Rise and Turmoil on the Educational Stage of the Republic (1949~1957)

Author: Zhao Deqiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Education advances on the path of exploration toward tomorrow, and the hopeful tomorrow relies on a kind of education worthy of it. Since tomorrow's education can be called life-oriented education, the new opportunities it gains are inseparable from the dedication of a generation who commit their entire lives to it. The topic of education is weighty yet full of hope, and from here we pray for tomorrow. After the dimming of many external pursuits, education returns to the intimacy of life to seek its original purpose. Compared to fields like politics and economics that depend on a sense of power, education has a non-utilitarian dimension. This dimension allows education to remain independent of worldly "power" or "gain" to preserve the composure of judgment and fulfillment of life, thereby establishing its irreplaceable and non-delegable mission. Of course, education will not ignore the various demands from politics and economics, but its central focus remains education, which can never shrink its critical and transcendent nature. It responds to the concepts of politics and economics with its own concepts, but it does not want to serve as the servant of contemporary politics and economics. The multidimensionality of its mission is only due to the multidimensionality of life's values, and its essential meaning ultimately depends on the essential meaning of life. If we say that politics, in its proper role, aims to establish a reasonable order for society to realize the "justice" value expected by life, economics, in its proper role, aims to provide a better living environment for the nation to achieve the "prosperity" value pursued by life, ethics, in its proper role, aims at the "harmony" value, art, in its essence, aims to create another world through aesthetic forms to cultivate the "beauty" value desired by life, and the Dao, in its main purpose, aims to reflectively elevate the spiritual realm of people through self-discipline to cultivate the "goodness" value that life cannot afford to lack in its spiritual introspection, then the mission of education lies in guiding people's value consciousness, grasping the tension between multidimensional values to cultivate people's life. This book first comprehensively reviews the development of education in the Republic from 1949 to 1957, summarizes its achievements and shortcomings, and puts forward its own reflections. Secondly, it reviews the real-life experiences of intellectuals in the education sector during this period in various political movements, outlining their progress and extracting their lessons. This book particularly emphasizes the reflection of historical experience on the present, truly being "cutting to the point yet far-reaching in meaning."