Humanistic Education in Chinese Universities

Author: Gan Yang, Chen Lai, Su Li, Editors
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: There are over 20 million undergraduate university students currently enrolled in China, making the improvement of undergraduate education a pressing issue. The first China Culture Forum, themed "Humanistic Education in Chinese Universities," focused on discussing how to transform the traditional undergraduate education model that has long existed in our universities. This model, which previously emphasized professional education while lacking general education, should shift towards a "professional development based on general education." Many scholars have proposed that undergraduate education and university humanistic education should reform the "introduction, principles plus general history" model, transforming it into a way of studying original classics from ancient and modern times in China and the West. To address the current neglect of basic compulsory courses in humanistic education in Chinese universities, it is suggested to build core courses for undergraduate humanistic education centered on classic reading, making them compulsory "common core courses" for all undergraduate students. These suggestions undoubtedly broaden the exploration of humanistic education in Chinese universities. This book is a record of the first China Culture Forum, not only including conference papers but also preserving the questions, answers, and discussions from the meeting, striving to recreate the rigorous yet vibrant atmosphere of the forum.