When I first saw the movie, I was a little skeptical. Is there such a big difference between Chinese and English classes? The so-called "China Classroom" shown in the documentary looks more like it was directed according to a pre-written script. The facts confirmed my guess. Three of the five China teachers are currently working and living in the UK, while Teacher Yan, who is considered to be the most "China", has actually been living in the UK since 1997. Do they really understand what happened in China's class today? Another fact revealed is that during the filming process, when China teachers tried to make adjustments according to the real situation, the director group asked them to present the so-called "China Education" according to the preset mode. In other words, the hideous "education in China" is probably the product of the imagination of BBC documentary directors, which may not conform to the educational reality in China today. In fact, I just want to achieve a dramatic communication effect: an unrecognized China education model finally defeated a universally recognized British education model. This "incredible" result may have been preset long before shooting. Teacher China, who presented the "Chinese class", was just an actor recruited by the BBC. Ironically, this documentary, which "truly records" the educational differences between China and Britain, has aroused great concern and even attracted the dissatisfaction of the British natives. In a sense, BBC documentaries have successfully achieved their business goals, but they have not helped us improve our understanding of education equally successfully.
My point is that there are inevitably some differences between Chinese and western education due to the differences in history, culture, tradition, society, climate and environment, but from the perspective of "good education", there is no essential difference between the two, at least not as big as imagined.
Before starting the following discussion, I would like to seriously point out that the education in China mentioned here not only refers to the education in China at present, but also includes the educational ideals, traditions and spirit from Confucius to China for thousands of years. The reason why we have a lot of dissatisfaction and criticism about the current education in China does not necessarily mean how serious the education in China itself is. On the contrary, it is because we have deviated from or even abandoned the fine tradition of China's ancient sages. To solve the educational problems in contemporary China, we should not only look outward and learn from western educational ideas and models, but also look inward and learn wisdom and strength from China's great educational thoughts and practices in ancient times. The Analects of Confucius is the educational bible of mankind and the inexhaustible ideological wealth of China people.
From this perspective, we can more clearly see the problems of Facebook in the comparison of Chinese and western education. For example, it is a fact that the West emphasizes value education, and it is also a fact that China lacks value education today. However, in our ancestors, values education has always been the core of education. This value is to teach people how to be a man. Confucius' highest educational ideal is "benevolence". The word "benevolence" appeared in The Analects of Confucius 109 times. What is "benevolence"? Confucius said, "Love". Mencius also said: "The benevolent loves others, and the courteous respects others. Those who love others will always love others; Those who respect others will always respect others. " This educational thought not only coincides with Plato's "king of philosophy" educational thought, Rousseau's natural education thought and Dewey's democratic education thought, but also enriches and surpasses the latter.
In ancient China, the primary goal of education was morality, followed by specific knowledge and skills. "A scholar is a prophet, and then he writes", so Confucius said, "Disciples are filial when they enter, and filial when they leave. They sincerely believe that they love people all the time, but they are kind. I have spare capacity to study literature. " After practicing a series of moral goals such as filial piety, trust and love for human beings, I will learn cultural knowledge when I have spare time. At the beginning of "University", it is clearly pointed out that "the way of a university is clear in virtue, close to the people, and ends in perfection." In Han Yu's educational world, "preaching" is the primary duty of teachers, followed by "teaching", and the order is very clear.
Since the 20th century, top universities in the west have carried out undergraduate education reform marked by general education, and China University has also joined the ranks. The core of general education is to overcome the increasingly serious tendency of specialization and professionalization in higher education, condense social knowledge and cultivate a complete person who fully understands himself and his position in society and the universe. In fact, such an idea has existed for a long time in Confucius' educational practice, and the realm is higher. Because western education only realized the value of "general education", while Confucius emphasized "general morality" at a higher level, and "general education" was second. Morality is far more important than occupation. Confucius has three thousand disciples, divided into four subjects: morality, speech, politics and literature. Among them, moral conduct is the highest subject, followed by writing, followed by politics, and literature (that is, knowledge) is the last. Yan Yuan, the representative of the Ministry of Virtue-Confucius' favorite disciple-"Use it, then do it, and discard it, then hide it". Even if you learn all the skills, if you deviate from the Tao, you would rather hide it than use it. Xia Zi, who is listed in the Literature Department, also said: "Although there are trails, there must be considerable people; Stay away from the mud, but also a gentleman. "Although technology is important, it may hinder the great cause, so the gentleman does not engage in it. The most extreme example is that Fan Chi invited students to study crops. Confucius said, "I am not as good as the old farmer. "Please learn to be a nursery. Yue: "I am not as good as the old nursery. "Leave Fan Chi. Confucius said, "I'm a villain, and so is Xu Fan! "That's really angry. This is just cursing that Fan Chi is a villain. " The villain is the most severe criticism of Confucius, which is much more serious than criticizing the massacre of sleeping in broad daylight. This educational thought of "attaching importance to Taoism but neglecting skills" has profoundly influenced the social development of China since then. In ancient China, skills were called "strange skills and cunning", which was the last skill that even prostitutes ignored. Why has it become our educational goal today?
Today, while criticizing China's education for stifling students' individuality and creativity, people often highly admire the respect and cultivation of students' individuality and creativity by western education. As we all know, respecting students' individuality is precisely the essence of China's ancient educational thought. Confucius' most important contribution to China's education is the great idea of "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude". Lutz and You Ran asked the same question: "Steven Zhu Xing?" Confucius' answer is the opposite, which is based on the different personality characteristics of Lutz and You Ran. What we need to reflect on is why the educational ideal that was realized more than two thousand years ago cannot be realized today. Holding the golden rice bowl of our ancestors in our hands, why should we go further and seek the truth of education in the west?
Today, when people criticize China's education for emphasizing unified standard answers, they often highly praise the critical and divergent thinking of western education. In fact, even the same question, Confucius never provided a unified answer. Such examples abound in The Analects of Confucius. For example, Zhang Zi, Fan Chi, Lao Zi, Zi Gong, Yan Yuan, Zhong Gong and Sima Niu all asked the same question about benevolence, but Confucius gave different answers. Among them, Zhang Zi asked twice and Fan Chi asked three times. On political issues, Zi Gong, Qi Jinggong, Zhang Zi, Ji Kangzi, Lutz, Zhong Gong, Ye Gong and Xia Zi all asked, and Confucius gave different answers. Similar examples are "filial piety" and "gentleman". Why should we emphasize the unified standard answer now? In fact, emphasizing the unified standard answer is precisely the result of the western "standardized examination". Especially after the implementation of the large-scale computer examination, only the unique answer can be quickly recognized by the computer-this is only an obvious evidence that people are enslaved by machines. Standardized examination provides a certain degree of admission basis for western universities, but it is also severely criticized by people of insight in western education, which leads to the admission of top universities does not depend on the scores of standardized examinations, but on the overall evaluation of students. Why should we take those "standards" that may not be formed in the western education circle as standards instead?
Today, people often admire the importance that western education attaches to every child, especially Xiong Haizi, who seems to be doing nothing at home. As soon as he arrived in the United States, he immediately became an excellent talent. Unlike middle schools in China, which only focus on the top students who can be admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua, others are "accompanying students". This is indeed a fact. However, the education in ancient China was not like this. Confucius said, "there is no class in teaching"; He said, "I have never been ignorant of tying myself up." As long as you offer me a small gift, I will have nothing to do and try my best to teach. Why should we divide the students into three grades, six grades and nine grades according to the exam results today?
Today, people often highly praise the induced teaching in the West and criticize China's spoon-feeding and spoon-feeding. In fact, although the induced teaching method originated from Socrates, it did not become popular in western education until after World War II, and there are still many controversies about it. At least in the United States, especially in the schools established during the colonial period with the goal of cultivating priests, the teaching methods are absolutely cramming. Whether they understand it or not, students must remember large paragraphs of the Bible and Latin literature in order to pass the exam. In the first two centuries after Harvard was founded, students had to recite the prescribed learning content every day. This even led to a week-long riot in 1834, and almost all second-year students were expelled. However, in ancient China, teaching was induced. In daily life, Confucius used his ambition, knowledge and behavior to subtly guide and educate students at any time and place. Therefore, Yan Yuan will sincerely sigh: "The master is good and charming, and will write to me and ask me to be polite, but I can't stop."
Today, when people criticize China's education administration for over-managing schools, they often compare it with the US Department of Education, which has done almost nothing. In fact, Lao Tzu has long said, "Tao always does nothing." If Hou Wang can keep it, everything will be self-sufficient. "The way of education lies in inaction, and' self-transformation' is the highest state of education. He added: "If you manage a big country, you can cook it fresh. "Governing a big country cannot be tossed and trivial. Isn't this a wake-up call for today's endless "pancake flipping" and other educational reform measures?
Therefore, the crux of the problem is not the difference between Chinese and western education, but more importantly, why we have abandoned the fine tradition of ancient education in China; It's not that we should learn advanced educational ideas and teaching methods from the West, but more importantly, how to tap the ancient educational wisdom of China and make creative transformation. Western education is a mirror that allows us to see our own problems more clearly from the perspective of "the other", but the "truth" of education actually exists in our hearts. Education means not only the imparting of knowledge, but also the training of skills and even the cultivation of abilities. In the final analysis, education and culture are closely linked, so it is necessary to make students more mature and wise, and help them establish a sense of cultural belonging and cultural identity. Education should make people realize who you are, where you are and where your roots are. It is at this point that if children are sent abroad too early, they will lose their cultural foundation. Parents who are anxious to send their children abroad now will regret it sooner or later. The child is still the child, but he (she) doesn't belong to you, China or even where he (she) is. He speaks fluent English with extraordinary ability, and may even gain a prominent position in multinational companies, but he (she) doesn't know who he (she) is, and neither do you. For a family, such pain and blow are devastating.
I think this may be the mission of our generation of educators in China: how to assume the local responsibility of education in the era of globalization? Let our children receive a good education at home, meet their parents every day and grow up healthily and happily according to their own nature. In China people's values, Everyday is a responsible citizen with a global vision. This is my dream. I believe that with the efforts of every educator in China, this dream will come true at an early date.