Keywords: new school; New academic system; Western education
The emergence of modern new academic system in China is not an accidental product of historical development. Tao Xingzhi pointed out in the article History of New Academic System Construction in China: "All systems are products of the times. The school system does not violate this principle. This is the case, so is the academic system; In this era, the education system has to be inferior to this. The times have changed, and the academic system that conforms to the needs of the times has also changed. " The construction of modern new academic system in China was accompanied by the rise of new schools and the study of western education.
First, the rise and development of new schools is the result of learning western education.
(A) the need to learn from the West in the strong contrast between China and the West
/kloc-when the Opium War broke out in 0/840, the western capitalist powers opened the door of China's closed door with artillery and warships, and China was involved in the expansion wave of the capitalist world. As Marx said: "The prestige of the Qing Dynasty was swept away as soon as it met British guns, and the eternal superstition of the Chinese empire was dealt a fatal blow, and the barbaric and closed-door state of being isolated from the civilized world was broken." This is a special form of contact between two different social systems-capitalism and feudalism. The backwardness and decay of feudal system is in sharp contrast with advanced and civilized capitalism.
There is a huge gap between China society and western society in economy, politics, science and technology and ideology and culture. During the Opium War, China was a self-sufficient feudal economy, and western capitalist countries were undergoing an industrial revolution. China is still ruled by feudal autocracy, while the west has entered capitalism for more than 200 years; Although China has four great inventions in ancient times, it lags far behind in modern science and technology. After the Renaissance, science and technology in western countries were very developed, and many important inventions and advanced achievements appeared: Newton's law of gravity, Descartes' geometry, Darwin's theory of evolution and so on; While China's feudal Confucianism fetters people's thoughts, the western thoughts of individual liberation, freedom, equality and fraternity have been widely spread and practiced. Therefore, during the Opium War, China society was still in a feudal, conservative, closed and backward state, while the western society was advanced, open and developed. According to the theory of cultural development potential difference put forward by Professor Ren, a famous scholar in China, a high-level advanced culture will inevitably affect a low-level cultural lag after the contact of different cultures. This phenomenon, like the tide of water, is irreversible, so the gap and imbalance called "cultural potential difference" determines that advanced technology and culture will inevitably flow to backward areas. In modern China, the way of this flow was to open the country by war, and western learning was imported into China under the bombardment of artillery. Since then, China has entered a semi-feudal and semi-colonial period, with great changes in politics and economy and destruction of territory and sovereignty. The self-sufficient natural economy has been impacted by the capitalist economy, not only the contradiction between feudalism and the masses, but also the increasingly sharp contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation. As a backward area, China must learn from advanced western countries and regions in order to achieve national independence and people's liberation, complete the task of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, and complete the course of modern education.
(2) The decline of traditional school education in China in the late Qing Dynasty.
After the Opium War, China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, beset with political and economic problems, and traditional education was in crisis.
1. The imperial examination was riddled with holes. First of all, the school became a vassal of the imperial examination, and the school taught whatever the imperial examination took; The school will teach you how to take the imperial examination. The imperial examination is empty in content and autocratic in form, and cheating in the examination room is serious. "Answering perfunctory questions, no invention, not enough people"; "Words are just flashy", and the structure of eight-part essay fetters the literati's thoughts. Cheating became a common practice in the imperial examination system, impersonation was repeatedly banned, and stereotyped writing was added to take scholars, which led to the proliferation of scholars in the late Qing Dynasty.
This school exists in name only. The education system of feudal schools in the late Qing Dynasty, whether official or private, was complete, but these schools existed in name only because of official corruption, imperial examination fraud, stale style of study and other reasons. Educational content is empty and useless, and teaching activities cannot be carried out. For example, imperial academy, the highest institution of higher learning, has no strict management system, which leads to chaos in running schools. Students go to prison to study, but they have no desire to study. They often wander around with pipes in their mouths and teacups in their hands. The school has been idle and the sound of books is unknown. The system of "sitting in prison" was abolished and students were allowed to study in the dormitory. As long as the first and fifteenth day of junior high school are supervised twice, most of the instructors are old and mediocre. The school exists in name only and cannot play a practical role. At the important moment of the national crisis, the old feudal school education could not adapt to the development of social economy and politics, and could not cultivate people with real talents and practical learning.
The study style of scholars is declining. The Qing government closed its doors to the outside world, set up a literary inquisition at home, and adopted a high-handed policy to curb ideas; For a long time, intellectuals have been ignorant, unwilling to make progress, evading politics, studying theories, textual research and rhetoric that have nothing to do with reality, and formed many academic schools with textual research as the main feature; The national spirit is empty and weak, and the ideological circle presents a cold scene. There is an unhealthy style of study in society, that is, "I dare to say what I mean unless I am Zhu's, and I dare not do it unless I am Zhu's family etiquette." Such an academic atmosphere is impossible to cultivate talents with real talents and practical learning.
(3) Learn from the West and build new schools.
The decadent school education system in the late Qing Dynasty has declined, and the trained people can no longer meet the needs of society. After the First Opium War, China opened to the outside world. Lin Zexu, Wei Yuan and other people of insight began to realize that the western powers had powerful ships and guns, so they put forward the idea of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners". During the Second Opium War, officials of the Qing government, represented by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo, personally felt the advanced and powerful western powers. They think that ships and telegrams are fast; The essence of military equipment and machinery is a hundred times stronger; Wherever the shells go, they are invincible, land and water are connected, restrictions are few, and they are once in a thousand years. "So, only by learning the technology of western countries can we subdue foreigners. Especially after the Second Opium War, foreigners flooded into China's trading ports, and exchanges between China and foreign countries became increasingly frequent, which made the Qing government in urgent need of a large number of new westernization talents, and it was impossible for the old feudal education to cultivate such new modern talents. Therefore, the problem of talents is very prominent, and the voice of learning advanced western technology and education and reforming feudal education system is growing. In addition, during the Westernization Movement, a number of modern military industries and civilian industries were established, and a large number of talents in modern science and technology, military technology and diplomacy were urgently needed. However, in the early days of the Westernization Movement, China was very short of talents with modern scientific and technological knowledge, and even the graduates of early missionary schools could not meet the demand for talents. Therefore, the lack of westernization talents has become the biggest obstacle to the further development of westernization movement. Faced with the pressure of talents, the Westernization School had to set up new schools to train talents who systematically studied western natural science and modern science and technology. From 1862 to 1900, when Shi Jing Wentongtang, the first modern school, was opened, until Wu Bei School in Jiangsu was founded. In the past 30 years, Westernization School * * established nearly 40 new schools. There are three main types of these new schools: the first is a foreign language school, mainly including Shi Jing Wentong Hall, Shanghai Dialect Hall, Guangzhou Wentong Hall, Xinjiang Russian Hall, Hubei Qiangzi School, etc. The second category is industrial technical schools, mainly including Fuzhou Ship Administration School, Technical School affiliated to Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration, Guangdong Practical Learning Hall, Fuzhou Telegraph School, Tianjin Telegraph School and Shanghai Telegraph School. The third category is military schools, mainly including Nanjing Army School and Tianjin Naval School. In these modern new schools, the educational content has involved the knowledge of modern natural science and technology that the old schools in China did not have.
Second, the founding process of modern schools in China.
The development of modern education in China has seen the phenomenon of putting the cart before the horse, which is a unique phenomenon in the history of education in China. The establishment of modern new education system in China is not only different from western advanced capitalist countries, but also different from China's neighboring countries (such as Japan). Most countries in the world develop primary education and secondary education first, then junior college education and higher education. The modern new education in China started with the establishment of language schools, followed by military technical schools and various industrial schools, and then came back to develop primary education and higher education. This phenomenon of putting the cart before the horse reflects the passivity and eagerness of modern China people.
From 1 1, the establishment of Shi Jing Wentong Museum in June, 6862, to1June, 905, when the Qing government "stopped the imperial examination and wide school", the modern new school in China experienced 44 years, including three historical development periods: Westernization School, Reform School and New Deal School. At the same time, the imperial examination system was finally established.
Westernization education is the beginning of modern official education in China. After the failure of the two Opium Wars, the Westernization School, which was born because of internal troubles and foreign invasion, deeply realized: "The way to self-improvement lies in educating people; The way to seek talents is to set up schools first, so the Westernization School founded a series of new schools. From the establishment of Shi Jing Wentong Museum by 1862 Westernization School to the final establishment of Jiangsu armament school by 1890, nearly 40 new-style schools were established in recent decades. It mainly involves two types: foreign language schools and military technical schools. Among them, Shi Jing Wentongtang and Fuzhou Ship Administration School are the two most representative and influential new schools in the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, which occupy a very important position in the history of modern education in China.
The appearance of Westernization School adapts to the mainstream trend of "Western learning spreading to the east", and its educational content mainly includes "Western learning" courses such as foreign languages, natural sciences and practical sciences, which has become an important symbol different from feudal education. Westernization School trained the first batch of translators, diplomats, naval personnel and scientific and technological personnel for modern China, which greatly promoted the modernization of education in China.
If the new school established by the Westernization School stays at the level of learning western skills, then the new school established by the Reformists goes deep into the institutional level. Reformists believe that the basic reason for China's weakness lies in poor education and academic backwardness, so the fundamental of political reform lies in cultivating talents; The prosperity of talents lies in running schools. At that time, the reformists founded many new schools, especially the ten thousand mu thatched cottage founded by Kang Youwei and the current affairs school sponsored by Tan Sitong and Huang Zunxian. There are also the Beiyang Western School founded by Sheng Xuanhuai, Nanyang Public School, and the Confucian School founded by Liang Qichao and others, which are the first to lead the trend. Other types include Yi Tong School, Liuyang Mathematics School and Shaoxing Chinese and Western School. At that time, it had an important influence and trained many new talents. In addition, in the Reform Movement of 1898, it was stipulated that the academy would be changed into a new school to learn from Manabu Nakanishi. Colleges run by provincial capitals should be institutions of higher learning, colleges run by Fucheng should be middle schools, and colleges run by county towns should be primary schools. Sociology and voluntarism donated by all local governments should also be combined with Chinese and western learning. Those who are not in the temple should also be changed into schools, and Shi Jing University Hall should be clearly established. The establishment of these new schools played an effective role in the emergence of new schools during the New Deal.
A large number of new schools emerged during the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. 1901September 4, 2004 14, the Qing government issued an imperial edict to promote learning, and ordered the colleges all over the country to be changed into large, medium and small schools, pointing out that "talents are the foundation of political affairs, and the purpose of educating talents is to cultivate academic knowledge ... In addition to setting up university halls in the capital, it is necessary to earnestly rectify and change all colleges in provinces to. Various places responded to the imperial edicts of the Qing court, and new schools mushroomed during the New Deal. According to statistics, there are 769 new schools in 1903, 4,476 in 1904 and 8,277 in 1905. Its development speed is unimaginable. It can be seen that the new schools at this time gradually became the main body of modern education in China, thus promoting the actual process of educational modernization in China.
Thirdly, the theoretical basis of establishing a new academic system in modern China.
Westernization education is the beginning of modern education, which injected fresh blood into China feudal traditional education in many aspects. However, no achievements have been made in the establishment of the academic system. More than 30 new schools are run by westernization officials, lacking the overall national planning and academic system. Westernization school is a new school with the nature of secondary education. There is no primary education to connect with it, and there is no higher education institution to conduct research. However, the hesitation in practice did not stop the theory from moving forward. China people experienced a process of learning and exploring the introduction of academic system, and gradually built China's own new academic system theory system.
First of all, Hong Rong, the first student from China studying in the United States, put forward the proposal of establishing a new academic system. When he visited Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in 1860, he discussed the plan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with Hong Rengan, the leader of the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and put forward seven suggestions on educational reform, four of which were related to the establishment of a new academic system, such as "establishing a school education system at all levels for the people and taking the Bible as one of the textbooks." This idea has been roughly similar to the capitalist school system.
Second, with the gradual deepening of China's education in the West, some people show China people the western educational system with envy. Bin Chun, China's first official to go to Europe, introduced the situation of widely established schools in "Europa countries" in his Staff's Notes for five years of Tongzhi (1866): there are universities and middle schools in one country and one county, and primary schools in one township and one city. Children enter primary school when they are seven or eight years old, middle school when they are successful, and university when they are successful in middle school. In the 12th year of Tongzhi (1873), Li introduced the German academic system in An Introduction to Taixi Studies, and summarized it as "the national system, where there is no land, no learning, and no one does not learn". In addition, Huang Zunxian wrote Japanese Miscellaneous Poems and Records of Japan, and Xue Fucheng wrote Go to Four Kingdoms.
With the introduction of western learning, some western missionaries, such as Ernst Faber, Lin Lezhi and Timothy Richard, also wrote books to introduce the western school education system, which contributed to the propaganda of the school system at that time and inspired the education reform in the late Qing Dynasty.
Third, build the outline of a new academic system. With the introduction of the western education system, China people began to conceive China's own education system and constructed a series of new educational system outlines. Zheng suggested in 1884' s "The Feast of Prosperity" that "with a slight modification, the skills of civil and military arts can be divided into big, medium and small ... within three years, the outstanding ones will be promoted from primary school to middle school, and within three years, the outstanding ones will be promoted from middle school to university." A blueprint for establishing a higher education system in China has been drawn. In the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), Li Duanfen wrote in "Please Develop Schools": "Schools should be set up in the capital and all provinces and counties", which not only suggested to further popularize new schools, but also made detailed plans for courses, so as to further systematize the education system in China.
Fourthly, with the development of the Reform Movement, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao complied with the call of the education circles at that time to follow the example of the West and establish the education system in modern China, trying to carry the banner and lead the education system reform. During the Reform Period from 65438 to 0898, Liang Qichao drew up the Constitution of Shi Jing University with reference to Japanese and western educational systems and combined with his own national conditions, which laid the foundation for the establishment of modern educational system in China. Kang Youwei also specifically proposed the establishment of an educational administrative institution such as the Ministry of Education. In the "Reform Movement of 1898", some educational systems and schemes of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were implemented, such as "setting up schools widely and advocating western learning". However, the coup d' é tat in 1898 ended the 100-day "Reform and Reform" and ruined the new educational system in19th century.
Fourthly, the birth of China's modern new academic system.
In the process of China people conceiving to establish a new school system, the educational publication Education World also introduced and commented on the modern Japanese school system. At the same time, the Qing government also sent officials to inspect the education systems of some countries. All these have made necessary preparations for the establishment of new learning.
190 1 Under the pressure of the national crisis, the Qing government implemented the "New Deal" and promulgated the "imperial edict to promote learning", which greatly promoted the development of modern new schools. Therefore, the development of new schools, especially the formation of three-level academic system, calls for the introduction of modern academic system, and objectively requires the establishment of a unified academic system to be put on the agenda.
1August, 90215th, the Qing government promulgated the imperial academy Articles of Association drafted by Zhang Baixi, an official minister. This is the first complete academic system in the history of education in China, and it is also the first academic system announced by the government in the form of a decree, but it has not been implemented for some reason.
190465438+1October 13, Cecilia Cheung, Zhang Zhidong, and Rong Qing redrafted a "Playing School Charter", which was promulgated and implemented. It is the first complete academic system document in the history of education in China. Because this year is the year of Guimao in the old calendar, it is also called "Guimao academic system". The educational system takes "middle school as the body and western learning as the application" as the guiding ideology, and takes respecting Confucius and reading classics as the purpose. The content is more detailed than Renyin Academic System. The system of "Guimao academic system" is divided into three major systems: general education, industrial education and normal education. The whole study period is as long as 26 years, which is 2 1 year, even if the five years of Tongru Academy are not counted, which is the longest academic system in China history.
The formulation and implementation of "Guimao academic system" not only laid the foundation for the establishment of a new academic system in China, but also promoted the development of new schools at all levels. According to statistics, by 1909, there were 5 1678 primary schools, 460 middle schools, 27 institutions of higher learning, 5 14 normal schools and 254 industrial schools. Therefore, the "Guimao academic system" is the systematic achievement of learning western education in modern times, and it is also a link between the past and the future in China's educational reform in modern times, which is of symbolic significance in the development of China's educational modernization.