People-Oriented Education Transformation (The Great Transformation of China) 9811663521, 9789811663529

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THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION OF CHINA

People-Oriented Education Transformation Zhaohui Chu

Translators: Qiaodan Lu · Xueqi Ni Ying Shen

The Great Transformation of China China’s Economic Transformation, Innovation and Development

Series Editor Fulin Chi China Institute for Reform and Development Haikou, Hainan, China

China is facing unprecedented challenges in its continued modernization process. This series brings together government insiders, academics, and policymakers in articulating specific social and political issues that China is trying to resolve, offering scholars around the world insights into what China’s leadership see as the biggest challenges facing the nation and how best to resolve them. The series publishes monographs and edited volumes with contributions on a global basis dedicated to ground-breaking research on the Chinese modernization process. More information about this series at http://link.springer.com/series/15346

Zhaohui Chu

People-Oriented Education Transformation

Zhaohui Chu Research Center for Educational Theory National Institute of Education Sciences Beijing, China

Translation from the Chinese language edition: 《以人为本的教育转型》 by Zhaohui Chu, © Zhejiang University Press 2016. Published by Zhejiang University Press. All Rights Reserved. ISSN 2509-6001     ISSN 2509-601X (electronic) The Great Transformation of China ISBN 978-981-16-6352-9    ISBN 978-981-16-6353-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6 © Zhejiang University Press 2022 Jointly published with Zhejiang University Press The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: Zhejiang University Press. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-­01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword

The Year 2020: A Historic Choice of Economic Transformation and Upgrading A great nation with 13 billion people is facing a changing situation it has not ever faced for a thousand years. Change, transformation, and innovation feature the main melody of the era. In this era of high integration of growth, transformation, and reform, “great transformation” is exactly what decides the destiny of China. In other words, not only will “toxic assets” left in the traditional system have to be eliminated completely but also the new way for further growth needs to be paved quickly while not losing the new motive force of development. The major transformation in China’s “13th Five-Year Plan” (FYP) is historically decisive. With economic transformation as the focal point, both social transformation and government transformation are in the crucial period of transition in which innumerable thorny problems have to be tackled. Our general judgment is that the year 2020 is like a gorge we have to jump over. Specifically, by the end of 2020 we will eliminate the pressure on short-term growth and change the way for economic development while achieving a comparatively prosperous society in an all-round way and becoming one of the high-income countries in the world. If we plan well enough to make the best use of 2020, a mid-term period in the 13th FYP, we can lay a solid foundation for the medium-to-long-term peaceful and sustainable growth. If we fail to grasp the historical opportunity of 2020, we will lose the initiative of “great transformation,” thus resulting in multiple systemic economic risks. v

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The significant breakthrough for achieving the economic transformation and upgrading in the 13th FYP period is how to cope with “four threes.” Firstly, grasping three major trends: one for industrial transformation and upgrading from “made in China” to “intellectually made in China”; one for urbanized transformation and upgrading from scale to population; and one for consumption pattern upgrading from material to service. Secondly, dealing with three major challenges: one for achieving a major breakthrough in structural reform by enhancing the structural adjustment despite the economic downturn; one for “corner overtaking” by responding to the global new round of scientific and technological revolution and increasing the ability to innovate; and one for a real and down-to-earth reform. At present, the transformation depends more on the all-round breakthrough in reform. It cannot move forward at all without the change in systematic structure, and growth would suffer big pressures. Thirdly, achieving three major goals: one for industry, namely forming the service-dominated industrial structure by accelerating the process of service in manufacture; one for a major motive force, namely forming a consumption-oriented new pattern of economic growth, in which consumption guides investment and domestic consumption becomes a main force that spurs economic growth; and one for opening­up, namely forming a new open pattern dominated by service trade so as to redouble service trade in scale. Finally, handling three major relationships properly: one between the short term and the medium-to-long term in which the best job should be done for 2020 while resolving contradictions in the short term, basing ourselves on the mid-term and keeping our eyes on the long term; one between speed and structure which requires accelerating the structural adjustment while maintaining an increase by 7% or so; and one between policy and system in which the key is to gain a policy advantage in achieving institutional innovation under economic pressure. The past 40 years of reform and opening-up has left us numerable valuable assets. The most valuable one is that the more complex the situation is and the more fundamental the changes are in environment, the more determined we will be in carrying out reform and pushing through the transformation. All these require that the “great transformation” needs overall arrangement and ambitious planning, a significant breakthrough in the reform of industrial structure, urban-rural structure, regional structure, ownership pattern, open structure and administrative power

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structure, and prospective planning in green sustainable development and “internet plus” development trends. By judging the transformational reform in the 13th FYP period, China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development (CIRD) and Zhejiang University Press have jointly designed and published this set of series entitled The Great Nation in Great Transformation—Economic Transformation and Innovative Development in China. The book series has paid attention to readability based on being strategic, prospective, and academic. It is our expectation that the series will offer enlightenment to readers who are closely watching the transformational reform in China while playing an active role in promoting the transformational reform in the 13th FYP period. The authors of the series are mostly well-known scholars in their own subject areas, who wrote their respective books in their spare-time. As the director of the editorial board of the series, I wish, first and foremost, to extend my sincere thanks to the consultants, editorial board members, authors, and the leadership and editors of the press. Last but not least, this set of series covers a wide range of subject areas, each volume representing its author’s own research conclusions and academic opinions. The set does not require consistency in terms of viewpoints. Any criticism and correction from readers are truly welcome. Haikou, Hainan, Fulin Chi China September 2015

Contents

1 Predicament: How Can Education Lead to Happiness  1 1.1 The Skewed Distribution and Suction Effect of Education  2 1.2 The Balance of Education Lays the Foundation for Human Well-being 18 1.3 Relatively Low Human Value as the Main Reason for China’s Internally and Externally Unbalanced Education Ecology 24 1.4 End with People’s Happiness 32 2 Social Transformation and Human Education 45 2.1 People in Social Transformation 47 2.2 Social Types and the Position of Education 56 2.3 Social Types and the Structure and Form of Education 61 2.4 The Positioning of People in Education 65 2.5 Logic of People-Oriented Education 69 3 Value: From Nationalism to People-centered Orientation 79 3.1 The Nationalism Background of Education 80 3.2 Who Is the Educator? 87 3.3 Who Do the Educated Belong to? 92 3.4 Man Is the Purpose, Not the Tool100 3.5 Return to People-Orientation106

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4 System: From Government-Run Education to Diversified Education113 4.1 Reasons for and Restrictions of Government-Run Education114 4.2 Big Pot or Buffet132 4.3 The Consistency of Human Diversity and Diversity of Societal Needs150 4.4 The Diversity of Natural Needs and the Diversity of Schools165 5 Management: Based on the Needs for Students’ Growth and Development181 5.1 De-administration182 5.2 Education Management Is Oriented to Shaping or Service199 5.3 What Is the First Basis of School-Running203 5.4 Construct Modern Schools to Meet Students’ Needs for Growth and Development214 5.5 The School’s Humanistic Management Principle and the Procedure Design235 6 Evaluation: Toward Pluralism and Independence249 6.1 There Are No Talents Under a Single Standard250 6.2 Evaluation Serves People’s Growth264 6.3 People-Oriented Evaluation System and the Basic Principles278 7 Teaching: Education for Life293 7.1 It Is Not Good for Education to Break Away from Life295 7.2 Educating with Life305 7.3 Education for a Better Life318 7.4 The Starting Point and Direction of Teaching325 8 Education Parties: I Decide My Education335 8.1 Return My Right to Me336 8.2 Choose the Right Way to Be the Best Self347 8.3 Make Full Use of Education Resources to Achieve Self-Growth356 Postscript365 Bibliography367

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3 Fig. 5.4 Fig. 5.5 Fig. 5.6 Fig. 5.7 Fig. 6.1 Fig. 8.1

Diagram of unbalanced education skewness and students flow in China 13 Diagram of Interactions among China’s Education Monotony Systems151 The number change in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008 204 The respective number change in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008 205 The number of enrollments in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008 206 The respective number of enrollments in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008 206 Schematic diagram of the mechanism of understanding and meeting the personalized needs of students 237 Changes in the management structure of humanistic schools 242 Operating procedures of humanistic school management 246 Sketch of the educational evaluation system with multilateral participation280 The sound mind structure 360

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List of Tables

Table 5.1 Table 5.2

Data of the “cancelling teaching points and combining schools” movement across China from 1998 to 2007 Two different logic for school-running

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Introduction

Looking at society from the economic, political, and military perspectives, all social changes bring about fleeting feelings. But from the educational perspective, the social changes, though they have taken place, are always relatively slow. Although tremendous changes have taken place in people’s ideological concepts, social and economic foundations, scientific and technological levels, and educational technology and forms, such as massive open online course (MOOC) which has attracted the attention of people all over the world since its emergence, the basic elements of education over the past 2000 years are still active today. Therefore, in the context of the current economic and social transformation, we can make sense of the education trend only by adopting microscopes, resorting to instrumental assistance with filtering and anti-interference functions, or depending on the human brains with strong and comprehensive analysis capability to see the changing trends in education. Ever since human beings gained access to education, they have been constantly asking what the function of education is. There are many responses to this question, such as the founding of the country, making clear the human relations, the cultivation of the Philosopher King, free people, harmonious people and gentlemen, and so on. The rich experience in social life makes humans to realize that the long-lasting things or the destination is the happiness of mankind. In this way, it is the creation of mankind’s happiness that is definitely the ultimate value of education. The French philosopher Condorcet said, “The human spirit will step forward on the road of truth, virtue, and happiness after getting rid of all the shackles, and freeing themselves from the kingdom of contingency and the xv

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kingdom full of enemies against human progress.”1 Chinese educator Tao Xingzhi made a revision to the “truth of great learning” in The Great Learning. He revised “Virtues terminate at the perfect kindness” as “the truth of the great learning lies in virtues, treating people kindly and people’s happiness.”2 What the wise man sees indicates the turn of education. Even if it is impossible to summarize all the individual demands of education with happiness, happiness is undoubtedly the focus of education’s function for humans who have lived through thousands of years. China has undergone tremendous changes in the past 30 years. The first major transformation was the transition from the traditional planned economic system to the market economic system, which enabled China to become a middle-­income country. The second was the transition from the economic system reform to comprehensive reforms, including educational reform, of which the main objectives were the healthy development of the human body and mind, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and humans’ development and progress. In this process, all the practices which may hinder the realization of this goal, even if some benefits can be obtained at present, or some individuals and organizations can gain benefits, should be stopped, changed, and improved as quickly as possible. The current dilemma for China’s education is about how to realize all the individuals’ happiness by education. In reality, people have strong feelings towards their needs to endure the pain of education. What we can see is the tide of Chinese students studying abroad, the “school selection” issue overwhelming both rural and urban areas, and the unbalanced educational ecology. Skewed distributions exist in education both at home and abroad, which triggers a pumping effect on the Chinese society, increases the pressure on domestic residents’ life and influences human well-being. Considering the underlying causes of the above phenomenon, we find that it is ultimately attributed to the relatively low overall human value of education, which is also uneven among various places. The human value is the ratio of the value orientation of human to that of social organization and other objective existence.

1  Condorcet: L’-Esquisse d’un Tableau des progreès de l’esprit humain. He Zhaowu, He Bing, trans. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 1998, p.204. 2  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 4). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, pp.623~624.

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In short, the solution to this problem is to achieve the people-oriented education transformation and to improve the overall human value. Only by taking the worthwhile happiness in life as the goal of education pursuit, developing education based on people’s happiness, cultivating people’s ability to create and enjoy happiness, and narrowing the gap between the human value of education in different regions of China or between China and abroad, can we reduce the skewness, establish a balanced educational ecology, and reduce the pumping effect that education imposes on society. In line with the development trend of human civilization over thousands of years, the educational transformation from the God-based and monarch-based to the human-based pattern is the general trend, and it is also the very process that China has to experience in the next period. This is a response to the current challenges that China’s education faces, and the only choice is to adapt to the development trends of human society. Such transformation is another huge turn concerning the system, which includes the following subsystems. The first subsystem is a synchronous change in education and society. To upgrade China’s economic industry and get out of the middleincome trap, we need to improve people’s innovation; to achieve urbanization, we need to transform farmers and rural labor into new citizens. Social transformation requires people to be armed with these general characteristics: to be both generalists and citizens, to be fully autonomous and personalized, to be ideological admirers, and to process information rapidly. Social transformation requires the reorientation of education from a vertical social level elevator to a flat society overpass and from a national tool to the people’s basic livelihood and civil rights. Social transformation requires the transformation of educational structure and form to improve the human value of education, change the current single structure, and increase the educational diversity and supply. Only when the relations between education’s supply and demand is changed can we eliminate personal attachment and achieve equality; and also, with the increase of education choices and the improvement of humanity, the human value of education will be elevated. People-oriented education cultivates people equally, and strives to eliminate the stratification caused by education. It seeks the very form based on the balance among people, and that between people and all the other existence in the outside world. It focuses on the mutual development and

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satisfaction of the individual’s development and society’s requirements. In this situation, the human value of education approximately equals to one. The second subsystem is the shift in the education value from nationalism to human orientation. The shift of implementing people-oriented education is the most urgent, profound and most in line with the transformation of human needs after “having a thorough understanding of the course of historical development and the changes involved therein.” It can not only support the real substantive transformation of the great power, but also tremendously benefit the prosperity of the Chinese nation and even the future of mankind. China's education has long been deeply influenced by nationalism. The transformation of Chinese society requires the shift of education value from nationalism to people-orientation. In this process, contradictions and problems are inevitable. The key is to realize the changes as follows: First, the educators should change their identity from social representatives to sincere mutual learners. Besides learning from professional teachers, there will be a wider range of education relationship, in which people learn from each other and take advantage of the multi-channel information dissemination. Age is no longer a necessary criterion to decide whether one can become a teacher. Educators will be those who grow up together with others or satisfy others’ growths; therefore, a more widespread phenomenon may appear where the recognizers engage in education. Second, the educated first belong to themselves. They constitute the main body of education together with educators, and are learners of equal cooperation, who are not abducted by any social organization. Third, we have to further clarify that people are the purpose, not the tool. Students’ growth and development are the ultimate goal of education. The best realm of the school is to become the spiritual home of teachers and students, and to create conditions for students to fully realize personality. Transformation requires the elimination of all institutional obstacles, as well as the return to the people-oriented educational ecology. The third subsystem is the transition of the education system from state monopoly to multi-agent. Affected by the nationalist education concept, China has established the world's largest system of state-arranged education, or the “centralized and unified planning system,” which revoked private schools, conducted unified enrollment, gave students living allowances, guaranteed secure jobs, and issued graduation and degree certificate. Within several years

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after establishing this system, serious contradictions between supply and demand arose. To resolve these problems, we needed a policy of “walking on two legs.” After more than 60 years of “reform,” it is still difficult to settle down. It is hard to effectively meet people’s demand, to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all aspects of education development, and to achieve sustainable development in terms of scale, structure, quality, and efficiency. It is simply the choice between “communal pot” and “buffet.” Retaining the former means it will be hard to eliminate the long-term hunger for autonomy, satisfy diverse appeals, form clear boundaries between politics and education, and achieve the rule of law and the separation of management and evaluation. The principle basis of the establishment of the education system is that the innate diversity of human beings is consistent with the diversity of social needs. It needs to go beyond the dilemma of oneness, adapt to and develop human diversity, diversify the school managers to bridge the broken management responsibility chain, and realize the limited liability system characterized by diverse school managers. The fourth subsystem is to establish a modern school management based on the needs of students' growth and development. The excessive administration of school management has become the bane of the entire society. Although it has been written in the government's education policy text many times, there is still a long way to go for its implementation. In order to run schools autonomously in accordance with the law, it is necessary to undergo de-administration, abandon the simple way of the administrative organizations to manage schools, and allow management of schools to return to the professionals according to the characteristics of specialized organizations. How to manage schools is directly related to how to position management. Human value can only be improved by implementing service-­ oriented school management rather than molding. The first basis of school management is to meet the demand of students’ growth and development, and then enforce related policies referring to society’s demands for talents. Only by developing modern schools according to the rule of law needs of the entire society, can we better fulfill students’ growth and development. The key prerequisites for establishing a modern school system include establishing the non-corporate status of the school, clearly defining the boundary between the government and the school, formulating the school charter, and actually running the school according to the regulations. In

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addition to the modern school system, schools also need to design management procedures directed by students’ growth needs based on the principles of people-oriented governance, implement the flat, low-­ centered, networked, interactive, and asymmetric management, and improve the human value as much as possible in different aspects. The fifth subsystem is to set up a diversified and autonomous educational evaluation system. Chinese examinations boast a long history. The current level of education assessment, however, lags behind most countries in the world. The main reason is that the single evaluation method under the long-term control of administrative power lacks competition and comparison, thus leading to the situation where no one can be judged as a talent under the single standard. Diversity and autonomy is the inevitable direction of people-oriented education evaluation, because it conforms to human nature, and only by this can we explore talents and meet the needs of China’s social development. How to evaluate education and people is directly related to how to assume human nature. When the evaluation right is controlled by the administrative power, the main function of evaluation is to control or select. Human nature is the ultimate basis of people-oriented evaluation, and we should assess students by their human nature rather than subjective judgment of the administrative authority. The people-oriented evaluation needs to clearly define the boundary between the right and responsibility of those who evaluate and are evaluated, and involve multiple participants. In essence, evaluation serves rather than molds people. The sixth subsystem is to form personalized teaching that meets the needs of forward and upward development in life. Influenced by the concept of narrowing education and the restriction of institutionalized education system, people feel quite tiny when facing the system, which leads to the gradual separation of teaching and life. Education without life is not a good thing. In this respect, both education pioneers’ judgments and practices have proved that education cannot be conducted without personalized life. The principle of people-oriented education is to teach with life, which means educating people to achieve forward and upward development in life. Only by making full use of life resources can we enrich the content, form, and method of education. It is necessary to establish a life-based curriculum, and instill new knowledge on the basis of experience.

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Education directed by the needs in life should drive students to fulfill their life missions, develop their personality, and seek the truth to be sincere. People-oriented education needs to start from the true initial state of teaching subjects, keep up with the growth and development needs, protect students’ interest and autonomy, encourage them to choose independently, and advocate them to be masters of their own life, so that students can take responsibility and arrange the layout for their future life, keep transcending the real world, and constantly improve their life quality and value. The seventh subsystem is to guarantee each student’s right of independent learning. The effect of education on each person is ultimately determined by himself, so regardless of the existing state of education, which has always been viewed as a social existence, sticking to “my education is controlled by myself” is the bottom line of being truly responsible for myself. For a long time, education administrators and teaching staff have arrogated many rights of the educated. They have not been aware of their education rights, and lacked the ability to maintain and effectively use these rights. People-oriented education should create or consciously choose an autonomous environment to awaken the educated to maintain and effectively use their right to choose. It is necessary for us to learn to choose in diversity rather than just follow—find our own growth paths, generate our own effective learning methods, make full use of all available education resources, seek and keep our own soul, handle the relationship between everything and us, and choose the proper life goals to work for, then become the best of us. Education plays a fundamental role in social development. Therefore, education reform is also a profound social change, which is deeply rooted in people’s minds but quite hard to endure for long. In this process, strong utilitarian induction or artificial power always influences the direction. In the next a few years, China will be in a critical period linking the preceding and following stages. In order to grasp the general trend of transformation and promote the optimization and improvement of education by law, we need to form a consensus on improving the human value of education in equality, and implement it into the management, evaluation, and teaching, which is definitely the original intention of this book.

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The basic approach to realizing this original intention is of course not to give a standard answer, but to clarify the origin of education over thousands of years, and to find a systematic solution to the problems concerning people’s thoughts and methods from the whole process of human evolution and development. We have to first help people understand the law of human growth and the trend of social development, then make clear the proper education value orientation, management, evaluation, and teaching, and ultimately achieve the implementation of assisting people to choose education which matches them best. In this way, education transformation is directly related to everyone; so this book is not just for educators, but is for everyone who cares about their own growth and development. How to deal with our education is ultimately up to us.

CHAPTER 1

Predicament: How Can Education Lead to Happiness

At present, the wave of Chinese students studying abroad or “choosing schools” at home reveals an unbalanced education ecology and a skewed distribution in both domestic and foreign education. This phenomenon has caused a suction effect on Chinese society, increasing the living pressure on domestic residents and affecting their well-being. The underlying reasons are the reduced importance attached to human value in the process of education and its uneven distribution among different regions. Only by improving the overall human value of education and reducing the gap between different regions in China, as well as between domestic and foreign education, can we reduce the skewness, establish a balanced education ecology, and weaken the current education’s suction effect on the society. It is a general trend and a necessary process in China’s current education to conform to the development trend of human civilization for thousands of years and realize the transformation of education from God-­ centered or monarch-centered to human-centered. Therefore, we need to improve the human value of education, set the most pursuit-worthy happiness in life as the goal of education, implement a type of education aimed at people’s happiness, and cultivate people’s ability to create and enjoy happiness. Enacting the transformation of education into a people-­ oriented direction is the response to challenges facing the current Chinese education, and the only choice in line with the development trend of human society. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_1

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In the real world, everyone is surrounded by education. While benefiting from education, we are also aware of some of its deficiencies, and yet when trying to change the situation, we fail to understand their underlying causes. Most people can grasp some specific problems, yet they lose sight of the overall situation. Even though they can express opinions and appeals representative of the public, they lack professional insights. At the same time, we will face various difficulties during any kind of transformation due to the hysteresis effect of established social systems and deeply ingrained concepts. Thus, let us discuss together how education can lead to better human happiness.

1.1   The Skewed Distribution and Suction Effect of Education Anyone endowed with common sense can intuitively feel the differences in education among different parts of the world. They are revealed not only in culture, value, and personality, but also in quality, character, and level of development. The gap in education quality reflects only an explicit shortcoming of China’s current education situation, while the exaggerated bureaucracy in education management, as well as and the lack of sound competition mechanisms and sufficient motivation for innovative talents constitute deeper underlying issues. Moreover, education is closely related to the local economic, political, and social environment. In the past one or two hundred years, Europe and North America have become the landmarks of education in the world, while Africa and other regions the basins of education. China, which used to lead the world in terms of education before the seventeenth century, has quickly lagged behind Europe and the US afterwards. The whole world has witnessed a pattern of significant differences and skewed distribution in terms of education. There has not been any fundamental change until now. The world university rankings in recent years can serve as a reference, in which the top 100 universities worldwide are mainly from the US and Europe. According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011, among the top 500 universities in the world, 103 were in the US, 52 in the UK, 42 in Germany, 21 in Australia, 21 in Canada, and only 12  in China (including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), a populous country where competition is more intense.

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The skewed distribution of education is not only a worldwide pattern, but also a domestic one. Starting from 1998, in the name of “optimizing rural education resources,” the government conducted a policy of “suspending educational establishments and combining schools” among rural primary and middle schools in order to cut down education expenditures. During the 14 years from 1997 to 2010, 371,470 primary schools were reduced nationwide, including 302,099 rural primary schools accounting for 81.3% of the total primary school reduction nationwide. This worsened the skewed distribution of education in China. Case 1.1 An isolated case of a rural school in China1 In a township central primary school in northern Jiangsu Province, there are 23 classes of 1419 students altogether, with 59 working teachers and a teacher-student ratio of 1:26, including substitute teachers. The proportion of old, middle-aged and young teachers is seriously out of tune, with old teachers accounting for almost half of the total and the average age being 50 years old. This is the case with the central primary school, while in village primary schools, it is mainly old teachers that are sticking to their posts. In recent years, the number of students has rebounded, yet the number of teachers has yet to be increased. Only few teachers are occasionally recruited here; many town and village schools would be grateful to be allocated with even the slightest number of them, since some of them even fail to usher in any new teacher. The principals are anxious; however, they have no other way to deal with this problem but to recruit substitute teachers or reemploy retired teachers. And the salary of substitute teachers and reemployed teachers is only around a few thousand yuan. The existence of discrepancies will inevitably lead to mobility. According to statistics, in the past 30 years, the total number of international students studying abroad has increased fivefold, from 800,000 in 1980 to 4.5 million in 2014, with a rapid growth since 2000. More than half of the Asian students studying abroad came from China, India, and South Korea. On the other hand, nearly half of the international students from these countries have entered educational institutions in the US, Canada, France, and Germany.

1  The case data of the Chinese rural school were sourced from the emails written by the school’s teachers to the author of this book.

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A number of studies have come to the common conclusion that China is witnessing a third wave of studying abroad and emigration since the reform and opening up. While the first wave mainly resulted from the release effect from self-enclosure to openness, and the second from political factors, then it cannot be denied that the main cause of the third wave lies with education. Of course, there are deeper and more complex social reasons which reflect multiple problems in the field of education in China. The public has lost their confidence in short-term improvement, so many of them are willing to abandon the aura of “the successful” and pursue a better future for their children. “Sacrifice myself for the benefit of my offspring” is almost a common thought of many overseas immigrants from China. Compared with the wave of going abroad at the beginning of the reform and opening up, this time, with the parents as the main driving forces, it has a stronger immigration tendency and significant differences in the quality of students. Some say that back then, the students went abroad with empty pockets, but they were confident; the students now go abroad with their pockets full of money and empty brains. Their parents have a tacit consensus: our next generation can no longer live like us. As a result, the number of Chinese students studying in the US has continued to grow in recent years, from 62,582 in the 2005-2006 academic year to 235,597  in the 2012-2013 academic year2, creating a new historical record. The number of Chinese students studying in the US has increased more than threefold in the past eight years, and the US has become the top destination for Chinese students studying abroad. At the same time, the proportion of Chinese students among international students in the US has also increased, from 11.6% in 2007 to 28.7% in 2013. According to the US Open Doors Report, until 2008, the largest source country for international students in the US was India while the second was China. In 2009, China rose to the first place and became the largest source of international students in the US for five consecutive years. In the academic year 2012-2013, the number of Chinese students studying in the US reached 235,597, accounting for 28.7% of the international students in the US, hitting a record high. In the academic year 2013-2014, the number of Chinese students studying in the US further increased to 274,439, 2  Data sourced from the Ministry of Education of China, U.S. Institute of International Education (IIE) Open Doors Report and Annual Report on the Development of Chinese Students Studying Abroad (2014), Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2014.

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recording a growth of 16.5% compared with 2013 and accounting for 31% of international students in the US.  This meant that every 3 out of 10 international students in the US were Chinese, and China has surpassed the second largest source country India (11.6%) by a margin of 19.4 percentage points. As the number of students studying in the US increased, the admission requirements of major universities in the US became tighter and tighter. Despite the surging number of Chinese student applicants, the admission rate has declined year by year, making it more difficult to be enrolled. In 2004, among the four prestigious universities in the US, that is, Yale University, Brown University, Cornell University, and Stanford University, Brown University had the lowest admission rate of only 15,286 applicants, while Cornell University had the largest one, amounting to 20,822 admitted applicants. However, in 2013, the number of applicants for Cornell University and Stanford University almost added up to 40,000, and the number of applicants for Brown University had already reached 28,742 in 2012. The number of applicants for Yale University in 2013 increased by 10,000 compared to 2004, amounting to 29,610. The admission rate of these universities is also declining. The figures in 2004 and 2013 have shown this decrease in university admission rate: Cornell University has dropped from nearly 30% to 15.56%, Yale University from 9.9% to 6.9%, and Stanford University from 12.97% to 5.69%. Stanford University’s admission rate in 2013 was less than 6%. In short, the probability of Chinese students entering prestigious American universities is getting lower and lower, while the gap between Chinese students’ academic ability and the admission requirements of these universities is widening. The number of Chinese students studying in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada accounted for 74% of the total Chinese overseas students. The UK is the second largest destination for Chinese students studying abroad and the number of Chinese students in the UK has been rising since the 2008-2009 academic year. According to the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the number of Chinese students enrolled in British universities for the first time reached 56,535  in the 2012-2013 academic year, nearly double the number for the 2008-2009 academic year. The student visa statistics released by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) showed that the number of Chinese students studying in Australia reached a peak of 91,524 in 2009 and thereupon declined due to the closure of the Australian private vocational colleges that year. In 2013, the number of Chinese students

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studying in Australia increased for the first time in the last four years, reaching 78,277, close to the number for 2008. Statistics from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) indicated that the number of Chinese students studying in Canada has been on the rise since 2004. In 2012, the number reached 25,346, which was nearly 3.5 times that of 2004. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Education of China, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad in 2013 was 413,900, registering an increase of 14,300 from 2012 and a growth rate of 3.58%. The growth rate has declined after a five-year continuous rapid growth in double digits. As the low-age trend of Chinese students studying abroad becomes more and more obvious, the proportion of graduate students studying abroad in the total number of Chinese overseas students has dropped significantly, while the number of undergraduate students has increased rapidly. Take the number of Chinese students studying in the US as an example. The US Open Doors Report published by the U.S. Institute of International Education (IIE) showed that the number of Chinese graduate students in the US continued to grow from 47,167 in the 2005-2006 academic year to 103,427 in the 2012-2013 academic year. From 2005 to 2006, only 9,309 students went to the US for undergraduate courses, which was 1/7 of the number of graduate students going to the US in the same year. However, in the 2012-2013 academic year, the number of Chinese undergraduate students in the US increased to 93,768. Throughout these eight years, the number of Chinese undergraduate students in the US has increased by about 10 times, while the number of graduate students is only 10,000 more than that of undergraduates. In the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of Chinese graduate students studying in the US accounted for 76.1% of the total Chinese overseas students in the US.  In the 2012-2013 academic year, the proportion of Chinese graduate students studying in the US dropped to 43.9% of the total number, which was a decrease of about 30%. At the same time, the proportion of undergraduate students has risen to 39.8% in 2013. In the 2013-2014 academic year, in the US, the proportion of Chinese graduate students further dropped to 42.1%, while the proportion of undergraduate students rose to 40.3%. The change in the proportion occurred at a time when the absolute number of Chinese graduate students studying abroad was still on the rise, and the number of Chinese undergraduate students studying abroad was rapidly increasing.

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In addition, the number of high school students studying abroad has also increased rapidly and they have become the third largest group of overseas students after graduate students and undergraduates. Canada is the most popular destination for Chinese high school students, with nearly one-third (32%) of Chinese students choosing to attend high schools in Canada. The US, Australia, and the UK ranked second, third, and fourth respectively. In terms of popularity, in the past seven years, the US (33%) has been the most popular high school destination for boy students, while it has been Canada (34%) for girl students. According to the statistics of the US Department of Homeland Security, in the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of Chinese students studying in American private high schools was only as low as 65. Three years later, however, the number reached 4,503 in the 2008-2009 academic year, and later in 2012-2013, it vaulted up to 23,795. The number of Chinese students holding F-1 visas in public and private secondary schools in the US has risen from 433  in the 2003-2004 academic year to 26,919  in the 2012-2013 academic year, increasing by more than 60 times within 10 years. In the past five years, the number of students who went abroad to participate in the “Western College Entrance Examination” has witnessed a surge of strong momentum. In 2012, the U.S. Open Doors Report showed that the number of international students in the US in the 2011-2012 academic year was 764,495, with an increase of 5.7% over the previous year. Among them, the number of students from mainland China grew the fastest with a total number of 194,000 (accounting for 25.4% of the total number of international students in the US), an increase of 23.1% over the previous academic year, and a surge of 31% in undergraduate enrolment. According to Zong Wa, the Secretary-General of China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), the number of students studying abroad in China was 284,700 in 2010, and increased to 413,900 in 2013, with an annual increment level rising from 40,000 to 50,000. In 2014, the number of students studying abroad was about 460,000,3 most of whom were undergraduate students or below. According to the SEVIS data of U.S.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) affiliated students and exchange visitor program retrieved on February 6, 2015, there were 1.13 million international students in the US holding F (academic) or M (vocational) visas and 3  Guo Ying, Li Qi. First Negative Growth in the Number of Chinese Graduate Students Studying in the U.S. Jinghua Times. November 18, 2014.

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studying in 8979 schools all around the US. This marked an increase of 14.18% in the number of international students in the US as compared to January 2014. At the same time, the number of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools in the US increased by only 1%. 76% of international students came from Asia and the Chinese students accounted for the greatest proportion. The report also shows that the number of female students enrolled in STEM has increased by 68% in the past five years, from 76,638  in February 2010 to 128,806  in February 2015, 62% of who were from China and India.4 Some parents are just following the trend of low-age overseas study. However, in most cases, there is at least one parent in those families who has high academic qualifications, high positions and high income, and a clear awareness of the shortcomings of the domestic education system. They were mainly reluctant to burden their children with heavy schoolwork, mechanical training, the pressure of the college entrance examination, and the low probability for success in the future. With the increasing demand for international education for younger students, international classes in high school begin to develop rapidly in China. The number of international classes and the students enrolled has been increasing year by year. Most of the international class tuition fees range from 80,000 to 100,000 yuan per academic year, far exceeding the pricing standard of several hundred yuan per academic year in ordinary high schools. Since the tuition fees are generally more expensive, it gives opportunities to profit-seeking organizations and individuals to grow. They fuel imbalanced education through making use of the expectations of the students and parents toward early international education. In recent years, the number of schools offering high school international classes and enrolled students has expanded rapidly, and the tuition fees for international classes have also risen. From 2009 to 2013, the number of international classes opened by Beijing Public High Schools went up to 16, with an increase of more than 2.5 times. In 2009, the planned enrolment for all public high school international classes in Beijing added up to 440 students. In 2013, it reached 1355, about three times the enrolment in 2009.5 Not only were high school international classes rapidly developing in first-tier cities, but they also spread to the second- and third-tier cities. Even in economically underdeveloped areas of central and western China, 4  1.13 million foreign students in the US, 76% from Asia, mostly Chinese. China News. March 26th, 2015. 5  Source: Beijing Municipal Education Commission website and school official websites.

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cities like Guiyang, Urumqi and Yinchuan have begun to set up high school international classes. It is undeniable that the increase of students studying abroad is related to the quality of higher education in China. In fact, the problems faced by elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities all share certain similarities. If we are to go into details, university problems may look different from those of primary and secondary schools, but their essence and deep-rooted underlying reasons are the same. Under such circumstances, schools at all levels must change the current conditions and school-running methods, pay more attention to the students’ need for growth and development, and provide better services accordingly. Studying abroad itself has become a huge profit-driven industry, which promotes and strengthens the suction effect. It is estimated that the total tuition fees and living expenses of Chinese overseas students can reach 150 billion to 200 billion yuan, among which the overseas expenditure of Chinese overseas students accounts for 85% of China’s overseas study industry. In addition, language training takes up 13% of the total overseas study market share in China. According to the survey, the market size of overseas study examination training has reached about 30 billion yuan, and the service fee of overseas study intermediary accounts for the remaining 2%, about 5 billion yuan. Almost all of these expenses are paid by Chinese families with incomes far lower than of those in the US and Europe. The trigger factors causing the suction effect, however, are not limited to studying abroad. They also extend to employment. With the continuous increase in number and variety of overseas students in recent years, it is more and more difficult for overseas students to find jobs abroad. Therefore, the number of overseas returnees is going up day by day, whose growth rate exceeds that of the number studying abroad. According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education, there were only 9121 returnees in 2000, but 353.5 thousand in 2013 when there were 413.9 thousand overseas students. From 2000 to 2013, the number of overseas returnees has maintained a relatively fast growth rate of more than 20% for 11 years, a growth rate of over 40% for five years, and a growth rate less than 20% only for a few years. In 2008 and 2009, the growth rate of returnees exceeded 50%, adding up to 57.5% and 56.2% respectively. The growth rate in 2013 was 29.53%, slightly declining compared to the previous two years, but still reflecting a large increase. There is also an increasing employment pressure on overseas students who choose to return to China. An important reason for the employment

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problem is that the majors which overseas students choose when studying abroad do not correspond to the domestic demand, which leads to a further suction effect on Chinese society. Many overseas students are keen on popular majors such as business management and engineering, which concentrate a large number of overseas students and thus adversely affect their employment. Management, economics, science and engineering, the most popular disciplines, account for 80% of the total overseas returnees, according to the 2012 Employment Report of 10,000 Overseas Returnees released by Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange. The Open Doors Report shows that in the 2012-2013 academic year, business management, engineering, and mathematics and computer degree ranked top three in the majors of Chinese international students in the US. The students of business management accounted for 29% of the total, engineering 19.2%, and mathematics and computer science 11.2%. The official website of British International Student Affairs Association shows that the top three majors of British international students in the 2011-2012 academic year were business management, engineering, and social science. The students of business management accounted for 29.99% of the total, engineering 11.9%, and social sciences 8.91%. According to the statistics from Australian government, in 2012, the top three majors Australian international students chose were business management, society and culture and information technology. Business management students accounted for 57.41% of the Australian international students, followed by social and cultural studies with 7.87%, and information technology with 6.80%. The Australian international students in these three majors took up about 70% of the total students. Overseas students concentrating in several majors triggers fierce employment competition and a great employment pressure in China. The employment competitiveness of overseas students takes on a declining trend. In 2013, among the “red, yellow and green” majors of employment in China, the business administration major, registering the largest concentration of international students was again selected as the yellow major of employment, with a large amount of unemployment, a low employment rate, low monthly income, and low employment satisfaction. Since the costs of studying abroad are way higher than those of domestic education, most of the overseas students have higher expectations for their employment situation as well as the starting salary after studying abroad. About 89.9% of the Chinese students studying in the US for master degrees expected 60,000 yuan salary for the first year, while 67.2% of the

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overseas returnees received less than 60,000 yuan in the first year, 36.5% below 40,000 yuan, and only 32.8% above 60,000 yuan. In China, the halo of international students is fading, requiring students and parents to bear some of the pressure of the suction effect. Compared with more than 410,000 Chinese students studying abroad, there were 356,499 foreign students in China in 2013, among whom only 100,000-plus were studying for degrees, while the vast majority were just studying language and culture in China. Out of the less than 300,000 students studying in China in 2011, about 60% participated in short-term language training, and among the remaining 40% of the students with degrees, more than 74% were undergraduates or junior college students, less than 20% postgraduate students, and less than 6% doctoral students. In sharp contrast to the large outflow of science and engineering talents from China, about 80% of the foreign students studying in China were mainly liberal arts students, and about 80% of them studied Chinese, traditional Chinese medicine, law, economics, and so on. More than half of them came for learning Chinese. Contrary to other countries with strict admission examinations, Chinese universities and colleges have almost no barriers to entry. With cheap tuition fees, low barriers to entry, as well as large amounts of financial funds for foreign students under the form of all kinds of scholarships subsidized by the Chinese government, why are there so few students studying in China? The proportion of foreign students studying in China is lower than the world average level and much lower than that of foreign students heading for developed countries to pursue their studies. According to the statistics about the proportion of international students in higher education in some countries from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2011, Chinese international students only accounted for 0.3% of the total international students, Australia 19.8% and British 16.8%. The deficit in the number of foreign students was accompanied by the deficit in the expenses of studying abroad. In 2011, there were about 290,000 Chinese students studying in China, about 1.1 million Chinese students studying abroad, resulting in a deficit of 810,000. According to the annual tuition fee for liberal arts majors ranging from 140,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan, the total tuition fees paid by foreign students in China were nearly 5 billion yuan. However, even if calculated at the lowest annual tuition fee of 250,000 US dollars at private universities in the US, the total tuition fees spent by Chinese students were more than 150 billion yuan, excluding the subsidies provided

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by the Chinese government for Chinese students studying abroad and overseas students in China. Facing global competitions for students, admitting international students means survival and development for colleges and universities, positive economy as well as talents inflow for a certain social range, and the state of the education corresponding to a particular region, whether it has been affected by the suction effect, abandoned, or in activation and prosperity. In this regard, one of the most important factors in the US’ success is its making good use of global talents. Immigrants in the US have set up or become involved in setting up almost half of the listed companies ranking top 50 by market capitalization in the US; between 1960 and 2013, 72 immigrant scientists in the US won Nobel prizes. While China’s education is undergoing a serious imbalance as compared to the rest of the world, the skewed distribution of education in China has also triggered a heating tide of choosing schools on a large scale. Domestic imbalance of education is mainly triggered by teachers, education concepts, teaching facilities, and teaching levels marked by enormous disparities. As a result, lots of Chinese move to better-off regions; for example, children from rural families go to schools in larger villages and towns, which is also the result of the centralized school sponsoring and abolishment of dispersed schools. Rural families with capabilities will send their children to county-level schools, and many schools built in the villages and towns end up deserted. As their children are sent to schools out in county or larger cities, township cadres and teachers completely forget their responsibility and lose their motivation to properly manage rural education, which results in further degradation of rural education and drives more children to go to school in other places. As a large number of rural families send their children to schools in the towns, classes counting up to as many as 130 students are common occurrences in schools there. Such large classes are also harmful to the teaching quality of the county schools, both disturbing the study of urban students and destroying rural education. Families living in towns with good living conditions become dissatisfied with the current situation of education and try every possible means to send their children to schools in districts and cities. And so do families living in the cities—they try their best to send their children to study in provincial capitals and large cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. On the whole, an inverted pyramid structure of school-choosing with relatively high pressure is formed, shaping a vicious and unbalanced

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education ecology in China, which, when reaching its border, will trigger or increase the effect of Chinese students studying abroad and provide further impetus to overseas study. When more urban families become conscious of the shortcomings of Chinese education, they will further send their children to study abroad, forming an educational lowland with a huge flow in the international arena. The Chinese are always looking for educational highlands for their children, and this is generally the ecological situation. As a rule, choosing domestic schools is closely related to studying abroad. We cannot see this from the observing individuals; however, if we look closely at the flow of Chinese students studying abroad, we will be aware that it is an integral part of the flow from countries to towns, from towns to cities, from cities to provincial capitals and from provincial capitals to the most flourishing cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai (Fig. 1.1). A separate household registration system for urban and rural residents, will in the long term, lead to educational differentials between the two, and further create conditions for triggering educational suction. It is generally acknowledged that “Education can change one’s fate.” However, if local residents living in central and western areas or rural areas want to change their destiny through education, it may cost much more, making them poorer and poorer. Poverty in these areas and families is actually caused by education problems. Case 1.2 A common experience of a rural student6

Study abroad

Village 1

Town 1 Beijing

County Village 2

Town 2

Village n

Town n

town

city

capital

Shanghai Guangzhou

Fig. 1.1  Diagram of unbalanced education skewness and students flow in China 6

 This story has been abridged on the basis of netizens’ posts.

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To cultivate their children into talents, parents are often heavily in debt. After graduating from high school, they will work in cities, earning around a couple of thousand every month. It takes them several years to pay their debts off and after that, they will save enough money to go back to the villages in order to get married. They will either bring their newly-wed wives to work or never work again. If they choose the former, their kids will be left in the villages, becoming one of the 60 million left-behind children. If they choose the latter, they can do nothing but duplicate their parents’ experiences. Once they have exceeded 40 years of age, people will not be accepted by the cities any more even if they are not willing to return to the villages. So, this leaves them with no other choice but to go back to the villages, yet it will be hard for them to continue to engage in the original production scheme that they used to depend on to make a living. Nowadays, rural education has little relevance to the life of rural residents. Poor parents are in debt to pay huge education costs, and make painstaking efforts to cultivate a senior high school student who spends his prime age of 15-40 years only to this end. Once they have entered their 40s, neither can they ensure their later years, nor can they afford the education costs for the next generation, thus adding to the burden of providing for the aged to the rural areas and the poor. Such education system is like a water pump, constantly drawing the resources from the Midwest to more developed areas, from rural areas to towns and even cities, and from the poor to the rich. When I was in primary school, I spent a few cents or one yuan a year; in middle school, two yuan a year; in high school, three to five yuan a year. When I entered college, the government subsidized more than 20 yuan and coupons of 17.5 kg food for me. But what about my child? In primary school, it costs us more than 100 yuan; in middle school, more than 1000 yuan. The entrance examination for high school lifts the entry score so high that for one score, parents need to pay a hundred to several hundred to send children into a better school. We now need to pay for the colleges and the government gives us a little money or no money at all. I have made the calculation that, since 1985, the price of produce has increased by nearly seven times, which means that farmers’ incomes (in terms of the price) should also have increased by seven times. However, education expenditure of farmers has risen by hundreds even thousands of times. How can farmers become rich! The little money a farmer earns is all sucked in by the education, putting him in debt to raise his own children and to cultivate talent for those developed areas.

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Population mobility and overseas study are merely the surface of this problem. Its direct effect is a transfer of investment of the compulsory education to cities and overseas countries. Education skewness will lead to a powerful suction effect on talents, funds, social undertakings and other aspects affecting society in its whole. In terms of talents, a combination of such an education skewness and the social employment mechanism will result in a deep and continuous talent crisis in China. The first stage of the talent crisis is a net outflow of highly educated talents, and next, there will be both inflow and outflow at the same time, with high-end talents leaving without returning and low-­ end talents returning after studying abroad, which is also a kind of suction. In 2013, the wave of studying abroad lasting for many years began to translate into a wave of overseas returnees. By November, 2013, the number of returnees has increased by nearly 50% compared with the previous year. The year 2012 has witnessed 399.6 thousand people studying abroad, continuing the growth trend of more than 15% in the past three years. In the meantime, the number of overseas returnees has reached 272,900 thousand people.7 The “overseas study fever” continues to heat up, however, unlike previous years, due to the changes in the composition of students studying abroad, except for a few who can find their jobs abroad smoothly, more and more students need to go back to China to get a job. This trend is expected to continue in the future. While at home, there are 6.99 million college graduates graduated in 2013, hitting a record high. And the year 2013 has been called “the hardest employment season in history.” The meeting of these two trends will make the employment situation even more severe in the coming years. In fact, “recruitment difficulties” and “employment difficulties” coexist in the society. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to enhance basic education, raise the relevance of education and students’ life, improve the ability of education to serve for the upward development of life, and also increase the competitiveness of overseas students. On the other hand, we should implement and expand the autonomy of running schools, so that domestic universities are able to develop their own personalities and characteristics, and form a virtuous cycle of higher education development and socio-economic development, so as to jointly resolve the long-term employment pressure in the foreseeable future.

7

 Liu Ji. The Wave of Overseas Returnees. People’s Daily (Overseas Edition). 2013.

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The talent crisis, in the long run, will cause the imbalance of China’s talent structure, the shortage of high-end talent, and the decline of social cohesion. The size is large but it lacks flexibility. China’s ability of improving its education quality is declining, and the process of training first-class talents will continue to be delayed. At the same time, with the speed of national first-class talents outflow accelerating, China will be less attractive to world’s first-class talents. On the whole, the gap between China’s education and world’s first-class education will be wider. In terms of funds, the cost of studying abroad is generally 5 to 20 times higher than that of studying in domestic schools. The main source of these funds is China. This kind of capital flow not only flows to foreign countries, but also, by forming the Matthew effect of educational investment through domestic school-choosing flow, makes finance and private investment of basic education flow to large cities all over the country. And rural areas, as the foundation of society, will further be gradually weakened. In terms of economic aggregates, China has become the second largest economy in the world and might even become the largest one in the future. However, in terms of its per capita GDP and economic structure, the lack of high-end talents still restricts the absorption and flow of funds. Worldwide speaking, the possibility of capital flowing with high-end talents and new technologies is far greater than that flowing with low-end talents and technologically backward industries. Therefore, from this point of view, to attract the best talents and the most sophisticated technologies helps to attract the best capital. The ultimate foundation of an economic power lies in those talents. China’s economic development over the past 30 years mainly relied on about 200 million migrant workers who had completed compulsory education, so the flow of low-end labor was mobilized in the domestic market with fewer barriers. It was the global and national mobility of labor that had brought the 30-year economic prosperity. China’s past wealth was based on the export of labor-intensive commodities without high-tech content. The key to transforming from labor export to scientific export is talent and technology. At present, it has reached the threshold of this transformation. China’s demographic dividend in the next 30 years is declining. There is a significant scarcity of cutting-edge talents needed to achieve the transformation. Therefore, it is especially necessary to obtain top talents via the global talent flow. In particular, it is vital to attract both overseas Chinese talents and foreign talents to China in order to shift

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China’s manufacturing to China’s innovation, and investment-driven mode to talent-driven mode, so that we can build an innovative country. However, China’s current soft environment and mechanism are not successful enough to attract the world’s top talents. The number of high-end returnees in the country is not high. 90% of doctors of science and engineering are still staying abroad, and more are only intellectual immigrants. The suction effect is more deeply reflected in the system. Even if the government adopts specific policies at specific time to attract high-end talents, it is still a norm for good birds to choose trees to nest in. The increase in the concentration of elite talents will increase the opportunities for social system improvement while the scarcity of elite talents will delay the pace of it. Lee Kuan Yew once said: “China is selecting talents among the 1.4 billion people in China, while the United States is selecting talents among the 7 billion people all over the world” which concisely pointed out the differences between China and the United States in terms of strategy, vision, mind, mechanism, and social openness. In fact, the elites among China’s billions of people are, on a large scale, continuously flowing to North America and other developed countries. Such a situation has led to repeated failures on reforms because it is difficult to correctly pinpoint the real problems and solve them. Specifically, in terms of education, the public expects improvement, but the improvement of education around them is slower than expected. The education reform in some places and schools is only “written reform,” “reporting travel” and “word games,” so some people have lost confidence in improving education, and an increasing number of people choose to vote by simply just leaving the country. From a broader perspective, it shows the crisis of trust of the intellectual class on the existing education in the country. If we can’t take decisive education reform measures to rebuild the trust of the people in education, it will lead to a series of problems in China’s human resources, economy, and politics in the future. Nearby enrollment is the most economical choice. Why are parents willing to pay 10 or 20 times more to send their children to study abroad or in another city? The flow of children among towns, counties, cities, provinces, Beijing and other places results in a more serious imbalance in education ecology. The fundamental solution to this problem is to run schools by adopting a method consistent with the inherent laws of education, thus improving the education ecology.

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Due to the unbalanced education ecology, a powerful tornado-style social blood drawing machine has been formed throughout society, crossing borders, races, and regional boundaries, continuously absorbing talents of certain qualifications from various regions, resulting in the imbalance of the entire human society. This process and result will lead to various crises in human well-being.

1.2   The Balance of Education Lays the Foundation for Human Well-being The key components of human well-being are: meeting the basic material needs to maintain a high quality of life, freedom and choice, health, good social relationships and personal safety.8 Education is one of the most basic support services for human well-being. The state of education determines the position of people in the multidimensional continuum of poverty and well-being. It plays different roles in meeting the material, social, psychological, and spiritual needs of human beings. China’s population ranks first in the world in number. About 300 million people out of the 1.34 billion population are unemployed or hidden unemployed. There is no authoritative statistics on the total number of hidden unemployment, mainly including urban laid-off workers, landless farmers, and rural surplus labor. The commonly accepted estimate is more than 260 million.9 The floating population is 200 million, 180 million of which are single. Nearly 60 million rural left-behind children have poor living and education status, and 93.87% of rural citizens do not have scientific literacy.10 On the whole, the current situation of unbalanced skewness in Chinese education not only affects the lives of Chinese people extensively and profoundly in various ways, but also increases the pressure 8  Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) International Cooperation Project Team. Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing: An Assessment Framework. Zhang Yongmin trans. Beijing: China Environmental Science Press, 2006, pp. 73, 19. 9  For related analysis, see: Deng Zhiwang, Cai Xiaofan, Zheng Yuhua. The Sharp Decline in the Employment Elasticity Coefficient: Facts or Illusions, Population and Economy, 2002(5). 10  The 8th China Citizen Scientific Literacy Survey in 2010 showed that the proportion of citizens with basic scientific literacy were 3.27%. On September 19, 2015, the results of the 9th China Citizen Scientific Literacy Survey released by the China Association for Science and Technology showed that the proportion of citizens with scientific literacy in China reached 6.20%. This result was questioned as soon as it was announced.

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on Chinese people’s lives, reduces the happiness index of people’s lives, and negatively impacts their well-being. The ecological imbalance of Chinese education leads to the unstable foundation of individual well-being. People of all classes in China are trapped in the unbalanced education ecology from which they cannot extricate themselves. In terms of finance, people have to cut back spending on food and other things to increase the expenditure on education for their children. Considering the income of Chinese residents compared with the international community, China is still one of the countries with heavy burden of education expenditure.11 In terms of interpersonal relationships, people have to pull strings for their children to get enrolled, which increases the personal dependence of interpersonal relationships and worsens the atmosphere therein. In remote villages, villagers also have to worry about their children’s distant journey to school. The dropout rate of school-age children there has increased, and there are more than 20 million left-behind children in compulsory education stage. As a consequence, they cannot enjoy full family ties, while dragging down their grandparents who have to take care of them and even rent a house in a town or county to live in so as to facilitate their study. Choosing schools from small towns to metropolises makes people’s lives very difficult. After the implementation of the new nearby enrollment policy in Beijing in 2014, with the decline in housing prices across the country, there were still people in Beijing and Guangzhou who spent 1.35 million yuan to buy a house of 4.4 square meters, which was only a pass card for enrollment. Even so, it is still difficult to buy a school district house.12 The contrarian rise and even shortage of school district houses are due to parents’ awareness that buying a school district house has become the “last resort” for school selection. Some parents who bought the house sold it immediately after the enrollment. From “pulling strings,” “offering bribes” to “buying houses,” from “competition of family background” to “competition of houses,” it shows the helplessness of people in the state of skewed distribution of educational resources. People’s lives cannot be 11   Shen Baifu, Yang Zhiping. International Comparison of Residents’ Education Expenditure and Public Education Expenditure, Education Theory and Practice, 2013(19). 12  Wu Mengda, Ding Jing, Wu Yanting: Beijing 4.4 square meters school district house costing 1.35 million not for living only for school, Xinhua News Agency, November 10th, 2014.

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peaceful unless the problem of imbalance in the distribution of educational resources is solved. This kind of education mechanism affects the work and life of adults. Many parents have to accompany their children, help them with their homework, and follow the example of “Mencius’s mother” to move their homes for their children’s study, and this affects their own career, the whole order of society, daily traffic and mood, and even the positioning of life. Many middle-aged parents who are working hard for their children have sacrificed and given up doing more and better professional work for the society. Do the destinations of student flow benefit from this education ecology? Of course, they will benefit a lot in terms of acquiring excellent students and investment. However, under the imbalance, an unpredictable, uncontrollable, and disordered development of student flow mires the residents of destinations. In small towns, excessive-scale classes reduce the quality of education for residents while in medium-sized and large cities, the policy of inflow areas and public schools as the main parts of compulsory education formulated by the Chinese government in 2003 failed to address educational problems for migrants’ children. Since it is difficult for the existing urban education to meet the new and variable needs, schools for migrants’ children have been suppressed. In 2014, Beijing and other places implemented strict nearby enrollment policy, forcing nearly 20,000 children of migrants into returning to their domiciles of origin, which triggered the shortage of students for schools in Beijing’s municipal districts and counties and directly affected the well-being of numerous families. As for study-abroad, it is reported that North American universities have ambivalent feelings toward the influx of Chinese students. They love the numerous new students and the considerable amount of money (mostly hard earned by Chinese parents) they brought with, but hate the fact that these students are not as excellent as their high scores indicate. These students display certain lack of basic competence, and quite often their homework or published articles are found to contain or to be based on plagiarism. Moreover, many social problems will arise from immigration-­ inclined study-abroad. The more embarrassing thing is that as per some top universities in North American history, enrolling many Chinese students takes their toll, including the local exceptional students withdrawing and turning to other universities, which will cause decrease in student diversity and schools’ rankings, as well as legislators’ proposals to limit the

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number of Asian students in some states, all of which are some of the last things the schools want to see. As a result, most American universities have tacitly adopted limits on the proportion of Asian students (mainly Chinese students) which is 10 or 20%, while a very few set it at 40%. Still, the impact of the imbalance of China’s education ecology on the world remains substantial, and this uncertainty triggers important tension on both sides. Thereby, striking a balance in education ecology is called for the overall well-being of humans. As is known to the world, China now is the country with the highest number of students abroad for study, which is a rare opportunity for businessmen. Nevertheless, in terms of the benign development of education and society, it dramatically increases the cost of education, while disturbing the order of it. In the history of human society, studying abroad derived from needs, whose proportionate development could achieve a win-win situation for both the origin and the destination of student flow, otherwise it would lead to lose-lose, adverse to individual and social well-being. To reduce excessive studying abroad, rather than simply prohibiting it, relevant concerned parties should become more aware of the gap and narrow it, so as to achieve a balanced education ecology. More than 2000 years ago, Confucius had a dialogue with his disciple Ran Qiu about how to govern a state: Confucius traveled to State Wei with Ran Qiu as the carriage-driver. The Master remarked, “How populous the state is!” Ran asked, “What else can be done to an already populous state?” The Master replied, “Enrich the people.” Ran continued, “Then what else?” The Master said, “Teach them.”13 At present, the development of human society has entered a new stage where population is no longer the dominant element for national strength since there also exist weak, poor, and backward countries with large populations, as well as powerful countries with small populations like Israel. In a normal society, survival being no longer a problem, there is a certain correlation between wealth and happiness. However, given that the decisive role of wealth in happiness is greatly weakened, the role of education in human well-being is further highlighted according to Confucius’ order of colonizing, enriching, and teaching. In the light of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, in any normal society, social members generally have no problem in satisfying their  The Analects of Confucius.

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physiological and safety needs while their social, esteem, and self-actualization needs ceaselessly rise, which can be met via guaranteeing a certain minimum level of education appropriate to individual growth. It also indicates the growing dependence of life quality on the regional natural environment and individual’s education. Education has increasingly become one of the basic needs of the people’s livelihood and the epitome of civil rights, and the kind of education one can receive directly determines the level of his/her well-being. But this does not mean that education is in the driving seat of the whole society. In reality, there are multiple factors dominating a region’s education situation and ecology, and many seemingly educational problems essentially originate from society and government management, such as an imperfect legal system, unreasonable and ineffective government management system, problems of social resource allocation, social security, income distribution, social class, and professional selection system. Education is a guiding, long-term, fundamental, and multi-valued precondition for well-being. Hence, only in a relatively balanced education ecological environment can education properly perform its own functions and help lay the foundation for well-being. Society has neither reached a consensus on it, nor realized its importance. In particular, a great number of people have not yet reached an agreement on fundamental issues such as “What is a good education,” “Where should education lead children to” and “Efficiency first or equity first.” When making decisions, local and even the central government treat schools, classes, regions as isolated parts rather than as a whole, and they do likewise when it comes to investment, management, evaluation, and teaching. Usually, people destroy the balance of education ecology in the name of developing education, as exemplified by the aforementioned abolishing educational institutions and combining schools. China has long used administrative directives rather than rule of law to manage education. And the decision-making chain is so long that it fails to solve practical problems timely and efficiently, thus delaying the development of education. Besides, there is an absence of law in regulating relationships between central government and local government, government and public, educator and the educated, school and educator, school and the educated, school and government. All of these accumulate to not only make it difficult for China’s education ecology to achieve a balance, but create or exacerbate new

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imbalance, which will harm the well-being of the Chinese and may even not be conductive to that of people of other countries. If education fails to cultivate young people’s creativity, it will not only lead to a short-term shortage of talents, but also endanger the Chinese nation, making Chinese culture degenerate, since lack of creativity is the main cause of the decline of many splendid cultures in human history. It remains true that only when China redresses the balance of education ecology, instead of merely possessing a multitude of students, will it be beneficial to the well-being of all humans. The integration of education and economy produces a relatively affluent and wise class, a social stabilizer helping the society to forge ahead without subversion. The greater the class is, the more it will benefit overall well-being. In a balanced education ecology, the nearby enrollment policy applies to not only kindergartens and elementary schools but also to universities, as the most economic choice that best conforms to the interests of the educated. It is explicated in Hu Shi’s Anti Studying Abroad that nearby enrollment usually means low investment, low consumption and high yield while long-distance studying abroad must be of high input, high consumption and either high or low yield with diverse and uncontrollable social problems. Thus, the waste of resources undermines the basis of human’s well-being. Only when education ecology is imbalanced, do residents turn to large-scale and long-distance studying abroad as a last resort, a situation which will not occur when the balance is struck. Some other impacts that China’s unbalanced educational ecology brings about are the lack of initiative, the neglect, or even destruction of students’ nature of creativity, the abrasion of their independent personality and the forming of a character of assimilation and conformity. Receiving such a kind of education, one can hardly create happiness for himself or others around by making use of welfare at hands, since the person in question knows little about what true happiness is, let alone laying a foundation for the welfare of humanity. Related to the unbalanced educational ecology, the unbalanced structure of talents has huge impacts on every aspect of a society, including politics, economy, finance, culture, and education itself and so on. Not only the social welfare of the region, but also that of society would suffer from this. The actual contributor to the unbalanced education lies in the differences of various countries around the world, which constitute an objective justification, yet unaccountable for the perplexed and inactive attitude of

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the government. It is a worldwide phenomenon that education can be duplicated and inherited within a certain social class, which means that people born to low social status would be curbed where they are for the poor education, while those born to high status would stay there for the same reason. Meanwhile, education does play a noticeable part in prompting social mobility, which ushers some people into upper class. As a result, what governments all over the world are able and supposed to do is to provide the same opportunities and guarantee a certain level of education for people of different classes, regions of different development situation, urban and rural areas and districts of different geographical conditions. The equality should at least be effectively ensured within the compulsory education required by law, so that the statolith is preserved within the educational ecology. Only by doing so can the education gap resulting from the wealth gap be bridged, can the constraint of income disparity on education be eliminated, and the equality within education and even society be achieved, so as to see more people obtaining welfare, instead of losing it due to an unbalanced education.

1.3   Relatively Low Human Value as the Main Reason for China’s Internally and Externally Unbalanced Education Ecology It is an undeniable and common fact that China’s education ecology is out of balance, for which the universally acknowledged causes are that China practices an official-oriented education managing system, which has too many tiers, runs under administration, and follows instructions made by leaders, thereby curbing innovation of all sorts. What is also widely acknowledged to the same extent is that education advancement requires foremost de-administration, which will make officials listen to those who stand by truth and laws rather than those of higher ranks. Since China’s opening-up has invited in a broader view, it is normal for the Chinese to choose from a larger range of places to pursue their studies, and also reasonable for more to study abroad. This is directly attributed to the following three factors. First, the increasing mobility of population since opening-up has granted the Chinese a broader insight into the actual condition of education through the Internet, and delivered more choices to them, including sending their children to study overseas. Second, since overseas study these days is based on the financial abundance of a family,

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China’s economic growth has made it possible for some children whose parents are well off financially to study abroad, which is hardly feasible for farmers with less solid economic base. Third, with shortcomings and flaws which involve a lack of balance in the overall educational ecosystem and specifically the unitary assessment criteria and excessively administration-­ oriented managing scheme, children’s initiative and choice are partly curbed in China’s education system. “Large in quantity but low in quality” is a concise comment to Chinese education, whose quality lags behind compared with other countries in the world, especially the developed ones. However, some claim that the international community has held an approving attitude to the overall quality of China’s basic education in recent years. Generally speaking, China’s basic education is now in a state where little space is left for growth in terms of scale, age limit, and enrolment, and so on. For example, despite the large number of dropouts, the growth of educational availability rate has been limited. The reason for China’s huge “deficit in overseas study” is that the international qualification of Chinese cultivated talents is still lagging far behind the international standard and teachers are insufficiently internationalized. For example, the proportion of foreign teachers was less than 1% in mainland colleges and universities in 2010. As of 2011, this number was less than 5% in the top ten universities of China and merely reached 2% in other higher education institutions. What’s more, most of the foreign teachers taught languages only. In comparison, colleges and universities in Hong Kong held 40%-50% foreign teachers, and 99% of those teachers had studied abroad before. In the US, this figure in Stanford University is up to 65%, and many deans in Harvard University are Indians, Iranians, and Mexicans, apart from Americans. Chinese universities manage international students separately from Chinese ones; moreover, international students are banned to live within the same dormitory with Chinese students, making it hard for them to integrate into Chinese culture. Recent policies still do not encourage or not even allow international students to conduct further communications with Chinese students after class. In China, it is not schools but the country that essentially enrolls international students, so issued by the central government in 1998, Adjustment of the Financial Cost Standard for International Students with its attachment Financial Cost Standard for International Students established on national level has stabilized the cost standard for the international students, which is CYN 14,000-26,000 per year for arts students and slightly

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more for science students. Without independent power of determining the schooling cost, colleges, and universities in China are inevitably passive in advancing their education and enrolling a higher number of international students. In 2014, financial cost standard in Peking University is still CYN 26,000 for international arts students and CYN 30,000 for science students, whereas in University of California at Berkeley, freshmen who were inhabitants of non-California places ought to pay an additional USD 23,000 apart from the USD 15,000 for California inhabitants. Oxford University asks at most GBP 9,000 per year from students who are inhabitants of the UK and EU, while international students, however, should pay an annual amount of GBP 14,000-21,000 plus a sum of “College Fee” adding up to GBP 7,000 per year. Converted to China Yuan, the amount that students from the US and the UK need to pay for their studies is 30,000 at most, while the Chinese students need to pay 230,000 to 280,000 to study there. Despite the 1/10 ratio when it comes to tuition fees, China shares a lesser proportion of international students, for which some simply blame its low education quality. As different people have varied definitions of quality, their views on the current situation of education in China differ, and this is mainly because of their diversified demands of education. For instance, current education may be satisfying for many ordinary people. According to statistics of education satisfaction, the more developed a region is, the less satisfied people are. However, this does not indicate that education in developed regions lags behind that in underdeveloped regions, but suggests people’s different demands and expectations of it. China’s education faces quite a few problems when it comes to how to meet people’s needs for their growth and development. As soon as inhabitants in a region become aware of these existing problems, they will try every means to send their children to study in another region, a micro-process of how education ecology loses its balance. Some people from other countries have expressed their recognition of China’s education. But first of all, they can only judge on a surface level, without any personal involvement. Their evaluation is objective to a certain degree, but what they have seen and judged on is just the external condition or the outcome of the whole education process. On the other hand, if we trace back through the traditional Chinese culture, we will find out that when Chinese people engage in self-reflection, they often see the advantages first. Perhaps the opposite is true in other countries. The most typical example is the United States, where people rarely concentrate on or

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manifest their strengths but tend to focus more on their problems. For example, in 1957, after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, the US government believed that their country was in crisis, and that problems lied in their education, which was calling for reforms. Actually, the fact was not that its education was in crisis as the official documents described, but that, according to their anticipation, their global status as the No. 1 power in the world was challenged. On the contrary, the overall evaluation of their education basis was still very good at that time. Chinese people, however, like to emphasize their achievements, and the differences between the two cultures lead to the phenomenon that a lot of Chinese people, when it comes to their own education, would only look forward to positive comments from foreigners but attach no further detailed analysis to the problems, which leads to their choices of keeping away from China’s education, while holding positive views on their own education. This is a vivid reflection of lack of self-confidence. If a person is very confident, he or she will be open to criticism and will correct it when others point out problems; but when a person is not confident, he or she will think that the criticism is defamatory and then deny his or her own problems. This psychology can also be seen in education, not only among individuals, but also among government officials, especially those in charge of townships and counties. For example, if you point out that there is something wrong with the local education, they will be unhappy. When you turn to the parents who want their children to have a bright future, they will also think that there is no problem with their children; on taking a deeper insight into the evaluation of culture, parents may realize that there is something wrong with China’s education, so they will send their children to study abroad, in order not to leave them to this education environment which lacks confidence. Many parents who send their children to study abroad are under the influence of this psychology, which becomes the cognitive and psychological mechanism leading to the unbalanced education in China. Meanwhile, people with this kind of psychology can never gain a truly rational insight into the matter. From the perspective of the elements of education, the ecological imbalance of education in China is directly related to the lack of diversity and independent selection of education itself. First of all, as for the educational concept, Chinese people always tend to regard education as a tool: the government regards education as a tool to achieve management objectives; the schools regard students and teachers as tools to make achievements; the parents still regard education as a tool to revitalize the family

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business; students themselves also regard learning as a tool to find jobs, to gain titles, fame and wealth. It is “learning for others” rather than “learning for oneself” or for improving oneself. Secondly, in terms of management, teaching and schools have been managed by administrative methods for a long time, leading to deformed education. Different objects are suitable for different methods of management: the management of factories is the simplest, and the management of administrative departments is more complicated than that of factories and enterprises but easier than that of professional institutions such as education. For a long time, the management of education and schools in the way of managing the administrative departments makes it difficult to improve the quality of education, and the long-standing gap has become the hotbed of ecological imbalance. Finally, the evaluation of education is not based on human nature but on a criterion of subjective imagination, or on an organization’s needs for education rather than on the diverse needs of the society. The evaluation criteria are too simple. Therefore, on the one hand, the education cannot meet the needs of growth and development of different students and on the other hand, it cannot meet society’s diverse needs for talents, which results in the demand for education choices in a larger scope as well as the demand for unbalanced education, at the same time lying at the very core of the education imbalance. We must face the existence of these problems squarely and then find ways to solve them. Only on this basis can it be possible to gradually solve the long-standing imbalance in education. Tracing back the history, when comparing the quality of education among different countries and regions, scholars have used a variety of indicators, such as school enrollment rate, length of schooling and gender differences, while others have analyzed educational issues by using freedom of participation in education, economic mechanism, social opportunity, and transparency. The existing indicators are obviously valuable in the evaluation of educational differences, but it is difficult to accurately describe the imbalance of education in China and even that among people, let alone make a deep analysis on the causes of this phenomenon. After 30 years of large-scale field investigation, comparison of education in different countries worldwide and analysis of the history of human education, a common recognition is gathered up from various angles: a new concept must be introduced from a more comprehensive and essential perspective to describe the imbalance of education in China, and that is “human value.”

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Human value is the ratio of the value of people to that of social organizations and other structures, which can be expressed by the formula:

human value=value of people/value of social organizations and other structures, or otherwise as H=Vm/Vt.

To evaluate and describe education by human value is to look at the level of human value in each link of education. When the value of people is high while that of social organization and other structures is lower, the number ascribed to human value is more than one, and vice versa. The higher the value of people, or the lower the value of social organizations and other structures, the higher the human value will be; otherwise, the human value will be lower. It is extremely complicated to determine human value of education qualitatively, a process which would need a long time of continuous exploration and technical measurement at its basis. However, in terms of characteristics, the human value in education is reflected in the extent to which the education carried out is consistent with human nature as well as how beneficial or harmful it is to the full development of human nature. In fact, many Chinese children feel that education is too boring. They cannot endure the meaningless pain caused by the comprehensive and simple exam-oriented education, and only regard the college entrance examination as the ultimate goal. Overburdened with basic education, children are studying too hard to get good grades, but lacking genuine interest in learning, and relaxing too much during college, which is not in line with the characteristics of human growth and development. Children themselves are diverse, while education is too one-sided, lacking in diversity, which is also against human nature. Students are instilled as containers rather than being inspired by education. There is also a lack of equal dialogue between teachers and students and among students. All of these are the reflection of the low human value of education. More and more primary and secondary school students go to study abroad, and to a large extent, “vote with their feet” to avoid the exam-oriented education of low human value. However, the current social mechanism is very slow to react to this phenomenon, which leads to the long-standing failure to improve the human value of education, resulting in more and more Chinese people losing confidence in the improvement of education in China. Whether or to what extent education is people-oriented can be measured in all aspects of education through the level of human value. High human value means good implementation of people-orientation, and vice versa. The extent to which education is shifted can also be described by the

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concept of human value. From this point of view, the differences in human value of education in different parts of the world and the gap between urban and rural areas are the fundamental causes of ecological imbalance and disorder of education. The general trend is that the students flow from areas with low human value to areas with high human value, from the countryside to counties, to urban areas, to provincial capitals and to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, from one place to another, basically along the direction of human value from low to high. From the perspective of improving the human value of education, the current education in China requires not only the reform of examinations, the reform of educational methods, but also the re-orientation of educational objectives based on human-centered principles, which is a systematic project. To solve the problem of being sucked through the rigid education system in China, there is a marginal effect objectively reflecting the level of human value: when a local school runs well to varying degrees, there will be a certain number of people returning to the area. There is a practical example in the field survey: in the district of a city where education was worst-run, teachers and students rushed to other places outside the district, causing a large brain drain. Later, the local Education Bureau implemented the system of the principal assuming full responsibility under the leadership of the board of directors. The board of directors was established to be responsible for the school, with the principal selected, appointed by, and also responsible to the board of directors. At the same time, the board of directors could provide the school with greater autonomy and more resources, and also improve the salaries of teachers and improve their welfare. Teachers therefore paid more attention to students, and the obvious change was that the human value of the school increased. After two years, some of the former teachers and students were back. The principal elected by the board of directors was different from that in the current system. Nowadays, the principals mainly implement administrative instructions and are not willing to become actively involved. The principal appointed by the board of directors, however, wanted to find a way to run the school well and asked for the help of teachers. Thus, teachers were more responsible for students, and students would return, which contributed to a better school. This example shows that the fundamental way of solving the problem of studying abroad and of capital outflow to improve the education ecology is to further improve the human value of education, change the

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guiding principles in education management, education evaluation, and teaching. Education should shift to be more student-oriented, aim at students’ growth and development, and provide services for students. This shift is not one-on-one, but an overall effect. If this situation is not changed, the trend of studying abroad will continue to expand, and more people will choose to “vote with their feet.” But if it is improved, this trend will be slowed down and even reversed, with more students coming back instead. This trend has a great impetus, and from towns, counties, cities, provincial capitals, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to abroad there is an interconnected whole. China’s internal school-choosing fever and the trend of studying abroad should also be regarded as a whole. To reduce this impetus is, fundamentally, to improve the human value of school teaching, management, administration and evaluation of education, to run the school well, to change education and teaching and to improve the quality of education, so that children will learn well in school, and parents will acknowledge the genuine merits of the school, which would be the sign that the problem has successfully been solved. The human value of education shows a great correlation with that of the society in which it is located. Throughout the past one or two hundred years, the human value in the Chinese society taken as a whole is relatively low, so Tao Xingzhi said that “Human life is the least valuable in China,” and “Only when human life is more precious than wealth, machine, happiness, fame, power and position, and life is more precious than everything, will China be able to stand up.”14 Even today, it is roughly estimated that the total number of missing children in China is about 200,000 annually, but only 0.1% of them are found.15 According to a survey released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, accidental injuries are the leading cause of death among children aged 0 to 14 in China, from which more than 200,000 children aged 0 to 14 die and 640,000 are disabled every year. In addition, the number of child deaths is huge, and gender discrimination, abandonment, and trafficking are rampant. All these phenomena are directly or indirectly linked to the level of human value in education. In this case, there is a lack of social basis for improving human value in the education field. But we should not give up our efforts in pursuing it. 14  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 2). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 134. 15  China National Radio, 2013-06-02.

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On the contrary, the forerunner in improving the human value of the society is, to some extent, to improve that of the education, which also helps to promote the value of life. Putting people first constitutes the most urgent and profound transformation of current education that is most in line with human needs from the perspective of changes from ancient to modern times. Not only will it be able to support the substantial transformation of a major country, but it will also greatly benefit the prosperity and development of the Chinese nation and even mankind in the future. However, to understand why this transformation is difficult to achieve, or why it should be carried out, we need to take a broader perspective and to look back on history, so as to straighten out the logical relations of various aspects, and to advance the transformation more consciously based on a solid knowledge of its mechanisms.

1.4   End with People’s Happiness Throughout the 6000 years’ history of human civilization, education has gone through the process of dissociation and regression to human when viewed by taking human as the origin of coordinates. The early education of human beings was carried out in the form of interaction between adults and their newborn babies, which was instinctively centered on the newborn. In ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, the education of children was mainly carried out in the family, and it was people-oriented to a large extent. Once human beings started to develop their belief in God, education gradually became influenced by God to varying degrees, and eventually developed to shape children according to God’s will. Thus, education entered a relatively long God-centered era, including submission of people to God. As a result, education started to separate from humanism. It was a very long period, which lasted for about 3000 years, varying in different parts of the human world. Even after 3000 years, God’s influence on education continued to exist up to a certain extent. Later, humans in different regions successively entered the monarchical society, and education was developed to be monarch-centered, which was also not people-oriented. The monarch-centered education lasted for nearly 3000 years, varying in length in different parts of the world. Throughout the history of China, there were many forms of schools in the early stage, which later developed into relatively fixed forms such as

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xiang, xu, and xiao, the early functions of which were basically people-­ centered, whether for the aged or for the young. In the Pre-Qin Period, the study of change (the study of “youdui”) was finally attributed to human beings. The “self-improvement” in the Book of Changes referred to people-oriented thought. In the academics of Laozi, Confucius and Mozi, the status of human beings and humanity could be seen faintly, embodied by the concept of “benevolence” proposed by Confucius and “people-­ oriented” thought of Mencius. At the same time, the theory of destiny also appeared, thus producing a concept of fatalist education different from humanism. For about 500 years during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), China’s ancient society underwent great changes, evolving from a patriarchal clan society to a unified traditional society. At that time, there were various schools of thought such as Yin-Yang School, Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalist School, School of Logicians, Political Strategists, Agricultural School, Military School, School of Eclectics, and School of Fictionists. All these schools of thought argued with each other, forming “A Hundred Schools of Thought Contention,” among which there were different views on the value orientation of education. Taoism advocated “Heaven without Man,” and proposed that people should return to nature. Xunzi of Confucianism criticized it as “hiding in heaven without knowing man,” and held that benevolence and righteousness were the universal law of all things in the world. However, Taoism criticized Confucianism for its arrogance and ignorance. For example, Zhuangzi said that “Mao Qiang and Xishi were beautiful women everyone loved, but birds would fly high and fish would sink to the bottom when they saw them,” which showed that people’s aesthetic standards could not be recognized by birds and fish. Another example was that people liked to live in beautiful houses, while loach wanted to live in mud and apes liked to live in the woods. It could be seen that people’s living needs could not be recognized by the animal community, either. By this analogy, how could we say that benevolence and righteousness were the universal law of all things in the world? He criticized Confucianism for exaggerating the role of “human,” thus forming a distinction between the “natural law” and “humanity.” There are three important ideas in Confucius’ thought: first, the “Tao,” that is, the goal and ideal of life. Confucius said, “He who heard the truth in the morning might die content in the evening,” “A scholar, whose mind is set on truth” and “The superior man is anxious lest he should not

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get truth; he is not anxious lest poverty should come upon him.” The second is “benevolence,” that is, cherishing people, extending from loving one’s relatives to loving the masses, so as to further advocate that “A man of perfect virtue will seek to establish others while establishing himself,” which is Confucius’ core idea. The third idea is propriety and music, which Confucius believed was the cornerstone of social harmony. Generally speaking, the human value of such idea is relatively high. During the Warring States Period, Confucianism was divided into eight schools, of which two schools had the greatest influence: one was the School of Zisi and Mencius; another is the School of Xunzi. Mencius advocated that those who ran the country should implement “policy of benevolence” and advocated the people-centered idea that “people are more important than the monarch.” It was a school of thought attaching great values to humans. Mencius also expounded from the perspective of philosophical theory that human beings are different from other animals and born with compassion, moral sense, honor and respect and sense of right and wrong. After learning, the potentials of these human natures would be developed, thus forming four qualities that a gentleman must possess: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. In Mencius’ view, the difference between human beings and other animals was that human beings possess moral conduct, that is, moral consciousness, while other animals do not. Mencius also put forward the concept of the “true man,” that is, “Neither riches nor honors can corrupt him; neither poverty nor humbleness can make him swerve from principle; and neither threats nor forces can subdue him.” The Confucian school represented by Xunzi, absorbed some thoughts of the Legalists, and advocated combining the rule of virtue with the rule of law. When describing this period, the earliest educational monograph The Book of Rites Record on the Subject of Education in China clearly expressed, from the perspective of contemporary history at that time: “Therefore, ancient emperors put education in the first place to build the country and rule the people.”16 It means that in the process of building a country and ruling the people, education is the top priority and the most important issue to be addressed. The idea of education serving the governance of the nation and people has been passed down for thousands of years in China, which is in line with the modern slogan of “giving priority to education and building a country with powerful human resources.”  Record on the Subject of Education (Xue-ji) in The Book of Rites.

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The Book of Rites The Great Learning further explained the relationship between education and the state as well as the individual as follows: Those of the ancient times who wished to extend the way to the whole world must first have their states governed well; in order to govern a state well, they would have to have their family clans rationally managed; to be able to rationally manage family clans would require of them personal probity; to ensure personal probity, one must maintain a just mind; … once a mind is just, personal probity ensues; personal probity directs rational management of family clans; the ability to manage family clans rationally can then be further developed to facilitate proper state governance; well-governed states ultimately lead to world peace.

It pointed out that the way of ultimate wisdom is “the comprehension of absolute integrity, genial development of the common people and endless pursuit of the perfection of humanities.” The Western Han Dynasty established the concept of “National Dignity” to unify a multi-ethnic country. For example, Dong Zhongshu advocated “no regret for ancestral temples and the country” and stressed “better die with honor than live in shame.” Historian Sima Qian put the “country” first, praising the view of “putting national affairs first and personal grievances behind.” During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Su Wu was on a mission to the Huns and suffered torture for 19 years but did not change his will. He persisted in his national integrity and had his name engraved in history. He set an example of “loyalty to the monarch” and influenced the value orientation of scholars for more than 2000 years. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted the advice of the great scholar Dong Zhongshu, and “dismissed the hundred schools and revered only the Confucian” on ideology and culture. He made every effort to combine politics, economy with ideology and culture in order to consolidate a unified multi-ethnic country. From then on, he accepted Confucianism in name and regarded it as a monarch-centered tool. As a result, the human value of education dropped. In AD 79, the fourth year during Reign of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, a conference on Confucian classics was held in Baihu Temple in capital Luoyang. The emperor personally unified the interpretation of the classics and stipulated that the exposition of the classics must run through the core concepts of “Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues.” “Three Cardinal Guides” refer to the principle according to which the ruler guides his subjects, the father guides his son, and the husband guides his wife. The “Five

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Constant Virtues” are benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and sincerity, thereby forming the most basic principles of patriarchal clan system and the domination system of monarch to the whole people. The introduction of Buddhism into China was a shock to China’s monarch-­ centered social structure. First, some sects in Buddhism expounded on subject consciousness (heart) of the human. Second, some sects in Buddhism expounded on the concept of “noumenon.” Third, Buddhism attached importance to “profound wisdom,” which to some extent improved the human value of Chinese social thought. Zhu Xi, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, in his book Chapters and Sentences of the Great Learning, regarded the “the comprehension of absolute integrity,” “kindness to the people” and “endless pursuit of the perfection of humanities” as the “principles of the great learning,” and called the eight clauses “study the underlying principles,” “acquire knowledge,” “sincere intention,” “just mind,” “personal probity,” “have family clans rationally managed” and “govern a state” as “clauses of the great learning.” Later generations called it “Three Principles and Eight Clauses.” It can be said that in the past 3000 years, China’s education was basically monarch-centered, and the academic system was dominated by the political system as a whole, with only few changes occurring for a short time. After the long Middle Ages in Europe, the famous humanist educator, Italy’s Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446), formulated five principles for running schools in 1423, and also set up a school. He named the school “The House of Joy” and claimed himself to be the father of benevolence. The school was full of humanistic spirit. At that time, there were also other two humanist educators, one of whom was François Rabelais (1494-1553), whose representative work The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagrue made vivid satire on the monarchy system and gave lofty praise to the people liberated from the old system. He advocated that all teaching should be turned into pleasant, relaxing and attractive activities, “La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel.” The other is Montaigne of France (1533-1592), who stressed the development of students’ thinking ability, initiative, and enthusiasm. During this period, a group of famous educators laid the foundation of humanistic thoughts in education, put forward the requirements of developing children’s enthusiasm and initiative, attached importance to the development of intelligence, and put forward a wide range of curriculum. Besides humanities, they also added contents like nature science, physics,

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geography, history, mathematics, and astronomy. In particular, viewpoints of respecting and developing children’s personality were put forward. In 1530, Copernicus (1473-1543) put forward heliocentric theory, and began to challenge the God-centered theory under the secular monarch-­centered system. More than 100 years later, Newton’s friend, scientist John Locke, proposed that social development should be observed with law consciousness and rational spirit. The center of human society was human rather than God. Social development had laws to follow and the foundation of governing society was human interests. Later, Americans wrote the Declaration of Independence according to Locke’s thought. Marx called it “The first human rights declaration in the history of mankind.” Thus, human beings theoretically clarified the general direction of humanism. French educator J.J. Rousseau, equally reputed in the field of education as Copernicus was in astronomy, clearly put forward the child-centered view of education after criticizing the monarch-centered and adult-­ centered views on children. In his book Émile: ou De l’éducation, he clearly stated that “Nature wants children to be children before they are men. If we try to pervert this order, we shall produce a premature fruit that will have neither ripeness nor flavor and will soon spoil. Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling that are proper to it.”17 Not only is Rousseau’s “natural consequences” principle far from outdated, but unfortunately, also far from being implemented in many educational practices. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Swiss educator Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) proposed “respecting the nature of children.” He thought that the ultimate goal of education was to develop all the talents and capabilities of each person in a comprehensive and harmonious manner. However, he pointed out that such development should not only rely on one’s own strength, but that it would also need external help. Therefore, he advocated a reasonable arrangement of education and established the theory of “element education.” Pestalozzi believed that everyone was born with development potential and equal right to receive education, and emphasized the education of emotion and love. He stressed that educators must first have a loving heart, and then, win the love and trust of students with love. Hence, teachers should meticulously take good 17  Rousseau. Émile. Ou De l’éducation. Li Pingou trans. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1978, p.91.

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care of children, pay attention to their needs, and smile lovingly at their progress. Teachers should use kind words, emotions, facial expressions, and eyes to touch children. When love and trust take root in the hearts of children, teachers should do their best to encourage it, enhance it, and make it grow. To improve the human value of education, American educator John Dewey raised his view on the instinct of children and clearly put forward the children-centered theory, metaphorically comparing children to the sun, and all teachers and educational work to the planets revolving around them. He emphasized that the focus of education should be shifted from textbooks, teachers and other educational work to children, so his breakthrough was also called the “Copernican revolution” in education. He pointed out in his book My Pedagogic Creed that “the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers” and “the child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education.”18 Children’s abilities, interests, and habits are based on the primitive instincts of their own unique individual physical and psychological structure, and it cannot grow and develop without being offered as many potential alternatives as possible. In Dewey’s opinion, the connotation of children’s instincts is about an innate ability hidden inside children, which was “spontaneous at first, without a certain form; it is a potential, an ability to develop… It is an original and creative thing, something formed in the process of creating other things.”19 It is “all kinds of natural tendencies and impulse without acquired learning,” serving as the foundation of children’s development and education. Dewy believed that children had four potential instincts: social instinct (which includes language and communication), the instinct of making (also called the constructive impulse), the instinct to investigate and explore, and the expressive instinct (also called the art instinct), among which, the instinct of making is the most important. “We may say they are the natural resources, the uninvested capital, upon the exercise of which depends the active growth of the child.”20 18  Dewey. On Education: Selected Writing. Zhao Xianglin, Wang Chengxu, trans. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 1981, pp. 1-2. 19  Dewey. On Education: Selected Writing. Zhao Xianglin, Wang Chengxu, trans. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 1981, p.295. 20  Dewey. On Education: Selected Writing. Zhao Xianglin, Wang Chengxu, trans. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 1981, p.38.

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Interest and liberty are two key concerns of Dewey’s view of children. “Interest is the signal and symbol of the growing ability…interest shows the original ability.”21 Liberty is the freedom to grow and develop, both internally and externally. “liberty for the child is the chance to test all impulses and tendencies on the world of things and people in which he finds himself, sufficiently to discover their character so that he may get rid of those which are harmful, and develop those which are useful to himself and others.”22 Liberty is not indulgence, “liberty without control becomes negative.” Italian educator Maria Montessori made full use of the modern view of children which increases the human value. She believed that “children are not strangers who can be observed only from the outside. Rather, childhood constitutes the most important part of a person’s life.”23 She said, “There is a mysterious force that gives vitality to the weak body of a newborn, to help him grow, teach him words, and to make him perfect. Then we can regard the child’s psychological and physical development as ‘substantialization’.”24 She held that infant had two kinds of instinct: the guiding instinct and the instinct to work. The first one provides guidance and protection to infants in the infancy stage of life. The latter helps children to create through continuous working, so that they can realize self-­ satisfaction and form their own personality. Montessori also proposed the concept of “spiritual embryo” and thought the development of infant had hidden and secret features. As a “spiritual embryo,” the infant has the most abundant potential and perceptive ability, and can form a unique personality and creativity through his/her own efforts. The child has sensitive periods for different kinds of development such as order, detail, walking, hand movement, and language. A child in his sensitive periods can be extremely sensitive to sensitive objects and indifferent to other things. She added, “If depressive psychological causes can have an influence on the metabolism so as to lower vitality, the contrary can come about, that 21  Dewey. On Education: Selected Writing. Zhao Xianglin, Wang Chengxu, trans. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 1981, p.10. 22  Dewey. School and Society, the School of Tomorrow. Zhao Xianglin, Ren Zhongyin and Wu Zhihong trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1994, p.297. 23  Montessori. The Secret of Childhood. Feng Ronggen, trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1990, p.17. 24  Montessori. The Secret of Childhood. Feng Ronggen, trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1990, p.41.

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is, stimulating psychological causes can increase the activity of the metabolism and promote one’s physical health.”25 Through observations in the “Children’s House,” Montessori recorded that “The existence of a hostile and incompatible environment and adult repression and intervention, will inevitably trigger psychological disorders, which will unconsciously appear, such as mind wandering, mental block, attachment, possessiveness, desire for power, inferiority, fear, lying and so on. Moreover, several psychological aberrations may occur simultaneously in one child, leaving the child in a state of psychological disorder, and those aberrations may stay with him for the rest of his life.”26 German educator Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel created the first kindergarten, which was committed to developing the activity instincts of children and teenagers. Different from the previous Infant School in Britain and France, as claimed by Froebel, “it is not a school and the children are not the educated, but developers.”27 He believed that play was the representation of the inner necessity and impulse of child and stressed that “Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage, and, at the same time, typical of human life as a whole— of the inner hidden natural life in man and all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world.”28 For children, play is the spontaneous expression of intrinsic nature and the outer manifestation, emerging due to the necessity and need for display of the intrinsic nature. All the above education reformers bring valuable contribution to the contouring of a people-oriented education after the ruling of monarch-­ centered education, continuously striving to gradually improve the human value of education. In the twentieth century, focusing on increasing the human value of education, a group of educators in China developed their own educational views. From 1919 to 1921, Dewey published The Speeches of Dewey and Dewey’s Lectures in China during his stay in China. After the promotion of his students Hu Shi, Tao Xingzhi, Chen Heqin, and Ling Bing, these 25  Montessori. The Secret of Childhood. Feng Ronggen, trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1990, p.136. 26  Montessori. The Secret of Childhood. Feng Ronggen, trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1990, p.60. 27  Herbert Courthope Bowen. Froebel and Education by Self-Activity. Charleston, South Carolina: Nabu Press, 2009, p.3. 28  Froebel. The Education of Man. Sun Zufu, trans. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1991, p.33.

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books had a great impact in China. His masterpieces of School of Tomorrow and Democracy and Education, Kilpatrick’s Project method guided by Dewey’s educational thoughts and Dalton plan, have had some influence on China. In Dalton plan, with classroom teaching abolished and classroom changed into self-learning homework room or laboratory room, students make study contract with teachers and can make use of time freely according to their own interests. For homework, each subject is equipped with a teacher as a consultant. Students can control their own study pace and teachers will check their work, so their graduation time will be different. This plan is more personalized and the student-centered teaching system is intended to raise the human value of education and teaching. The shift in the educational value of educator Tao Xingzhi is the most typical. “What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, and to rest in the highest excellence” is the opening sentence of The Great Learning which embodies Confucius educational value. He changed it into “what the great learning teaches, is to illustrate humanistic virtue, to get closer to the people, and to rest in people’s happiness.” He explained that “the great learning” is to “illustrate humankind’s great virtue,” namely awareness, union and liberation, and “the liberated force should be made good use of and used to create the new self, new China and new world”; The great learning “should have contact with the people. We think that getting closer to the people is more practical than renovating the people”; the great learning “should create happiness for the people. All the learning should strive to achieve people’s happiness.”29 The innovation of this modification is that “illustrious virtue” was the social mainstream standard, or standard for rulers, while “humanistic virtue” was the standard for ordinary people; the Chinese character “Qin” interpreted by Zhu Xi as “renovate” is an interchangeable word, and in his version, the great learning should renovate the people. Many scholars including Liang Qichao agreed with him. Tao Xingzhi thought differently. He took “people” as the subject and “mother of the earth,” which should not be renovated. Therefore, the great leaning must go to the people to refresh itself; “the highest excellence” is also the standard for both mainstream society and rulers. The Great Learning further explains that “As a 29  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 4). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 671.

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sovereign, he rested in benevolence. As a minister, he rested in reverence. As a son, he rested in filial piety. As a father, he rested in kindness. In communication with his subjects, he rested in good faith.”30 Tao Xingzhi is not restricted by the inherent logic and ethics system of “investigating things, gaining complete knowledge, having sincere thoughts, rectifying hearts, cultivating persons, regulating families, governing states and making the whole kingdom tranquil and happy” and avoids the ethical order of monarch-subject and father-son relationship. In his opinion, “all the learning should strive to achieve people’s happiness,” which marks great progress in education value orientations. Tao Xingzhi highlighted “seeking truth and being a real man” and that people’s happiness is the ultimate concern of all learning, which negates the traditional educational view that “he who excels in learning can be an official” and the view of being “a person with power.” Later in 1963, the Italian educator L.Malaguzzid founded Reggio Preschool and formed “The Reggio Approach,” which was praised by American educators Bruner and Gardner. His views on children emphasize that “it’s very important to believe that the child is powerful and perfect, and full of expectations and needs.”31 To sum up his views upon children: children are endowed with potential talent; when it fails to be recognized and developed, pain ensues; children should have their own rights, with which they can be healthier, smarter and more curious and sensitive, with greater potential, more willingness to learn and ability to adapt and make immediate response. Also, they will be more interested in symbolic language, long for friendship and can better reflect upon themselves; children have the desire to learn actively from the beginning and to reshape themselves, peers, parents, teachers and the image of the world through their own learning; there are differences among children and these differences may be large or small due to the development degree of the environment as compared to the ideal. Experiencing differences, impatience, and quick success is unwise for the child’s development and temptation should be resisted; it is important to create a harmonious environment where children, parents, and teachers can all feel at ease, so as to ensure that each child has a sense of well-being and belonging. To

 The Book of Rites· The Great Learning.  Hendrick. First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Li Jimei, trans. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2002, p. 130. 30 31

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meet the requirements of children, there must be a children-centered culture and multiple choices available to them in the environment. In Europe and America, where economy and science and technology develop rapidly, people’s spirit and dignity are influenced, leading to a trend of respecting and valuing human values. On this basis, humanistic psychology has emerged, taking the overall human as the research subject and emphasizing a series of concepts and theories that deepen humanistic understanding, including humanity, motivation, potential, experience, practice, value, intention, autonomy, self-awareness, self-selection, self-­ design and self-realization. Throughout the 6000 years’ history of human civilization, economy has evolved from agriculturalization to industrialization, then to informatization; politics, from theocracy to monarchical politics, then to civil rights politics; culture, from theological thought to metaphysical thought and further on to scientific thought; education from the original natural people-oriented value to God-oriented value and monarch-oriented value, and for the past five or six hundred years, it gradually moved toward people-­orientation. The above listed educators indicate the direction of the future development of human education on the basis of their profound insights into the development of human education. Their humanistic views might be mere ideals when proposed. Ideals are the driving force of human civilization to guide people to move forward. Even though they lack the concreteness of practical and constructive steps, and may even never be achieved in reality, they do improve human education to a large extent. At the same time, secular education is still confronted with great inertia and there is large gap in terms of human value of education among different regions in the world. Throughout Chinese history, never has a movement similar to the European “Renaissance” existed, to restore the dignity of human beings and not many people have a clear awareness of what are the basic human rights. Although there is no need for the Chinese people to liberate themselves from any God-oriented value, monarch-oriented awareness still manifests itself in education, preventing the Chinese people from being an independent, rational, and free people with a healthy sense of self-­ awareness. After 1949, indeed, modernism with humanism as the basic orientation was dismissed in education, while the traditionalism originating from the Prussian style became more popular. Once it was not allowed to discuss issues such as personality, human nature, and humanity and democracy also met with some problems, while the human value of

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education faced a significant decline. Money worship, which is prevalent after the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, pervades daily life, making it difficult for the Chinese people to liberate themselves from material desires and to develop a sound, conscious and self-­disciplined personality that follows humanity and cares for humankind. These various factors have become obstacles to the realization of people-oriented education, as well as imperative reasons to urgently carry out people-oriented education in China. In China, where the human value of education is relatively low, in order to improve it, we have to clarify the source of thought, understand the trend, and move forward bravely. Also, we need to open up further, so that more and more people can see the differences caused by disparities in the human value assigned to education. After recognizing the differences, we should try to improve the human value of education and create happiness through education, thereby leading more people to success through this approach. It is a long process to transform education that is not people-oriented, or the self-oriented one, or the one without clear self-awareness to a real, rational and healthy people-oriented one, which requires the people involved in education to explore constantly. The education reform following the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in China proposes that student development should be the foundation and students should be the subjects. Curriculum reforms develop research courses. These are all parts of this process. However, until today, this process is still not profound and comprehensive enough, and lacks a solid theoretical basis and practice paradigm, an issue which this book attempts to address and improve.

CHAPTER 2

Social Transformation and Human Education

China’s social transformation has put forward new requirements for people. The upgrading of economic industries and escaping from the middle-­ income trap require improving people’s innovation abilities. Achieving urbanization also requires the transform of farmers and rural labor into new citizens. The requirements of social transformation for people’s universal characteristics are generalists and citizenship, full autonomy and individuality, respect for ideas, and fast information processing capability. Such social transformation calls for the reorientation of education, from an elevator in a vertically hierarchical society to an overpass in a flat society, from a national tool to a basic civil right. The social transformation mentioned above requires the transformation of educational structure and forms to improve the human value of education, change its single structure and contribute to the diversity and supply capability of education. Only by changing the supply-demand relationship of education can we eliminate personal dependence and achieve equality for all. By improving educational selections on a humanitarian level, the human value of education will increase. People-oriented education should cultivate the middle-­ class people, and strive to eliminate the class distinctions within education. People-oriented education seeks an education based on the balance among people and between people and various outside beings. It focuses on the mutual enhancement and mutual satisfaction of people’s personality

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_2

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development and social needs for individual development, whose human value is approximately equal to one. According to E.  Durkheim, a French educational sociologist, “the transformation of education has always been the result and representation of social transformation.”1 When studying the transformation of China’s education, we must not ignore the state of its social transformation. In the history of mankind, schools and education have a diversity of forms. Europe began its industrial revolution in the seventeenth century, which prompted the emergence of new social and political systems, contributing to an orderly transformation of education and school life. The founder of educational science, J.  A. Comenius wrote Laws of a Well-­ ordered School and established a class-based teaching system, on which basis German psychologist Herbart discussed the issue of educational psychology. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, school education in Europe and the United States witnessed a second revolution that brought with it social and educational transformation. This transformation was characterized by a transition from a unitary and formalized Prussian educational system to a more diversified and humanitarian educational system. The new educational movement in Europe and the progressive education movement in the United States marked the starting point of this revolution. A group of educators, such as Guo Bingwen, Hu Shi, Jiang Menglin, and Tao Xingzhi noticed the revolution and brought it to China. They founded educational publications including New Education and New Education Review, and invited John Dewey and Paul Monroe to make speeches and investigations in China, thereby putting China’s education through the same transformation process. From 1949 to 1977, China established an education system monopolized by the Government, which almost restricted the possibilities of education to transform according to the development needs of the times, resulting in a state of transitional delay. In 1985, the Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System attempted to reform this system. It has been 30 years since then, but there has still been no obvious effect.

1  Durkheim. The Evolution of Educational Thoughts. Li Kang, trans. Shanghai : Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2003, p. 231.

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2.1   People in Social Transformation People are humans in society, and social transformation will inevitably lead to changes in people’s various relationships and characteristics. Human society is undergoing a transformative process because of the development of information technology, and as a response, a new transformation occurs in education as well. When the invention of the steam engine brought about the industrial revolution, China was in The Golden Age of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong. Amid global changes, it declined right after its zenith due to lack of a necessary sense of urgency for changes. The development history of countries worldwide in the past 500 years shows that the prerequisite for social and national prosperity lies in opening up instead of self-­isolation, and adapting to the trends of times. Changes in the national fate of countries worldwide in recent decades suggest that solely focusing on economic development may only bring some social improvement. Only by improving people’s qualities and increasing the human value of the society can we create happiness for the whole society by means of centering production, consumption, scientific research, and development on people and making all processes more humanistic. The information society cannot change people’s innate potential, yet it poses some common requirements for people’s qualities. Changes in Demands for People during China’s Social Transformation China’s social transformation is characterized by two dominant features, namely achieving the upgrading of its economic industries, lifting out of the middle-income trap and realizing urbanization. Changes in demands for people’s qualities are reflected in higher requirements for people’s innovative capabilities and for transforming farmers and rural labor into new citizens. Innovative capabilities According to relevant research reports, China’s technological innovation capability ranked 24th among the 49 major countries that accounted for 92% of the world’s GDP in 2004 and fell to the 31st place in 2005. In

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2006, it rose to the 19th place among 61 economies2. For a relatively long period, the innovation capability of China, a populous country, was at a medium level, and ranked at the bottom when calculated on a per capita basis. China’s overall innovation capability remains weak. Even though China set up the National Natural Science Award and State Technological Invention Award, the first-prize has remained unawarded for a number of times since 1989.3 This shows that China’s scientific and technological strengths still have considerable gaps when compared with developed countries, especially in terms of originality and major scientific and technological achievements with independent intellectual property rights. Zhang Yaqin, who served as the global vice president of Microsoft Corporation and chairman of Microsoft China R&D Group, wrote an article entitled “From ‘Made in China’ to ‘Intelligent Manufacturing in China’”, in which he believed that since 1949, China’s economic and technological development as well as future prospects could be summarized as “Self-made by China” → “Made in China” → “Intelligent Manufacturing in China”. In 1978, China bid farewell to its “self-made” stage, instead relying on its advantages of cheap labor resources to become the most prominent global manufacturing center in the world economy, thereby creating the “Made in China” era. However, there was still a long way to go before entering into the era of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China.” Zhang Wen suggested that the driving force of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” comes from four aspects: innovation environment, innovation mechanism, innovation source, and innovation market. In conclusion, the Chinese people need to make more innovations. After over 30 years of reform and opening up, Chinese people have become more and more aware that the increasingly fierce international 2  International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland, Switzerland: World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) in 2004, 2005, and 2006. 3  In 1955, the State Council began to set up the “Chinese Academy of Sciences Prize.” In 1999, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the establishment of the State Supreme Science and Technology Award with a prize of 5 million Yuan and it was divided into four categories. Among them, the first-prize of the National Natural Science Award remained unawarded for four consecutive years from 1998 to 2002, three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012, and there were total of 11 first-prize vacancies during the 16 years from 1998 to 2014. The results of the first-prize in 2014 also caused some controversy. Meanwhile, the first-prize of the State Technological Invention Award was vacant for 6 consecutive years from 1998 to 2004 until a breakthrough was achieved in 2005.

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competition is, in the final analysis, a competition of talents, and whoever has the highest-quality talents can take the initiative in the competition. After the beginning of the Cold War, the United States has been improving its environment and benefits to attract more foreign talents. The number of talents flowing into the United States has remained high, including a large number of high-end talents from China to the United States. In the 1990s, developing countries witnessed a certain degree of reverse brain drain. The United States upgraded its university management systems to absorb cutting-edge talents and improve the quality of basic education. While expanding its GDP, China’s total trade volume has also ranked among the top in the world, making itself a veritable trading power and the country most affected by trade frictions. Since the establishment of the WTO in 1995, one out of every seven anti-dumping cases worldwide has involved China, making it the country with the most anti-dumping investigations for ten consecutive years and ever-increasing trade frictions. The main reason is that China’s foreign trade is still in a stage of relatively fragile growth basis and relatively extensive growth mode in terms of its trade structure, commodity structure and trade pattern. The exported goods are still dominated by labor-intensive products of low-grade with few famous brands. Most mechanical and electrical products and high-­ tech products are foreign goods manufactured in China, with very few independent intellectual property rights. Export development is at a stage of extensive growth, where the main means of competition is characterized by low-price competition and winning by quantity. It is a typical example of “a major country of manufacturing and a minor country of brands.” This extensive growth model of winning by quantitative expansion has become an important cause of trade frictions between China and other countries. That is to say, the development of China’s foreign trade relies heavily on its advantages of cheap labor and low product prices. China exports shirts and sports shoes, yet needs to import high-end household appliances and heavy industrial products from brands such as Panasonic, Sony, and Apple products. Problems and contradictions accumulated during the rapid development over a long period, such as extensive economic growth, increased resources and environmental constraints, weak independent innovation capability, low technical content of industrial structure, and intensified employment pressure on labor force. These factors have become main obstacles affecting its further economic development.

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The fundamental approach to solving the above problems is to optimize and upgrade its industrial structures through adjustment. However, due to a general lack of independent intellectual property rights and core technologies and the fact that most processing and assembly links in labor-­ intensive industries are at the bottom of the value chain, the degree of collaboration with other industries is very low, leading to the insignificant role of transforming traditional industries and weak driving forces for economic growth. Therefore, the fundamental development idea is to enhance independent innovation capabilities, strive to master core and key technologies, and accelerate the development of high-tech industries from processing and assembly to independent research and development (R&D) and manufacturing. In the end, we must rely on improving independent innovation capabilities and innovation talents. For this reason, China is in urgent need of a large number of innovative talents at all levels. The Chinese nation has always advocated creation, and has once created a splendid ancient civilization and been at the forefront of the development of human civilization for a long period. In modern times, due to political, economic, and other reasons, China’s pace of creation has slowed down, lagging behind other countries in most of the fields. The Knowledge-­ based Economy published by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the knowledge economy as an economy based on the production, distribution, and use of knowledge and information. The Chinese people are stunned by this theory, and have gained following inspirations. In a society consisting of a knowledge-based economy, everyone needs to improve their personal qualities and update their knowledge and skills; enterprises and employers must focus on cultivating their own talents, constantly updating knowledge and improving training systems to serve for economic and social development by applying multi-level, multi-form, and multi-topic methods. Accordingly, education must comprehensively improve the quality of employees, thereby promoting the realization of human capital strategy. However, since China’s existing system lacks a mechanism to stimulate innovation, it is indispensable for Chinese people to explore the path of innovation in order to break the status quo. All countries in the world, especially the developed countries, have promoted scientific and technological progress and innovation as national strategies; they remarkably increased investment in science and technology, accelerated the development of science and technology, attached importance to basic research and

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developing high-tech and its industries, and accelerated the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into real productivity. These measures are conducive to providing lasting impetus for economic and social development and taking the initiative in the international economic and technological competitions. From the government to the private sector, China has fully recognized the importance of innovation and promoted mass entrepreneurship. Mass innovation has gained wider recognition. The root of innovation depends on education and talent. The construction of innovative countries has put forward new requirements for education. The practice of building a national innovation system in developed countries shows that high-end professionals constitute the fundamental guarantee for technological innovation and the key to innovation lies in talents, the cultivation of whom must rely on education. Social development requires education to cultivate innovative spirit and innovative talents, to focus on the frontier of knowledge instead of its total amount, to cultivate the spirit of inquiry rather than instilling knowledge and obtaining standard answers and foster the courage to challenge traditional thinking; education needs to be both a main base for knowledge innovation and a cradle for cultivating innovative spirits and innovative talents. Civic Sense Since the 1980s, a large number of farmers in recessive unemployment in rural areas have gone to work in cities. However, due to restrictions on household registration, many people remain as farmers even after working in the city for more than 30 years and having families in the city with children. From the perspective of macro development, population urbanization marks the general trend of future development. Cultivating new citizens with civic sense is a special mission that should be undertaken by the new education system in the transitional period. If migrant workers are unable to integrate into urban areas for a long time, there will be no way to achieve urbanization. Population urbanization is a prerequisite for realizing the urbanization of people. One of the difficult processes is the transformation of farmers into urban citizens. Of course, this does not mean that those people who live in the city with urban household registration have civic sense naturally. On the whole, the civic sense of Chinese people is still low. Running red lights, non-­ compliance, spitting, disrespect for others and domestic violence can be seen everywhere and are all examples of low civic sense.

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Even so, China’s population urbanization still has much room during the social transition period, and it will be a relatively fast process. Population urbanization constitutes the core of new urbanization. In 2013, China’s urbanization rate was 53.7%, but the population urbanization rate was only about 35%, 15% lower than the 2011 world average level. According to the reform of the household registration system as determined by the central government, the national population urbanization rate is likely to reach 53% by 2020. According to the layout of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, China will form a “two horizontal and three vertical” urban regional pattern, which will drive a new round of population mobility and resource elements’ recombination and optimization. This process will inevitably lead to the transformation of migrant workers into urban citizens because of the urbanization of labor. The coming years will be an important historical juncture for the transformation from labor urbanization into migrant workers’ citizenization. If the city’s basic public service system can achieve the full coverage of urban permanent residents in the future, and breakthroughs in the reform of key areas such as household registration system and land system, there will be citizenship problems regarding existing and incremental migrant workers. The transformation has huge and growing demands for people’s civic sense, which poses challenges to education and also constitutes conditions and opportunities for educational reforms. Requirements for Universal Characteristics of People in Social Transformation The transitional period for everyone is a historical exchange period of challenges, opportunities, and achievement of transcendent breakthroughs. The Chinese people have realized the need posed by social transformation for people’s innovation capability. However, since this understanding is based on the previous educational system, there are some inaccuracies. Social transformation is not only an aspect of economic development, but a full-scale transformation of resources, environment, social ethics, and state governance under the influence of several factors such as information technology and transportation, the most fundamental of which is the transformation from a monarchical society to a civil-rights society, from a vertically hierarchical society to a more horizontal and equal society, thereby posing some demands for universal characteristics of people.

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Generalists and Citizenship The current crisis facing education is mainly about what kind of people to cultivate and how to cultivate them. The usual argument is whether to separate the arts from the science or to encourage students to be well-­ rounded. People who understand engineering only are senior craftsmen, rather than true masters or scientists. Therefore, the direction of education in the future should first be to cultivate generalists with knowledge of both engineering and literature and science. Some people have divided talents into four types: the first one is the “ 一”-type talent, with relatively wide knowledge yet lacking in-depth research and innovation in a certain professional field. The second is the Ι-type talent, with profound knowledge in a certain field yet lacking the necessary scope of knowledge to integrate various kinds of knowledge for creative research The third is the T-type talent, with both broad scope of general knowledge and in-depth research in a certain field. The weakness of this talent is that they can’t stand out and lack innovations. The fourth is the “+”-type talent, with a wide scope of knowledge and in-depth research in a certain field. More importantly, they dare to make a difference, to stand out and make innovations. In a sense, the “+”-type talent are innovative and versatile talents. This kind of understanding is actually nothing new, as it was already proposed by outstanding sages of the ancient times. In practice, Ye Qisun and others from the Physics Department of Tsinghua University did the same from as early as 1925 to 1950, and that was why he could cultivate dozens of academicians and outstanding talents and masters. In 1952 and 1953, due to faculty adjustment, the School of Liberal Arts, School of Sciences, and School of Law of Tsinghua University were incorporated into Peking University, turning the originally comprehensive university into a specialized university. After Tsinghua University was changed into an engineering university, its training goal was to cultivate patriotic and specialized engineers, and it was widely known as the cradle of red engineers. This one-sided approach deviated not only from Tsinghua University’s old tradition of training generalists, but also from requirements for talents posed by social transformations, leading to various social development problems. Liang Sicheng argued in his articles that engineering students must also understand the knowledge of liberal arts, and termed it as integration of arts and engineering, science and engineering. One who only understands engineering but has no knowledge of arts and sciences is considered as a half-person, which should be discouraged.

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Well-roundedness is a requirement for university education. It is essential to conduct civic education for ordinary primary and secondary schools, citizens or the entire nation. What is a citizen? According to the interpretation of constitutional law, a citizen is a public person, that is, a person with political rights. He is not the same as a general citizen. A citizen is a person who holds a nationality of a certain country, but nationality itself does not guarantee citizenship. The most basic aspect of civic education is to understand what are the rights, responsibilities, and obligations you have. At present, some ordinary people still do not know what rights they have, let alone exercise their rights to vote. Judging from this situation, they are not considered as citizens. From the perspective of institutional designs, citizens must have public power. Citizens without the right to vote have no basic political rights and are not citizens in real sense. Not all ordinary people can be citizens, and the citizens’ public power is used to supervise the state public power. Therefore, being a citizen is very different from being an ordinary national. Civic education has long been neglected or even misunderstood as an education that requires everyone to abide by the law. In civic education, moral and law-abiding education is frequently mentioned, yet with no education on rights. The Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth CPC Central Committee specifically proposed to establish a society ruled by law. The common understanding of average people is to establish a society in which citizens are law-abiding and to inculcate laws to citizens. This is, of course, a necessary but not sufficient condition for complete civic education. If people don’t follow the law or don’t understand the law, then the society can’t be called a civil society. However, a society in which citizens are law-abiding is still too far from a society ruled by law. A society ruled by law is a democratic and autonomous society based on the rule of law, which not only means that citizens are law-abiding or self-governing, but also have concern for the country. Citizens should interact with, control and supervise the country and participate in national affairs. Everyone in a transitional society should have civic sense. Civic education requires the citizens to know what rights they should enjoy and how to use them to participate in national affairs and the governance or supervision of the state.  ull Autonomy and Individuality F Social transformation can not only construct the subjectivity of some people, but also cause the loss of subjectivity, belief crisis, weak ideals, moral

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and social responsibility decline, and prevailing money worship and hedonism. The information society provides more sufficient technical conditions to give full play to the diverse potential of each individual, and to better meet their diverse needs so that more and more innovative talents can stand out. At the same time, it also provides possibilities for the materialization of humans. As human beings have contacted with each other more and more closely, people’s awareness of autonomy and concept of rights have increased and their sense of competition is greatly enhanced, thereby improving the subjectivity of human beings remarkably. Everyone needs to have a clearer idea of self-awareness, self-recognition, and the ability to learn independently, develop independently, and be self-reliant. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the cooperation mode between home and school. The school and the family should work together to create an environment for students to develop independently and provide more room for them to develop on their own, thus reducing excessive intervention and cultivating their self-reliance. When more and more people are dominated by a huge object force, which greatly weakens the conscious power of people as the subject of social activities, responsibility constitutes an important accomplishment of autonomy and individuality. Students should have a sense of responsibility starting from something small, and have the courage to admit mistakes, accept, and learn from failures. Human nature is rooted in subjectivity, as demonstrated by beliefs, ideals, emotions, values, morality, personality, and other aspects. During the social transformation, people’s beliefs, ideals, emotions, values, morality, personality and other aspects must be transformed accordingly so as to maintain human nature fundamentally. Respect for Ideas Social transformation makes people’s most valuable existence turn more and more from their physical strength and skills to their thoughts. It also turns the society from one that fears diverse perspectives to one that respects and admires individual and unique perspectives. Therefore, students increasingly need to be brave in exploration, independent thinking, innovative and enterprising. They also need to be good at solving problems and applying thought-driven practical skills. In 1986, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proposed the four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to

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cooperate, and learning to be. In the information age, we should also add learning to think and create. Due to rapid changes in social life and production methods, people need to learn to think, create, and learn to start a business. A growing number of people need to achieve employment through entrepreneurship, as a guarantee for the rapid development of social needs and their own survival and development.  ast Information Processing Capability F With the rapid development of information technology, people in the information society must have the ability to collect, filter and publish information. Information processing ability has gradually become an indispensable part in people’s daily life, work, and study. It has also become the cornerstone of a person’s professional competence and the condition and support for any professional competence to continue to develop. A deep understanding of the universal characteristics of people in a transitional society is the motivation of one’s conscious participation in social transformation. Fully accumulating and making good use of this kind of motivation is the prerequisite for the healthy growth of everyone in the transition period. UNESCO believes that sustainable development of humans ultimately depends on education to educate a new generation of people with sustainable development concepts and sustainable development capabilities.

2.2   Social Types and the Position of Education The position of education differs amongst different societies. With the social transformation, the position of education in society also changes accordingly. In a centralized society, the right to education is concentrated; while in a decentralized society, the right to education is relatively dispersed. In a society with large gaps between vertical classes, education will be divided into various grades and ranks, and play a great role in the flow of different classes. Elevator or Overpass In recent years, Chinese government documents have repeatedly mentioned deepening reforms of the examination enrollment system to establish a lifelong learning overpass that connects varying types and levels of education and recognizes a variety of learning outcomes. This is of great

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significance for promoting the public to stimulate their potential through learning and fully develop and perfect themselves. Through the overpass of lifelong learning, each person can find his/her position corresponding to the social needs, which gives full play to their talents, and enables them to embark on the path to an equal society for all. The social reality China has accumulated over a long period is: huge social buildings tier upon tier with remarkable vertical differences across different industries, household registrations and regions, with the bureaucracy nature as the highest point, which can be divided into various classes, such as administrative personnel, rich and poor, urban and rural, workers and farmers, mental labor and physical labor. It is due to redundant hierarchies in a limited space with steep differences of height that building an overpass has been a failure. Education is often positioned as a set of components in this vast building. The existing exam admission system is similar to an “elevator” that sends different people to different floors based on exam results. People often think that only ascending to the top can be counted as talents, so everyone studies to improve their own rank, thereby causing the pressure of exams and leading to a lack of interflow between various levels and branches of education. Schools of all types at different levels revolve around this elevator, trying their best to send students to a higher floor in different ways. Obviously, this kind of education is difficult to be people-­ oriented and its human value of education will not be high. Adopting the elevator or overpass is determined by the social environment to a large extent. In cramped occasions with steep differences of height, the elevator is the only choice; only in a wide and flat area can an overpass be established. Therefore, to adopt an overpass structure requires considering the issue from more perspectives than education. Social conditions need to be in place first, so as to build a society of common equality with no privilege and clear hierarchy. As a long-term reform idea, the overpass for lifelong learning has witnessed little progress, because the fundamental system has not changed. The key to building a lifelong learning overpass lies in achieving equality between various occupations and positions, with differences limited to individual professionalism, technical content and professional categories only. These conditions will not be in place unless the existing social structure has changed. With no changes in the entire building, the public will still squeeze into the “elevator.”

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In short, it is impossible to build such an overpass without changing the type of society. The qualification of the “overpass” frameworks itself is a highly professional job, including the legislation and management of the qualification framework, qualification levels and competency standards, qualification quality assurance and review mechanisms, qualification certification, credit accumulation and conversion effectiveness, as well as past qualification recognition. Previously, this job was done by either closing the door for pure academic research, or by depending on administrative agencies, which lacked a work foundation for directly facing the public. In building a lifelong learning overpass, the government must stand on its own position, perform its duties well without overreaching its authority, and follow the order of building the overpass step by step. First of all, if only a few experts, officials, or “minorities” are pushing forward, it is difficult to build such an overpass without the engagement of people who really need this structure or the public. Therefore, to advance this goal in the new stage of reform, we must involve those who really need to “cross the overpass.” With pooling wisdom, common discussion, and action of everyone, the “overpass” can be made into a project that everyone wants to do and has the opportunity to engage in. Professional workers should thoroughly understand the educational needs of the public, follow the rules of education, and design a program that is convenient for the public and meets the needs of the masses. As a result, the public is willing to take a step forward and participate in its construction, so that the “overpass” is open in real sense. Secondly, another key design of the lifelong learning overpass is professional evaluation, through which we can identify the area of a person’s dominant potential, thereby forming a virtuous talent ecology of diversified development and prosperity, instead of adopting a single standard or exam to test everyone, or simply dividing people with administrative instructions. Only after completing the first two key designs can the vertical and horizontal communication of all types and levels of education be realized. The public will naturally participate in the construction of the “overpass” according to its own characteristics and life goals. In reality, the fragmentation of governments’ management departments for various types of education has also caused the division of various types of education at all levels. Therefore, it is necessary to change governments’ education management methods and the status of vocational education, general education, higher education, and adult continuing

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education under different departments. Some countries in the world with lifelong learning systems have established qualification frameworks that can recognize qualifications across regions and countries. Therefore, the construction of the “overpass” must first dismantle various “fences” related to education within the governments. Schools of all types and levels are the entities of the “overpass,” which should not be enforced by administrative instructions, but rather be given the autonomy to determine their own standards. National Tool or People’s Livelihood and Civil Rights Historically, there is a view that education can be used as a social tool, as embodied by “ancient emperors put education in the first place to build the country and rule the people.” After the New Culture Movement, some education pioneers have surpassed this concept. For example, Tao Xingzhi advocates turning education into sunshine to shed light on everyone, and that civic education should be the food and clothes for the poor, which clarifies that education is basic livelihood. After 1950, the idea of education as a national tool once again became mainstream. For example, on government documents, there were slogans like “education is the tool of proletarian dictatorship” (during the “Cultural Revolution”), education is the superstructure and productivity, “education is the reproduction and creation of culture,” and so on. Some believed that education is an activity of coordinated development between individuals and society. For example, “education is a learning activity of human society” (Lin Liru); “It is a tool that promotes the relations between human beings and nature, society, as well as labor” (Zhang Liyuan); some thought that three different interpretations of the nature of education can be derived from three different perspectives of human growth, society and culture (Lin Liru);4 some maintained that the nature of education has dual and multiple attributes; others believed that education is an activity that promotes individual development, as exemplified by theories of individualization, social practice, individual socialization and ability transmission.5 Exploring the nature of education from the 4  Qu Baokui. Research on the Basic Theories of Education 1978-1995, Fujian: Fujian Education Press, 1998, p.153. 5  Qu Baokui. Research on the Basic Theories of Education 1978-1995. Fujian: Fujian Education Press, 1998, pp.157-158.

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­ erspective of individual and society can be used as a path of thinking, p which, despite its own limitations, is very useful in social practices. From a functional perspective, is the basic function of education educating people (promoting individual development) or social development? One view emphasizes that the function of education is to educate people, while the other stresses the social function of education. Since 1950, the Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized the political function (narrowly understood as the tool for class struggle at one time) and economic function of education (narrowly understood as a tool for production struggle and serving the development of the market economy at one time), yet paid less attention to its people-educating function or regarded the function of educating people as a tool.6 Education itself has many functions, such as cultural inheritance, political and economic functions, scientific and technological development, national defense, religion, social stratification, and reproduction and so on. If viewed from the perspective of irreplaceability and the elements and structure of education, the most basic and essential nature of education is undoubtedly educating people, and only on this basis can education have an impact on society. Positioning education as a national tool will inevitably give rise to corresponding education philosophy, social management systems, and education evaluation mechanisms. For a long time, these three aspects have been forcibly abducted by bureaucratization, administrative management modes, and vested interest patterns, so even some minor adjustments can affect the whole society. Turning the education that has long been used as a tool into an independent education and making it a profession with faith, coupled with the construction of relevant education laws based on the Constitution to provide solid foundation for education reforms, this process itself is a process of improving the human value of education. Since the founding of New China in 1949, education has been regarded as an ideology and superstructure for a long period, in that the government’s educational values and policies played an absolute role in education practices, which not only continued social value-oriented traditions for thousands of years, but even went more extreme in concept and strictly controlled in management than in history. In the case of

6  Qu Baokui. Research on the Basic Theories of Education 1978-1995. Fujian: Fujian Education Press, 1998, p.277.

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individual-oriented concepts, there is criticism of individual-oriented values, with rare times of advocating individual values after 1980. It was not until the twenty-first century that people began to have more respect for individual values. During his tenure as Premier, Wen Jiabao repeatedly stressed that education was a major issue of people’s livelihood, and had repeatedly listed education within people’s livelihood in the government work reports. Wen Jiabao said during his inspection of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province from March 31 to April 1, 2008, “Among the four sentences of people’s livelihood, I regard the sentence that education is the foundation of people’s livelihood as the first priority, because it is related to future generations. Besides, health is the basis of people’s livelihood, distribution the source, and safeguard the security.”7 This is indeed the embodiment of people-oriented concepts in education, and also a breakthrough for rigid educational concepts in the past. However, education is not only about people’s livelihood, but is also part of basic civil rights. Education must delegate its powers proceeding from no matter social transformation or improving the human value of education. The most important thing is that human rights, affair rights, and financial power should be delegated. Education is a civil right for everyone. Only on this basis can we promote real delegation and push forward reforms in education. Education reform is not only a matter of the government, but also a matter of the people and everyone. Only when everyone is actively involved can education reforms succeed. Only by positioning education as a basic civil right, can we promote the effective transformation of the whole society, and provide a relatively accurate and appropriate basis and reference system for improving the human value of education.

2.3   Social Types and the Structure and Form of Education There is a certain correlation between the structure and form of education and social types. Their relation is not to be discussed here, but changes of this relation are viewed from the perspective of humans. 7  Zhao Xuehua. Wen Jiabao’s “four sentences regarding people’s livelihood” in Yunnan’s Dai Village, cited from China West: http://news.cnwest.com/content/2008-04-02/content_1198159.htm.

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Changes of Social Types and the Structure and Form of Education Although human beings lived in groups in early times, their social relations were not close, with loose education of no strict organization accordingly. In the era of farming civilization, education was individualized, personal, and decentralized. At that time, the most typical form of education was teaching by precept and example in life, which might be inefficient for some people, and extremely efficient for others. In the 5000 years of historical changes, the structure and form of education have experienced different stages of informalization, formalization, institutionalization and so on. Within this process, the autonomy of educators and educated individuals is correspondingly reduced. In other words, the humanistic nature of education in general has been gradually reduced, except special cases where education of some privileged groups may enjoy higher humanistic nature. During the “Axial Age,” no matter Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi in China, or Socrates, Plato and even the Jesus Christ in the Bible or Buddha Sakyamuni, almost unanimously advocated the individualized education of “teaching students according to their aptitude,” the increasing difficulty in implementing this principle has constituted the evidence that the human value of individual education is declining. Due to shrinking scope of implementation, formalized and institutionalized education has become the privilege of a certain class for a certain period, and reduced its humanistic nature for serving a certain privileged class. In the era of industrial civilization, the development of education is restricted by the role of the market. Therefore, the pursuit of large-scale, standardized, and centralized class teaching has become a universally adopted method. In addition, education needs to cultivate industrialized applicative talents, which contributes to higher instrumentality of people and further decline of the humanistic nature. At the same time, the classification of education has been more detailed, forming two categories of general and vocational education; the stages of education are gradually refined into pre-school education, primary education, junior high school education, high school education, university education, and even postgraduate education, thereby forming a complete and functional education system with diverse levels. The standardization and versatility required by industrial civilization contradict people’s different innate personalities, which leads to a remarkable reduce in the human value of education by

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industrial civilization while promoting the popularization of education. Schools, classrooms, and teachers generally become higher and more authoritative than specific students. Coupled with standardized education evaluations, each individual student is embedded in this system with his or her subjectivity clamped or overwhelmed. Information technology and humanistic needs will form a powerful force to change such educational structure and form of low human value. The Internet has changed the way of information transmission in human society, and the relationship between people. It has thereby changed the relationship between teaching and learning, which plays a key role in education, and the relationship among various stakeholders to education. It broadens people’s access to knowledge and enables education to possibly break through time and space constraints, thereby causing the following significant changes. First is the non-school learning. In the information technology and Internet-based information society, schools are no longer the only educational organizations. Various kinds of learning such as learning at school and self-learning at home, teacher lecturing and self-study, teacher-­ lecturing and online browsing all exist in the learning process of an individual or specific learning content. Small class learning, learning at home and personalized learning are not only possible, but may also be coupled with emerging new learning patterns. Second is the trend toward a more horizontal educational structure. On the one hand, in traditional education, there is a hierarchical relationship between teaching and learning; on the other hand, the hierarchical relationship of society also penetrates into education. In the information society, decentralized, digital, networked, remote, family, and personalized schools, as well as family education and other forms of social education are integrating with each other. The organic combination of online education, game-based learning, virtual communities, and real classrooms has dissolved the traditional concept of time and space for teaching and realized the interaction of hyper-time and hyper-space learning and interactions, which breaks the hierarchies to a certain extent and reflects them more in the relationship between supply and demand. The class teaching system will disappear if its form remains unchanged, and teachers and students will be equal helpers and learning partners. Finally, the enhancement of learning selectivity. A single form will only lead to a lack of selectivity, and virtualized and flat interactive learning platforms such as digital schools, digital teachers, online classrooms,

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distance learning, online education, cloud education, big data and remote video teaching and so on will become new ways of learning. Diverse learning supplies offer more choices. Since the education of the information society is no longer limited to school education, but in various forms like family education, corporate education, community education, social education and so on; it is no longer limited to formal education, but also includes non-formal education, thereby enabling people to acquire knowledge wherever they want; there are physical classrooms, online classrooms and online learning; school teaching coupled with many opportunities and options for lifelong learning. Different people can make choices based on various factors such as their own interests, current needs, and learning costs. In general, education will shift its focus from current teaching to learning in the future, which will help to coordinate with individualized, decentralized and networked individual education that is compatible with future ecological civilization. It helps to develop a more personalized person, and improve the human value of education accordingly. At that time, the teaching part of education will be more of a social service, and a learning society of lifelong learning will become the norm. Logic of Social Types and Education Structures and Forms Logically speaking, the social structure is determined by the human needs structure and the supply capacity achieved by the social economic and various technological conditions at that time. With increasing supply of education, the selectivity and humanity level of education will also increase, and so will the human value of education. When the social supply capacity is in short, a seller’s market for education will be formed, with the seller influencing the educated person at a stronger and higher position than the latter. The practices of countries worldwide show that when the government conducts centralized control, planned management and monopolized distribution of education resources, it will inevitably lead to a shortage of education resources. If there is a vertical hierarchy in the society in times of shortage of education resources, it will inevitably lead to the division and imbalance of education resources, which constitute root causes of the skewed distribution of education and important reasons for the low human value of education. With the need as an intermediary, equal interactions between the supply and demand sides of education can, on the one hand, stimulate the

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increase of the supply of education resources in the society, and on the other hand provide educated people with a variety of choices, thereby creating conditions to increase the human value of education. When the supply side of education is schools with limited power within a mutually independent scope, the choice of the educated person is more achievable; when the supply side of education is a group of schools, or all the schools organized by the government into one, the provided education tends to be unitary, and difficult to match the innate diversity of people, making each individual less powerful, thereby reducing people’s selectivity for education and the human value of education. The shortage of education resources will inevitably lead to personal dependence in the society to a certain extent, because of which it is impossible to achieve equality. Therefore, the shortage of education resources will inevitably affect the interpersonal relationship and even the social type, constituting a hierarchical society on a macro level. Such a society in turn replicates education of various grades and ranks, and cultivates people with hierarchical concepts to continue education of relatively low human value. Education itself is a profession. In a non-specialized society, the status of education will not be improved to its due position, and the professional characteristics of education will not be respected. As fairness, efficiency, and order of education are hard to keep in good condition, it is also difficult to improve the human value of education. Only when multiple subjects provide rich and varied education, and all parties abide by norms rather than accept control and form moderate competition for parties concerned to choose, can basic conditions be in place for improving the human value of education.

2.4   The Positioning of People in Education Different education differs greatly in terms of their positioning of people. In the same society, different educational concepts have different positioning of people, and different social types or stages of society will also systematically influence the positioning of people in education. Regarding Humans as a Group or Individual Education that takes the society as the basis and focus, and determines its value according to social needs is usually categorized under the

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social-oriented theory; while that takes the individual as the basis and starting point, and determines its value according to the internal needs of the individual is often referred to as individual-oriented theory. These constitute two hugely different choices. Since the Chinese culture is a typical group-based or nation-based type, its education also focuses on educating people as a group or an abstract object, rather than regarding them as a specific, fresh and unique individual, which is an important factor that restricts the human value of education. It is obviously different in terms of achieved effect whether education is focused on individual development and personality characteristics, or based on social needs to determine or choose education objectives, design education programs, and adopt education measures. The research perspective of Chinese education is limited to the unified education objective of governments, yet ignores education objectives determined or implied by various social groups, and even disregards education objectives actually held by parties concerned in the education process (Chen Guisheng).8 Both the individual-oriented educational teleology and social-oriented educational teleology have their own one-sidedness and theoretical basis. Only by combining individuals’ self-realization with social development harmoniously can the education objective be properly established. The individual-oriented theory emphasizes that personality development should be an important educational objective. In other words, the individual’s inner needs should be regarded as the basis of education. It maintains that the individual value is higher than the social value and that society is only valuable when it can contribute to individual development. Comenius, Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Dewey, and so on are all inclined toward individual orientation in their respective times. The social-oriented theory usually determines educational objectives from social needs and emphasizes that education is the socialization process of individuals, whose purpose lies in the development of social politics, economies, and culture. This theory maintains that the group or social value is higher than the individual value and that individuals are only valuable when they meet social or group needs. The group-oriented education values have dominated China for thousands of years, with Durkheim and G. Kerschensteiner inclined toward social-oriented values. Article 41 of the Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative 8  Qu Baokui. Research on the Basic Theories of Education 1978-1995. Fujian: Fujian Education Press, 1998, p.614.

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Conference adopted by the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on September 29, 1949 clearly states that “The cultural education work of the people’s government should focus on improving the people’s cultural level, cultivating talents for the country, eliminating feudal, comprador and fascist ideas, as well as developing the idea of serving the people.”9 Here, the connotation of “people” also refers to the group. In real society, apart from typical social-oriented theory and individual-­ oriented theory, most education theories and practices often swing between these two extremes, either with certain inclinations or with no obvious tendency in terms of individual and social dimensions. Under the specific Chinese cultural context, social transformation generally requires the shift from group orientation to individual orientation, so as to improve the human value of education and gain deeper understanding of specific and individualized humans. To Cultivate Upper-class, Middle-class or Lower-class People It is a common pursuit of Chinese folk to “endure the most and become the highest.” The mainstream idea of “cultivating oneself, regulating the family, ruling the state and harmonizing the world” also provides theoretical support of being upper-class people. Therefore, China has at least 3000 years of education practices of cultivating upper-class people. The current education competition, school selection competition, early education fever, and training fever are also the embodiment of pursuing the cultivation of upper-class people in terms of education. In China, education has entered into universal compulsory education, and higher education has entered a stage of popularization. Despite the fact that lifelong education has developed to a certain extent, with emerging Internet and the learning society, the pursuit of cultivating upper-class people remains still. Schools’ internal values and institutional arrangements are still geared to the needs of minorities and cultivating a small number of upper-class people, while unconsciously “cultivating” most students into lower-class citizens. Many parents hold high expectations for their children and regard children’s standing above others and becoming upper-class people as their 9  Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, People’s Daily, September 30th, 1949.

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own education beliefs, regardless of physical well-being, sound character, personality and interest, curiosity, imagination and love for reading. Despite incongruity with modern citizenship values, such practices are indeed very popular. Cultivating upper-class people is based on the presumption of unequal society and unequal social status quo. Continuing to cultivate upper-class or lower-class people will perpetuate or even widen this kind of inequality. Social transformation will develop toward a more horizontal societal structure, the general trend of which, despite ups and downs, is certain. Complying with this general trend requires us to take equality for all as the basic principle and cultivate middle-class people. Tao Xingzhi clearly stated 80 years ago that “People should aim to be mediocre, instead of to be superior only.”10 “Neither to be an upper-class person nor lower-class person, but to be a middle-class person.” “There are many reasons for being an average person. The most important thing is to have the spirits exemplified in lines that “neither riches nor honors can corrupt him; neither poverty nor humbleness can make him swerve from principle; and neither threats nor forces can subdue him.” Such spirits require independent will, independent thinking, independent livelihood, labor-resistant physique, and hungry-and-fatigue resistant body as the unshakable foundation.11 Tao Xingzhi has even been more straightforward to question whether we live for becoming “upper-class people.” Is the purpose of our hard work to be personally promoted in office and to make a fortune? Why do we study? Should we put our feet on the heads of others after we receive good education?… “Only those who endure the most become middle-­ class people.” In a fair world, there are only middle-class people, and there should be no “upper-class people” or “lower-class people.”12 To Socialize or Individualize Humans After determining education’s basic function of cultivating talents, there is still difference in terms of the human value of education, its determining factor being whether the function of education lies in promoting the 10  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 1), Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 33. 11  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 1). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 26. 12  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 3). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 227.

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socialization or individualization of humans. The former perspective emphasizes that humans are a product of the environment and education, thereby stressing professionalism, standardization and characterization, which suggests that education is a process of seeking uniformity, with a relatively low human value of education; the latter emphasizes the subjectivity of humans and that the human value is higher than anything, thereby stressing the autonomy, independence, selectivity and creativity. It maintains that education should innovate on the basis of inheritance and respect the process of seeking differences for individuality, thereby enjoying a relatively high human value of education. No matter which inclination you lean toward, there is no denying that correlation exists between socialization and individualization. Good education lies not in pursuing the socialization or individualization of individuals, but in pursuing individualization on the basis of socialization. Without the basis of socialization, individualization can hardly survive in human society; socialized individuals with no individualization tend to lose their value of social existence. Therefore, education should not only lay emphasis on high human value and individualization, but needs to find a proper position to achieve its best effect.

2.5   Logic of People-Oriented Education People-oriented education lies the development of humans at its core, with its education institutions, educational content choices and methods committed to better promoting the development of humans, which constitutes the basic logic of people-oriented education. The subjects of education are humans, which is where it ends and begins. It is required by the internal feature of education that education should not center on the God, objects, or secular power and interests. However, violations against this basic logic often occur in education run by different people, which regards education or even humans as a tool to achieve other objectives and constitutes a basic fact in thousands of years of development. People-oriented education needs to face these facts and propose its certain requirements for education. The Human Value is Approximately Equal to One The origin of the concept of human value can be traced back to the famous proposition put forward by the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras in

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his work On the Truth that “Man is the measure of all things, and everything exists when he exists. When he does not exist, everything does not exist.” After emerging from the absolute time and space concept, this ancient philosophical proposition has been confirmed by the development of relativity theory and quantum physics that man is indeed the measure of all things. However, the human value is not to compare people with all things from the perspective of existence or not, but to compare people with all things from the perspective of value; instead of comparing humans with all things in a philosophical sense, it aims to compare the life value of each individual with other people and the organizations and existences around him from the operational level. The important significance of the concept of human value is to change the coordinate system of education. Previous discussions about education adopt society, the government, or the subjective delusion of some organizations as the origin of coordinate, while people-oriented education adopts the growth and development of people as the origin of coordinate. After transforming the time and space coordinates of education, it is necessary to make new management, evaluation, and setting of education based on the positional relationship between the new coordinate origin and the old coordinate origin. People-oriented education does not mean the higher human value, the better it is. Based on the balance among people and between human beings and the outside world, such education focuses on the mutual enhancement and mutual satisfaction of people’s personality development and social needs for individual development. According to the definition of human value: human value = value of people/value of social organizations and other structures, or expressed as: H = Vm / Vt. Looking at the history of human survival and development, it is necessary to define education with a human value equal to one as people-­ oriented education. This definition is determined by the positioning of human beings in the universe, and by human nature. In The Lessons of History, the Durant couple believes that human nature is the sum of habits formed by human instinct and various accompanying emotions. As an important human essence, human nature has two sides, with two fundamentals of both good and evil, right and wrong, positive and negative. Although theoretically speaking, in the long river of history, human nature will certainly change, but the changes in human nature are extremely slow.

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As far as the known history is concerned, there has not been much change in human nature.13 In a certain period of time, when the human value of some people is greater than one, there must be others whose human value is less than one; when too many people’s human value is greater than one, nature must bear the unbearable human survival pressure. For a specific individual, a human value greater than one means that he is superior to others and is privileged. Humans’ value ratio relative to nature or other existences can be greater than one, but not much larger than the figure. When the human value is magnified to infinity, or assuming that humans decide everything, not only will incongruity occur between humans and various existences around, but this is also against the basic principle of equality for all, leading to some people superior to others and the disharmony of human will transcending nature, reviving the anthropocentrism fanatic that man can conquer nature, thereby destroying the environment in which human beings live in the name of conquering nature. During thousands of years of human development, it was common to have a human value of less than one or much smaller than one, yet this is not people-oriented education. Due to the society and other factors, the human value of exactly equal to one is a forever ideal; it can never be attained, or you can say that it is a random event. As people-oriented education should not be set in an impossible state, we have no option but to set the human value to approximately equal to one as the qualitative requirement for people-oriented education and work to get closer to one. The human value of approximately equal to one reflects an education with multilateral interactions, including teacher-student and student-­ student interactions, in which the interacting parties are equal in personality. The teacher-student relationship is an interdependent and corresponding relationship where one will fail to prove its existence when separated from the other. Although the teacher and student each perform different roles and fulfill different educational functions, both of them are human beings. They are the subjects of education and should comply with the people-oriented principle. For teachers, the people-oriented principle refers to “student-orientation” in which all students should be treated equally. As for students, it requires their respect and understanding toward 13  Will Durant, Ariel Durant. The Lessons of History. Ni Yuping, Zhang Kang, trans. Beijing: China Founder Press, 2015, p. 45.

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teachers. People-oriented education encourages teachers and students to build friendships. The human value of approximately equal to one also indicates the cessation of the educational and thinking mode of binary opposition between the subject and object, and the establishment of symbiotic and subject-­ object oneness thinking. People-oriented education is neither teacher-­ centered nor student-centered. There is no conquest and suppression on any side, nor the need and desire to defeat the other, to gain advantages, and to make the other surrender. In a symbiotic relationship, teachers and students share a common goal and both of them are the key to its fulfillment, which conforms to the people-oriented education. Although the “I” and “you” relationship still exists between teachers and students, “I” and “you” seem to be intertwined as “I” affect “you” while “you” affect “me.” Both teachers and students gain common growth in different phases during teaching and learning. In the past, teacher-centered education inhibited and even prohibited students’ autonomy and creativity, reducing education to a knowledge transfer process which comprises one-way transmission, intensive training, and forced learning. This is obviously not people-oriented education. However, over-promoting the student-centered education and setting students’ human value to much larger than one will deprive education of its humanistic nature and make it an exchange of various real interests. Besides, some families set their children’s human value to a very high number. All of these will distort human beings, leading to the opposite side of people-oriented education. The human value of approximately equal to one signifies the equality between people, the harmony between man and nature, and the sustainable development of man and education. Everyone shall enjoy equal education rights without any privileges. Balanced education between regions and the equal status between schools shall be ensured. The civilian education movement in China around 1930 is, in fact, a campaign aiming for human value of approximately equal to one. In recent years, the practices of educational balance in China are essentially a pursuit of people-oriented education. The human value of approximately equal to one also requires every individual to treat all social organizations and various beings around him or her with sincerity and respect. We have to respect nature and behave naturally, while preventing ourselves from becoming a slave to God, material things or secular power. We have to maintain our subjectivity,

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independence, and initiative as a human being and learn from the changing world. At the same time, we should not take this for granted, nor try to dominate everything, rely on power, or look down on others. All of these constitute a harmonious and virtuous relationship between man and nature, man and man, and mind and body, which brings us back to people-­ oriented education. All Education Activities Should Be Based on Each Specific Individual The key mechanism of education is illustrated by the Western proverb, “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” It is possible to light a fire because everyone is born with a seed of creativity. However, the ignition timing and method varies from one tinder to another, which makes ignition difficult when it comes to a group of individuals. We need to determine how to and when to start the fire according to the individual growth. Thus, it is necessary for all education activities to be based on specific individuals rather than a group. Teaching, management, evaluation, and even national education policies, regulations, and plans should be carried out based on specific education individuals, instead of merely on other intermediaries related to people. It cannot be based on abstract group concepts, nor allow any excuses to suppress and infringe on individual education. The common violation of people-oriented education starts from politics, economy or individual’s supposition and demands education to serve them, or uses an abstract group concept such as “the people” as an alternative and ignores the real and specific individual education. Logically speaking, only by solving every specific individual problem regarding education with distinctive features in real life, can the education service problem be completely solved for “the people” as a group concept. If we start from the abstract concept of “the people,” it is more likely to ignore the specific individual education or simply focus on a few individuals in the group. Each individual may be excellent or ordinary, rich or poor; they may come from different ethnics as well as different cultural and geographical backgrounds. Therefore, people-oriented education can only be implemented by setting specific individuals as a starting point; starting from a group can never make a through people-oriented education.

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Even if the human value is approximately equal to one, there’s still a need to understand it from an individual perspective. Social equality for all can be achieved if every individual has a human value of approximately equal to one. Only in this way can education be inclusive, open, and complete. Education is not just about instilling knowledge, but more about cultivating individuality, establishing ambition, forming faith, embracing ideals, igniting free thoughts, fostering independent spirits, enhancing cooperation awareness, inspiring conscientiousness, developing creativity, pursuing truth, and fostering qualified citizens. Education is never the voucher for status, diplomas, degrees, remuneration, and rewards. People-oriented education calls for individuals to seek “truth” and “love.” A society lacking “truth” will lose its solid foundation, while a society lacking “love” will have no cohesion. Education without truth and love will inevitably lead to the desertification of society. In reality, the absence of “truth” in education remains a serious problem. Thus, the “truth” in education is emphasized through scientific development, respect for the inherent laws of education, quality assurance, and the concepts of scientific quality and development. In the real world, the deficiency of “love” in education is another dilemma as shown in those cases on campus. “Love” is stressed in both promoting education equity and providing satisfying education for the masses. When emphasizing individuals as the starting point, we must also understand the comprehensive characteristics of specific individuals in order to figure out which aspect of human beings should we center on. Man is a being of naturalness, sociability, intelligence, and even spirituality. It is obviously not people-oriented education if we only pay attention to man’s naturalness or material desires in the biological sense. Meanwhile, if we only focus on man’s sociability and ignore the naturalness and spirituality, it may evolve into suppression of individual development in the name of social development, turning individuals into tools for social development. If we concentrate on man’s spirituality and see education as a kind of mental communication activity, it may develop into another kind of God-centered education that suppresses the natural and social needs of human beings, although the root of education remains the same. Of course, people-oriented education is bound to take care of man’s belief

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and spirit, but it won’t work if we only focus on this part. Therefore, people-oriented education should cover the natural, social, intellectual, and spiritual needs of human beings comprehensively and strive to distinguish the priority so as to achieve a dynamic balance in all aspects. If education is only taken as a service for the people, it is the embodiment of society-oriented educational values, which sets the end of individuals as the starting point of education. On the surface, it seems to have taken care of the whole, yet in fact neglects various real needs of living individuals. Moreover, the people are a political concept, which still reflects political-oriented educational values rather than people-oriented values. In reality, there may be no education completely detached from politics. However, political-oriented education may over-strengthen the political function of education and can never be people-oriented education. Another reason to start from individuals is that education needs to be based on human congenital nature. Starting from “human,” it follows the basic laws in the process of human biological growth, psychological development, social maturity, and self-realization rather than simply applying education to people with abstract concepts. In German, education can be expressed in two different words, one of which means “the formation of a person”, that is, a person becomes a real person according to his or her nature; the other means to cultivate and train people according to a specific purpose. This shows a difference between education and training in the common thoughts in Europe. Training is to make a living with certain knowledge and skills, while education helps to cultivate crucial human attributes and makes a person human in real and complete sense, or a so-­ called grown-up in humanistic sense. This is called people-oriented education. Autonomous Choice of Education Should Be Guaranteed People-oriented education focuses on the independent development of human beings. It creates conditions out of the needs of individual growth and development so as to match education methods with individuals’ growth and education contents with their needs. To achieve this goal means to make independent judgments and choices throughout the individual’s development.

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In 1631, when Cambridge businessman Thomas Hobson was selling his horses, his customers were free to choose the released horses but with an additional condition, that is, they could only pick the horse closest to the door. Obviously, there was no choice at all with the condition. This so-called choice without any alternatives is later satirized as “Hobson Choice Effect.” People-oriented education must avoid trapping the children in the “Hobson Choice Effect” dilemma. The guarantee for autonomous choice consists of internal and external parts. Externally, the society, family, and school have to protect the individual’s right in making autonomous choices; internally, individuals have to learn how to choose autonomously and improve their related ability. Autonomous choice is not an indulgence. Instead, motivated and guided by the internal needs of personal growth, it asks individuals to learn self-­construct, create a more accurate self-awareness based on their experiences, build up their self-will, and acquire self-management skills. Those with poor self-management skills will be bad at self-selection as well. During the process of self-selection, the children should not aim for the outside utilitarian and materialistic goals, or let their parents decide for them, but instead to make choices based on the potential that can be experienced or proved by games or other means. In reality, people may want to possess divinity, politics, economy, knowledge or skills, or to keep up with the Joneses in terms of grades and admission rates. All of these have a certain value in education. However, if we regard them as the whole or the sole content of education, we will reach the opposite of people-oriented education. The development value of human beings may include the above content to a certain extent, but it cannot be simply equated with one of the above aspects. In other words, people-oriented education does not disregard divinity needs, political impulsiveness, economic pursuit, knowledge and skills acquisition, and even the comparison and competition on grades and admission rates. Instead, it measures these demands on the scale of human development and allocates an appropriate share of value which does not exceed that of humanistic growth. In fact, only by promoting human development to prioritize, coordinate and realize the above-mentioned needs, can we effectively guarantee the autonomous choice of education, thereby meeting the needs of social development for diverse talents. The autonomous choice for people-oriented education is not a one-­ time event, but a continuous process. To guarantee the self-selection

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means to ensure that the entire process runs smoothly. Therefore, throughout history, we humans have been making our own choices often motivated by the quest to “know yourself.” Here are some arguments made by several people: man is the ensemble of social relations (Marx); human is an existence with unspecialized openness (Landman); being a human is to look for the “being” of human beings (Heidegger); man is a symbolic animal (Cassier); man is by nature a rational animal, man is by nature a social, political animal (Aristotle). Different judgments make different choices. To ensure autonomous choice, it is necessary to ensure that every individual is free to make their own judgment based on different assumptions. However, it is very tough for people to know themselves and make a choice, so people-oriented education can be far more difficult than general skill-based training. This is similar to Karl Jaspers’s argument, “Human beings as a whole, is like the world as a whole; he cannot be an object for exploration. Whenever he is perceived, the perception comes from a part of his appearance, not from his self. ”14 When people try to know themselves and make their choices, they manage to list out many of their characteristics but fail to mention their entire selves and the key points of themselves. That is why making autonomous choices is extremely difficult; but even so, teachers or parents should not act in place of children. Teachers, parents, or other closely related people may provide necessary assistance for children to understand themselves and make choices, but they cannot decide for them. Leaving the right of making choices to children is one of the keys to people-oriented education. We need to believe that with a transcendental instinct, man can consciously control his life activities, break the chains and shackles of life instinct and reality presupposition through his own creative practice, and adapt to the ceaseless alternation of “de jure” and “de facto.” This characteristic of man is inherited genetically, so if we deny it, we also disbelieve in human nature and violate the humanism principle. People-oriented education means to cultivate man by realizing their congenial nature through acquired efforts and help them to grow and develop their personalities. The on-going process of self-development, self-understanding, and self-selection constitutes a continuous cycle. Human beings can 14  Jaspers. Karl Jaspers Philosophical Autobiography. Wang Liquan, trans.Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1989, p. 21.

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self-­develop, which makes self-development one of the characteristics of people-­oriented education. Self-development is relevant to the surrounding groups, but strictly speaking, it is a relatively independent process. This is why people-oriented education stresses autonomous choices and the needs to start from individuals. To be precise, people-oriented education creates an endless development of individual growth under the guidance of the adults, and expands, enriches, and expresses the life of humans, thereby creating a new culture and a new self. The self-development of people-oriented education not only inherits the existing cultures, but also creates new cultures; this attribute enables education to rejuvenate in the process of self-development.

CHAPTER 3

Value: From Nationalism to People-centered Orientation

China’s education has been deeply influenced by nationalism. The transformation of Chinese society requires the transformation of educational values from a nationalistic orientation to a people-centered orientation. During the process, there will be many contradictions and problems. The key is to realize the following changes. First, educators need to change their identities from social representatives to sincere mutual learners. Apart from being professional teachers, they are able to learn from each other. These multi-channels of information will then form a more diverse teacher-­ student relationship. Age is also no longer a necessary condition for educators to meet since educators will satisfy the needs of mutual growth or others’ growth. It will be more prevalent for the acknowledged people to be educators. Second, the learners’ first priority is themselves. Since the main body of education is constituted by both learners and educators, learners should not be controlled by any social organization and both parties should be cooperative learners of equal status. Third, further clarification is needed to stress that people should not be used as tools of education but instead serve as the goal of education. The growth and development of students is the ultimate goal of education, so the best option is to turn the school into a spiritual home for both teachers and students and at the same time create conditions for students’ self-realization. Transformation requires the elimination of all institutional obstacles and the return to people-centered educational ecology. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_3

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Value reflects the utility of object to subject thus, “education value is the usefulness or ‘utility’ of education and the opinion and evaluation of the education usefulness when education is consciously mastered, utilized or received and enjoyed.” 1 Just like the general values of society, there are also various values of education. People can start to grasp this diversity from a variety of different perspectives. The substantial transformation of education in China’s current social transformation lies in the shift from a nationalistic orientation to a people-centered orientation.

3.1   The Nationalism Background of Education The ideology of nationalistic education originated in Europe and it was introduced to China around 1917 during the New Culture Movement. At this time, China had had more than 2000 years of monarchy. At that time, the only ambition of ordinary educated people was to be loyal to the emperors. Their subjectivity was ingrained in their souls. This societal foundation provided the best conditions for the seeds of nationalism to root and develop. Yu Jiaju, Li Huang, and others were the key people who recognized the idea of nationalism and continued the implementation. Some researchers have summarized three characteristics of the nationalistic educational concept that emerged in China in the first half of the twentieth century as follows. The first characteristic is incomplete cultural nationalism. The sacredness of traditional Chinese culture was advocated, but not critiqued. It was treated as promotional language and an iconic symbol to distinguish and oppose foreign cultures. Various ideas proposed by nationalism seemed to be up-and-coming, but yet it was not considered a revolution. The focus was not revolutionary propaganda and agitation, but rather the “intention of suppressing thoughts.” The second characteristic is unilaterally emphasizing the duties and obligations of the people to the state but seldom mentioning the responsibility of the state to the people. The absolute obedience of the people to the state was often stressed instead of the establishment of a modern democratic state. In essence, the nationalistic education was synonymous with authoritarian education. The third characteristic is clearly aimed at individualism, populism, and cosmopolitanism and it placed the state and national attributes above individuality. It criticized the establishment of independent personalities 1  Huang Ji, Wang Cesan. Modern Education Theories.Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1996, p. 222.

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for the over-emphasis of the importance of individuality in reality and the neglect of the national, group, and social attributes, which needed correction.2 Chen Qitian, one of the disseminators of nationalism, outlined the three targets of nationalistic education: “the people”, “the patriotic citizens,” and “the patriotic citizens that prioritize the nation.”3 Yu Jiaju advocated that education was the foundation of the country and that “education builds the country.”4 He stated that schools should be regarded as important places and tools to unify thoughts and cultures. In this way, education can lay the foundation of the country, carry forward the national customs, and construct the soul of the country. One of the typical expositions regarding the goal of nationalistic education was proposed by Gu Mei. He argued that the state should “pay special attention to rural education.”5 He explained that by increasing the knowledge of the rural people, they will have higher morality, finer technology, higher agricultural production, and more enriched lives to function as a good citizen. The nationalistic education concept held a wait-and-see attitude rather than a sense of participation toward the ideological trend of democracy and science, the New Culture Movement itself, and the Civilian Education Movement. Thus, it failed in acknowledging the profound value in both the ideology of democracy and science and the civilian education which advocated equality in education. The nationalistic value emphasized society-­oriented educational purposes and excluded individual value. It insisted that the country was above the individual and every individual had to serve the country. Deconstructing the educational subjectivity was the main approach to educational problems. This would lead to the violation against the basic principles of individual initiative and socio-ecological development. In essence, it disagrees with education as a subjective activity. The nationalistic education concept was more prone to solve the problem from top down by administrative means. The schools were positioned as a branch under the national administrative structure and were divided into different levels through the top-down administrative bureaucratic system. Measures were taken to transform, improve, and expand, rather than 2  Hu Weiqing. The Distortion of Educational Nationalism in Modern China, History Teaching, 2001(7). 3  Chen Qitian. China’s Education Policy, Chinese Educational Circles, 1929, 16(3). 4  Yu Jiaju. Educational Administration under Nationalism, Chung Hwa Educational Review, 1928, 15(1). 5  Gu Mei. China’s Rural Education Movement, Educational Research, 1928(6).

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autonomous and independent construction and creation of schools. This education concept urged teachers and students to serve and comply. Such schools merely valued social success yet ignored the inner experience and independent growth of teachers and students. After 1950, nationalism was criticized by the public media, yet education that ran in accordance with this idea was not abandoned. Instead, when learning from the Soviet model, the nationalistic education concept was objectively established as the foundation of the social education system, where every individual had to live as a “screw.” Since then, this educational concept became the basis for all education policies and measures and it provides subconscious guidance for daily education behaviors. It caused trauma to many people during the ideological transformation and “anti-rightist” period and publicly trampled on human nature during the “Cultural Revolution.” The people’s minds and spirits were restricted while their subjectivity was repressed. Therefore, the vast majority of individuals did not realize that they were subjects. This concept was then solidified by the planned economic system and the administrative bureaucracy which constructed a hierarchical education management system from the central to the local level. At the lowest level of society, rural areas were at the farthest end of education. To solve the problems of education and the education in the rural areas, China had deconstructed the subjectivity of the rural parties based on non-rural parties. This approach took the transformation of rural society as the basic starting point and aimed at the mechanization, modernization, industrialization, and urbanization of these rural areas. The basic assumption was that rural areas were underdeveloped and holding the country’s modernization back. Rural schools were designed as the communication station of national awareness so that rural areas could be more advanced in production and lifestyle. This was another important reason for the imbalance of China’s education ecosystem as described in the first chapter. The nationalistic education concept required educators to follow certain administrative orders, instructions, and official documents when conducting educational and teaching work. They were expected to follow the rules without knowing what was happening. This showed that the subjectivity of students and teachers has long been ignored. There were two basic value orientations of the nationalistic education philosophy. Firstly, education should pay attention to the cultivation of national concepts in terms of educational guidelines with particular emphasis on patriotism education for students to enhance the

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cohesiveness of the country. Secondly, there should be increasing intervention from the country in the development of education.6 Since the goal of nationalism is to build a strong country, it has a strong tendency to pursue administrative centralization. To put this value into education practices, we have to transform the existing education based on the nationalistic education concept, carry out ideological transformation on the existing teachers, strengthen the political and ideological thoughts of students, and awaken the students’ social and national consciousness by repeatedly stressing the “country and society.” Since group-orientation had an absolute advantage in the traditional Chinese culture for more than 3000 years, the individual value was always overlooked. This had laid a profound cultural foundation for the implementation of the nationalistic education concept in China for more than 60 years. In addition, the centralized government prepared a strong institutional foundation for this concept. Under this circumstance, nationalism was the only choice for education. In the management, evaluation, and decision-making of education at all levels, there were also a series of policies and norms to reflect the basic concepts of nationalistic education. When society entered a transitional period, the nationalistic educational concept encountered many challenges. Firstly, it had to meet the subjective needs of the educational parties during the educational process. Nationalism, whether based on national traditions or discourse contents such as modernization, science, and civilization had always promoted education by neglecting, demeaning, and deconstructing the subjectivity of educational parties. The objectives would only comply with national regulations, not citizens with modern democratic qualities and independent personalities. They aimed at producing obedient citizens with national concepts who understood obligations, but not rights nor the inherent relationship between responsibility and power. It was impossible to build a modern society by relying on such people and difficult to give full play to people’s creativity. Secondly, there was a need to settle conflicts between the unified educational management centralized by the government and the diverse education needs of the people in terms of educational rights. The nationalistic education concept and the centralized management of education complemented each other. It not only pursued the independence and integrity of 6  S.E. Frost. Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Western Education. Wu Yuanxun et al., trans. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 1987, pp.554-555.

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the country’s education sovereignty, but also the high concentration and unity of the country’s educational administrative power, and thereby restrained the freedom of thought to ensure the high unity of ideology. Therefore, education content and methods required by the people were all rejected, leading to difficulties in effectively improving human value. Thirdly, if education were completely regarded as a national tool, the inherent laws of education would inevitably be ignored. It adopted the administrative means and methods to conduct and manage education. It would focus on the performance of education from a national standpoint and follow a single standard to evaluate the performance of education. Hence, the diversity of people and the professionalism of education were neglected, the inherent characteristics and laws of human growth and educational development were contravened, and the personal experiences and needs of educational parties were overlooked. Therefore, running a school with such concept would transgress the basic principles of individual development as well as the social ecosystem development. This educational concept could hardly be sincerely welcomed by educational parties and it would definitely fail in cultivating outstanding talents. Fourthly, the education governance system of the nationalistic educational concept was integrated with the state administrative system. This system and the society ruled by law belonged to two different social governance models. In reality, to rule a country with law is to rule education with law, transform education from administration management to education ruled by law, and change schools from an administrative affiliated institution to a relatively independent non-corporate legal person. With the nationalistic education concept, the above-mentioned changes were impossible to achieve and ruling education with law would only remain as a slogan. It was precisely because the nationalistic education concept had been deliberately implemented in China that many problems in carrying out educational reforms and setting up educational systems had worsened in over 100 years due to non-educational parties’ positioning as national, government or city positioning, the main bodies like the government and the educated who deconstructed the subjectivity of educational parties, and city-orientation as the long-term model to solve education problems, especially rural education issues. In China, as early as in the late Qing Dynasty, Gong Zizhen and others realized the defects of the old monarch-oriented values and advocated the concept of people-orientation. During the New Culture Movement,

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people-centered education was reaffirmed and re-emphasized under the slogan of democracy and science. The openness and liberationism thoughts after 1981 had aroused some people’s needs and aspirations for subjectivity, equipped them with such courage, ability, and will, and established the value goal of pursuing subjectivity, which anonymously called the nationalistic education concept into question.7 Both opening-up and economic development needed to adjust the attitude of treating education as a tool and reform the authority-relied education model and chalk-and-talk education methods, so as to establish the subjective status of education itself and especially the educated. The current state of Chinese education and the real situation of students are challenging the theoretical and practical foundations of nationalistic education. This situation is mainly shown in student-parent, student-teacher, and student-student relationships. For parents, students become a yardstick to measure their success of family education, social status, and happiness. Since Xunzi advocated teachers’ dignity, which has been maintained for more than 2000 years, students not only have to obey their teachers, but also turn into tools to show their teachers’ teaching performance. Students’ good grades can bring honor and even promotion and economic benefits to the teachers, while those with poor grades are disgraceful to the teachers and are always punished. The relationship between the students is also unequal. The case is often that the student leaders or those who have rich and powerful parents will be superior to others. Additionally those who are academically excellent will get the priority access to school resources. Examinations are the only measure to determine success or failure. Those who fail the test are deemed to be dominated, but those who succeed are also, in fact, the tools for parents, teachers, schools, local officials, and so on. The combined effect of this situation has caused many students to be dominated and dependent. Different students in the same class have different human values, but everyone’s burdens are getting heavier and heavier. The “manipulator” behind all this is the nationalistic education concept and its centralized education setting completely under the state control. 7  The first use of the opening-up policy in the government documents was in the report on the work of the government at the fourth session of the fifth National People’s Congress held in November 1981. It was clearly stated that “the implementation of the opening-up policy and the strengthening of international economic and technological exchanges are our unwavering policy.”

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The existence of the nationalistic education concept in the education reality is mainly reflected in: First, the state-controlled examination and enrolment system. This system has become a “filter” for the vertical flow of individuals in the society, while education acts as an “accelerator” and the school as a fuel station. The result of exam-oriented education is to transform education from cultivation into screening activities, turning humans into a tool. Second, the solidification of education-society relationship. Education is absolutely subordinate to social politics, economy, or military affairs. Education is regarded as a pure superstructure or required to adapt to the market economy and marketization, while the principles of the market economy are used to develop, manage, and evaluate education. Third, the generation of unequal interpersonal relationships. When strengthening society-orientation through the state power, individuals are secondary and must be attached to the community, family, or society, or most ordinary people are attached to the minority heroes, leaders, and elites with no subjectivity at all. Education focuses more on training people to be “obedient” by cultivating a dependent personality. It avoids and even prevents in cultivating the masters of the society with independent thinking, and thus hinders the society’s governance on modernization and completion of market. Fourth, the strength of the administrative control over educational management and weakens the rule of law in education. Therefore, the ineffective implementation of the autonomy expansion of the grassroots education administrators and the schools has blocked the democratic negotiations and the development from one-way to two-way and from authoritative to service-oriented management to a certain extent. In terms of curriculum, it is required to shift from unity to diversity, while the students and schools make slow progress to make choices according to their own interests and actual situations respectively. In short, nationalism is the initial state of China’s social and educational transformation, and it is the focus of various unavoidable contradictions and problems during the transformation. The development of information technology and the industrial upgrading have made the society to put forward higher requirements for the development of individuals. The talent training model formed on the basis of industrial civilization cannot adapt to the new social needs, and the standards for talent requirements

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are diversified and personalized. These external needs of nationalism have to be abandoned. The individual’s independent consciousness, critical consciousness, sense of responsibility, and the enhancement of cooperation and freedom are the powerful internal drives to escape nationalistic education.

3.2   Who Is the Educator? When it comes to “educator,” people will naturally think of teachers. However, this is only a simplified answer which does not respond to a more substantive question: what kind of person can become a teacher and claim the identity of an educator? Based on the nationalistic educational concept, who is the educator? In Chinese history, there was an “official-­ teacher-­in-one” system, where an “official” was also a “teacher,” or even only an officer could be a teacher. In the Songs of the Five Sons of Book of Documents, it was stated, “the people are the foundation of a country and only when the people lead a good life can the country thrive.” In fact, the people were viewed from the state perspective, not from “people-­ orientation” or “humanistic-orientation” as explained by some people nowadays. In the Tang Dynasty, the chapter Agricultural from Essentials of Government in the Zhenguan Era gave a closer interpretation, “Everything must be committed to the roots. The root of a country is the people, and the root of the people is food and clothing.” The “root” here is not absolute. It argued that the premise of the root is “country” rather than the rational human-centered orientation. Although “official-teacher-­ in-one” system has no longer existed in China since the past centuries, the profound impact of this idea on education and society is far from eliminated. During the transition from nationalism to people-orientation, education needs to be transformed into an equal activity of people’s common growth, and the nature and identity of educators are changing. The Transformation from Social Representatives to Sincere Mutual Learners In the God-centered society, a teacher is a missionary or almsgiver. In the “official-teacher-in-one” system, it is clear that teachers are the official representatives. Ancient private school teachers even saw themselves as the representatives of mainstream society. In the past few decades in China,

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teachers have served as national cadres. While some other countries also view teachers as civil servants, quasi-civil servants or professional civil servants, at present, the teacher is an employee of an administrative subordinate institution, which is in short, a representative of a society. As social representatives, their words and deeds are not only decided individually, but also by society. Even if their own thoughts or judgments based on objective facts are inconsistent with the party they represent, they must express themselves in accordance with the society. Moreover, most of the teachers see their superior leaders as the main subject of education. When the teachers receive an order from their leaders, they will turn to the students, treating them as their subordinates, and order them in the same way… It is actually regarding the educational entity as the superior leader, where leaders are the main subject of education and form a superior-and-subordinate relationship, or even a one-way relationship with students. In the short term, the existing identity of teachers is difficult to change. However, in reality, some people have set out in a new direction. Either by giving up the role of social representatives or by expressing themselves more sincerely and frankly in their teaching, they try to take off their masks to interact with students. This shift represents a trend in which teachers and students will become mutual learners in people-oriented education. It is also related to certain institutional changes. Schools developed from the teacher’s association will be deconstructed in the information society into a loose association where teachers possess greater independence and autonomy. Meanwhile, as many people have more space for independent development, their potential will be fully developed and the requirements for equality and complementarity among people will become higher. Thus, more and more people will be engaged in mutual learning. The Transition from Professional Teachers to Everyone as an Educator Human society has experienced the transformation of non-professional educators to professional teachers. The next change will be the transition from professional teachers to everyone as an educator. “A teacher is to teach methods, impart knowledge and answer doubts.” This is a widely recognized explanation for teachers. At the same time, Confucius stated, “When three walk together, there must be at least one

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who can teach me.” According to his words, at least one-third of the people in the society are educators, although they may be unaware of it. People naturally think that a teacher is a person who teaches children in school. Indeed, after the specialization of labor division, school teachers are undoubtedly educators. From kindergarten to university, excellent teachers always stand out. The teaching of a good teacher has great impact on our lives. Although the school education is highly valued nowadays, a large number of surveys indicate that parents are their children’s earliest educators with the greatest influence on their lives. A study showed that the ratio of family, society, and school effect on children is 7:2:1. Parents’ words and deeds have established the behavioral standards and the morality model for their children. As a proverb in Africa goes, “it takes a village to raise a child,” meaning that to nurture a child well, the whole village needs to participate in the nurturing, that is, every villager is an educator. If we elaborate on the idea, the “village” includes you and me, as well as all the people in the world. As long as people do not live in isolation, they involuntarily affect others around them and play the role of educators. All kinds of people who are not directly involved in school work will also use their products, works, and services to perform the function of educators, such as the works of writers, the artworks of artists, the life value and humanity spirit transmitted by doctors treating the patients, and the scientists who seek truth. Certainly, the speeches and acts of government officials also set a benchmark for social morality. The Chinese sayings like “the subordinate follow the superior” and “if the top beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked” point out the impact of education, and as “example is better than precept”, the officials’ actions have more educational influence than their words. What will not change in the information society is the relationship between older and younger generations. People-centered education needs to objectively face the relationship between generations as all adults have the responsibility to educate teenagers. We need to interact with others no matter in a virtual or real environment, and the connotation of learning lies in the interactions. Similarly, there will be excellent people in each and every professional field. On the journey to the truth exploration, the distance to the truth varies greatly from one to another.

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Age Is Not a Necessary Condition for Being An Educator The proper formality between young and old is a normal state in society. In ancient times, there were a few cases where the young educated the elderly; however, this may be a common phenomenon in the future. Educator criteria will no longer regard age as a necessary condition. The large-scale emergence of online open courses and its rapid development in the future will enable more and more middle-aged and older people to participate in learning. The further the learners proceed in their learning stages, the more the educational resources are needed. Therefore, the educators have to create more educational resources (i.e. large-scale online open courses) for the middle-aged, well-educated, and professional lifelong learners. More and more participants who have obtained one (or even two) degree(s) in higher education are joining the learning process. Their study is more about solving a problem in their life or career and realizing personal growth autonomously. The emergence and development of MOOCs in information technology have made it possible for the broad sense of teachers. Everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a student. There are no absolute teachers or students. Teachers can be students and they should be good students, while students can be teachers and they should be good teachers as well. The role of being a teacher or student depends on a certain occasion, aspect, or time. There is no permanent and comprehensive teacher, and teachers and students are always relative but not absolute in time and space. Whoever is advanced can be a teacher; once he stops advancing, he should no longer be a teacher. For an individual, it is difficult to get full development if he only learns from a particular person. He must learn from all the individuals around him, choose what to learn and learn it critically, and then can he achieve balanced and perfect development. Growing Together or to Help Others Grow In China, it is popular to say that the educators are “burning themselves to illuminate others.” In essence, everyone grows when teaching. The ancient Chinese people believed that teaching and learning complement each other. Tao Xingzhi once said to learn 70, teach 80, do 90, and aim at 100. That is to say, for certain knowledge, if you learn for the sake of learning, you can only learn 70% of it at most. You will grasp 80% of it if you learn to teach, 90 if you learn to do and on this basis, and you should

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target for 100. Learning for teaching is different from learning for learning because the former can improve the efficiency of learning. This is the basic logic of educators growing together. Educators are those who have certain educational resources to share with others. They need to exchange their own tangible or intangible teaching activities with the members of society in need. For those with no resources for exchange, no matter what power and economic advantage they have, it is difficult for them to be educators. Therefore, whether you are a professional educator or not, you will never be a true educator unless you keep developing yourselves. If you cannot grow up together with your students, or meet the needs of others’ growth and development, you will eventually lose the inner conditions that educators need. The demand-oriented exchange between educators and learners tend to be more autonomous and selective and it must follow the law of value in the exchange process between education and society. The previous enforcement of government or other social organizations will be increasingly difficult to function. Educators are the carriers of individual social inheritance. The needs that educators can satisfy are mainly human wisdom, including the transmission of knowledge, ethics and social norms and skills, which are not determined by the educators alone but based on the actual needs of learners. In short, more and more educators have become those who exchange with society according to the law of value through their teaching activities. The Recognized Are the Educators The educators of people-centered education are average people. At the same time, human equality in any society does not mean that there is no difference between people. The difference between those with foresight or hindsight, and who is worthy and unworthy, and knowledgeable and ignorant will still exist. For educators, there are less organized arrangements and more recognition from their inner-self. Through a variety of information dissemination channels, when one person gains the inner recognition from the other, he becomes the educator of that person; and of course, one will become a student if he voluntarily becomes a fan of another person. Therefore, those who are recognized as educators have the responsibility to transform the society. They must have a picture of an ideal society

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and bear their responsibility in transforming and creating a more ideal society. Moreover, educators hold this social responsibility not because they want to be the leaders of society, but because they are aiming for the greatest happiness from creating students worth of their pride. The recognition for an educator is an autonomous selection for everyone. In general, it pushes goodness and the society forward. A person with morality will not agree with the thief, and a person with certain scientific literacy will not agree with the superstitious person. The standards of truth, goodness, and beauty of society play their roles through the inner identity of the people. Since human beings have their history, the recognized educators are not limited to those living in the contemporary world. They can be the sages of ancient or people from modern times. The recognition of an educator can transcend time and space, and it changes according to our thoughts. Thus, educators are a group of people that are screened and recognized by the majority in the society. The recognition is not a result of self-selection or screening activity done by some organizations, and may not be completely consistent with the results of professional certification. In summary, in people-oriented education in the information society, there will still be professional educators, but mutual teaching and learning will prevail. Through the unification of teaching and learning, the connotation of educators will be richer, more diverse, and from more different sources. The educator is no longer the privilege of some people.

3.3   Who Do the Educated Belong to? There is a popular song in the Chinese campuses, “Our motherland is a garden where the flowers are so colourful. Warm sun shining on us, everyone has a smiling face.” Who is the owner of the garden in the lyrics? Who do the educated belong to? Some people say that they belong to their parents, and others think that they belong to the schools, the society, or the country. Very few believe they belong to themselves. Different values have different understandings on this matter. It is obvious that the nationalistic educational concept believes that the children should first belong to the country, as they are the flowers of the motherland. Many parents also think that their children belong to them, and expect their children to achieve their unfulfilled life goals. Meanwhile, the school administrators assume that the children belong to the school after the enrolment. All of the above viewpoints have their rationality to a certain

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extent, but they must all recognize a major premise that each child belongs to himself or herself first. The child is born as an independent individual; he or she no longer entirely belongs to the parents, schools or the country. If you do not recognize this premise, you will stay away from and even violate the basic principles of people-centered orientation. People-centered orientation requires one to recognize the subjectivity of the educated. The basic principle is to respect the individual’s subjectivity. Some think that the following principles are also included: First, the principle of ontology. The ontology principle refers to education to a self-contained and self-governing activity with its own way of existence and law of development. It emphasizes that education does not depend on politics, economy, and religion. In terms of positioning, education should be regarded as an ontological undertaking. At the same time, education must recognize and establish the subjective status of the educator as well as the learner; it must show the subjectivity of both the educator and the learner. Second, the principle of value. Above all, educators and learners should be seen as valuable beings, and education itself as a choice of value; for another, the educator is regarded as a valuable person, the subject of education, and a professional worker, as this is the basic requirement for carrying out educational activities; moreover, education is a process of pursuing truth, goodness, beauty, and freedom, and education itself should have these prescriptive natures. Third, the principle of practice. In a practical sense, the principle of subjective education refers to the development of education as a practice. 8

An in-depth exploration of this issue requires further analysis on the relationship between individuals and society, educators and the educated, the educated and various social organizations, and among the educated. Individuals as the Origin of Society In the nationalistic educational concept, the logical order that is often emphasized is that people exist after their family, and the family exists after the country. When this logic was repeated, again and again, many people accepted it without much thinking. According to the empirical logic, only when there are human beings will there be a home for them. Thousands 8  Huang Wei. Subjective Education Theories. Guiyang: Guizhou People’s Publishing House, 1997, pp.118-122.

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of families will form a society, and thus forming a country in a certain period of human development. The country is not necessary for individuals, but individuals are necessary for the country, as the country cannot exist without them. Tao Xingzhi also suggested, “society is a combination of individuals. Transforming individuals will transform the society, and transforming the society will also transform the individuals.” The unity of individual and social development determines that people’s individuality is fully valued and that in individual development lies creativity. This can lay the foundation for social progress. The spirit of independence is a prerequisite for social development and human happiness. This understanding is not the same as the two extreme views of the individual-orientation and social-orientation. During the pursuit of the human value of approximately equal to one, the value of the individual and the society are nearly equal, but not simply belong to each other; the individual and the society are integrated, but not simply divided into binary opposition and division. The basic views of the individual-orientation usually include: (1) The individual value is higher than the social value. In the relationship structure between the individual and the society, the individual is in the central position, while the society is in the external environment other than that of the individual. The purpose is the survival and development of the individual, which is served by the society. The society has a value only when it contributes to individual development. The educational value is evaluated by its effect on individual development. (2) Human beings are born kind. They believe in the power of human nature, and that everyone has the instinct to learn. It emphasizes on bringing children to the simple environment of nature in the rural areas, saving them from the bad influence of society, and protecting their good nature with education. (3) Children education must follow the principle of nature, and the goal is to cultivate a “man”. Children should be educated in accordance with their nature, and the requirements and sequence of children’s natural development, in order to stimulate children’s potential, so that people’s nature is fully developed. 9

The basic views of society-orientation include:

9  Zhang Tianbao. Subjective Education. Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1999, p.46.

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(1) The social value is higher than the individual value. The individual’s existence and development are dependent on and subordinate to the society, and are restricted by society. A real individual does not exist. All aspects of human physical and mental development depend on the nutrition provided by the society. Everything owned by people comes from society. The education value can only be evaluated by its benefits to society. (2) The purpose of education is to train educators to become the citizens who meet the social norms, and to socialize the educators in order to ensure the stability and continuity of the society. An individual is only a raw material for education and does not have any value that determines the purpose of education. The educational process is to impose social values or collective consciousness on individuals, transforming children from those who do not have social characteristics into “new social members” who have the personal qualities that the society needs. 10

What is different from the above simple abstraction is that people-­ oriented education must be based on specific individuals and cannot be based on abstract groups. People-centered orientation does not mean to put individuals above the group. Instead, it requires independence, equality, and respect among individuals. Only individuals with dignity and value can constitute a society of higher quality. It can be seen that the clarification on whom the students belong to is the process of reconstructing educational values, which is beyond the educational values of social-orientation and individual-orientation. Thus, the individual should be set as the starting point and goal in educational practice to create an ideal society, and strive for the optimized and harmonious combination of individual values and social values. Both Educators and the Educated Constitute the Main Subject of Education The educated minds belonging to themselves is the premise for all educational practical activities need to set the educated as their subject. Since educators and the educated are both groups with independent values. The relationship between them is not a host-guest relationship, nor a purpose-­ tool or main-supplementary relationship. Both of them constitute the main subject of education. 10  Zhang Tianbao. Subjective Education. Beijing: Educational Science Publication House, 1999, p.47.

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After determining the subject, it is necessary to treat them as the subject in every aspect in educational practices, and to learn, understand, and respect the human characteristics and the laws of growth and development. Recognizing the difference between people and the objective world, and their identity in the historical development, people can establish a dominant position and take the initiative to recognize the object and comply with the law of it. They will not over-fortify their superiority, dominance, and selfishness on the object, nor will they emphasize the conquest of nature and the dominance of the subject on the object. In this way, the principle of the human value of approximately equal to one is obeyed. The long-standing dominant view in Chinese social life mainly emphasizes the role of society in determining individuals and the dependence of individuals on society. The reason why men becomes men and why people have subjectivity is that they participate in social practice activities. Without social practice activities, they cannot become men, let alone the subjectivity of people. However, we can’t decide anyone as an actor and supporting role to act in certain social practices determined by some organizations. Everyone needs to determine how to participate and what to participate in, based on their own experience and judgment. Therefore, the subjectivity of human beings can occur, present, and develop more effectively in practical activities, thereby developing the initiative, autonomy, creativity, and self-determination of human beings. If the educated person is determined as the main subject of education, it is necessary to satisfy their needs of seeking truth, beauty, goodness, and freedom in educational activities. The educated person is guided to generate, develop, present, and confirm self-subjectivity in social practice activities. Education is also crucial in constructing the subject-object relationship with human as the subject and the others, themselves, nature, and society as the object. This means that the education functions as the practical activities of individual subjectivity construction, integrating the ontology, value, and practice of individual subjectivity, and promoting individual development in a healthy and harmonious manner. It implies that education must follow the principle of subjectivity and the inherent laws and principles of education. Educational activities must respect, give, and inspire people to pursue values. It also signifies that education must be carried out in the way revealed by the principle of subjectivity. It is necessary to respect the subjectivity of individual students, to let the students develop actively and freely, and to stimulate their enthusiasm, autonomy, and creativity.

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The Educated Should Not Be Abducted by Any Social Organization Since the educated are independent, they should not be controlled or dominated by any organization. In the relationship between education and society, we must respect the professionalism, autonomy, and relative independence of education. This means that we have to break the pattern of education and cultivate people with rich personality through diversified education. Education is not only a tool of politics, nor a means of economic development, and certainly not the attachment and subordination of other social practice activities. As an autonomous activity, education needs to autonomously establish its goal, orientation, and mode of serving the society, and independently establish various relationships with all aspects of society. Education should have its own sense of autonomy. It should include autonomy, self-determination, openness, transcendence, creativity based on subjectivity, comply with its internal laws, professional rules, and grow naturally. Educational administrators, teachers and staffs, and the educated may belong to an organization member in society, but they should respect the subjectivity of the educated and ensure the subjective status of students in educational activities. Teachers and students are equal in personality. They are the subject of education where each party has different roles, but still are able to carry out educational and teaching activities through a cooperative and interactive way. They cannot be constrained by any organizations other than education. Learners are most probably restrained by the subject of education planning, organization, management, and evaluation, all of which often constrain teachers and students in a condescending manner and emphasize that education should reflect the organizational needs of human beings, countries, and educational systems. Every organization with power wants to play a role, but they have forgotten that their power actually comes from the people. Their autonomy, enthusiasm, and creativity are meant to serve the educated, not to control and restrict them, based on their own subjective assumptions. Ensuring that the learners are not dominated is the basis for the healthy growth of individuals. Education should by no means place restrictions on the educated, but help build their subjectivity by improving their awareness, cognition, and ability of subjectivity through various activities, so that students are cultivated as masters of their own instead of tools. We should assist the

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educated to form their subjectivity in cognition, emotion, will, behavior and other aspects, independently internalize social culture into the content of individual subject structure according to their individual characteristics and social needs, and consciously pursue happiness and beauty. When receiving education, the educated should independently establish or participate in associations, and be ensured that they have the autonomy and freedom to join, withdraw and express themselves. They should not use others as tools or become tools of others. In reality, due to the single evaluation standard, a large number of students are objectively forced to spare no effort to enter key schools, to be titled as think tanks, as advanced and virtuous models, and to be score carriers. It is often overlooked to cultivate them to become sound people physically and mentally, which makes education far from its people-oriented target. Equal Cooperative Learners In the “Education Strategy 2020” proposed by the World Bank, in face of the challenges of global education, the goal of future education should change from promoting “education for all” to promoting “learning for all”, which means that to some extent, all people become equal cooperative learners. “Life is education, society is school.” Based on the people-centered orientation target, all the educated should be society members with no difference of social class, race, or political faction and no order of the old and young. Everyone is a student and also a teacher. In the learners’ group, there is always a desire for individuals to develop forward and upward and no one is isolated. The best cooperation between the initiative, autonomy, and creativity of the educator and the educated needs to be realized through equal cooperation. The so-called equal cooperation is no longer the control by any single part, but mutual recognition and selection based on independent thinking. The selection of educational content, application of methods, determination, and modification of programs, evaluation of results and diagnosis of problems all belong to equal cooperation and learn from equal cooperation. Teachers and students should be equal. Teachers are not the only carriers of knowledge and wisdom. Only when teachers respect students’ subjectivity can they teach students well. Besides, the teaching methods should change from indoctrination or patterns-setting to interaction and inspiration based on the understanding of learners’ current level and development needs.

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Equal partners, however, still have difference in their knowledge and ability. The “either this or that” logic cannot be applied here to excessively highlight the students’ subjectivity, to emphasize that autonomous learning rules out acceptance learning, to think that everything should be decided by students, and to underestimate the role of teachers. In this way, teachers’ vocational holiness is improperly reduced by students’ disrespect for teachers and even nonacceptance of teachers’ criticism and evaluation. Others have their own subjectivity established, consciously or unconsciously regarding others as objects. These misunderstandings deviate from the range of equal cooperative learners and go beyond the range of human value which should be approximately equal to one. Individuals are educated not only in schools or in other educational institutions, but also in the big educational field of the universe and society where “all beings are learners” and all people are students. Especially after the information society arrives, education should be and can be accessible anytime, so the range of equal cooperative learners extends far beyond the general relationship between teachers and students. At any time, the individual’s eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind can grab the outside information, and generate certain reaction which will eventually have educational effects on them, be it a conditioned reflex or unconditioned reflex. Individual attitudes and choices produce different learning effects, thus contributing to individuals of diverse personality. There is a strong symbiosis between equal cooperative learners. One is that human beings should live in harmony with other living creatures in nature. Another is the symbiosis between individuals and the society. While individuals are actively transforming the society, it also requires them to abide by certain rules in generation, growth, and development, which is more conducive to the growth of individuals and the development of the society composed of individuals. The third one is the symbiosis among people. Individuals cannot survive in isolation. Only by living together can they survive themselves. Thus, symbiosis is necessary for all kinds of education. So, in order to realize symbiosis, individuals are required to properly deal with potential problems, actively adapt themselves to it, and establish a set of common ethics and morals that meet the overall development level of the society. In addition, individuals are also expected to abide by the general norms in symbiosis and harmoniously relate to the people surrounded. Education should promote the enlightenment of individual consciousness and the cultivation of creativity for their forward and upward development, and improve the living ability of them for the development of the society.

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3.4   Man Is the Purpose, Not the Tool It has long been believed in philosophy that “man is the purpose, not the tool,” yet not in the current educational practice. As an old Chinese saying goes, the cultivated people should never be tools. Perhaps not everyone can be called “the cultivated” in this context. But at least, “the cultivated” belong to the collection of people, and people who want to be “the cultivated” should never be tools. With the development of the times, from the point of view that everyone is capable of outstanding achievements, the saying is close to the connotation of “Man is the purpose, not the tool.” Kant puts it more clearly, “Except God, man is supreme; man is the whole purpose of our life, and man is the end.” It emphasizes that man should not be used as a tool or means. An important premise to ensure that people are kept as a purpose rather than a tool is to ensure and respect human nature. For example, people can think, so they should not be deprived of thinking; people have emotions, so they cannot “give up the desires for reason” as required by neo-­ Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties; people need to voice, so they should have the freedom to speak. Of course, sometimes it is people themselves that choose to do something against human nature for some purpose and take themselves as a tool. So, whether actively or passively, people who lose their nature become tools to be used. From the theory of Kant, who proposed this proposition, it is not difficult to see that one of the important connotations of human nature is “reason,” and that man is the only animal with reason. Reason takes itself as its end, and man, as the being of reason, constitutes the end of himself by himself. Reason determines man as man and his moral value, so man is the most sacred. Another connotation is that he believes that freedom is the essence of human beings, and people use self-discipline of will to achieve the unity of both ends and means. For human beings, the self-discipline of will is just freedom, and only with freedom can morality be possible. “Man is the purpose” is the core of Kant’s three most basic moral commands, the other two being “good will” and “self-discipline of will.” I don’t want to delve into his hypothesis of huge theoretical system, but I would like to draw the base of my deduction that at any time, people are not allowed to be manipulated by the will. They must be respected and not taken as tools to achieve goals. Reason distinguishes man from animals and places us in a sacred role as the final destination of all things in the

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world. Man himself is an end, not an instrument for the arbitrary use of this or that will. People’s behaviors, whether they are for themselves or for others, should always take people as the first purpose. Everything in the world is valuable only for people and things themselves have no value at all. All moral laws and obligations are set to serve people, at their “highest absolute purpose,” rather than serve any other purpose. The Growth and Development of Students Is the Ultimate Goal of Education Treating people as a purpose rather than a tool asks for putting their growth and development in the first place of all work in education. Lots of people say it, but few people really understand and do it. In actuality, different subjects in education usually have different purposes. For the government, they make use of education to serve the governance and their own political achievements, manage, and evaluate education from the perspective of political achievements. For organizations, they want education to serve their purpose and try to maximize their influence on education. For some institutions, they want to infiltrate their interests into all aspects of education. For principals, they position themselves as an official and take schools as their stepping stone for their promotion and bragging. For teachers, they see students as their helpers and partners to show their teaching achievements, and repeatedly pick up students and demand them harshly. So, the students’ academic performance becomes the honor of the class, the school, the parents, and the embodiment of the achievements of local government, virtually kidnapping the purpose of education. Students are no longer the purpose but the tools and means of all parties and the center of pressure. Trifles in the education outweigh the educated. In different times, education also has different purposes: for example, education serves sometimes as a driver of economic growth, sometimes as a helper of political movement, or sometimes as a catering to various needs of decoration. In such cases where there is only macroscopic statistical data, the growth and development of students are neglected. Therefore, students’ growth as the ultimate goal of education needs not only to be clear, but also to be achieved. Corresponding mechanisms need to be established to restrain and standardize the behaviors that may deviate from the goal.

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The Best State of a School Is to Become a Spiritual Home A people-centered school should provide students with cultural and ideological cultivation which are indispensable to them. The daily teaching, curriculum setting, and management of a school are merely the lower part of tangible education, while the real upper part is whether the school has a rich spirit. A real school is recognized as the spiritual home by teachers and students, and it can fully meet the needs of their spiritual belonging. Schools that do not usually take people as their purpose pursue students’ examination results, use uniformly required textbooks and teaching procedures, and conduct rigid school management. As a result, some students are marginalized due to their poor academic performance and they may choose to drop out of school because they cannot find a sense of belonging. Extreme situations have already emerged in some places. For example, some students would rather beg on the street and live in garbage cans than stay in school. To become a spiritual home requires students’ sincere recognition of school’s idea and value. Daily teaching should be based on the accurate understanding of the real needs and emotional state of students. The courses should be arranged so that they are based on student needs. There should also be enough courses for students to choose from and schools should apply people-centered management rather than task-centered one and conduct humanized management, including humanized systems, norms, and procedures. Usually people insist that management is an organizational behavior and school is an organization with definite authority and hierarchy with which school can argue against the humanization of management. However, to become a spiritual home requires that the management of the school should turn into governance with teachers and students becoming the master, jointly formulating the code of conduct and rules of the school and abiding by these norms and rules. As a result, everyone has the responsibility of mutual supervision. In the spiritual home, thus, there is no more top-down management by administrative means and no more reliance on inspection, assessment, and quantitative management methods. Instead, the teachers and students there consciously abide by and cooperatively manage the rules and regulations set by them, and the democratic governance inspires teachers’ potential, initiative, and creativity from their deep heart.

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In these schools, teachers themselves are not tools, but ends. In a school where teachers are used as tools, the principal values teachers’ decisive role in educational and teaching benefits, and can only immerse teachers fully in work by institutional supervision and restraint. But even today, teachers under management can only be called qualified teachers but not quality teachers. System management alone cannot train good teachers, let alone excellent teachers who can promote the development of schools. The same is true for students: the best students are not managed. Educators have to bring out their outstanding potential through proper ways. Therefore, the growth of students and teachers should be taken as the goal of school work. Students and teachers cannot be regarded as tools of school development, or of any organization or other institutions. To achieve this goal, it is far from enough to rely only on organizations and norms. It is necessary to establish a people-centered school culture, which can differ amongst schools and should not violate the people-­ oriented principle. In this culture, not only teachers and students are equal, but teachers and principals should also be equal. Each person has his own dignity and maintains his own dignity and each person respects others, serves others, and improves the bottom line and boundary of each other. In a school, only when the principal treats teachers and students as people and puts the interests of students, the school, and all the staff in the first place will the students and teachers feel that they are valuable and will spare no effort to work and study. If the principal cares deeply about the students and staff, a positive culture will develop throughout the school. The principal’s respect for teachers and students is to respect the rules and other norms jointly formulated by teachers and students, accept the supervision of them, make full use of this instrument to guarantee the normal order of the school, and not take the lead in violating the recognized rules and regulations of the school by his privilege. Let the humanistic culture of the school and related rules and regulations play a role together, not only to create a warm, caring, and cooperative atmosphere, but also to guarantee and follow the charters and the system, and jointly achieve the growth and development of teachers and students. Full Self-realization Is the Best State of Growth Students are the purpose of education rather than the means of education. For students, the biggest attraction lies in the realization of self-value. Education should not only focus on the knowledge growth and

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intellectual development of students, but also pay attention to the value of individuals. For thousands of years, Chinese society has attached importance to groups and ignored individuals. In industrial society, people are regarded as parts that can be mass-produced. The instrumental nature of education has been strengthened all the time, and individual subjectivity has suffered from repeated suppression. The concept of “self-realization” comes from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, which holds that people have five basic needs: physiology, safety, love and belonging, respect, and self-realization. The need for self-­ realization is the highest one, which refers to the need to bring out individual potential into full play, to make oneself the desired person, and to motivate oneself to do things consistent with one’s own wishes and abilities. From the social background where the “self-realization” theory was put forward, both Bruner’s structuralism and Skinner’s behaviorism viewpoints focused on the students’ knowledge growth, while Maslow, Rogers and others raised objections to this trend. They believed that people had needs and potential to make themselves healthier, morally better, wiser, more beautiful, and happier or to have full humanness. Individual has the potential “in the form of germination and embryo,” This is the main connotation of the so-called self-realization. The self-actualizer is dedicated in some way to the value he seeks, and the growth of the individual’s knowledge must be meaningful to the individual’s self-realization. The basic function and goal of education is to guide and promote individual growth and self-realization, and to cultivate “people in development, creative people, people who can improvise, people who are self-confident, courageous, and independent.” Individual will gain “peak experience” in their self-­ actualization, and the unsatisfied needs for self-realization will cause mental deficiency. Teachers should help students understand what kind of person he or she is, and appreciate his or her growth and self-realization, so that students can get peak experience and will not be “interfered”.11 “Self-realization” is the most humane of human needs. Naturally, education is not to meet people’s physiological and safety needs, but to a large extent to meet people’s needs of love, sense of belonging, respect, and self-realization. Self-realization is the highest level of human needs, and it is also the need that education should concentrate the greatest efforts on.

11  Maslow. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. Lin Fang, trans. Kunming: Yunnan People’s Publishing House, 1987, pp.27-170.

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Usually, a person’s growth is a continuous cycle of self-knowledge, self-­ design and construction, and self-realization. When a round of self-­ realization is completed, new self-knowledge will be generated, new self-design and construction will be carried out, and new goals will be achieved through efforts. When individuals have a sense of self based on their self-knowledge, they will design their future development direction and blueprints, establish their growth and development goals, and consciously achieve their goals through their own actions. This process cannot be accomplished by their parents, teachers, or anyone else except themselves. Others can at most provide reference to their opinions and related knowledge background. Once the goal is achieved, individuals will gain inner experience of self-realization and generate a sense of achievement and pride. The inner experience will help individuals build up confidence, constitute a kind of individual growth momentum, form a new level of self-awareness, design a new self on the basis of new self-understanding, generate a new life goal, further practice their own design, and make efforts to achieve their life goals. This process is repeated in individuals who are still growing mentally. If a man lacks such cycle, his growth is ceased even if he still exists as an individual. Adolescent students, especially those who are able and eager to think independently, will automatically enter the cycle of self-knowledge, self-design and construction, and self-realization. Self-realization is not just “for self,” because individuals have to find social reference to objectively and accurately know themselves in self-­ knowledge. Besides, in self-design and construction, there is a need for them to design an optimized scheme based on their understanding of the social demand for people, or they will work behind closed doors and find it difficult to achieve real self-realization. Therefore, good self-realization will not become the realization of selfishness, but the full development of one’s own advantageous potential and nature to meet the needs of society and the development of others. Only self-realization can meet the needs of the society and others, and by self-realization, individuals can properly handle the relationship between themselves and the society, as well as between themselves and others, so that they can smoothly carry out the self-realization process. Self-realization is independent in education and will not be manipulated by others. This is a procedural arrangement to ensure that people are purposes. If a person’s growth is arranged by others, he may also achieve growth and development, but it is impossible to achieve true

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self-­realization. The result of growth obtained in this way is hardly an end, but in most cases a means and a tool. People who grow up in this way may be transformed by the awakening of self-consciousness into an end, but the possibility of such transformation is so tiny that most of them will always be just tools and means, and never become independent people. The object of Maslow and Rogers’ theory is the individual, whose learning is for independent pursuit of a meaningful and valuable life. Education should lift people to be active, independent, and creative social life subjects and cultivate an independent personality. Due to the lack of personality, independence, and autonomy, students cannot think independently, cannot create, and cannot grow into talents that provide possibilities for their own nature, that is, they cannot fully realize themselves. Educators also need self-realization. The way of self-realization is to cultivate people worthy of their own worship. They should not be tools, and they should not allow students to be tools. They should always keep independent thinking and a clear mind, never acting blindly for fickleness, never vacillating for disturbance, and never yielding for interests or setting back by difficulties. People are purposes, not tools. This concept applies to all people involved in education, not just to students, but also to teachers, education administrators, and family members to avoid such cases where some people regard others as means and to avoid interpersonal human value largely deviating from one. Under the premise that everyone is the purpose, people cooperate with each other on an equal footing, independently choose and negotiate to coexist, so as to realize the common growth of all participants.

3.5   Return to People-Orientation The earliest literature on the word “people-orientation” comes from Guan Zi, an ancient Chinese book on politics, economy and philosophy, which says, “The overlord begins with people-orientation which decides the security and stability of a country.”12 In 2003, the Decisions of CPC Central Committee on Several Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Socialist Market Economy System, passed in the Third Plenary Session of the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee, put forward the requirement to “adhere to people-orientation, set up a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development view, and promote the comprehensive  Guan Zi. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1936, p.8.

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development of the economy, society and people.” After that, the word “people-­orientation” has appeared in all kinds of educational policy texts and academic discussions. Putting people first is the original state of education. As Will Durant and others remarked in the Lessons of History, “The only real revolution is the enlightenment of the mind and the elevation of individuality; the only true liberation is that of the individual; the only true revolutionaries are philosophers and saints.”13 If the word “revolution” is replaced by “education,” the meaning is equally correct. Although people-oriented education met the needs of the development of times and the requirements of people’ growth, with the social reality against people-orientation and the influence of various factors, education, in the 2000-year development of human society, stepped far away from people-orientation. People-orientation cannot be automatically generated. It still needs people with this pursuit to unremittingly construct according to the connotation and features of people-oriented education. Education merely works as an instrument for people; compared with politics or economy, it only has the value of tools in special times and conditions. When human civilization has not developed to a certain extent, education cannot constitute a tool of politics and economy. When human civilization is highly developed, education should not fall into a political and economic tool. It is often because the instrumental value of education to social organizations that the value of education to people has been employed as a lever to turn people into tools and means, thereby losing people’s purpose in education and finally reducing them to tools. Returning to the theoretical basis of people-orientation is the nature of education, which focuses on the individual development and seeks the organic unity of social progress and individual development. In this regard, there are different views both at home and abroad. Years of practice and thinking led to the concept of integrated study, that is, the concept of integrating the knowledge of all researchers. As some studies of the human belong to science and some to humanities, integrated study has both scientific and humanistic attributes. The essential attribute of science is reason, and the essential attribute of humanities is human nature. Education should be the interaction and dialogue of individuals, the combination of science and humanity, and the mixture of reason and human nature. Therefore, it does not exclude the scientific nature of human beings. 13  Will Durant, Ariel Durant. Lessons of History. Ni Yuping, Zhang Kang, trans. Beijing: China Founder Publishing House, 2015, p.122.

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Rationality and humanity are both the reference and basis to determine the value of education, and the ultimate direction of education choices is the goal of this integration. Human development is the starting point and foothold of people-­ oriented education. The information-based society requires individual independence, the construction of democratic politics, the perfection of market economy and multi-culture, which is calling for people with independent consciousness and unique personality. It can be said that if the educational objectives of individual orientation and social orientation are placed in the background of current social development and individual growth, personality development can be seen as the intersection of social development and individual growth. Education focusing on the cultivation of people’s personality is not only conducive to social development, but also meets the needs of individual growth. However, for more than 60 years Chinese education to some extent has either been attached to politics, economy, and military as a superstructure and political tool or required to adapt to market economy and marketization and develop with market economy principles. This not only violates people-orientation, but also hinders the establishment of education rationality and human nature foundation. As a result, although China has entered a period of social transformation, there is still a long way to go before it can truly realize people-oriented education. There are still several major obstacles to overcome. First of all, it is necessary to truly establish the people-oriented value conceptually, so as to treat people with respect and promote their free and comprehensive development. In the development of human society, the core of any society is people. People-orientation is not only a natural historical course, but also a self-conscious process, which must be pursued consistently. The process from the “official-orientation” of personal dependence to the “material-orientation” of interest dependence and to the “people-orientation” of the pursuit of free personality is the historical development of human beings, as well as the continuous enhancement of human subjectivity and freedom. Because “the prevailing trends of thought in China in the 20th century…were elevating the role of ‘collective’ and emphasizing the value of ‘collective’…it is a history where collective overpowered individual.”14 The conceptual basis of people-orientation 14  Jin Yaoji. China’s Modern Turn, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China Ltd.), 2004, pp.31-32.

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is very weak, and there are still many people in power who insist power-­ orientation and hold a very skeptical attitude toward people-orientation. The realization of people-orientation needs certain social conditions, which is a continuous historical course and also requires more people to recognize it as a goal and value and to unremittingly pursue it. Therefore, the people-oriented concept should be put through all links of educational development. In reality, there are many obstacles to the realization of people-­ oriented education. First is the hinder of false cognition and concept. Then there is the hindrance of political achievements orientation. Political achievement is the baton of officials. The government is taking economic construction as the center for a long time, seeing people as labor, and taking labor as cost, or taking people as human resources, and establishing the examination and assessment system of political achievements—GDP, which goes for this orientation. Some local governments even proposed extreme slogans that education should serve the local economic development. This has had a heavy price. First, the relationship between man and nature has been at fault, resulting in serious environmental pollution, which threatens people’s normal production and life and undermines the sustainable development ability to some extent. Second, there is the deterioration of human and social relation. People are objectified and some of them cannot really enjoy the fruits of social development. Third, there are new problems with interpersonal relations. Social inequality has emerged and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. This caused a series of educational problems, such as educational fairness, vicious school choice, and so on. Therefore, if the evaluation system of political achievements that focuses on materials rather than people does not change, it will be impossible to change related concepts of official interests, functions, ability and means, and be difficult for governments and officials who regard education as political achievements to put people at the first place. To truly implement people-orientation is to gradually eliminate “material-orientation” in political achievements. Then there are also institutional barriers. People-orientation should be the universal choice of all political systems. However, the foundation of the existing system is not people-oriented, but bureaucrat-oriented with distinct hierarchy; people-orientation is far from being the mainstream ideology of the whole society, and party and government officials have not yet reached the consensus of people-orientation, which makes it more difficult to embody people-oriented concept in the systems. The

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people-­oriented system is based on the majority of people as the main body. The government should take the fundamental interests of people as the starting point and foothold of all work and establish a public service government. The power of the government is vested by the people, and it must govern scientifically, democratically and lawfully. There are also barriers of social hierarchy, which is difficult to eliminate in a short period of time. Equality of all people is a good social foundation for us to return to people-orientation. If the gap between these two states widens, a bigger obstacle will come into being. If the gap is reduced, the barriers will be reduced. In reality, one’s property, position, and so on, all affect the equality among people to some extent, and also influence the implementation of people-orientation. Finally, the most critical issue is the rule of law. In a society under rule of man, there are naturally superior and inferior people; only by promoting rule of law and establishing equality before the law can we get closer and closer to people-orientation. Over the past 60 years, China’s experience in both positive and negative aspects of education have shown that once education no longer serves human development, it will become a political or economic tool, and will bind people involved in education as a tool. In this case, education couldn’t be people-oriented. Education must persist in serving the development of human beings in order to achieve the overall progress of society. For a long time, we have over-emphasized certain aspects of educational functions: whether it is for serving social politics or serving economic construction, there is always one-sidedness in between. With the development of society and education, people’s vision is broadened and their understanding is deepened. The intrinsic characteristics of education work and the requirements of Chinese government on education are becoming clearer. The scientific development of education must be people-oriented. People-oriented education is embodied as follows: education is based on educating people and students are the main body. Running schools is talent-oriented and teachers are the main body. The purpose of developing education is to serve people; the evaluation standard of education is the growth and development of human beings; the goal of education practice is that all people are accessible to education; educational teaching process and methods should fully reflect and carry forward human subjectivity. People-oriented education is neither a short-term choice, nor a choice of a country or region, but the consensus of all mankind on the return of

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educational value. In 1996, the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century submitted a report, Learning: The Treasure Within, emphasizing people as the center of development, “People are the first leading role of development and the ultimate goal of development.” This kind of education “should make everyone develop, play and strengthen their creative potential, and also help dig out the hidden wealth in every one of us.” “Teacher-orientation” is the most fundamental idea in school management, and “student-orientation” is the most fundamental in school teaching. Its essence is to attach importance to the participation consciousness and creation consciousness of teachers and students so that their talents can be given full play and human nature can be best developed. The school should be full of respect, understanding, communication, trust, and other humanistic spirit. It should create a progressive working atmosphere of unity, harmony, and dedication. Besides, a relaxed, fresh, and humane campus culture is also a necessity. Schools and all educational institutions should put the growth and development of teachers and students in the first place. The most effective way for teachers and students to grow up is to grow independently. The most important goal of education is to let more teachers and students have healthy mentality, sound personality, and self-confidence in life. To cultivate a man of character, freedom, imagination, courage, and curiosity is the natural result of people-oriented education. In short, after a long period of confusion over values, education will gradually return to the original destination of people-orientation with the social transformation, and will serve for the growth and development of each specific person.

CHAPTER 4

System: From Government-Run Education to Diversified Education

Influenced by the concept of nationalistic education, China established the world’s largest system of government-run education, or “centralized and unified planning system,” which abolished private schools, unified enrollment, offered students living arrangements and grants, allocated jobs to graduates, and issued unified graduation and degree certificates. Within a few years after implementation, the system encountered serious contradictions of supply and demand, and we had no choice but to adopt the “Walking on Two Legs” policy, during which the continuous “reform” made it still difficult to resolve the systemic problem, to effectively meet the demand, to fully arouse the enthusiasm of all aspects of education development, and to achieve sustainable development in scale, structure, quality, efficiency, and so on. To put simply, choosing the education system for Chinese people is like choosing to either eat together in a big pot or dine alone in a buffet. If we keep a big pot, it will be difficult to eliminate the long-standing hunger for autonomy, to meet the demands of diversity, to draw a clear boundary between politics and education, and to separate educational management by law from administration and evaluation. The principle of establishing an education system is that, as people’s innate diversity is consistent with the diversity of the needs of society, the system needs to escape the dilemma of singleness, adapt to and develop human diversity, diversify the types and forms of school-running entities, make up the broken chain of school management responsibility, and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_4

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implement the limited liability system of diverse types and forms of school-­ running entities. Education is usually a balanced system composed of culture, government, society, schools, students, and other elements. Each element in the system plays a specific role according to its own situation and the whole system at that time. If one of them plays a role beyond its own characteristics and ability, it is impossible to run a good education, let alone a people-­oriented education. China’s education transformation is facing the reality that the government has played an excessive role in educational content, scope, methods, and other aspects. Accordingly, school management, independent teaching, and students’ independent development are squeezed, thus forming a deformed educational structure system on the whole, which generates abnormal and unhealthy educational functions. Therefore, the improvement of educational governance model is the necessary link for people-oriented education.

4.1   Reasons for and Restrictions of Government-Run Education In Chinese history, there are official and private schools. Private schools have played an important role in maintaining the academic ecological balance in thousands of years of Chinese history. Official and private schools each have their own ups and downs in different periods, but private schools never die out. During the Republic of China era, with the rise of new ideological trends, private schools developed to a certain extent. At the same time, the Prussian education system had a big impact on the rapid rise of German economy later and quite a number of educators advocated the system. The development of this kind of education system in Germany where educational institutions excessively concentrated on instilling educational values showed that people of different generations had to pay a high price. People were at risk because having a highly centralized and government-controlled education system rendered the authorities the power to control people’s minds. However, driven by political demands, this kind of educational ecology where citizens are restricted by the “newly discovered power” has also taken shape in China.

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The Formation of the Government-Run Education System After the founding of New China in 1949, the policy of “temporarily maintaining the current state and starting schools soon” was carried out for a short period of time.1 The government then set out to establish the framework of China’s education system. It took over in stages all the private schools, including missionary schools run by foreigners, and reclaimed the educational sovereignty of missionary schools and private schools receiving subsidies from foreigners. The new educational management system was characterized by “a high degree of unity and concentration. All schools were funded by the government and run by the government. Unified and centralized management was exercised by the central government and education was partly managed by local governments. But their work was mainly to implement the instructions from the central government with limited flexibility in management. The educational administrations conducted direct management of schools, especially universities and colleges. The education system and structure were also highly centralized and unified, and the talents and labor force at all levels and of all kinds were cultivated according to the planned economy and segmentation of government departments.”2 Since 1953, when the country began to carry out the first five-year plan for national economic development, education has been “formally incorporated into national planning where the central government and local governments implement direct instructions for universities and colleges and local public schools respectively, and give guidance to private schools. By 1956, when the socialist transformation was basically completed, the state had formed a centralized and unified planning system not only in economy, but also in education.”3 Since 1953, there have been fierce debates about what kind of education system is to be set up and whether the state should monopolize the right and ownership of schools. On May 17, 18 and 27, 1953, Mao Zedong presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to discuss the work of 1  Mao Zedong. Comrade Mao Zedong’s Opinions on Educational Work, Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1992, p.209. 2  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education in the People’s Republic of China, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.197. 3  Song Jian’ge. Collected Works of Jian’ge. Beijing: China International Literature and Art Publishing House, 2006, p.317.

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education, which decided, “to allow private primary schools to run without a time limit.”4 Article 94 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, adopted on September 20, 1954, stipulated that citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the right to education, and that the state should establish and gradually expand schools and other cultural and educational institutions to ensure that citizens enjoy this right.5 The rule implied that only the state had the right and ownership of schools at all levels. By 1956, all private secondary and primary schools in China had been taken over by the government. Since then, many policy texts still allowed private schools, but the environment and conditions for private schools virtually ceased to exist. Until 1978, there were almost no private schools in mainland China. On August 4, 1958, the CPC central committee and the State Council issued the Regulations on the Decentralization of Educational Administration, pointing out that in the future, the government must change the previous management system that was dominated by regulations and that it must strengthen local leadership and management of educational undertakings in accordance with the principle of combining centralization and decentralization. From 1958 to 1961, it tried to change the single-school system arranged by the state and the highly centralized education management system of the central government, and decentralization became a trend in the education system reform. In May 1958, in a circular of 10 documents on educational work, this policy was further summarized as the “Walking on Two Legs.”6 On September 19, 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued Instructions on Education Work, which summarized the development policy of primary education as follows: under the unified goal, the state shall run schools in parallel with factories, mines, enterprises, and agricultural cooperatives. Finally, the reform could no longer carry on because the whole government management system was not changed. The reform lacked systematic theory, and local education lacked experience and ability of management. The scale of school development was out of control due to the “Great 4  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.77. 5  Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, People’s Daily, September 21, 1954. 6  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 years of Education in the People’s Republic of China, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 199, p.257.

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Leap Forward,” and the quality of education declined dramatically. After the adjustment policy in 1961, the authority of education management was gradually centralized. This centralization played a certain role in overcoming the chaos brought by the “education revolution,” but further highlighted the disadvantages of strengthening the centralization. Devolution after 1966 led to chaos which lasted until 1976. From September to October 1978, based on the previous text, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Provisional Regulations on the Work of the National Key Institutions of Higher Learning (Trial Draft), referred to as “60 rules for higher education” (applied to common domestic colleges and universities), the Provisional Regulations on the Work of Full-Time Secondary Schools (Trial Draft), “50 rules for intermediate education” for short, and the Provisional Regulations on the Work of Full-Time Primary Schools (Trial Draft), “40 rules for elementary education” for short. The education system thus returned to the basic pattern of the 1960s. After 1980, there was a nationwide discussion on the issue of education, which questioned the lasting view that education belonged to the superstructure. Under the influence of the Soviet Union, education was always regarded as a superstructure, with too much emphasis on the relationship between education and politics and too much demand on its administrative attribute. It was natural to improve the absolute leadership of the central government over education. The discussion over education as a superstructure did not immediately lead to the reform of the education system. The unified and centralized management system of education were still there. In addition to the right to host and own all kinds of schools, the government also undertook some key affairs of schools, mainly as follows.  nified Examination and Enrollment U Examination and enrollment is originally a very professional work, involving a series of affairs far beyond the functions of any limited government. Unified examination and enrollment thus always produced various loopholes. Despite those emerging loopholes, the idea for the government to run education did not change, and the form of unity still remained. On April 24, 1951, the Ministry of Education issued the Regulations on the Examination and Enrollment of Universities and Colleges in the Summer Vacation of 1951, and began to implement unified enrollment throughout

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the country.7 However, there were still some colleges and universities that did not participate in the national unified enrollment that year. In 1952, the unified enrollment of colleges and universities was more organized, more involved, and more planned than that in 1951, and was extended to the enrollment of secondary schools. Meanwhile, in the name of “education revolution,” there was no unified enrollment in 1958. On June 13, 1966, the CPC central committee and the State Council issued the Notice on the Reform of College Entrance Examination Methods, and the notice on the “reform” of college entrance examination was issued twice within half a month. Later, China stopped the enrollment of ordinary colleges and universities. The unified recruitment of workers, farmers, and soldiers was resumed in 1970. The national college entrance examination, which was resumed in 1977, was also a unified one. After the resumption of the college entrance examination in 1981, the students who were admitted to the university had to go out to work. The problems in the unified enrollment and distribution system were highlighted again, among which the biggest problem was the disconnection between supply and demand, which affected the autonomy of universities. Therefore, in 1982, some adjustments were planned to gradually reduce the proportion of unified enrollment and increase the proportion of regulatory enrollment. In 1983, the admission policy of higher education took a step in reducing excessive unification. The Ministry of Education in the Report on National Full-time Colleges’ and Universities’ Recruitment Conference of 1983 put forward two adjustment measures: One was that universities and colleges should properly combine the recruitment source regions of new students and the graduates’ distribution regions, and to solve the long-­ term problem that talents were not attracted to stay in rural areas, badly off areas and industries. We can take out part of the national plan for directional recruitment and distribution while guaranteeing the national directives; The other was entrusted training. “We should build direct contact between the training unit and the employing unit, and use the contract system to train talents for the national talent training plan.” In 1983, 3000 students were enrolled for entrusted training. The year of 1986 witnessed that schools began to recruit self-supporting students outside the plan. 7  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982).Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, pp.39-40.

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Since 1992, there has been a sustaining call for reform of the national unified college enrollment system, and a large number of pilot projects have been carried out across the country. In 2010, the Outline of National Mid-and-Long Term Program for Educational Reform and Development Plan put forward the “exploration of relatively separating admission from examination.” It was made explicit by the Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform that was released on November 15, 2013. However, on September 4, 2014, it disappeared in the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Examination Enrollment System released by the State Council. Obviously, there was no clear blueprint yet for the reform of the unified national examination and enrollment of higher education.  rants and Other Arrangements for Students G The government-run education gave students insurance as they entered schools with certain arrangements. The free supply system was adopted at the very beginning. On July 8, 1952, the State Council issued a notice that in order to actively improve the health status of young students and gradually unify the standards of student benefits, it decided to change the public subsidy system for all students in universities and colleges and secondary schools to the people’s grants system, and to adjust the previous standards of the people’s grants system appropriately from September. On July 23, 1952, the Ministry of Education issued a notice to abolish the supply system and implement the people’s grants system in universities, colleges, and secondary schools, to set uniform standards for people’s grants, and to give people’s grants to all students in universities and colleges. Besides, students in normal schools and other secondary professional schools can receive higher grants than those in ordinary middle schools; pupils in private schools are the same as those in state schools; the grant for students of the former supply system and industrial workers is higher than that of ordinary students; more consideration should be given to practical difficulties faced by families of martyrs, revolutionary soldiers, workers and farmer cadres, industrial workers, ethnic minorities and children of overseas returnees. On October 7, 1952, the Ministry of Education issued a notice stipulating the standards and implementation measures of the people’s grants for secondary technical school students. On November 29, the ministries of education, finance, and personnel issued a document

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jointly to make specific regulations on the treatment of students from elementary and secondary speed-up schools for workers and farmers.8 After the resumption of college entrance examination in 1977, the government still implemented the system of granting living subsidies to college students for a period of time. It was not until after the complete “integration of the two systems” was implemented in 1997 that the history of granting living subsidies to college students was completely ended.  nified Graduation and Degree Certificates U In fact, under the system of state monopoly, schools did not have the full power to issue graduate certificates, nor did they bear the full responsibility. Similarly, colleges and universities did not have the full power and responsibility to grant degrees. This seriously damaged the power and responsibility mechanism of education and teaching quality, resulting in many graduates’ unqualified academic performance and the low quality of the whole education. Job Allocation Job allocation was an important part of government-run education, and it made a difference to employment. China introduced the Soviet Union’s distribution practice of guaranteeing employment for all. As the whole education completely went in accordance with the economic development plan, when enrolling students, the government had to assign each student to a corresponding job, both to ensure that every post had someone there, and that everyone had something to do. This practice ignored the differences among individuals and it was proved to be impractical by history in a big country like China. On June 3, 1950, the State Council set up the distribution committee of graduates of higher education in the summer vacation of 1950 and directly did the job allocation of 18,000 graduates of national public and private universities and colleges. Education and personnel departments should make a planned and rational allocation of graduates of universities and colleges, according to a circular issued by the State Council on June 22. It was also pointed out that graduates should be persuaded to comply with the distribution of the government and to serve the people. It said that those who hoped to find jobs by themselves could be left to their own 8  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982), Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.60.

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disposal. For graduates of universities and colleges, the period of probation was usually six months to one year. With the national unified deployment, half of the graduates in 1950 were allocated to the northeast region, which was the national key construction area.9 It set a precedent for the allocation of graduates in China. “Centralized usage and key allocation” and “consistency of learning and application” were often used as the principles for allocation policies, but they were difficult to implement with the frequent improper usage. Since only those in power could change distributions, graduation allocation, like enrollment, often became a “back door” pass. Graduates who could not be assigned jobs in 1963 could be placed as workers or recommended to units under collective ownership. The graduates recommended by the commune were arranged by the former commune. After the graduation of the internally recruited employees, they shall be assigned work by the relevant departments or returned to their original units. The pilot program of “community to community” was carried out in schools of agriculture, forestry, medicine, and in normal schools. According to the report of Guangming Daily on March 26, 1964, 81 secondary agricultural schools in 19 provinces and autonomous regions implemented the “community to community” enrollment and distribution. Since 1962, such schools had recruited more than 11,000 students from rural people’s communes.10 On December 5, 1977, the State Council endorsed the Instruction Report of the Allocation of Community to Community Graduates by the Ministry of Education, which emphasized that “the allocation of community to community students of universities and colleges will continue to adhere to the community to community principle.”11 Due to the distribution of college graduates, the work of primary and secondary school graduates was once included in the scope of the state. On June 5, 1957, the CPC central committee issued the Instructions on the Arrangement of Primary and Secondary School Graduates Who Cannot Enter Higher Schools which put forward that for students who cannot enter higher schools, except the overseas Chinese children, whose appropriate settlement will be the responsibility of the state, students of the worker 9  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.19. 10  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.327. 11  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.502.

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and farmer speed-up middle schools, in principle, should be placed by former units or the personnel departments. The basic method is to mobilize and persuade (must not force) them to engage in agricultural production in the countryside, and self-study at home while waiting for employment or to pursue further studies. In accordance with the instructions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, party committees and governments at all levels had taken various measures to make proper arrangements for primary and secondary school graduates.12 In the 1980s, more and more unemployed young people appeared in China. At the same time, there were more people who were “self-­ employed” and the gap of distribution became apparent. The pioneers were the vocational high schools without allocation. Faced with the contract work with relatively high wages and the secure job with relatively low wages, different people made different choices. Its social effect was that distribution was no longer that attractive and useful. This concept was quickly transferred from vocational schools to college graduates, and some people, instead of accepting assigned work, would find a better position by themselves. Moreover, corruption multiplied because some people tried to find a better job via the “back door,” and distribution thus lost its authority of the “plan.” After 1983, the government began to make some adjustments on the unitary distribution system, gradually changed state distribution into social employment in various forms and by various approaches, and built direct contact between schools and social employing units, graduates and employing units. In 1985, with the approval of the State Council, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University tried out the method of combining “recruitment”, recommendation and examination on the basis of “supply and demand meet” pilot project. Later, this method gradually formed a new employment model: for the students under the national plan, they were applied to the system where “They make choices, the school recommends and the employing unit selects under the guidance of the national plan” after their graduation; entrusted students employed in the entrusted units in accordance with the contracts; the self-supply students could employ in the school-recommended units or find jobs on their own after graduation.

12  National Institute of Educational Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p.198.

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In mid- and late 1980s, some areas refused allocation. Some schools implemented “merit-based recruitment and no allocation.” In 1987, the non-allocation classes took up 26% of all classes in agricultural technical secondary schools in Sichuan province.13 The government also gradually accepted the concept of “no distribution.” In 1988, the eight ministries and commissions under the State Council issued a document that included students without distribution in the enrollment plan and gave the same funding as other schools. In 1989, on the basis of summarizing the experiments of various schools, the State Education Commission formulated the Distribution System Reform Plan of Graduates of Universities and Colleges, which was approved by the State Council and implemented nationwide. The plan mainly included that graduates distribution shall gradually turn into social selective employment; that the personnel department shall establish and improve the personnel exchange service organization, consummating the adjustment mechanism of reasonable personnel flow; that all localities, departments and universities shall establish employment guidance institutions for graduates; and that the long-term direction of reform shall be the graduates’ independent employment through the talent market. Since 1994, even those graduates of normal universities have not been assigned to jobs, and the system finally came to an end. After “the integration of the two systems” in 1997, independent employment where “supply and demand meet, two-way choice is made” was fully carried out. But this did not mean that the government completely let go of graduates. Today the competent department of education still requires universities to report the graduates’ employment rate monthly starting from the beginning of the year, and uses the data as reference to the university’ performance, which even relates to the university’s professional recruitment next year. As a result, college employment fraud occurs frequently, and some schools require students to get their employment agreements to receive graduation certificates, with students “falsely recorded as employed” in some universities.

13   Planning and Construction Department of State Education Commission, China Statistical Yearbook for Education, 1988. Beijing: Beijing University of Technology Press, 1989, p.255.

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Reasons for Government-Run Education A common explanation to why China chose such a highly centralized education management system at that time was that “under the circumstance of the lack of education resources, a centralized and unified leadership and government-run management was conducive to concentrating on training urgently-needed talents quickly and was appropriate according to the political and economic situation at that time.”14 Later development showed that the result was exactly the opposite of this reason. In more than 10 years after 1952, a large number of people who wanted to go to school did not have the opportunity to do so. Since the serious shortage of education supply worsened, the government had to adopt the method of “Walking on Two Legs,” which was to carry out collective schooling besides the government schooling. Practice has shown that the government’s control over education will only lead to a further scarcity of education supply and further intensification of the contradiction between supply and demand, while the diversification of the school operators will enable a rich supply of education. The hierarchical characteristics of government administrative agencies results in educational disparity and uneven distribution of educational resources under their control. This situation has led to the failure to solve the problem of educational imbalance in the past 10 years. The real starting point of education centralization was not to quickly produce talents. Comparing the education before and after 1950, there were actually more and better talents before the centralization, which can be proven by the case studies of many schools, such as Tsinghua University and Peking University. Essentially, the centralized arrangement at that time was mainly due to the nationalistic concept of education which considered that it would be conducive to government’s control over education. Without a clear understanding of the inherent law of education, concentrating efforts blindly will only make education suffer more serious loss. The most powerful evidence was the loss in the cultivation of innovative and top-notch talents in the past 60 years, which could not be compensated for or redeemed by any amount of money or time.

14  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.197.

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The reasons attributed to why Chinese government monopolized education at that time varied from person to person, yet the answer based on historical documents might be more reliable. Governments’ monopoly on education did not start from running schools, but textbooks. On October 19, 1949, at the closing ceremony of National Conference on the Publishing of Xinhua Bookstores, Lu Dingyi, Minister of Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, concluded, “Textbooks should be edited by the government, for the content should conform to the state policy. Besides, it could be printed better at a cheaper price, and will not be wasted when publishing.” “Textbooks have a huge impact on the national economy and people’s livelihood, so it must be run by the state.”15 Then the government’s monopoly reached school-running. On September 10, 1952, the government issued the Ministry of Education’s Instructions on Taking over Private Primary and Secondary Schools, requiring that “a certain number of politically strong cadres should be appointed to take over the work, in particular, competent cadres should be dispatched to take over large-scale schools.”16 On September 8, 1953, the Ministry of Education officially replied to the Bureau of Education of Guangzhou Municipality, and meanwhile conveyed four opinions on the management of private tutoring schools to all parts of the country: (1) Tutoring schools that are indeed helpful for the masses to learn and are supported by the masses are allowed to exist; those that defraud money or carry out reactionary propaganda in the name of education should be dealt with in accordance with the law in conjunction with the Public Security Bureau; (2) The priority of leadership and management is teaching, and cadres should be sent to inspect the teaching situation and provoke improvement; (3) The collection of tuition fees should not be restricted too much; (4) Leadership should be strengthened for teacher learning. After these opinions were issued, private tutoring schools were inspected and strictly managed. On January 29, 1954, the East China Committee for Culture and Education issued a special circular requesting all parts of East China to conduct an inspection of private tutoring schools and formulate regulations and management measures for 15  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.5. 16  He Changdong. Important Education Documents of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1975). Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 1998, p.164.

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the establishment of such schools in line with the principle of “making full use of tutoring schools and strengthening management on them.”17 This announcement is actually a restriction on educational institutions except full-time schools. Old people who lived in Shanghai thought that Shanghai had a higher-level learning society before 1949, when there were various remedial schools to meet the needs of all kinds of people, including morning schools and night schools, providing a variety of learning opportunities for those who had no time to attend full-time schools because of their work. Reasons for the government’s education running can be seen from the instructions released by the Ministry of Education on July 8, 1952, which required education administrative departments and schools at all levels to take on the revolutionary spirit and methods to do a good job in recruiting students, building facilities and allocating teachers, and realize the national plan of cultivating cadres by 1952. The instructions also requested that colleges and secondary schools should recruit students in a unified way.18 It cannot be more obvious that education is conceptually considered to train cadres for the country, so the government must be fully responsible for the recruitment, school life and job allocation of students. If we dig deep into it, we may notice that once the nationalistic concept of education becomes the mainstream concept to address education problems, it will be implemented into a series of policies and measures and be epitomized by the ownership and sponsorship of schools, thus forming an education administrative system with Chinese characteristics in which the government manages, owns and runs education. At the same time, the nationalistic concept of education also tries to get involved in the whole process of examination and enrollment. This is the fundamental reason why the Chinese government ran education. It is not difficult to find serious drawbacks if we study the history of government-run education over the past 60 years carefully. The basic assumption was that the government and planning authorities were omnipotent, which proved to be impossible by lots of practices both home and abroad. It was impossible to plan in the material production field, not to mention in the talent cultivation field. Going against human nature will 17  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.86. 18  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, pp.60-61.

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only strangle talents. Metzger, a Chinese culture study lover who married a Chinese woman, considered this system of organizing social economic life as an “inhibited political center”19 and “totalism.” Decades of government-­run education history have showcased that neither can this system meet the needs of national development and social development, nor can it satisfy people’s different needs toward education. Every government has its limitations, yet it should design a policy system for education that meets the demands of every individual on the premise of limitation and efficiency. Limitations and Problems of Government-Run Education From 1949 to 1965, the overall characteristic of China’s education system can be described as “Under the dual effects of the objective requirements of the planned economic system and the influence of the Soviet model… monotony in school-running system, identity and the nature of planning in management. Although there have been different thoughts and even concrete practices in the course of history, on the whole, the central government has implemented centralized and unified management of different levels and types of education.”20 However, government-run education has caused many problems: Firstly, there was a serious scarcity of education supply. The government eagerly pursued a pure and equal education, while China’s eco-social development was far behind this level, resulting in the country’s already inadequate financial resources to become even more dispersed and directly affecting the progress of popularizing primary schools. The drawbacks gradually emerged two or three years after its implementation, and mainly it was about oppressing the initiative of locals, individuals and the whole society to engage in education and failing to satisfy different people’s demands. On July 30th, 1955, Chapter nine of the First Five-Year Plan of the National Economy of the People’s Republic of China, adopted by the Second Session of the First National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, put forward that “Education of ordinary 19  Thomas A Metzger, Ramon H Myers. Two Societies in Opposition: The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China after Forty Years. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991, pp. xiii-xvi. 20  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the Republic. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.199.

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schools should be based on the conditions of teachers and national financial resources, and the full use of the manpower and their equipment. Meanwhile, we should develop elementary and secondary education under the guidance of the national plan, in accordance with the policy of advocating self-run schools by the rural residents and allowing private schools. Within five years, the task of eliminating illiteracy among industrial and agricultural cadres, former industrial workers and rural activists should be basically completed.”21 The controversy over the government’s monopoly to run schools has not led to any doubts, but people realized that the government alone couldn’t meet the educational needs of whole society. From March 18 to March 28, 1957, the Ministry of Education held the Third National Conference on Education Administration in Beijing, which broke the idea that primary education must be run by the government, that was to say, in cities, we should encourage the running of schools by residential districts, institutions, factories and mining enterprises, while in rural areas, by the masses. Private education would be permitted but not advocated.22 Back then, China was facing a serious fact that “Poor country runs a large-scale education,” with people’s increasing demands of education in the backdrop of low national economy. However, at that time, education input had accounted for 9%, a number difficult to maintain or increase. If we stuck to implementing the “national” and “unified” state-owned school-running system, solely relying on the government to run schools, and ban collective school-running without private education, the contradiction between receiving education and entering a higher school would become increasingly fierce. Therefore, since 1957, work-study program and collective education have been advocated. On October 25, 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the National Outline for Agricultural Development (Draft Amendment) from 1956 to 1967. It pointed out, “Rural schools should be run in various forms. In addition to government-run schools, we must vigorously advocate collective school-running by the masses and

21  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.137. 22  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.192.

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allow private school-running so as to gradually popularize primary education.”23 On February 11, 1958, at the Fifth Session of the First National People’s Congress, Dong Chuncai, Vice Minister of Education, made a speech entitled Strengthening Ideological Education and Labor Education, Advocating School-Running by the Masses and with Diligence and Frugality. The Minister proved the benefits of school-running by the masses and running school thriftily with numbers of facts, and pointed out that the development of primary and secondary education should not be totally covered by the government. There was not one path, but three. Besides government-run schools, there were also masses-run schools and work-­ study programs.24 On February 15, 1958, People’s Daily published an editorial entitled “Implementing the Policy of Running Schools by the Masses and Taking part in Work-study Program.” It pointed out that “The policy of running schools by the masses must be carried out, giving full play to the enthusiasm of the masses to send their children to schools and the potential for running schools. More private primary and secondary schools should also be built.”25 At that time, the practice of complete government-run education has been criticized by all parties. “We should actively adopt three methods, namely, government-run schools, masses-run schools, and work-study programs, and various forms of school-running to speed up the development of primary and secondary education, in particular, the development of primary education.” It had become the consensus of many people to strive for early universal primary education, yet the consensus was still weak in the face of a government-run system. Secondly, the model is too monotonous. In November 1957, Liu Shaoqi, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, drew on foreign experience and put forward the idea of establishing a work-study school on a trial basis. In 1958, the confluence of doubts about government-run education and ideological leap resulted in the “Walking on Two Legs” school-running policy, which implemented the simultaneous development of government-run schools with factories, 23  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.205. 24  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, pp.214-215. 25  Implementing the Policy of Running Schools by the Masses and Taking Part in Work-­ study Program, People’s Daily, February 15, 1958.

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mines, enterprises, and cooperatives. To a certain extent, it mobilized the initiative of all aspects of school-running, expanded the scale of schools, and mitigated the contradiction between opportunities and demands for schools. On May 30th, 1958, Liu Shaoqi formally put forward his proposal at the Expanded Meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that “Our country should have two main school education systems and factory labor systems in rural areas. One is the current full-­ time school education system and the eight-hour working system in factories and offices. This is the major one. In addition, we may also adopt a system that goes hand in hand with this system and become one of the main systems, namely, the school education system of work-study and the labor system of work-study.”26 Since then, work-study schools have developed quickly. Jiangsu Province was the first to set up agricultural secondary schools. By 1960, there were more than 30,000 agricultural secondary schools in the whole country.27 The theory of “Two kinds of education systems and labor systems” and the school-running policy of “Walking on Two Legs” broke the monotonous model of education system, and corrected the government-­run education. Some ordinary people, out of their sincere desire to develop education, have also made some valuable explorations, such as adopting unification and diversity, integrating popularization and improvement, combining comprehensive planning and decentralization, diversifying school-running forms, and establishing full-time, work (agricultural)-study schools and various forms of spare-time schools, which all broke the over-centralized and unified education on a local scale and played a positive role in education. At the same time, “two legs” actually had a strong “leap forward” sense. In 1961, the Ninth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formulated the policy of “readjusting, consolidating, enriching and improving” the national economy, correspondingly correcting the deviations and rash advances in education in previous years and again centralizing the power of education management, which can be seen from the issuance of provisional work regulations 26  He Dongchang. Important Educational Documents of the People’s Republic of China 1949-1975.Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 1998, p.834. 27  Song Jian’ge. Collected Works of Jian’ge. Beijing: China International Literature and Art Publishing House, 2006, p.357.

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for universities, middle schools and primary schools in 1963. Regulations stipulated that full-time primary schools run by the country should be managed by the educational administrative departments of counties (municipalities and districts); full-time secondary schools run by the country shall be managed at provincial, municipal, and county levels, thereby forming a system of unified leadership and hierarchical management of basic education. Thirdly, the lofty power was separated from reality. For instance, guaranteeing job allocation would first of all bring difficulty in job matching. Students were learning things that were useless for their future work, and what were really helpful for their future work were not taught to them, which made the talents hierarchy imbalanced and inverted. There was once an enterprise where the ratio between engineers and technicians was 8 to 1. On May 21, 1964, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China forwarded the Report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Further Adjustment of Improperly-Used Cadres Graduated from Institutions of Higher Learning. It pointed out that jobs that did not conform to or basically did not conform to the majors and could not give full play to talents’ strengths were improper and should be adjusted.28 In fact, this problem could not be completely resolved by the planned system. Guaranteeing job allocation also made it difficult for people to move and work efficiently, bringing a lot of rigid, unreasonable, and even very ridiculous phenomena. More and more people spent all their lives struggling in unsatisfactory personnel environment and career situation. Fourthly, an isolated education was formed. Ever since China began to have educational communications with the outside world, the Chinese people have learnt the lesson that isolation drags China back, while opening-­up boosts China forward. Government-run education was obviously isolated. Whether it was open or isolated is not only a problem that needs to be treated carefully, but would also determine the fate of the country's education and even the whole nation. If we regard all quality education as foreign education, and insist on running our own education in isolation, we will certainly encounter a huge risk. In the Internet era, only by sharing education equally with the world with an open mind can China maximize its own benefits.

28  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982).Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.360.

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There has been no pure Chinese education in the backdrop of globalization, nor purely Chinese education system or content. The way of government-­run education was merely to include things in the past development of human education, but not the most advanced education at present, which may even take a dismissive attitude toward the most advanced education, thus making Chinese education fall into the abyss of backwardness. Modern education does not belong to any individual, any company, or any country. Politically separating education will ultimately bring those who try to separate themselves into a self-contained net and lose the opportunity to participate and lead. As a relatively backward country in education, only when China is more open, inclusive and pluralistic than any other country in the world can it gradually bridges the gap and generate self-confidence and a sustainable autonomy. If China remains narrow-minded, closed, and isolated, it is tantamount to destroying its own advantage and breaking the road of self-­ rising. In the information civilization era, opening-up is the only effective way for the development of Chinese education. The unreasonable education system cannot mobilize the initiative of all aspects of education development fully and effectively. Institutional obstacles have long been the main reason why Chinese education was difficult to achieve sustainable and coordinated development in terms of scale, structure, quality, and efficiency. In 1982, after a great discussion on education, more and more people felt that China should break away from the influence of the “Soviet model” so as to “liberate education from the ‘left’ ideological shackle which has long been used as a political tool.”29 It is imminent to establish an education system that conforms to China’s realities and the inherent law of education and talent growth.

4.2   Big Pot or Buffet The remaining problem of China’s education management system was that the government-run education established after 1950 was a typical big pot system. All the educators participating in this system were sharing the rice in a big pot by different ranks, making it difficult to teach independently according to their own advantages and potentials, as well as 29  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the Republic. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press 1999, p.201.

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deciding teaching content and evaluation criteria on their own. As a result, it was hard to inspire the humanistic nature of education, and improve its human value. Hunger for Autonomy People felt bound by the education system as their minds become liberated. In 1979, the presidents of four universities in Shanghai published an article in People’s Daily calling for education autonomy for universities, criticizing the over-centralized education system in terms of the relationship between the government and schools, between the central and local governments, and about the internal management and teaching of schools. Among them, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has carried out the reform of personnel mobility, post responsibility system, and internal wage system since 1979.30 The reform aimed at separating the Party from the government, which kick-started the trend for non-economic departments rather than political leadership to maintain their work with responsibility system. The contents included principal accountability system, department head’s responsibility system, general affairs director’s responsibility system and the student affairs responsibility system. In 1983, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University reformed its internal management system “with the management, personnel and distribution system as the breakthrough point of reform,” and gradually formed the operation mechanism of “fair competition, preferential employment, more work and more gain, and reasonable flow.”31 The reform has led to the development of some universities. Those who formerly used the responsibility system of department heads changed to teacher-electing department heads system. For some schools, positions other than the president were all elected. Accordingly, the appointment system for teachers has broken their “iron rice bowl” (a secure, lifetime job). Hu Qili, who once presided over the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System, considered that “the biggest drawback lies in the rigid model formed 30  Office of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Preliminary Study on Management Reform of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Shanghai: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 1984. 31  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the Republic. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.205.

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under the long-term planned economic system” after various field researches. Specifically, it was manifested as “inadequate vitality of running a university, excessive management by government administrative departments, a rigid model in the financial system, enrollment system, employment system and distribution system, no autonomy of schools, difficulty to become an independent school operator , lack of enthusiasm, and inability to bring inherent potential into play”; “On the one hand, there is a shortage of talents”, “on the other hand, many college students who have been allocated do not possess the relevant skills and knowledge and do not meet the needs.” There were five major contradictions between demand and supply, school discipline settings and actual needs, demand and quality, specialization and all-roundness in students’ knowledge structure, learning, and application. “Institutional reasons brought about fragmentations. Colleges and universities, whether large or small, offered all kinds of courses, resulting in a great waste of resources”; “The conditions are quite difficult… Schools are dilapidated, with few doors and windows. There are no shelters from rain in summer and no shelters from wind in winter, and students’ desks are built up by adobe blocks.” “Situations vary from different places with different foundations and development is unbalanced. Nevertheless, all schools have adopted a unified school-running model with unified full-time system, unified standardization, unified enrollment, unified examination, unified teaching materials, unified standards, unified education system… Universities, whether run by ministries, provinces or by the state, are uniformly recruited and distributed. As a result, schools eat the big pot rice from the government and students eat the big pot rice from the school”; “In terms of the educational structure, the proportion of higher education, basic education and vocational education is seriously unreasonable. We blindly emphasize on higher education, despising basic education and vocational education, making it very weak (According to statistics, the proportion of vocational schools in the stage of high school education was less than 10%)”; educational thoughts went to an extreme. The thought of “degree and diploma matter most” prevailed for a time, forming a situation of ‘thousands of troops crossing a single wooden bridge’; “In colleges and universities, there is a widespread emphasis on science and technology, intellectual education, academic qualifications and theories, rather than humanities, moral education, abilities and practices”; “Basic education is lagging behind seriously, and normal education is not valued. In vast rural areas, especially in some poor areas, schools are few in

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number, poor in conditions, and teachers are scarce”; “In the school management system, due to too much concentrated government power, schools are unable to become independent entities, with no pressure externally and no power internally, languishing the whole school.”32 In regard to the education management system, the division of management authority between the central and local governments, departments and industries, and relevant government departments and schools was not reasonable enough; the government had too much control over schools, which languished schools and lowered the educational efficiency. As for the investment system, the main investment bodies were too uniform, and the educational funds were in serious shortage. Besides, limited education funds have not been allocated reasonably among all levels of education. The highly centralized and over-rigid system has become a major obstacle to the development of education. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System (hereinafter referred to as the Decision) promulgated on May 27, 1985 confirmed the institutional reform as the breakthrough and initiated an all-round educational reform. The Decision can be briefly summed up as “giving money” and “delegating power”, laying emphasis on “reforming the management system, while strengthening macro-management, resolutely streamlining government and delegating power, expanding school-running autonomy, adjusting the educational structure, and reforming the labor and personnel system accordingly”. The Decision placed the responsibility for development of basic education at the local level, implemented local responsibility and hierarchical management, and clearly endowed universities with six aspects of autonomy. “Local governments should encourage and guide state-owned enterprises, social organizations and individuals to run schools, and encourage units, collectives and individuals to donate funds to schools on a voluntary basis…”33 Just as China’s education was making progress in the basic education management system, education investment system and school internal management, the political turmoil of 1989 almost stopped the reform. 32  Hu Qili, Before and After the Promulgation of the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System, Yanhuang Chunqiu, 2008(12). 33  Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System, People’s Daily, May 29, 1985.

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With the education system being a part of the national political system, the goal and process of education reform ultimately depend on national politics. “The course of education from 1985 to 1989 showcases that the reform of the education system is driven by a larger institutional reform, but also subject to larger institutional constraints.”34 Since then, the reform of China’s education management system has progressed slowly. Diverse Demands In 1981, People’s Education published a letter from Sun Qimeng in its June issue, proposing various forms of running schools. He mentioned that in recent years, eight democratic parties, as well as the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the China Vocational Education Association have actively organized multiple forms of spare-­ time education. By March of that year, according to incomplete statistics, 72 spare-time schools have been set up, with 24,955 students.35 On August 11, 1982, the Minutes of the Experience Exchange Meeting on Reforming Secondary Education Structure and Developing Vocational and Technical Education transmitted by the Ministry of Education of Liaoning Province pointed out that vocational and technical education played an important role in improving economic efficiency and finding a new way of economic construction in the whole national economy.36 On August 28, Guangming Daily published the article “Reforming Rural Education to Serve the Construction of A New Socialist Countryside” written by Zhang Chengxian, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Education. The article pointed out that we should start with reforming the structure of rural secondary education. In order to meet the requirements of local farmers’ production and life, we should set up schools and train talents with regional advantages.37 On August 28, the Report on Accelerating the Structural Reform of Rural Secondary Education transmitted by the Ministry of Education of Shandong Province proposed 34  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p.252. 35  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.621. 36  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.663. 37  Zhang Chengxian. Reforming Rural Education to Serve the Construction of a New Socialist Countryside, Guangming Daily, August 28, 1982.

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that the pace of the structural reform of rural secondary education should be accelerated, that general education and agricultural technology education should be combined, and that full-time schools should be combined with work (agriculture)-study schools, spare-time schools and various technical training schools. Governmental school-running should be combined with collective school-running.38 From September 16 to 21, 1982, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a symposium on running schools among democratic parties, the Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Chinese Vocational Education Association in Beijing. Liu Lantao, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said at the meeting that running education by democratic parties was a creative and significant move in the new historical period, which served the socialist construction of the country and hewed out new fields and new ways to serve the four modernizations.39 On June 6, 1983, the government work report at the First Session of the Sixth National People’s Congress put forward that “We should further reform the structure of secondary education and develop vocational and technical education in a planned way. Within five years, the number of students in vocational high schools should account for more than 40% of the total students in senior high schools.” In 1984, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Economic System Reform, which established the goal of developing the commodity economy. The development of commodity economy has produced a variety of economic entities and diversified demands for education, making it possible for multi-channel access to education resources. Opening-up has demonstrated what challenges the new technological revolution has brought to China. Under such circumstances, the education system based on the original planned economic system cannot meet the needs of social development and mass education. Such gap between the demands and supply was becoming more and more obvious.

38  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.665. 39  Central Institute of Educational Science, Records of Educational Events of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Press, 1983, p.667.

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In 1992, the Fourteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the goal of establishing a socialist market economy. “School restructuring” accompanied the process of China’s transition to a market economy system, and many public schools “restructured” into private schools. According to the spirit of the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development, the following changes have taken place in the school-running system of compulsory education: firstly, private primary and secondary schools were developing vigorously; secondly, various forms of school-running emerged, for instance, “private public-funded” and “public private-funded” schools, and disputes have arisen in the process of “restructuring.” In 1995, most of the newly developed private primary and secondary schools in municipalities directly under the central government and provincial capitals were “restructured” public schools, and “restructured” schools have gone beyond private education itself.40 After the enactment of the newly revised Compulsory Education Law in 2006, many restructured schools changed back to being public or private schools. On February 13, 1993, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council promulgated the Outline of China’s Educational Reform and Development, which has been revised many times since 1986. It contracted the autonomy of running schools, transforming the system of school-running from a monotonous government-run system to a system in which government runs schools, with the participation of all sectors of society in various forms. After 1995, the government adopted the policy of “actively encouraging, strongly supporting, correctly guiding and strengthening management” in running schools by social forces. In terms of adult education, vocational training, basic education, general higher education, and vocational schools, there were various forms of school-running, such as individual-run schools with public assistance, state-owned but individual-run schools and Sino-foreign cooperation schools. To meet the diverse needs of education, education itself should be diverse, and schools should be diverse, so there must be diversified school-­ running bodies and evaluation criteria. However, all public schools in China are in fact a big school. In addition, little progress has been made in returning educational rights to the people. Private schools are affected by 40  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the Republic. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.283.

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evaluation criteria and related discriminatory policies, making it difficult for them to be diversified. Therefore, the development of diverse education in line with human nature has been difficult to achieve in China. It is obvious that only social demands and objective laws can truly change the situation. However, when we talk about the impetus and possibility to make a change, in particular, about the specific scheme, it is essential for government parties who possess relevant power to fully recognize the significance of the issue, to promote the reform of government management system and to address the problem that education cannot sustain the development of our next generations. Just as the saying goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Non-governmental organizations may play a certain role in revealing laws and transforming this educational management model by foot voting, yet it is laborious for them to achieve fundamental changes, for they do not have power. The Transformation of the Relationship Between Public Power and Education Whether education is a big pot or a buffet is directly related to who is the operator of schools—government or educators from the civil society. So, in its transformation from a big pot to a buffet, we need to figure out the relationship between education and public power, which is also related to many debates concerning education and politics. Since ancient times, the mission of education has included inheritance and innovation. On the one hand, inheritance was done through imparting experience and value from adults to children. The theme of education as a result is often decided by the previous generation and by the mainstream and the leading parties of society. However, inheritance is often accompanied by conservatism. On the other hand, to give full play to human intelligence, it is necessary to constantly weed out the old experience and bring forth new ones, break through the restriction of existing knowledge and value, open up new realms and exploit new living resources. Therefore, inheritance is also accompanied by innovation. Human beings are social animals, and as a group, they must have their own norms and disciplines, which evolve into government policies and political opinions of certain parties in a specific period of time, thus opening-­up channels for public power to enter education. To enter the society, children must receive education, and with the help of this, public power is able to blend into education. While shaping children’s characters into

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being able to get along with others, public power also requires them to conform to certain political opinions and as a result, controls the content of education. In adult society, political opinions vary among different groups, which trigger off constant challenges among them, as well as institutional challenges from different people to these groups, making it difficult for young people to make independent judgments. At the same time, just as human beings have generated diversity in the process of evolution, human thoughts, values, and concepts are also diverse. It is diversity that guarantees the existence of human beings in the face of so many disasters in history. If human beings are unitary, a disaster can easily destroy them. Therefore, the history of education development is the history of knowledge breakthrough and innovation, the disintegration and reconstruction of norms. Maintaining the diversity of education is the prerequisite for the process to be sound and prosperous. If education is unitary and only meets the requirements of one certain political party, it may be difficult to carry out a sound development. Just as biodiversity in nature guarantees the normal ecological chain between species, if only one species is allowed to exist, others being eliminated, ultimately this species will not survive. If only one kind of education can exist, the ecological environment of education will inevitably be destroyed. Consequently, education must remain pluralistic and leave it open, for the purpose of education is not only to give individuals the opportunity to fully develop their potential, but also to give the society a continuously updated function. Education cannot only meet the requirements of a single political group. Focusing on the needs of a single group will inevitably slow down the breakthrough and innovation of education, hinder the development of society, and hamper the normal growth and development of the people. For this reason, people-oriented education must minimize the interference of non-professional power, which can be seen from the fact that outstanding scholars of all dynasties all have followed the principle of “gentlemen never banding together.” In history, education has the function of guiding social atmosphere and achieving a balance between stability and progress. On the one hand, we should maintain social order through inheritance; on the other hand, we should seek the direction and motivation of continuous innovation by reason, deliberation, and discrimination. As for individuals, they mainly accept others’ experience in the early stage, but they must reserve the space for self-determination and cultivate their ability to think

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independently. When they become adults, they will seek more opportunities to innovate in order to cultivate their ability to judge, identify and think. Only when the ability to identify reaches a mature stage will they participate in political activities. Confucianism, after its monopoly, is similar to political authority. The renewal of Confucianism being hindered, the innovation of questioning can only go smoothly among the civil society. In China, during the history of the integration of politics and religion, the interference and hindrance of “politics” to “religion” are far greater than the promotion of “politics” to “religion”, which makes China, a country with a long history of education, have relatively backward education, and lag far behind Europe and the US especially after the Industrial Revolution. In the Christian world, there was once a period of religious control over education. After liberating education from religious control, the secular regime demanded that education be separated from the authority of the Western Church and called for the slogan of separating religion from politics. The separation of religion from politics in the US was intended to realize the freedom of belief, and the wishing that Christianity would not be the only religion that held a special position in the education system supported by taxpayers, thus protecting people’s freedom to choose their beliefs. Public schools are set up by taxpayers. Christianity is one of many religions that can be chosen, but it should not have the privilege of preaching in public schools. Cases both at home and abroad show that if we want to run it well, education must have a clear boundary with public power. Schools and the entire education system must be based on students’ majors. Students mainly nourish from their majors before they become adults, and when they are adults, according to their own judgments, they will have the freedom to make political choices, which is their basic right. In order to guarantee the professionalism of education, we need to eliminate the influence of irrational factors as far as possible in the enjoyment of public educational power and the allocation of resources. To build a clear boundary between public power and education, the following objectives should be achieved within the framework of legislation: Firstly, separate administration and education, and establish relatively independent professional committees. In regard to recruitment, enrollment, personnel appointment and promotion, schools and education departments should guarantee the quality

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and prevent the gray operation of power as well as corruption. Principals appointed under administrative intervention will only follow whatever the leaders say. Principals actually seldom put themselves into teachers’ and students’ shoes, while saying they are important. The teaching, personnel, and evaluation of schools are inevitably influenced by politics, which will worsen the relationship between teachers and principals, and make it difficult to run a high-quality school. Establishing relatively independent professional committees is to establish evaluation criteria that conform to the characteristics of education, so as to distinguish teachers from ordinary government officials, and school teaching from general administrative affairs. By conducting professional evaluation and judgment to guide schools at all levels to learn from the best in free competition, more and more first-class level schools will emerge. There are all kinds of schools. They can neither be expected to be well managed and evaluated by the administrative departments of education, nor can they be evaluated and managed by a single standard. Independent professional committees are intermediaries for managing and evaluating these schools in a professional way, so that various schools can achieve relatively consistent goals of education, and train different talents in order. Professional evaluation and management can drive away people who hold down a job without doing a stroke of work, and pick out the outstanding people. In this way, students can do their utmost, choose schools that match their abilities and interests, and do not have to participate in vicious competition in school selection. Secondly, the allocation of public educational resources should be separated from administrative power, and a relatively independent allocation committee should be established. The government’s financial expenditure for education should be included in the budget and final accounts, and cannot be withheld by government departments. The budget allocated for education, after examining its needs and conditions, should be appropriated in accordance with the law by the appropriation committee according to the application of each school. In terms of funds, schools only need to deal with the appropriation committees, and do not have to “run into the government departments” or to face direct interference from auditing and legislative departments. The appropriation committee, composed of civil leaders and academic professionals, is not an administrative unit of the government, but a professional and detached non-governmental organization on the basis of public opinion and professional competence. The allocation of educational funds by the appropriation committees is based on the

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long-­term interests of society and the specific needs of specific educational units. Appropriation committees are responsible to the educational parties and the government, and are supervised and entrusted by them. They undertake the responsibility of planning primary and secondary education and supervising the operation of local schools. With such a separation of intermediaries, schools can reduce the external interference of administrative power in selecting textbooks, hiring principals and teachers, so that education can be planned for a long time, and will not be undermined or become the subordinate of administrative organs. In a word, only by dividing education and public power with clear boundaries, can education acquire its own world and form a benign educational ecology, thereby completing the real transformation to humanism. Education needs to maintain its humanistic nature and rationality in this rapidly changing society in order to approach the quality of human nature equal to about 1. The Administrative Management Model of People-Oriented Education People orientation means that there are explicit or implicit contracts among politicians, the public and civil organizations. The ruling party must be people-oriented, or it will lose its legitimacy. From the historical point of view of the development of human civilization, the reform in a complete sense needs to go through three stages, namely, people’s livelihood, civil rights, and democracy. In the last 30 years, China mainly focused on the reform of people’s livelihood. In order to truly deepen the reform, we must change from the reform of people’s livelihood to the reform of civil rights, that is, from economic reform to political reform and social reform, thereby truly restoring rights to the people. The reform with civil rights as the core is to fulfill the citizens’ constitutional rights, foster and support the growth of civil society, and enable citizens to truly enjoy the political and social rights of modern civilized society, including the basic rights of education endowed by the Constitution. The 60 Articles of Reform introduced at the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has already set such a general direction. The fact is that the planned education management system has long been questioned. Sheng Hong, an economist, pointed out in 2010, “Education is a stubborn field resisting the principle of reform and

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opening up. At present, methods of education regulation are still the same as those of the planned economy era.” Receiving education is a basic human right. Yet, “Schools cannot be created freely, but are determined by educational management departments, which is the same concerning enrollment plans, tuition standards, subject settings, etc. It reduces the diversity of ‘products’; the issuance of ‘certificates’ (the quality of graduates) is not guaranteed by schools, but controlled and guaranteed by educational management departments. Schools have no power to maintain the brand of themselves, which leads to the loss of their reputation; the unification of teaching materials, curriculum arrangements and so on all showcase that the basic structure of education belongs to the planned economy era.” “Educational management departments have a very wrong idea that people do not have the right to run schools. And here begs the question, where does the power of these education authorities come from?” China’s legal system does not empower educational authorities to restrict citizens’ access to education. Article 47 of the Constitution stipulates, “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the freedom to conduct scientific research, literary and artistic creation and other cultural activities. The state encourages and helps citizens engaged in educational, scientific, technological, literary, artistic and other cultural undertakings of creative work which benefits the people.” This affirms that citizens have the right to education. The consequences of educational administration departments overstepping its authority are: carrying out examination-oriented education, stifling personality; rejecting classics, which leads to the reduction of the quality of teaching materials; self-authorization, abusing public power; rent-seeking, leading to corruption; creating regional discrimination and desecrating equality; undermining the education of vulnerable groups and suppressing folk education. Sheng Hong also put forward suggestions for the reform of the right to education: according to the principle of constitutional freedom of education, we need to improve relevant laws, and clarify the freedom of running schools… and eliminate the access control in the field of education…We should encourage the establishment of educational promotion foundations to absorb large amounts of private fund, advocate the establishment of competitive educational rating and supervision institutions and systems among the people,

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and establish a fair national examination system to provide reference for the educational objectives of public and private schools.41 The tortuous reform of the education system in the past decades has shown that the key to the quality of education management system lies in how to divide the educational power. The unbalanced structure of various responsibilities and powers will affect the effective exertion of educational administrative functions and hinder the healthy development of education. China’s educational system reform has never been able to get out of the strange circle of “unification leads to death, decentralization leads to disorder, disorder leads to centralization and centralization leads to death.” Since there was no systematic design and planning in the division of educational administrative authority, paying attention to mobilizing the enthusiasm of one aspect might often cause ignorance to another aspect. For a long time, we have neglected the adjustment of the relationship among educational administrative departments at all levels and some schools and society, the enthusiasm of schools and society in running schools, and the independence of teachers and students. As a result, schools had neither autonomy nor enthusiasm, and society had neither responsibility nor willingness to fulfill its obligations in running schools. Therefore, school-­running by schools lacked vitality, and social school-running lacked motivation and requirements. This system has bound the people’s hands and feet and hindered the healthy development of education. An effective system can promote the positive effect of teaching activities in the school, which serve as the most micro aspect of educational activities, on the development of the whole society. To realize this goal, we should resort to the implementation of schools’ right to run themselves independently. This is to meet the educational needs of students’ growth and development to the greatest extent. Therefore, schools must be liberated from the bureaucratic system of the government, “realizing the transformation of government functions and speeding up the process of reform from highly planned nationalization to autonomy of schools.”42 An education system that can incarnate the humanistic concept should no longer be centered on administrative power, but on education parties, with relevant systems such as teaching, management and evaluation 41  Sheng Hong, Proposing the abolition of the Ministry of Education and the establishment of the Education Regulatory Commission, Yangcheng Evening News, May 21, 2010. 42  Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.217.

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systems designed accordingly. If the human value is not established, political reform will lose its guidance and support, and relevant reforms will not make progress, making it hard to fulfill the people-oriented education. Designing a people-oriented system is a long-term process. A real-life case can well illustrate this:43 On May 25, 1979, for the first time, six-year-old Etan Patz decided to go out alone. The confident New York boy told his parents that he would cross two blocks to take the school bus. With their consent, Etan set out with a schoolbag and a cap with the words “future captain.” But this was the last time his parents saw Etan. On the short way to school, Etan disappeared. Countless journalists and police flocked to the distressed parents and watched them spell “Etan… ay tahn” over and over again. Later, a lot of media coverage touched the nerves of the whole country. The picture of the grinning Etan taken by his photographer father was put on posters all around the city, printed on the side of milk cartons that entered the homes of millions of families, and even on the billboard of the New York Times Square. But Etan never returned. Behind the disappearance of Etan, people witnessed loopholes of the lack of close contact between schools and parents, as well as the inefficiency of the police. According to different judicial jurisdictions, the police could not take any actions until the child has disappeared for 24 to 72 hours. Before a perfect system is established in American society, there already exists a more precious self-renewal model, which can be referred to as “crisis-reflection-progress.” In 1983, President Reagan declared May 25, the day when Etan disappeared, as the National Missing Children’s Day. Since then, the American society began to pay real attention to the problem of missing children, and launched a 10-year “Missing Children Milk Carton Program.” As the most famous missing child in the US, the unfortunate Etan has changed the US forever, directly affected the subsequent introduction of a series of laws and systems, and saved countless American children. On a sultry afternoon in Florida on July 27, 1981, six-year-old Adam Walsh listened to his mother’s instructions and watched several children playing video games in the department store. But seven minutes later, when Adam’s mother came to pick him up, there was no one left in front of the game machine. The anxious parents printed 150,000 missing child 43  The content of the case comes from: Dan Bin, Remember, Your Participation Can Change Everything. Prosecutorial View, 2014(2).

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posters and pasted them all over the streets and alleys of the city. However, two weeks later, fishermen found Adam’s head in a drainage canal 120 miles away. The grieving parents told the media how unreliable the police were: Adam’s mother had called the police on the afternoon of Adam’s disappearance, but the police did not respond in time, telling the media that “the kid’s disappearance should be irrelevant to kidnapping”; the next day when Adam’s father went to the police station to inquire about the progress, the police answered instead with the question of “Do you have any suggestions?” Although the killer surrendered two years later, Adam’s parents decided to advocate for the safeguarding of children’s safety. At the hearing of the Missing Children Act held at Capitol Hill, Adam’s father, who was not proficient in law or politics, touched the hearts of the people present with a remark, “Does it make sense that in a country that can launch a space shuttle and return it to the Earth, there is no information collection and service center for missing children?” Subsequently, the Missing Children Assistance Act was passed with the participation of the Walsh. The Bill called for the establishment of a free hotline to the police for missing children throughout the US, as well as a national information collection and screening center. In the same year, the Walshes set up the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization, which opened a door to solving the problem of missing children. In the late 1980s, Walmart launched the Child Safety Alarm System and named it “Code Adam” in memory of Adam. If parents find their children lost in the supermarket, they can turn to this system immediately, which will close all the entrances and exits of the supermarket. And staffs will start searching at once. If their children cannot be found within 10 minutes, the police will take over immediately. Since then, this system has been adopted by many supermarkets, shopping malls, hospitals, museums and other public facilities throughout the US. Sadly, it was not the end. On January 13, 1996, Amber Hagerman, 9, was abducted while riding a bicycle. Her screams once caught the attention of her neighbors, yet this kidnapping in broad daylight still brought the most tragic result: four days later, her body was found. The local residents asked the local radio stations to broadcast news of missing children with the same frequency and intensity as weather forecasts. Half a year later, at a press conference, one of the parties recalled how the media had helped him in the search for Amber. This information finally spread to the police; so after a series of upgrades, a huge system

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connected to the emergency alarm system in the United States, through radio, television, e-mail, traffic hints, text messages, Facebook, Google, and other channels, was launched to release missing children’s information to the whole country. The content released by the system, called Amber, was determined by the police, usually including the characteristics of missing children, suspects, suspects’ vehicle descriptions, and license plate numbers. If “Code Adam” solved the problem of missing children in public places, it was the “Amber” system that actually completely placed missing children and suspects in the public. Since 1996, the system has successfully found or rescued 602 missing children. In 2011, for example, 50% of the cases of successful recovery of missing children through the Amber system benefited from the discovery of suspects’ vehicles by the public or the police; 39% were because of key information such as clues from eyewitnesses when the public received the alarm; 11% were related to the release of kidnapped children after the suspects received the alarm. The three unfortunate missing children, Etan, Adam, and Amber, have shaped the intervention system for missing children in the United States with their own lives, completely changing the track of solving the problem of missing children. Their far-reaching impact can be seen from a set of figures: in 1990, only 62% of the missing children in the United States could be found, yet today, the proportion has increased to 97.7%. The above is a typical case of people-oriented system construction, which showcases that China’s education management system needs a series of reforms under the people-oriented concept. At the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, it was proposed that to improve China’s educational management, we must change the simple administrative management and develop education based on the rule of law. The changes are mainly as follows: Firstly, the boundary between the government and schools should be clearly defined. Their relationship is not between the superiors and subordinates of the administration, but between different subjects of legal entities. Schools should independently develop education according to the law and the school charters. As for the government, it is important to focus on supervising whether schools violate the law, instead of issuing administrative instructions to schools frequently. If schools are not violating the law, the government should not interfere in the internal affairs of them. Public schools can be entrusted to private institutions, and the

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government can pay for services to make full use of the wisdom, strength, and technology of the private sector to run schools more effectively. Secondly, educational management has changed from centralization to decentralization. This process is to streamline and decentralize the government, which includes two aspects: one is to transfer the professional power where the government has no ability and no basis for judgment to schools and professional organizations, such as examination, enrollment, graduation certificate issuance management and degree award; the other is to reduce administrative power, expand school autonomy, and enlarge the rights of teachers and students to participate in school governance. Decentralization can be done as long as the government wants to do so. Thirdly, we should guarantee the autonomy of non-governmental schools. We should give full play to the role of the market to allocate educational resources, take good advantage of the invisible hand of the market and the visible hand of the government, build a benign system of government macro-management, school autonomy, and social multi-evaluation, and ensure its implementation through legislation. People have rich wisdom and it will surly benefit to mobilize their enthusiasm to run schools. They are responsible for their own, whether it is about granting diplomas, awarding degrees or maintaining their own academic reputation. The government need not set up so many institutions to manage things that belong to schools and professional organizations, but should give more autonomy and power to schools, especially in the stage of non-­compulsory education. With the autonomy of running schools, the market can play a decisive role in allocating resources, and people will be able to run a variety of schools that meet the needs of society and the people, thus achieving a balance between supply and demand. Charter schools in the United States, and free schools in Britain since 2011, are entirely funded by the government, but are managed, operated and created by the private sector. These are living examples. In this way, we can increase the selectivity of students and parents to meet the diverse needs of different people for education, and completely change the current situation of education that—from schools to families, from teachers to parents, and even children—only pays attention to scores. One of the most prominent problems in the reform of China’s education management system is that the legal system is lagging behind. Only by using legal means can the boundary between the government and the school be clearly defined. However, many legal provisions in China are only copies of administrative documents, failing to clearly state the power

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and responsibility of the entity, making it difficult to effectively adjust the relationship between the educator and the educated, between the school and the educator, between the school and the educated, and between the government and the school. There is a clear legal vacuum in the related fields of the relationship among the educational entities, especially between the government and the school. As the operator of education, schools have no corresponding law so far. Therefore, it is imperative to enact the School Law as soon as possible and to establish a modern school system for the implementation of people-oriented education.

4.3   The Consistency of Human Diversity and Diversity of Societal Needs Humans first appeared in Africa about 200 thousand years ago, and moved out of East Africa to Southwest Asia (the Middle East) 100 thousand years ago, arrived in Australia 60 thousand years ago, arrived in Europe as well as China (man’s arrival in China can be dated to 60-80 thousand years ago, but it is disputable) 40 thousand years ago, then went across the Bering Strait to the Americas 10-30 thousand years ago. Until 10 thousand years ago, humans had stepped out of one place to every habitable place on this planet. At the end of the Great Ice Age, the melting of the ice sheet resulted in the rising sea level, which has since separated humans into three different worlds, namely the Africa-Eurasia World Zone, the Americas World Zone, and the Australia, Papua New Guinea World Zone. There was no connection between human beings in these three world zones for thousands of years. Different living conditions and constant variability of genes accounted for widening natural differences of different individuals. In the early period, due to the low production capacity, the relatively simple society, and the small social space, the societal needs were small and simple. With its continuous development and prosperity, society is becoming more and more complex, with increasing societal needs. Given that human beings are social animals, the diversity of human nature and the diversity of societal needs will form a relatively appropriate coupling and mutual satisfaction by certain choices. If we neglect the diversity of people, or make all individuals the same, it will inevitably destroy the nature of human beings, and on the other hand, it will be difficult to meet the diverse needs of social development. The current excessively monotonous education pattern in China is in this predicament.

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The Predicament of Education Monotony In the very beginning of human education development, the original forms were diverse. After the appearance of the formalized school, the typical characteristics of the school gradually emerged. The school was then institutionalized, with a further unified form of education. Especially in the industrialized society, people used standardized ideas for education to save investment, making education more and more monotonous. In this process, different societies react differently. In relatively diverse societies such as Europe and the United States, while developing its professional norms, education still maintained the decentralization of education management, and the diversity of school operators, evaluation standards and methods. In contrast, China has enjoyed a culture that respects only one main school of thought for over 2000 years, while exercising centralization in real-life. This backdrop, combined with the existing monotonous trend of human education under the influence of industrialization, made education in China extremely monotonous. This kind of monotony was in great contrast to the nature of human beings and the basic characteristics of social development. Since the “Tianzi (Son of Heaven) lost his duties, official academics had been spread among the populace” in Zhou Dynasty, private schools have been through ups and downs including political changes and threats of prohibition for more than 2000 years. Education in China has since been dominated by public schools. The monotony of education in China has formed a constant mutual tightening system (Fig. 4.1):

Management monotony

Evaluation

Monotony in subjects

monotony

of schooling Teaching/learning monotony

Monotony in people cultivated

Fig. 4.1  Diagram of Interactions among China’s Education Monotony Systems

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The monotony of China’s education management has already been covered in the sections on government-run education. Since the management institutions, evaluation institutions, and school operators in China’s education system all derive from the government, their corresponding personnel are also government or public institution staff, forming the typical integration of management, evaluation and school-running. All these institutions result in the monotony of teaching methods, and students cultivated under this system. The most common goal for these students is to be a civil servant, which is one of the major reasons why a large number of students sit the civil servant examination after their graduation. This is because the content, training methods, and the evaluation criteria for almost all the students from kindergarten to university are most relevant to how to be a civil servant. Schools teach students by the civil servants’ standards. As a result, they are not qualified to do other jobs except being a civil servant after graduating from college. In addition to the monotony of the overall system, specific parts also show monotony. Taking the evaluation system as an example: in terms of its purpose, the evaluation is only for selection, lacking diagnosis of the problems that students have in the studying process; in terms of its content, it only teaches students what would be tested in an exam; in terms of its method, there are mainly quantitative and traditional paper-based exams; in terms of its subjects, managers, teachers, students and parents cannot participate in the evaluation together nor interact with each other. Being in a passive position without any chances to express opinions for a long time, the students’ self-respect and self-confidence are not protected. This kind of evaluation system might seem comprehensive, but in essence, it does not really grasp the vivid characteristics of its subjects, thereby failing to truly and comprehensively reflect and provide reliable support of the growth and development of individuals. The paper-based tests will result in a general excessive dependence on transcripts in students’ growth. Even during an interview when some students are asked by the examiner to pay attention to the questions, their first reaction is to immediately pick up the pen to make a record on the paper, instead of focusing on listening and thinking. Then only after they write the answers on the paper and sort out the items needed for the answer, instead of using their brain to process the information independently and responding immediately, can they answer the examiners. This way of answering not only wastes time, but also causes excessive reliance on information. They lack their own opinions and thoughts, and use the

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same way of thinking as a way of behavior in their future life. This is a consequence resulted by prevailing paper-based tests during student training. Students spend a lot of time from primary school to high school on preparation for various written tests, doing a lot of homework and mechanical exercise. However, the paperless and direct brain response training is pathetically meagre, and even in universities, case teaching and practical operation are scarce. Students only mechanically master some rules and regulations, but when it comes to practical operation, they cannot apply their knowledge to analyzing and solving problems, and finally become armchair strategists. This kind of “results-oriented” monotonous education evaluation has also hurt the self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy of average students greatly. Surveys show that 75% of the students in China feel they are losers just because they are sifted out in exams. They step into the society and go on their life journey with various senses of failure which are bound to have side effects. Even those who get high scores and are considered to have good academic performances might get learning-weariness, too. Once they get low scores in exams, the sense of failure will grow in their heart. Then, they may get tired of learning and even drop out of school; some might even make serious mistakes in their later lives because of personality defects, disorders, and emotional problems. A large-scale survey also shows that most of the students who have undergone such examinations, except those who vent by extreme behaviors such as tearing books after the test, are unlikely to love learning again, which could become a huge obstacle to their future growth and development. Children with good grades are tired of learning because the school and the family have always been paying too much attention to their academic performance, but neglecting their social adaptability and other advantages of emotional intelligence. From the perspective of schools, students who face the pressure to enter a higher school will lose confidence once their grades fall. From the perspective of family education, many parents only value high scores and neglect other aspects. Besides, they are prone to criticize their children more and lack equal emotional communications, which will not only trigger the learning-weariness of students, but also miss many critical periods for the perfection of children’s character and morals. The education under a monotonous evaluation system must also be monotonous, and sometimes it is even impossible to cultivate people with normal thinking. Here is a typical example:

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On August 24, 2006, according to Resolution 5 of the International Astronomical Union General Assembly, Pluto was officially removed from the list of planets, and qualified instead as a “dwarf planet.” From then on, the Nine Planets Theory of the solar system had become history. In fact, whether Pluto could be counted as a planet had always been controversial in the history of science, but it was indisputable in Chinese textbooks which said that the solar system had nine planets, whereas the definition of a planet is a star with sufficient mass, that does not emit light itself and rotates around a fixed star. Therefore, most Chinese students only remembered the resolution of the International Astronomical Union as a standard answer. Once a scientific conclusion is adopted, it is justified, so naturally, other conclusions are wrong. Students do not care about the various internal mechanisms or the complicated process at all. Such students cannot really do scientific research, exploration. and innovation. In reality, the resolution of the International Astronomical Union General Assembly can only suggest that most scientists in the world today agree that Pluto should be classified as a “dwarf planet.” Redefining the planet only shows how most scientists in the world understand the planet. It does not mean that it is absolutely correct and cannot be questioned. This is the embodiment or consequence of the monotony of education in the growth of children. From a variety of perspectives, the world is quite complicated. Any conclusion may be wrong and lopsided. There are definitely no absolutely correct standard answers. We should never stop exploring and adhere to standard answers, deeming inconsistencies wrong. Even after the international authority has identified Pluto as a “dwarf planet,” a scientist can still stick to his own conclusions, follow his own research direction and methods, and recognize Pluto as a planet. This is the space for exploration. The existence of diversity provides the basis for human wisdom to sprout, develop, and establish. A monotonous education only gives students standard answers. However, multifarious education gives space for discussion and revision, letting students explore. There are still many similar problems in Chinese textbooks, especially for the humanities and social sciences subjects, in which the monotonous traces are extraordinarily strong. What is said in the textbooks cannot be questioned, ignoring the fact that any person may have different views on the world and that the world itself is quite intricate. What is horrifying about education monotony is that it is difficult for students to understand that there is no absolutely right or wrong opinion. This kind of education advocates the

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either-or theory, coins the word “correct thinking,” and cultivates people who cannot think, are not allowed to think, and dare not to think, thereby guiding students to the starting point of ideological hegemony and hindering them from becoming people of sound personalities. For students in a multifarious education environment, there is no logical barrier to understanding why Pluto is excluded from the planets; but for students in a monotonous education environment who have accepted the Nine Planets Theory, it is difficult for them to accept that Pluto has been excluded, both logically and mentally. By the same token, those who receive education in this kind of education environment will have difficulty in correcting all the one-sided and wrong conclusions that they have accepted. Either for the sake of human nature or societal needs, education should be multifarious. To this end, diversification should exist in all aspects of social life. The state of education should allow diversified thinking and behaviors to be deeply rooted in everyone’s heart. Due to the monotony of the management and evaluation systems, not only school education has become monotonous, so have family education, social education, and commercial education institutions. The monotony of family education is manifested as demanding parents ignore the innate characteristics of their children and the specific needs of their current growth and development and fail to provide them with education that suits their nature, so as to make them obtain higher scores, get admitted to better schools, and acquire more advantages. In terms of content, monotony has been shown in the parents’ one-sided understanding of family education. Many parents equate family education with intellectual development education, namely coordinating with schools to improve children’s academic performance, and regarding Tang and Song poetry recitations, calculations, literacy, and foreign language acquisitions as the major content of family education. In their opinion, knowledge in the books is everything, hence neglecting training for children’s physique, morality, interest, character and will. Thus, the unique function of family education is lost, and the family becomes an appendage of the school or helper for children to pass exams. In theory, training institutions outside the school could have been more multifarious. However, this is not the case. Due to the excessive control and monopoly of the government, the entire education ecology is unbalanced. All kinds of off-campus education institutions must

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complement test-oriented education to make a profit and survive, which has further deepened the monotony of education. On the whole, the monotony of education will become a tighter knot which would tie and even kill Chinese education and talents, if the current management and evaluation system of the education are not changed; if the diversification of school operators is not realized in a wider scope; or if the separation of the management, evaluation, and school-running is not completely implemented. Only by streamlining the government and delegating power, reinstating education, and realizing the complete separation of “management, evaluation and school-running,” will it be possible to get out of the monotony trap of education. The Diversity of Humans and the Diversity of Societal Needs Integrate through Autonomous Choice In December 2012, a poll titled “Do you think you are underemployed?” conducted in 32 countries around the world by Randstad, a company specializing in talent recruitment in Canada showed that up to 84% of people in China thought they were wasting their talents on petty jobs, ranking first among all the countries surveyed.44 To a certain extent, this data reflects the gap between the Chinese people’s talent and their positions. Societal needs always present multiple levels and diversity. One of the important reasons for the huge gap between personal talent and the social role he can play is that in the process of human growth and development, the government has replaced professional organizations and markets in a rigid way, taken over too many responsibilities of public service, and limited personal choices.  onotonous Monopoly Education Interferes with People’s Autonomous M Choices of Societal Needs Due to the excessive expansion of school education, other beneficial forms of education have been excluded and education has become narrow, monotonous, and rigid. This has in turn affected the growth and development of students significantly. As a consequence, people of varying 44  Hu Shengqiao: Over 80% of Chinese people think they are wasting talents on petty jobs, topping the world, China National Radio: http:china.cnr.cn/guantianxia/201212/ t20121215_511568062.shtml.

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generations will become weak, dull, and lacking in creativity and practice. If people do not jump out of the circle of monotonous school education and make direct contact with societal needs, schools will lead them by the nose. School education is congenitally deficient in many aspects, including but not limited to teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, meeting the needs of students’ growth and development in different ways, cultivating practical skills in life, and experiencing field practice. A monotonous school education cannot meet the needs of individualized talents, especially creative talents. It fails to improve the actual living and production skills of the educated. In school education, it is difficult to have practical experience and acquire the true knowledge through practice. Students who continuously accept school education and commute between homes and schools for a long time will have limited chances to communicate with life, reality, and society. Over time, they will develop an addiction to knowledge, books, and other things in the virtual world, thus losing autonomy; they will lose interest and inspiration in society, life, and practice due to long-term neglect and loss, and when facing the real world, they will show bluntness, indifference, inability, and indolence. As a result, it would be difficult for them to understand the real world and participate in it. Naturally, they will not be able to make any autonomous choices. The issue of education in China has been transformed from whether it can be universalized to how to change the excessive monotony of school education. The thought that school education is the whole education not only makes no contribution to the healthy growth of talents and the harmonious development of human quality, but also poses enormous hidden dangers. It creates mediocrities who are armchair strategists, with high scores but low capability and no individuality. The shortcomings of school education exist in schools, which cannot be compensated by schools solely. People should not expect schools to be everything. Instead, everyone who needs school education should understand that schools are only one access to education. It is not practical to impose too many demands and expectations on schools. School education is not qualified for the role of “omnipotent education,” “complete education” or “comprehensive education”; so demanding perfection will make schools overreach themselves. One way to resolve these problems is seeing the limitations of school education, recognizing and facing the drawbacks of school education, and choosing school education after independently understanding social demands.

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 he Government’s Monopoly on Educational Responsibilities and Powers T Limits the Number of Choices The government should bear certain responsibility for the growth of diverse talents. This responsibility is mainly reflected in providing different individuals with fair opportunities and conditions for education, coping with the “basic” work of guarantee for them. As for professional-level educational matters such as the development of the individuals and the operation of schools, these are not the government’s business. If the government is overreaching, it will not only reduce the ability and quality of students, but also affect the enthusiasm and vitality of all sectors of society to participate in the development of education. In order to make schools meet multi-level and individualized needs, the government must fulfill its regulatory responsibilities and release the options that have been compressed by the current system. To start off, we must absorb social forces to participate in the government’s educational decision-making and management. First, the government should give full play to the role of all sectors of society in participating in educational decision-making, listen to the suggestions and opinions of all parties on education, and make major decisions through scientific research and argumentation. With the increasingly close relationship between education and society, education decision-­ making is inseparable from the participation of the society. People from all walks of life must participate in the decision-making process. Decision-­ making must not only consider the suggestions of scholars and experts in the education field, but also seek the opinions of people outside the education sector. It is necessary to understand and listen to the suggestions and opinions of higher education in various sectors through various channels, and translate these suggestions into the formulation of policies. As for decision-making consultation and policy research institutions, they should constantly improve the established decision-making consultation mechanism and try to take in experts and scholars outside the education sector and let them participate in decision-making consultation. Second, at the level of government management on education, the government should try to set up committees and absorb social forces to directly participate in management. For example, it can invite entrepreneurs, social scholars, and individuals from all walks of life to serve as committee members. The opinions and suggestions of the committee can be an important reference for government administration.

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Next, professional organizations should play an intermediary and coordination role in education governance. For a long time, China has had “a strong government and a weak society.” The entire society was under the super-strong control of the government’s administrative power, almost without space for the existence and development of social intermediary organizations. Therefore, it is all the more necessary for the government to regulate its own power, release some space, actively cultivate, and support the development and growth of educational intermediary organizations. Educational intermediary organizations can play various roles in education management such as coordinating the relationship between schools and the government, realizing the organic combination of government management and school autonomy; forging the connection between different schools; standardizing the standards of schools and their specializations, maintaining the quality of teaching, integrating the educational resources of different schools; safeguarding the rights and interests of teachers, promoting the professionalization of teachers; discussing education issues, defending the autonomy of schools; conducting research and development, and providing consultation and suggestions for educational decision-making and reform. For example, let social intermediary organizations assess the quality of education and academic standards in schools. Furthermore, the cooperative relationship between the school and the society, enterprises, and industry sectors should be strengthened. The participation of public members in the school’s board of directors or the council helps the school to come out of isolation and respond to the needs of society in a timely manner. It also helps to strengthen the supervision of the school and effectively prevent the school’s internal interest groups from manipulating school affairs randomly, so that schools can better fulfill their social responsibilities. Schools should promote the cooperation between industry, universities and research institutes, strengthen ties with the corporate society, and expand development space to rely on the industry to seek more social support. A diversified board of directors or council can broaden the vision of school development by consulting, deliberating, supervising, guiding in terms of school-running orientation, development planning, discipline construction, scientific research, scientific and technological development, and industrial development, or participating in the implementation of school development planning. The board of directors or the members of council can also learn new scientific research achievements and technology from the school to conduct

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on-the-job training or hire graduates, which enhances the relationship between schools and enterprises. The school integrates with society and the enterprise, through in-depth cooperation, which will help promote the rapid development of schools and better serve regional economic and social development. Finally, schools need to establish a wide-ranging system of social supervision and information disclosure to strengthen social supervision. Because of the school’s arbitrary power in the financial management system, enrollment work and other links, the image of the school in the public has been damaged and its social acceptability has declined. Therefore, in addition to strengthening the school self-discipline and the government’s audit supervision of the school, a broader system of social supervision and information disclosure must also be established. Only by strengthening the social supervision and making up for the shortcomings of the simple supervision of the competent administrative departments can the supervision be perfect and more effective, thus ensuring the objectivity and credibility of the supervision results. By establishing a school information disclosure mechanism, third-party supervision of schools by public media or full-time social intermediaries representing the public interest, on the one hand, can enable schools to understand more and wider societal needs and continuously improve their work to better reflect social requirements; on the other hand, it also plays an active role in promoting the school, enhancing the relationship between the school and society, gaining understanding and support from society, and improving the social reputation of the school. I ncrease Diversity and Autonomy During the period of social transformation, the mismatch between the societal needs of diverse talents and the current monotonous talents on different social positions after various levels of education has become more and more serious in recent years. On the one hand, students who graduate from universities or vocational schools have difficulties in finding suitable jobs. On the other hand, many positions are vacant because employers find it hard to recruit suitable employees. The contradiction and inconsistency between supply and demand are the prominent problems faced by education in the social transition period. The basic principle that must be clarified in the face of this problem is that there is a natural coupling between the diverse human and the diverse societal needs. If an educated person cannot find a suitable position, it

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indicates that the education has goes wrong. Usually there are several types of the problems: First, the monotony of education is in line with neither the diversity of human nature, nor the diversity of societal needs for talents, resulting in a scissors difference between the two. The coping strategy, on the one hand, is to understand the characteristics of different individuals and specific educational needs, to teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and to explore the education of diversified talents. On the other hand, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of the demand of diverse talents in the period of social transformation. On that basis, China should build a diversified education ecosystem for diverse talents and diversified education, build a connection channel for the growth of diverse talents and diversified education, and improve the evaluation mechanism corresponding to the growth of diverse talents and diversified education. Second, in the process of education, the autonomy of the educated is restrained or destroyed, so that they deviate from his nature and lose their true self. At the same time, because of the destruction of individual autonomy, it is impossible for an individual to make autonomous choices in many aspects such as selecting majors in college and employment, and thus they cannot effectively combine their nature with the needs of society that satisfy their own nature. The overall diversity of human beings is manifested in the individual’s particularity, in other words, personality. The personality of humans is not clear at birth, and it is complicated and changeable during the growth process. How to combine the diverse people with the diverse societal needs is a very intricate problem. To solve it, the government had taken measures including government monopoly, planning system and guaranteed job allocation, which have all been proved unsuccessful. Since it is impossible for the outside world to know the overall personality of a specific individual, or to consider problems thoroughly in the individual’s shoes, the most effective solution for this problem is to let individuals take their course, consciously search for societal needs during their growth with which they autonomously combine themselves. This process can be compared to “falling in love,” which means that this combination is the matching of both ability and emotion. The combination of human and societal needs also involves the relationship between people. Since about 200,000 years ago when modern human beings (“homo sapiens”) appeared in East Africa, human have gone global. Everyone is an individual of human reproduction, and each

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has the value of his existence, has his own basic rights, and bears a responsibility for society. From this perspective, individuals have commonalities. Especially in the recent 500 years, the whole world has begun to be more closely connected. The “globalization” began with Columbus’s arrival in America in 1492, which made humans reunited more than 10,000 years after separation. The main trend of future human society is to cooperate, not to divide, isolate, or start a cold war. Therefore, everyone must learn to cooperate with others. The more widely people cooperate, the faster and greater humans progress. Everyone must learn to cooperate extensively. The diversity of civilizations is the objective reality of human society, the basic feature of today’s world, and an important driving force for human progress. A society with a centralized system of power often interferes with the autonomous choices of individual growth and development by making excuses like concentrating power on major issues and stressing discipline. Therefore, in such a society, it is more necessary to transcend the obstacles and constraints of thought, overcome various forms of prejudice and misunderstanding, and guarantee an individual’s right to choose autonomously. The cooperation between different people should also be based on autonomy, in order to greatly exert human autonomy and creativity, promote the prosperity of economy, politics, ideology, and culture, make human beings happier, and make the world more colorful. All aspects of society must fully respect each individual’s different choices of life and make efforts to establish a diverse social ecology. The choice of life or the perfection of life is of various forms. Individual choices can be presented in a variety of ways, such as associations and ideological trends, on the premise that individuals are voluntary, rather than abducted. Compared with the people’s needs for material and occupation, the human spiritual needs are more diverse. The guarantee of people’s self-­ selection includes ensuring the diversity of people’s spiritual life choices. Therefore, society needs greater flexibility and freedom while individuals need to embrace a rich and diverse life and society with a broader mind to ensure that the spiritual level and the civilization level of society are in good condition. Education Should Comply with and Develop Human Diversity Personal nature and societal needs precede the existence of school education, so Rousseau’s “Naturalism” doctrine is still the criterion for dealing with the relationship between current education and personal nature. To

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meet the needs of social diversity, education is supposed to profoundly satisfy people’s individualized development. Education can neither change people’s genes, nor make diversified individuals develop in one mode. It can only comply with the nature of different individuals and provide sufficient and effective services for the development of human personality. Given the timeliness of education and the chronicity of human growth, one way to develop the diversity of people is to develop human beings’ adaptive and changeable capabilities. It is assumed that the prospective training candidates are minors in the unknown environment of the future world, who need to create and adapt themselves according to the local environment and actual needs at that time. Therefore, we could meet more needs of social diversity by enhancing the flexibility of students. Another way is to personalize the training of students as much as possible based on their nature. Personalized education requires educators to respect the individuality of students and understand their potentiality. This is the prerequisite for cultivating diverse talents. The talent training model characterized by the planning system and government monopoly still restricts the diverse personality development of students. Therefore, to cultivate a personalized talent, the following must be done: First of all, the shortcomings of education under the traditional educational ideology and planning system should be deeply understood. This system has a series of problems in disciplines and specialization settings, curriculum systems, training channels, and evaluation systems, which restrict and influence the individualized training of talents. The arrangement of the discipline structure lacks overall thinking and systematic design, overemphasizes the cultivation of enclosed talents who master only one profession. With professional education as its core, this kind of education is too narrow and inflexible, lacking global vision and neglecting humanistic quality cultivation, aiming at cultivating ordinary but indispensable workers. The curriculum system, with a low degree of comprehensiveness, emphasizes theoretical courses over practical courses, professional courses over general education courses; one-sidedly values students’ professional knowledge, overlooks practice and the cultivation of students’ comprehensive quality, or even blindly cater to the market and government. The assessment and evaluation focus on knowledge acquisition rather than creative thinking. The assessment methods are mainly examinations and tests. The most common way is examinations, which highlights students’ knowledge level and ability to test. This kind of assessment system, based on scores and aimed at rewards and punishment, only

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makes students an “examination machine,” which leads to their declining interest in exploring new things and weakening creative thinking skills. Second, education should be oriented to individualization. Cultivating diverse talents requires individualization rather than rigid standardization. The arrival of the information society needs to be guided by individualized education. Innovation is the result of individualization rather than uniformity. It is an inevitable choice of people-oriented education to go with the tide, make the best use of the circumstances, and promote individualized education mode. After the establishment of personalized education, the mission of education is to inspire each student’s unique potential and to fully and effectively develop it. All aspects of education should avoid convergence as much as possible and highlight the personality of students; abandon learning by rote and simply using scores to evaluate students. We should cultivate people with innovative spirit and practical ability, who dare to transform society and change the world. Furthermore, establish diverse and autonomous evaluation systems. Establish a variety of evaluation criteria, so that each student can evaluate himself according to his own nature for his own potential and life ambition. Self-evaluation can be carried out at the same time when others are evaluating. The evaluation system should recognize the individual differences, accept the diversified development concept, and establish a diversified teaching evaluation index system based on ability evaluation, to meet the requirements of individualized development of students, and the needs for diversified talents of the diversified society. Colleges and universities need to formulate corresponding evaluation systems according to the training purpose of diversified talents, paying attention to students’ ability to learn knowledge and their ability to innovate and practice. They should both evaluate students’ professional skills and their social adaptability and self-development ability. Finally, it is necessary to establish a system for personalized education. We should make changes in the training goal, training process, training system, and other aspects. For the training goal, we should focus on cultivating students’ independence, innovation, and practice, in order to cultivate innovative talents with strong thinking ability, innovative consciousness, innovative spirit, and innovative ability. The core elements of personalization are independent consciousness and innovation. Personalization must rely on practice to affect society, so it is necessary to cultivate people who dare to and love to practice. In the training process, we should pay attention to outdoor activities, not just to the classroom.

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On campus, we should pay more attention to the role of student clubs in the growth and development of students, instead of just regarding studies inside classrooms as education; even in the classroom, we should change the traditional indoctrination-style teaching method into heuristic, interactive teaching, which cultivates students’ thinking ability. Teachers should also pay attention to students’ experience and perception and encourage them to open their minds, forming a student-oriented teaching model featured by mutual learning of teachers and students. The teacher is transformed from a mentor to a participant, who encourages students to discuss spontaneously, gives them more opportunities to learn independently, and develops students’ ability to solve problems.

4.4   The Diversity of Natural Needs and the Diversity of Schools The monotony of the school is one of the reasons why individuals who pursue diversity fail to grow into diverse talents. That is to say, only when schools are diverse, providing students with diverse choices, can students grow into diverse talents to meet the diversity of societal needs for talents. How are we to ensure that the diversity of schools is the path that all countries in the world are exploring? In order to ensure the diversity of the school and the option of students, and to ensure that governments fulfill their educational obligations to the children, some countries supporting more choices in the field of education have designed education vouchers, which would be given to families whose education is the government’s obligation. Then with this voucher, parents can choose private, public, or other schools for their children. Schools could exchange the vouchers with the government for school funding. If there is a price gap between the school fee and the education voucher amount, parents only need to make up for it. Since 1991, the United States has begun to establish charter schools besides public and private schools, allowing private companies to open new public schools, which are funded by the government, but are allowed to operate independently outside the existing public school system. This has brought the education market more choices and competitions. In the past 25 years, more than 5,000 charter schools have been established (there are about 100 thousand public schools in the United States in total). As a reform group, they represent the hope of the current US education reform.

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The School Operators are Monotonous and Ambiguous The monotony of the existing school operators in China has been well known to society. In universities, the university presidents have realized that “to some extent, there is only one university in China, that is, the Ministry of Education, and we are all branches.”45 At most, there are several provincial universities run by provincial governments and education departments. During the period of basic education, the school operators are different over time. The school operator in the “county-centered” system is the county-level government, and its monotony is obvious. For a long time, the government has undertaken everything of education. It manages the school infrastructure grants, office expenses, principal appointments, teacher assignments, teacher salaries, teacher subsidies, enrollment scale, enrollment area, enrollment conditions, teaching quality, school fees, and expenses. The government’s management cost of education is very high, but the benefits of such a government’s direct intervention in schooling are not satisfactory. Since the school is only a subsidiary and copying agency of the government, from the principal to the ordinary students, there is neither enthusiasm nor sense of crisis, because responsibilities, powers, and interests are inconsistent. The so-called ambiguity of the school operators is that under the current system, each school is not a relatively independent legal person. Even a university is only a civil legal person, while primary and secondary schools are not even independent civil legal persons. Therefore, the overabundant administrative classes from the actual top administrators to the front-line teaching staff make communication channels blocked, thereby accounting for too little communication. Without communication, the responsibility will be attenuated class by class. Eventually, such schools will perpetuate problems, which nobody claims to be responsible for. When problems occur, usually front-line teaching and administrators are directly responsible, and they should take responsibility for their actions; but because they cannot completely decide their own teaching and management behavior, they cannot and should not afford full responsibility. However, there are no clear division boundaries of responsibilities and power between one class and the other. It is difficult to distinguish who should bear responsibility for each part, so in the end no one in this 45  Xinhuanet: CPPCC members’ attack that China has only one university-the Ministry of Education, http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014/03/04/c_126220397./htm.

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system will want to bear the responsibility, resulting the ambiguity of liability subjects. If the above expressions are still abstract, it can be exemplified by the rural school. The rural school is run by the government, and at least the local county government is its liability subject, which entrusts this responsibility to the county education bureau. In this process, there are responsibility attenuation and ambiguous responsibility boundaries between the government and the bureau. Then, the county education bureau appoints a principal who is in charge of some rural teachers, in which responsibility attenuation and ambiguous boundaries also exist. The principal is appointed, which means professionally, he might be inferior to some teachers and his management is probably inappropriate. Therefore, teachers may not accept the principal, which again creates responsibility attenuation and ambiguous boundaries. As a result, many local village cadres or households with some economic strength choose to send their children to the county or other relatively better schools, instead of taking responsibility for building better local schools. Most rural teachers also settle in the town, with their children in the town schools, who go out early and come back late once a week or every day, and sometimes may be late for school or leave school early. These teachers cannot take their due responsibilities either, making it difficult to bridge the responsibility chain of rural schools. Due to this, if something happens in the school, the local governments would also have a problem, and will solve it in a stability-maintaining way. When everything goes smoothly, the government rarely concerns itself with the school’s affairs, but continually issues various documents and administrative instructions to the school, so that even the arrangement of homework, which should have been decided by teachers, is now decided by the documents issued by provincial education departments and even the Ministry of Education. Because of the excessively long and scattered responsibility chain for school-running and the ambiguous school liability body, on the one hand, the administrative department that knows little about the profession strictly controls everything, big or small; on the other hand, teachers with certain professional knowledge and abilities cannot play their roles according to professional standards. The school has become a “woman with bound feet.” who cannot withstand setbacks, and it is impossible for it to develop toward individualization and professionalization. For a long time, the ambiguity of liability subject has become an obstacle that limits the quality of Chinese education, and allows the internal contradictions of education to accumulate.

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This ambiguity of school operators is not a short-term phenomenon. Jianli County of Hubei Province is a typical example:46 Since 1996, the compulsory education in Jianli County had been defaulting on basic construction and teacher salaries. So, the Education Bureau borrowed money from the contractor’s boss to build infrastructure. The boss repeatedly failed to get his debts repaid, so he locked the teaching buildings and dormitories. As a result, students had nowhere to sleep nor attend classes. The Education Bureau had also begun to be overwhelmed by the debt lawsuits that followed. Unable to get back his own money, the boss angrily brought the Education Bureau and its subordinate schools to court. The Education Bureau eventually lost the lawsuit. In 2003, there were almost no schools in the county that were not in debt. The 24 schools with a debt of more than 1 million were almost all rural primary and secondary schools. Although the financial allocation for basic education reached 112.54 million yuan, the county’s primary and secondary schools had a total debt of 106.15 million yuan, of which the town public primary and secondary schools owed 62.818 million yuan, and village primary schools owed 4.532 million yuan. By 2002, 17 schools in the county were blocked. In the spring of 2003, admissions to 40 schools in Jianli County were delayed for one week. There have been two reductions in the education of Jianli County during the financial predicament: in 2000, the number of village primary schools was reduced from 709  in 1999 to 446; in 2002, the reform of the personnel system retrenched 2,007 public and private teachers. The last 2,117 private and substitute teachers were dismissed except 158 teachers who were selected as state teachers. At the end of 2002, Jianli County began to report the predicament of education to the provinces and cities. In August of that year, the State Council issued the Decision on Further Strengthening the Reform of Rural Basic Education, agreeing that all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government can choose one or two pilots for basic education reform experiments. The provincial government hastened to respond, “we can have pilots” with four words “voluntary reform, self-funded reform” The comprehensive reform of basic education of Jianli was launched since then. The Education Bureau revised the draft for 8 times, and the Standing Committee of the County Committee discussed it for 5 times. Finally, in October 2003, the Document No. 17 Implementation Opinions on the Comprehensive Reform  Yi Ying: Reform of Jianli Education, Southern Weekly, January 29 2004.

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of Basic Education by Jianli with the “marketization of educational services” as the core concept, was established and released, which declared that “since 2004, the ‘Compulsory Education Card’ system has been fully implemented, that is, the government has allocated funds for compulsory education to each student, and has distributed ‘education cards’ to students for choosing schools freely.” “Both public and private schools in the county can exchange the ‘compulsory education card’ collected for the corresponding school funding.” At the same time, “the government has set up a special account for compulsory education funds. The funds used for education from superiors’ transfer payments and the funds for compulsory education from the county-level finance should be fully deposited in the special account, and may not be intercepted or used for other purposes.” After the government has bought the endowment insurance and medical insurance for teachers in public schools, they will no longer have secure jobs. In the education industry, the faculty and staff can choose their own schools and positions. They can teach in either public or private schools and might be promoted or demoted. Schools pay wages according to their positions and performances. “Document No. 17” stated that the school has truly become an independent legal person and a veritable school operator, which changed the government’s highly planned management in the past to the school’s self-­ management. The school that was originally a business unit will evolve into a market entity that provides educational services. The decision-­ making power of school affairs shall be transferred from the Education Bureau to the newly formed school democratic management committees. After the reform, the County Education Bureau will become an “industry competent department.” At the same time, the County Personnel Department, the Authorized Strength Office, the Finance Bureau, the Price Bureau, the Labor and Social Security Bureau and other departments will also change their management of the education system from micro-management to macro-management. In January 2004, all primary and secondary schools in Jianli County had established school democratic management committees, and completed the appointment of the principal and full recruitment of faculty and staff. The government also designed and established a set of education monitoring and service systems for school education including the teaching quality assessment system, State-­ owned Education Assets Administration Committee, Teacher Communication Service Center, Education Information Release Center, and students’ personal information management network.

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Borrowing Friedman’s “educational voucher” theory, this reform broke the original basic education management model, changed the government’s governance in the field of basic education, and proved that the government could transform from an unlimited government to a limited government without monopoly. At the same time, some people raised doubts that such change was “selling schools,” so the leaders of the Ministry of Education, the Provincial Department of Education and the Jingzhou Municipal Education Bureau carried out inspections on these schools many times. The reform of Jianli did not last long before the education returned to its original system. This does not mean that the reform was unnecessary, but that the reform was mainly driven by insufficient investment in education and eagerness to get rid of financial pressure, rather than the government’s willingness to do so. Once the investment in education increased, that kind of motivation disappeared. Together with the intervention from the higher education administrative departments, it is no wonder that this reform was unsustainable. The failure of Jianli County’s reform does not mean that the problem of the ambiguity of the school operator has been solved. In 2014, there were incidents in which groups of teachers stopped teaching and demanded unpaid salaries in many places of China. After years of economic growth and rising prices, a large number of teachers’ incomes were still too low, with their monthly income below 2000 yuan, which shows that the problem of the ambiguity of school operators has not been eliminated, but worsening. To diversify the schools, we should achieve “the division of government and school, and the separation of management and operation,” expand the autonomy of school-running, and define education operators who should have the authority, ability and awareness to understand the needs of students’ growth and societal needs of human resources consciously and independently. The Broken Responsibility Chain of Schools Due to the unclear boundaries of the school’s external responsibilities and powers, the school is not a truly independent legal person and a veritable school-running entity, which directly affects the internal responsibilities and powers of the school. If the subject is unclear, there will be no vitality to do anything. If the school operator is unclear, there will be no definite

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person responsible for school-running. Therefore, it is difficult to change the situation of low teaching quality, let alone achieve diversification and personalization. As far as the university is concerned, the current university cannot independently enroll students, issue diploma, grant degrees, or run courses; so, if the teaching quality is not up to standard, neither the school nor any insider is able to take responsibility. Therefore, the diplomas and degrees issued by the universities have less and less true value. The school’s internal leadership system is called the president accountability system under the leadership of the Party committee. Yet, who exactly is supposed to take the responsibility? It seems to be the president, but the president is under the leadership of the Party committee. In this way, it seems that it is not the president. The leader does not take responsibilities, while the responsible person cannot lead the school directly, leading to the broken responsibility chain. No one in the school truly has necessary and clear responsibility for the growth and development of specific students. The broken responsibility chain within primary and secondary schools is even more obvious, as demonstrated by the rural schools mentioned previously. As for the regular primary and secondary schools, most of their internal management is a mirror image of the external administrative system. There are topsy-turvy divisions. The principal is appointed by external administrators, while the directors of the school are appointed by the principal. Therefore, the officialdom ideology and rules prevail in schools, leading everyone to focus on the “superiors.” Administrators do not sincerely care about teachers and students. Also, it is difficult for teachers to earnestly respect and understand students. The phenomenon of broken responsibility chain is either hidden or obvious, and can be very serious in some schools. In addition to the vertical broken responsibility chain, the horizontal responsibility chain among the various departments and offices is also broken. The growth and development of the students is supposed to be the responsibility of teachers. However, in order to strengthen ideological and political work, many schools have established the Moral Education Department influenced by the administrative system. The power over students’ moral education is ultimately grasped by this department. Therefore, some ordinary teachers would give up trying to impart ideologies and moralities to students while teaching, which is usually called teaching but not educating. The system foundation that led to the emergence of this

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phenomenon is precisely the establishment of the Moral Education Department, which deprives ordinary teachers of the right to speak in educating people. In the case of the broken school responsibility chain, in recent years, some places have promoted running schools by collectivization, on the basis of equalizing the educational resources. Since collectivization still has its core and boundaries, the new responsibility chain will break if the group’s scope is beyond the effective control limit. Therefore, collectivization management and fine management have become a new contradiction. According to the mature experience of countries around the world, school education needs to limit not only the number of students in each class, but also the school size. A moderate scale can guarantee the quality, and cultivate diverse and individualized people. According to a long-term research, the number of children of each class in kindergarten should be about 30, and the number in primary and secondary schools should be no more than 40. One kindergarten should have no more than three parallel classes, and the total number of classes should be no more than 10. One primary school should have at most five parallel classes and no more than 30 classes in total. One secondary school should have no more than eight parallel classes and less than 50 classes in total. If the scale exceeds the above-mentioned parameters, the responsibility chain may break in a certain or a number of links, or even extensively. One of the reasons for the schools’ broken responsibility chain is that there are too many giant primary and secondary schools in China, each with thousands of students. In fact, small schools are more conducive to a tighter responsibility chain and should be encouraged. The government should encourage the development of small schools. Russia and the United States have chosen to develop small schools after experiencing the expansion of the school. Each school has five or six hundred people on the average and adopts the 12-year system covering from primary to senior high, so the principal can name almost every student and know their growth and development processes. The entire school is like a big family. This kind of education environment is most beneficial to students’ development. The school-running model of giant schools can only be industrialized, standardized, and streamlined rather than personalized. The school is not only a place for education and teaching. Basic education is a public product. The public schools that account for the vast majority of basic education are public resources funded by taxpayers and managed by the government. It is a basic right for school-age children to

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enjoy quality public education in accordance with the law, and it is also a duty that local governments must perform. The school’s broken responsibility chain is in fact the government’s failure to do its due job. In the process of fulfilling the responsibility of providing the public product of basic education, the government does not need to be personally involved in each link, or to set up a school directly. However, it must clearly distinguish the responsibilities and powers of each link. Education in many countries around the world is provided by the government and managed by private schools or professional organizations to provide diversified education, considering the principle of personal basic rights protection and principle of subsidiarity. According to the principle of subsidiarity, whatever the market and society can do, the government should not usurp it. The Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth CPC Central Committee has decided to follow this principle without mentioning its name. Facts have proved that the use of administrative means to allocate public education resources in the past is inefficient. To efficiently allocate public education resources, the government must free itself from overmuch and over-inflexible management by appropriately using market leverage to allocate public education resources, and give more education choices to students and parents, so that students’ choice could become one end point of the responsibility chain for education, while the government’s commission and inspection become another end point. If there is a break, it is judged by students, parents, and professional inspectors whose choices will determine whether to recognize and adopt the school education with a broken responsibility chain, which pushes the school to independently repair the responsibility chain inside itself. Usually, schools with broken responsibility chains cannot provide quality education services to all students at school. Some students of these schools may get admitted into a very good higher school, and receive a variety of honors. These schools themselves may be some of the key schools that parents pursue, which usually only focus on some of the students. They choose students who get high marks in the tests and focus on training them to cover up their broken responsibility chain and the true situation of not providing every student with appropriate services. To examine whether a school has a broken responsibility chain, we should not only look at its glamorous appearance and advanced courses, but also consider whether each student can have an understanding teacher in the school who is able to timely solve various mental problems he/she

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might encounter at any time during his/her growth. Schools that fail to do so all have different degrees of broken responsibility chain. Since the government is a superior of the school in the long run, many schools only focus on their superiors. The principal often values his or her official post more than the growth and development of the students. The school’s broken responsibility chain is common in primary and secondary schools as well as in kindergartens. Relatively speaking, the broken responsibility chain of public schools is more serious than that of private schools. In private schools, the faculty and staff can more clearly realize that their salaries come from the tuition fees of students. Yet, under the system of secure job and big pot of rice in public schools, the faculty and staff cannot directly realize this, so their hearts are more numb. To this end, it is necessary to systematically think about which one is a better choice—government’s direct school-running or school-running by a limited liability entity. There are four standards to measure: first, whether the school’s responsibility chain can be tighter, and whether each student’s nature can be more effectively developed; second, the comparison between the government’s management costs and the students’ financial burden; third, whether the faculty’s income level can be effectively guaranteed and comprehensively improved; fourth, whether the quality of school-running could be upgraded to a new level, and meet societal needs for talents more effectively. Defining Diverse School Operators with Limited Liability The diversity of schools cannot be provided by monotonous education operators. Different operators have different identifications, value orientations, and choices for educational methods. Only when they all become school operators with limited liability, will it be possible to create diverse schools that meet the diverse needs of individuals and society for education. There are two thresholds for the diversification of Chinese schools: one is the diversification of the school operators; the other is to transform the government’s unlimited liability entity into entities with limited liability, namely schools with clear responsibilities and powers. The key to diversifying the school operators is to establish a benign ecology of equal development and moderate competition between public and private schools. In the book On Liberty, Mill said, “A general state education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one

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another.” Public schools tend to provide standard and unified education to cultivate people who meet the needs of the government. The formation of benign competitions between public and private schools helps to resolve the government’s governance problems: First, people have reached a consensus to promote the modernization of the governance system and the reform of the administrative system with a focus on openness and transparency of power; realize the organic combination of power operation standardization, openness, constraint on power with power, procedure and system, and the social supervision on power; build a society ruled by law; orderly expand the citizens’ democracy and freedom; let private rights and public rights become equal; put power into the cage of the system; and effectively restrain power, supervise power, and call the power to account, thereby realizing the true equality between public schools and private schools. The second is to truly establish a market ruled by law, and let the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, forcing a comprehensive reform involving the diversification of the school operators. In the relationship between the government and the market, “market decision” applies to not only micro-economic operations, but also the macroscopic supply of public goods. Education that excessively relies on the government must be monotonous. Therefore, in education, we not only need to change the direct allocation of resources by the government, but also clearly define the boundaries between the government and market in macro-control and market supervision. Besides, we should fully respect the general rule of market determining resource allocation, premised on which activate social capital, break administrative monopoly and resource monopoly, focus on streamlining administration and delegating power, liberate and enhance social vitality, and create diverse schools. Third, the social governance system should be innovated to meet the diversified needs of social stakeholders and interest appeals. While transforming the administration-oriented social management methods, the state should accelerate the development of social public welfare organizations to meet public needs including education; drive legislation relevant to public welfare legal persons to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests and normal development of social public welfare organizations; gradually promote the “de-administration” of official social organizations; encourage and support social organizations’ participation in education and other public affairs; establish independent third-party institutions for

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education evaluation; improve social autonomy; set up a mechanism of social dialogue and consultation to address specific interest disputes in education. Single-entity school-running is a drawback of China’s school-running system. Despite the different history, status quo, and modes of public and private education among the United States, Japan, and Russia, there is a common trend of development, namely the single-entity school-running’s transformation into a multi-entity one. A conclusion can be drawn from the comparison that the diversification of school-running entity is an inevitable choice for China’s education development. China’s private schools boast the richest tradition in the world. Before 1949, except Taiwan Province, there were 4,045 registered secondary schools with 1.039 million students in China, of which there were 1,778 (44%) public schools with 636.2 thousand (61.2%) students, and 2,267 (56%) non-public schools with 402.8 thousand (38.8%) students; among 227 higher education institutions, there were 138 (61%) public institutions with about 73.1% of the total students; 65 private universities, accounting for about 29%; 24 church universities, accounting for about 10%.47 There was a balance between public and private schools at that time. Later, with education completely under the government’s control, China’s private schools wound its way from adjustment, disappearance, to recovery and development. Once deemed as a means of production, schools must carry out socialist transformation and they must become publicly owned. After 1978, non-public economic development coupled with the people’s growing education needs laid the social, cultural and economic foundation for the restoration and development of private schools, which had then been, however, only a “minor patch” (1978-1991) and “complement to state-run schools” (1992-1996) for a long time, never obtaining legal status equal to public schools. On July 31, 1997, the State Council promulgated Decree No. 226, the Regulations on the School-Running by Social Forces, which was the first administrative regulation on non-public education in China since 1949. On the one hand, it established the legal status of non-public education and the policy of “active encouragement, strong support, correct guidance, strengthened management,” and called for “changing the pattern of 47  The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education in the People’s Republic of China. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p.572.

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school-running undertaken by the government, and gradually building a system of joint school-running with the government as the main entity.” On the other hand, it also required social forces to focus on the development of the margins of public education, such as vocational education, adult education, higher and secondary education and pre-school education, and put forward the institutional reform goal of “basically forming a new pattern of common development between public and non-public schools” by 2010. From 2002 to 2009, non-public schools began to be divided, reorganized, and competing with each other. On December 28, 2002, the Thirty-First Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress passed the Law on the Promotion of Non-public Schools of the People’s Republic of China, which mentioned that non-public schools shall enjoy the same legal status as public schools and their autonomy of running shall be guaranteed by the government. However, in practice, it has been difficult to define the line between the autonomy of non-public schools and the management of education administrative departments. With different understanding of the status and role of non-public education, people have long been neglecting and even discriminating against it. This phenomenon, in addition to the problems of management, funding, and quality, hinders the development of non-public education. Since the promulgation of the Law on the Promotion of Non-public Schools, the evolution of China’s private education policy has proceeded in two opposite directions. Before 2003, public policies relevant to non-­ public education at all levels tended to be supportive, which shifted their emphasis to management and standardization after the publication of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Non-­ public Schools. Despite its considerable contributions to China’s social transformation, education development, and social progress, non-public education has not in fact been granted the same legal status as public education. The Measures for the Establishment and Management of Independent Colleges issued in 2008 triggered disputes over the authenticity of non-­ public education, and weakened “authentic non-public education” in general. Since the state has implemented the policy of exempting fees and tuitions of compulsory education, and assumed its responsibility for compulsory education, non-public schools have been experiencing policy discrimination and grave loss of students. The Outline of the National Mid- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan, which was promulgated in 2010, reiterated that

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discrimination policies against the development of non-public education should be eliminated, which however failed to make tangible progress. The use of the term “non-public education” itself indicates that the ideological problem remains unresolved, while the right concept is “private schools.” The development of private schools diversifies education delivery; provides more choices for learners; efficiently ameliorates the situation where demand exceeds supply; makes full use of the various effective education resources of society and reduces education costs; attracts investment in education; creates more jobs and boosts the supply of education to ease the pressure of employment and enrollment; strikes a balance between public and private schools to promote competition thus improving the overall quality of education; enhances education efficiency, equity and freedom. However, whether before or after the introduction of the Law on the Promotion of Non-public Schools, the legitimate rights and interests of private schools and other stakeholders have never received proper respect nor protection. In order to truly obtain the same legal status as public schools, China’s private schools still have a long way to go; the formation of a healthy ecology where private schools and public schools stand on an equal footing will be in for a bumpy ride. The obstacle to making the school an entity with limited liability does not lie in schools, but in the government management system. Without its transformation, schools cannot become entities with limited liability. Only when relevant laws define the relationship between the government and schools, and grant autonomy to schools, can schools legally become entities with limited liability. Allowing schools to become independent entities directly leads to healthy competitions among different schools in accordance with the law, not only in terms of scrambling for excellent students, but also teachers who compete for jobs and salaries. The ultimate effect of such competition is to improve the education quality, make education more suitable for students’ nature, and amply reward quality education. Meanwhile, the government will withdraw from direct school-running, and shift its responsibility to supervision and regulation in accordance with the law to prevent schools from breaking the law and maintain a good order. The diversification and limited liability of school operators allow individuals and companies to run schools as registered non-business legal persons. But to grant the status of independent legal person to schools, the government still needs to play a more important part in the fair allocation of education resources. Although boasting a long tradition of non-public

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school-running, China has been placing too much restrictions, excessively high thresholds, and unnecessarily strict control on it over the past 60 years, so its vitality has not been stimulated, and private financial resources and wisdom remain unleashed and fail to play a role. Only by attracting private financial resources and wisdom into education through the diversification reform of school-running operators and the limited liability reform of schools, can education development be revitalized. Taking the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as an example, it has rapidly grown into one of the world’s leading universities within a decade, just because the government used the money of the Jockey Club as a seed fund, skillfully won social support, hired the best teachers worldwide, gave professionals full rein to manage the school in a way that “senior professors run schools” and strictly limited the participation of administrative personnel in academic affairs. Given that the unclear relationship between the government and schools is the main cause of many chronic diseases in education, the government should meet the requirements of the reform of the state administrative system, promote the transformation of the education administrative departments’ functions, streamline administration and delegate government powers, enhance the separation of education administration and evaluation, change their role, cut administrative approval procedures and promote the transparency of government affairs, thereby freeing schools from the administrative system and specifying school operators through institutional designs and responsibility stipulation, so that they can undertake the task of training talents. Hu Qili, who presided over the drafting of the Decision on the Education System Reform of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1985, said, “From my perspective, even if we look at China’s education today, the key to it is still the system and the future of it depends on the reform.”48 The ultimate measure of a country’s education management system lies in the extent to which it releases students’ creative talents. A full release will surely develop this country into a world powerhouse.

48  Hu Qili, Before and After the Promulgation of the Decision on the Education System Reform of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Yanhuang Chunqiu, 2008(12).

CHAPTER 5

Management: Based on the Needs for Students’ Growth and Development

The excessive administration of school management has been a consensus of the whole society. Although de-administration has been written into governments’ education policies many times, its implementation faces a lengthy headwind. Independent school-running in accordance with the law demands de-administration and professional school management in accordance with the features of professional organizations, instead of simply duplicating administrative management. How to manage schools is directly related to how the management is defined. Shaping-oriented school management has relatively low human value, while service-oriented school management can improve the human value of education. The first basis of school management is students’ needs for their growth and development and then reference to relevant government policies in accordance with the social demands for talent. To better meet students’ needs for their growth and development, modern schools should be constructed in line with the social needs of the rule of law. As to the key preconditions for the establishment of the modern school system, the non-business legal person status of the school should be established, and the boundary between the government and schools should be defined, with the school rules formulated and effectively implemented for school-running. Additionally, schools should design management procedures in the principle of human-­ centered governance, be oriented to students’ needs for their growth and development, and implement a flat, low-center, and networked © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_5

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management that is interactive and asymmetrical, thereby improving the human value of management as much as possible during all links. At the human-centered school, a study center with relatively high human value, supervisors and subordinates, according to the inherent and individual needs of the independent development of teachers and students, reach a consensus through consultations, make rules, and consciously abide by them, thereby running the school together. This type of management pursues humanization as much as possible in terms of the organization, assessment, classroom practices, and so on. On the one hand, learning needs discussions; on the other hand, many courses do not need to be completed together at schools, which makes learning more flexible. The school is more like a supermarket, offering students more choices and opportunities.

5.1   De-administration The administrative education management derives from an imperfect social legal system, and this phenomenon in Chinese schools at present is the most common and greatest obstacle to human-centered school management. It is speeding up the de-administration and de-localization of education and strengthening specialization that can effectively satisfy students’ needs for their growth and development. In the history of school development, there was an isolation period, exemplified by the original private schools, Plato’s Academy and Jixia Academy. That period was characterized by remarkably high autonomy, a harmony among concept, form, establishment and operation, and well-­ respected subjectivity of teachers and students. The effect of school-­ running was generally good, but it varied among individuals. Then came the formalization period typified by the official schools of the Han Dynasty and western grammar schools, when different schools took same or similar forms. The features for that period were mere imitation of each other’s form and content; independent, autonomous, and distinctive school-­ running; obvious hierarchy between teachers and students, with autonomy partly maintained and restricted to a certain extent. This type of school-running led to an increased popularization of education and declined relative efficiency of individuals. The occurrence of national school systems ushers in the institutionalization period, when every school becomes a cell of the school system,

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characterized by greatly reduced school autonomy, identical schools and institutional arrangements of teaching objectives, content and evaluation which have nothing to do with schools themselves. Institutionalized schools lead to a more popular education, and institutionalized people (teachers, students, principals), which to some extent suppresses the growth and development of outstanding talents. The administrative period only occurs in China and a few other countries, when schools become accessories and reproductions of the administrative system. During this period, schools almost completely lose their autonomy and fall under the government’s control; the government takes charge of school-running, management, assessment, and resources allocation; both principals and teachers come from the government; communication among schools, society, and family is marginalized and even closed. Such school-running cannot cater to diversified individual growth and development, nor truly meet the social demands for talent. At this kind of school, “people-orientation” gradually gives way to concepts like good students, poor students, and students epitomizing knowledge, virtue, honor, or scores. The deep embedding of examination and selection hinders students’ self-creation, while education and learning give way to pursuit of victory against others. Functions of politics, economy, and social mobility quash the natural growth of children’s instincts, resulting in many children’s mental imperfection, division of cognition, emotion and will, and personality defects. They are academic yet not wise, unaccustomed to think though armed with knowledge, lacking civic awareness, faith, courage, integrity, honesty, scientific and rational thinking, and the concept of the rule of law. Excessively Administrative Schools In 1949, while establishing a new education system, the new China built a highly centralized and unified system for education management and school-running, with too much emphasis on the centralized power in the central committee, provinces, municipalities, and counties. As for the division of education management authority, the government over-managed schools, depriving their characteristics and vitality, while failed to well manage things in its own charge.

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 inking Schools and Administrative Systems by Administrative L Appointments of Principals Previously, the government’s management of all types of schools at all levels mainly featured the following: The central government formulated laws and regulations, according to which the local education administrations managed schools except a very few public ones affiliated to the Ministry of Education. In addition to the principal accountability system, public schools also set up school boards and school committees as the guiding and advisory bodies. Public schools enjoyed high independence while education administrations did not interfere with school affairs. After 1950, an unprecedentedly vast system of political and educational unity was established. In that system, the status of school administrators was first a political worker, then an educator and a professional administrator, and even some of them were merely political workers without professional qualities. On January 5, 1950, the State Council published the Interim Measures for the Appointment and Removal of Staff of the State Council, which was passed at its Eighth Meeting and stipulated that presidents and vice-presidents of universities should be appointed or removed by the Central People’s Government upon nominations of the State Council; presidents and vice-presidents of junior colleges should be appointed or removed by the State Council.1 On May 17, 18, and 27, 1953, Mao Zedong chaired a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to discuss education work, which decided that cadres from the Education Department and Youth League should be transferred to universities, and local authorities should gradually fill leadership posts in primary and secondary schools within a few years, thereby launching the plan of direct school management by administrative staff.2 On September 24, 1953, the CPC Central Committee issued a directive to leading Party groups of the Ministry of Education and other institutions states: The key to improve the work of culture and education is to strengthen the leadership of Party committees at all levels and make leaders of culture and education departments develop their skills. Party committees at all levels must designate some members to lead the work of culture and education 1  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 13. 2  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 77.

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in the future. A group of capable Party members and cadres should be immediately transferred to universities and senior high schools to take up key posts. The school leaders of junior middle schools and those below should be systematically and gradually assigned by Party committees. And a group of cadres should be mobilized to edit and review textbooks.3 This directive basically laid the organizational foundation for running schools by political work. In 1957, in order to counter the opinion that “laymen cannot lead professionals,” the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to transfer 1000 senior and middle cadres from the Party and the government at the central level to universities, schools, and several scientific, cultural, and educational institutions, strengthening the Party’s leadership of the cultural and educational industry. Among the 1000 cadres, 200 were superior to directors and 800 were superior to division chiefs or section chiefs. Provincial governments carried out this kind of transfer likewise. For example, Hubei Provincial Party committees at all levels transferred 3000 people in total to schools as leaders, and secondary schools generally set up Party branches. Members of the CPC accounted for 83.7 percent of the secondary school principals and 29.9 percent of primary school principals.4 According to the materials of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, by February 1959, in 16 provinces including Shanxi, Liaoning, and Henan, 1230 cadres were sent to higher education institutions to serve as leaders superior to secretary generals of the Party branch, and 6162 were assigned to the secondary schools as principals, secretaries of the Party branch, and directors of teaching.5 On September 19, 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Directive on Education Work, which emphasized that “The Party’s principle on education work is that education should serve the political education for the proletariat, and integrate with productive labor. In order to implement this policy, the Party must lead education”; “All education administrative organs and schools should be under the leadership of the Party committee,” “all 3  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 88-89. 4  Gao Changshu, 50 Years of Education in Hubei. Shijiazhuang: Hubei Education Press, 1999, p. 526. 5  National Institute of Education Sciences: Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 202.

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colleges and universities should adopt the school committee accountability system led by the Party committee, and all secondary and primary schools should also be placed under the leadership of the Party committee.” This directive outright rejected the “principal management,” considering that it “tends to break away from the leadership of the Party committee.” On December 27, 1980, the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Ministry of Education issued two documents on the construction of the leadership teams of higher education institutions: One is the Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Leadership Team of Higher Education Institutions (hereinafter referred to as Opinions). The Opinions stipulated that the Party and government cadres should have a clear division of work. The leadership of the Party committee on school work should center around the course, principle, and policy and focus on political and ideological work, as well as the Party’s ideological and organizational work. Administrative staff, headed by headmasters, should be given jobs, rights, and responsibilities and handle all the school administration. Another is the Notice on the Management of Leaders of Higher Education Institutions (hereinafter referred to as Notice). The Notice stipulated that Party committee secretaries and deputy secretaries, presidents and vice-presidents of both key and non-key higher education institutions around the country should be under the central administration. Party committee deputy secretaries and vice-presidents of non-key higher learning institutions and junior colleges who were in the charge of the ministry should be under the management of the Party group of the ministry; as for those in institutions affiliated to provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, they should be under the management of the Party committees of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Cadres at the division level and department level of higher education institutions should be managed by the Party committee of the school.6 The subsequent 30-plus years saw no change in the relationship between the government and schools, where administrative departments designate principals and schools are affiliated to a certain administrative department.

6  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 600.

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 anaging Schools in the Manner of an Administrative Body M In 1952, the Ministry of Education formulated and promulgated 43 articles of the Temporary Regulations for Kindergartens (Draft), 46 articles of the Temporary Regulations for Primary Schools (Draft), and 45 articles of the Temporary Regulations for Secondary Schools (Draft), which were the first provisions issued by the new regime to regulate school education including the education system, setting-up, leadership, teaching plans, teaching materials, teaching principles, examinations, school roll management, organization, authorized strength, meeting system, funds, equipment, and other aspects.7 The content of these Regulations had a certain degree of professional touch, but it required all parts of the country, urban or rural areas, regardless of regional differences in economic and cultural development, ethnicities, and geographical environment, to follow the same procedures, clearly managing schools in the form of an administrative body. On September 29, 1952, the Ministry of Education issued the Principles on the Flag and Stamp of Schools at All Levels which stipulated that schools at all levels did not have to make school emblems; school flags should only be simply colored and marked the name of the school without any pattern; school stamps should be rectangular in principle and marked the name of the school without any pattern.8 On the surface, this regulation seemed trivial, but it contained the unified administrative requirements for schools throughout the country, which eroded the foundation of individualized school-running philosophies. Since then, schools have been deluged with requirements from the central, provincial, municipal, and county administrative departments, receiving dozens of documents every year. In the first half of 1958, some cadres of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and local Party committees at all levels went to schools to teach part-time. Lu Dingyi, Kang Sheng, alternate members of the Politic Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Zhou Yang, Hu Sheng, vice ministers of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee; Ke Qingshi, Tao Zhu, Tao Lujia, Wu De, Wang Renzhong and Ulanfu, first secretaries of the Party Committee in Shanghai, Guangdong, Shanxi, Jilin, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, and other provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central 7  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, pp. 55-56. 8  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 66.

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Government, became part-time professors in local higher education institutions, respectively.9 This situation has continued. In 2013, prohibitions from education administrative departments abounded, including those prohibiting unqualified teaching materials from entering secondary and higher vocational classes, prohibiting compulsory education schools from holding any form of selective examinations, prohibiting all kinds of competitions, examinations, and award certificates from being the criteria for admission, prohibiting public schools from holding or participating in the organization of “pre-selection training courses,” prohibiting any recruitment information containing “985 Project Universities” or “211 Project Universities” at recruitment or any discriminatory requirements for gender, household registration, education, and so on, prohibiting higher education institutions from naming and admitting candidates via adjustment plans, prohibiting admission offices of provincial higher education institutions from illegally casting selected candidates’ archives, prohibiting collective or paid remedial classes by requiring education administrative departments and primary and secondary schools to strictly implement the relevant national provisions, prohibiting adult colleges and universities from one-sidedly emphasizing economic benefits and arbitrarily lowering teaching standards and reducing teaching time, and so on, prohibiting all kinds of grade certificates as stepping stones by implementing the nearby and exam-free enrollment of middle schools, prohibiting meetings without approval, super-standard meetings, and meetings at scenic spots, prohibiting the use of financial funds to hold school anniversaries and other ceremonial celebrations, and so on. Many prohibitions are issued every year, such as the prohibition against remedial classes imposed from 2000 onward; the prohibition against Olympiad competitions issued in 2001 which stipulated that Olympiad competitions should not be linked to enrollment; the repeated prohibitions against extravagance and waste, arbitrary education fees, various examinations for graduate students, civil servants, and so on, occupation of students’ time, teachers’ sarcasm, and corporal punishment on students, illegal admission to higher education institutions, and so on. The reality is that although these prohibitions are often issued from the central government, and almost all provinces and municipalities follow suit every year, the education muddle remains 9  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 226.

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irrepressible, even inflamed to some extent. Perhaps, there is nothing wrong with those prohibited things, and it is worth pondering whether those “one size fits all” prohibitions followed the scientific laws of education. The management relying on prohibitions has little long-term effects, since it has not only failed to solve problems, but also undermined the credibility of the education administrations. The only viable way is to stop regarding administration as an elixir, to liberate schools from administrative departments through the reform of management system and mechanism, and to make more teachers, students, and school administrators consciously follow the laws of education and improve themselves through the rule of law and independent school-running.  arsh Political Demands on Teachers and Students H After 1950, schools conducted increasingly rigorous political reviews, so that some students had to hide disadvantageous information. On June 26, 1954, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the report of the leading Party group of the Ministry of Higher Education, deciding to conduct a “Studying Loyalty and Honesty Campaign” among graduates of higher education institutions during that summer. On July 10, the Ministry of Higher Education sent a telegram to the presidents of higher education institutions throughout the country to arrange that work, asking students to write down their experiences, family situation, social relations, and all historical and political issues with loyalty and honesty. On January 5, 1955, the CPC Central Committee commented on Summary Report on the Loyalty and Honesty Campaign for Graduates of Higher Education institutions in the Summer Vacation of 1954 handed in by the CPC Beijing Municipal Commission of Higher Education Institutions that, in the future, the political review of new students before admission should be strengthened, and the Ministry of Education should consider the establishment of a student filing system for secondary schools throughout the country as soon as possible.10 On January 15, 1958, the Ministry of Education issued a notice that in the future, in addition to the current Secondary Student Code, students’ socialist awareness, understanding, and specific performance of manual

10  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 107.

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labor should also be considered as significant measures for the assessment of students’ performance.11 On May 18, 1964, the Ministry of Higher Education issued a notice that, according to the directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the active training and promotion of new forces and successors for the revolutionary cause, from that year on, 60 promising Party members from worker and farmer families with good political ideology, clear records, excellent academic performance, and healthy physique should be selected among fresh university graduates for special training.12 During the “Cultural Revolution,” schools were required to be subject to the politics. The political demands on students changed after 1980, but the teaching and examination of politics at schools remained, which indicated the obvious trend of the politicization of moral education leading to its zigzagging.13 Therefore, students learned politics at primary schools and made up for the lack of basic moral principles at universities.  nified Leadership of Schools U Under China’s social structure, the official-oriented administrative system plays an essential role and numerous schools are embedded in it merely as its branches. The efficiency and benefits of education are directly related to the administrative system, and schools’ leadership systems vary with the political and economic development. For example, primary and secondary schools adopted the school committee system from 1950 to 1952 and the principal accountability system from 1952 to 1956. Higher education institutions adopted the principal accountability system from 1950 to 1956. After the Eighth National Congress of the CPC in 1956, the Party Constitution stipulated that grassroots Party organizations should take a lead in the work unit, so the leadership system of higher education institutions gradually changed. Due to the prevailing integration of the Party and governments and the Party’s substitution for governments, university 11  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 211. 12  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 360. 13  The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 50 Years of Education in the People’s Republic of China Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1999, p. 505.

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committees became nominal and principals could not perform their due roles. Except the “cultural revolution” period, primary and secondary schools have been implementing the “principal accountability system,” whose connotation and specific forms vary from time to time. On March 18, 1952, Article 29 of the Temporary Regulations for Secondary Schools (Draft) promulgated by the Ministry of Education stated, “Principals and vice principals shall be appointed by the provincial and municipal People’s governments (the principals of secondary schools established by the municipalities and counties shall be appointed by provincial People’s governments upon nominations of the municipal and county People’s governments). The principals of secondary schools established by competent departments of People’s governments at all levels shall be appointed by the department itself and filed with the education department of the People’s government at the same level.”14 In 1963, the Regulations for primary and secondary schools emphasized in particular that “Party committees at all levels must strengthen their leadership in primary and secondary education” and “a group of competent Party cadres should be systematically transferred from all sides to strengthen their leadership in primary and secondary schools.”15 Both Article 34 of the Provisional Regulations on Full-Time Secondary School Work (Draft) and Article 41 of the Provisional Regulations on Full-Time Primary School Work (Draft) stipulated that “principals, the heads of the school administration, are responsible for leading the work of the whole school under the leadership of the local Party committee and the competent education administrative department.” And the prescribed main duties of principals included “carrying out the education principles of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, implementing the instructions of the education administrative departments, leading teaching and conducting ideological and political education.”16 In August 1968, according to Mao Zedong’s instructions, the poor and lower-middle farmers from all over the country sent representatives or Mao Zedong Thought propaganda teams to schools. Under the 14  He Dongchang, Important Education Documents of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1975. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 1998, p. 140. 15  He Dongchang, Important Education Documents of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1975. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 1998, p. 1151. 16  He Dongchang, Important Education Documents of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1975. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 1998, p. 1154, 1158.

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leadership of revolution committees of people’s communes and production teams, they also set up Poor and Lower-Middle Farmer School Management Committees (hereinafter referred to as Poor Management Committees) or Education Revolution Committees with themselves as the core and representatives of teachers and students to manage primary and secondary schools in the charge of their people’s communes and production teams. Having taken charge of schools, they announced that the principal accountability system was abolished, and all major school work was decided by the Poor Management Committee. In some places, primary schools became five-year, secondary schools became four-year, or both were merged into nine-year systems. And there were teacher groups of poor and lower-middle farmers who arranged teaching activities according to the needs of people’s communes and production teams. Some existing teachers were expelled and sent to rural areas, while educated youth in rural areas took their places and poor and lower-middle farmers were hired as part-time teachers.17 In the mid-1980s, primary and secondary schools began to implement the principal accountability system, which basically covered all schools over the country by the end of the 1980s, while the speed of promotion varied from place to place. The lack of independence of primary and secondary schools in personnel management and finance determined that principals were merely entrusted with the management work. In 1985, after the publication of the Decision on the Reform of the Education System of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter Decision), Deng Xiaoping emphasized leaders’ attention to education and the leadership of local administrative leaders in schools. The basic principle of the Decision was “delegating power.” However, in practice, it was common for administrative departments to greatly overstep their authorities. Even mobilizing a teacher of a county primary school had to be approved by the county magistrates and Party secretaries. Therefore, the education system reform could not make strides, and the autonomy of schools was interfered by government departments so much that it made independent and flexible school-running impossible.

17  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, pp. 420-421.

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In 1988, the most sensitive “principal accountability system” of the personnel system reform in the education system was put on the agenda of some colleges and universities. Different from the Party committee accountability system, it granted principals an overarching leadership in teaching, personnel, and financial autonomy. In 1989, due to political turmoil, a few universities that had just piloted the principal accountability system had to suspend it and regressed to the one under the leadership of the Party committee. I mplementing a Unified Teaching Plan and Arrangement It is difficult for the school’s teaching arrangements determined and unified by the administrative departments to better meet the actual needs of different students. On June 24, 1950, the Ministry of Education issued a unified school calendar for higher education institutions throughout the country.18 Another uniform calendar was issued on August 17, 1954. On June 4, 1950, the Ministry of Education issued the Interim Measures for the Issuance of Graduation Certificates of Higher Education Institutions, which specified the form, printing, and issuance procedures of graduation certificates of higher education institutions. In 1954, higher education institutions throughout the country began to implement a unified teaching plan and syllabus.19 On July 3, 1954, the Ministry of Education and General Administration of Press and Publication jointly issued instructions that publishing houses designated by the State should edit and publish all textbooks of secondary schools, primary schools, normal schools, and kindergartens; state-run publishing houses should publish teaching reference books and textbooks for workers, farmers, soldiers, and women. On July 9, 1954, the Ministry of Higher Education issued the Regulations on Course Examination and Assessment of Higher Education Institutions, which stipulated the criteria for make-up examinations, dropping out, repeating a year, and the advance to the next grade.20 Surely it was difficult for a national unified school calendar issued by the Ministry of Education to apply to various types of schools nationwide with 18  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 20. 19  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 129. 20  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 108.

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different practical requirements and climates. Nevertheless, the uniform requirements of graduation certificates and school calendars meant that administrative departments would like to exert power over education and teaching practices. The unified teaching materials deprived teachers of their rights to compile and choose textbooks, which were taken back to the government. Teaching evaluation also fell under the control of administration completely. On June 10, 1955, the Ministry of Education issued several adjustments to the teaching plan and a table of teaching hours of secondary schools for the 1955–1956 school year.21 Even the assignments were unified, making secondary schools throughout the country more like one big school. On August 31, 1955, the Ministry of Education issued a notice of “canceling uniform assignments for primary school students,” which seemed to reduce uniformity, but actually led to the Ministry of Education’s growing intervention in the details of schools, thereby accounting for less school autonomy. On September 2, the Ministry of Education issued the Teaching Plan for Primary Schools and the Directive on the Implementation of the Teaching Plan for Primary Schools, which required primary schools throughout the country to implement an identical teaching plan. And on the same day, the Regulations on Extracurricular Activities of Primary Schools were issued, so that primary school students throughout the country had to comply with the uniform provisions of the Ministry of Education in and out of class. On September 21, the Ministry of Education issued again a notice calling on schools for blind children to implement the Teaching Plan for Primary Schools.22 Since then, although the specific details were often adjusted, ideas of unified teaching and coordinating the country as on a single chessboard almost remained unchanged. On August 2, 1962, the Ministry of Education issued a unified registration form for primary and secondary school students nationwide and made an announcement that no more political review of the immediate family and social relations of primary and secondary school students should be conducted, and those forms were simply aimed at understanding the situation of students, which helped facilitate education and complete school rolls. Besides, it required a local inspection of the problems of 21  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 132. 22  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 140.

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the filing system of high school students.23 On September 12, 1962, the Ministry of Education issued a notice that each class in secondary schools should be 50 minutes and that in primary schools should be 45 minutes. On May 23, 1963, the Ministry of Education announced the trial implementation of the reformulated Primary Student Code (Draft) and Secondary Student Code (Draft), which were revised and re-issued by the Ministry of Education on August 25, 1979. In September 1978, primary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities nationwide began to use the newly compiled uniform teaching materials, and ten-year full-time primary and secondary schools used the national teaching materials compiled by the Ministry of Education.24 On August 28, 1982, the Ministry of Education issued a notice which reiterated that children should not be asked to clasp their hands behind their backs in class. The notice said that if children were often asked to attend lectures with their hands clasped behind their backs, they would be on edge and likely to get tired. Attending lectures with hands clasped behind one’s back was not an advanced experience, but rather an unreasonable discipline left by Japan’s rule of northeast China, which should be corrected as soon as possible.25 The more detailed the requirements of administrative departments were, the more uneasy the schools became.  dministration of Internal School Management A The current internal school management is generated by its external over-­ administrative management, and principals are appointed by external administrative authorities, which decides that they are first responsible to the institutions empowering them. Hence, over-administration of internal school management also exists, mainly illustrated by overarching administrative power; prevailing integration of the Party and governments, the Party’s substitution for governments and dictatorship; unsupervised administrative power during management process; professional power which is marginalized, counterfeited, or substituted and cannot come into play; schools at a low professional level are always busy with administrative 23  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, pp. 314-315. 24  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 529. 25  National Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 665.

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affairs; an obvious hierarchy based on administration inside schools; a wider income gap and disharmonious relationship between administrative personnel and ordinary teachers. The administration of the internal school makes principals rely only on administrative instructions to run schools, while they do not have to be responsible to students or teachers and pay little attention to students’ needs for growth and development, let alone deem them fundamental. For example, the inflexible curriculum based mainly on school arrangement and the lack of course selection results in narrow learning contents for students, which are also unsuitable for their nature and social demands for talent; universities have little interaction with society and deficient knowledge of students. To fundamentally solve this problem, it is necessary to establish the awareness that the main task of universities is to train talent according to each person’s aptitudes rather than a certain model; all aspects of school work should highlight the focus on students’ development, rather than projects, funds, awards, and titles. The administration of schools also makes it difficult for teaching to throw off the shackles of administrative instructions, which brings about numerous sluggish teachers and grave harm to students, many of whom feel it hard to understand how they are hurt. The abovementioned enumeration is enough to explain the specific connotations of the administration of school management. So far, management from kindergartens to universities is still too unprofessional and over-administrative. In order to run a school well, we need to manage the school according to its own characteristics. Over-administration is the institutional disease of China’s education, and it is difficult to see educationalists in such a system. If educationalists cannot run schools, there will be no flourishing education ecology. Administrative departments can always transfer an irrelevant person to be principal which is not a professional post at all. Internal school management also lacks professionalism and democratic procedures, which makes it hard for schools to display their own features. Independent and Legal School-Running Is the Way Out for De-administration Because administrative management has deeply penetrated the internal school management, schools need to reinstate themselves after de-­ administration. Since the main function of schools is teaching, they only

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need to design the school management according to the needs and principles of it. In a civilized society, after de-administration, the way out for schools is independent and legal school-running or some people’s ideal of “educationalists running schools.” Since 1980, the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee have formulated and enacted the Regulations on Academic Degrees of the People’s Republic of China (1980), Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (amended in 1986 and 2006), Teacher Law of the People’s Republic of China (1993), Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1995), Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1996), Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1998), and Law on the Promotion of Non-public Schools of the People’s Republic of China. The State Council has promulgated 16 education administrative regulations, including the Interim Provisions on the Establishment of General Higher Education Institutions, the Regulations on Incentives for Teaching Achievements, the Regulations on Teacher Qualifications and Ordinance for Education of People with Disabilities. The competent education department has also issued some education administrative regulations to initially set up the education legal system which to a certain extent realizes the rule of law, but is still imperfect. For instance, there is no school law, examination law, or law for early childhood education; the existing education regulations and their supporting regulations are of poor operability; laws overlap with administrative documents, leading to unclear subjects and responsibilities. The more serious problem is that unsatisfactory law enforcement has been perpetuated in China’s education, insufficient and far inferior to administrative power. Additionally, the awareness of legal school-running is weak in all aspects of the society; the government is unlikely to be held accountable for its illegal actions; the fund investment in education and schools’ legitimate rights and interests lack effective protection. The function of the school is education, and teachers and educational administrators who are role models for students need to identify with the rule of law from the bottom of their heart. For a long time, the internal education governance has mainly depended on administrative methods, based on a false assumption that when some people manage others, justifiably the former are managers while the latter are the ones who have neither rights nor abilities of self-management and can only be managed, and the idea that everyone’s self-management or co-governance has been deserted. The rules and methods of this kind of management are basically

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determined by the managers’ personalities, likes and dislikes, emotions and other characteristics, which leads to weak awareness and vague value standard of teachers and students, who cannot be the master hence giving up their responsibilities. Many of them have an outdated idea that it is the powerful who becomes the boss, therefore unwilling to promote independent and legal internal school management. Under this management mechanism, students do not aspire for self-government, nor trained for it at school, thus unable to participate in legislation or co-governance. They fail to master self-discipline, self-confidence, self-governance, self-reliance, or self-improvement. After entering society, they will not be good at self-­ management and will inevitably bring a series of problems to society. Following the laws of human growth, it is necessary to train children’s self-management ability from kindergarten to improve the quality of the whole population. All schools must assume the social responsibilities to help students learn democratic methods and procedures in democratic life and cultivate their sense of rule of law and self-discipline, based on the long-term goal of building a democratic society. For school-running in accordance with the law, the teachers, students, and other members in the school are the main bodies who all follow school regulations, accounting for the need to make school affairs public; speed up the regulation establishment of various schools at all levels to make every school have regulations; improve the mechanisms of regulation-­ based school-running, independent management, democratic supervision, and social participation. The government should expand and protect the schools’ autonomy of legal and independent school-running; select principals through standardized professional procedures and ensure that they are supervised by teachers and students during their tenure; establish legal channels of financial subsidies for private schools, purchase of public goods, student loans, fund awards, and incentives for donations; promote the diversification of school operator; protect the rights of legal persons in private schools in accordance with the law; and eliminate all kinds of existing discrimination against private schools. In recent years, the education administration has been promoting “one school, one regulation,” but without legal empowerment, it can only be invalid and remain mere form.

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5.2   Education Management Is Oriented to Shaping or Service The American scholar Chris Whittle believes that schools all over the world are the same, for which 14 guiding principles can be summarized as “the ‘classroom’ is the basis for school organization; teaching contents are basically divided into different subjects; students are grouped by age, such as first-grade and second-grade; students, even the older ones, should be constantly directed and supervised by teachers; schools generally have a long summer vacation; public schools are not only government-funded, but should also be government-run.” But he is skeptical about the correctness of these principles, and some of the key words of the educational model he envisions are “ownership of one’s education,” “individual education plan,” “a teacher = a coach + an adviser + a guide,” “no borders,” and so on. “When I imagine the school system in the future, there is just one concept in my mind, namely there is no one right way.” Whittle hopes to see more options and healthy competitions in education. There will be not only one type of modern schools, but also various new models, or summarized as “our schools are not the same.”26 Whittle’s description contains two different education management concepts. One is embodied by the identical government-run schools around the world, which are oriented to shaping teachers and students via management; the other is embodied by the “different” schools he hopes for, which are oriented to serving students’ growth and development according to their nature and actual needs for growth and development. Shaping-Oriented School Management The concept of shaping itself is administrator-centered rather than student-­ centered. The school management, based on the teaching and aimed at promoting the doctrine, imparting professional knowledge, and resolving doubts, certainly regards training and shaping students as its responsibilities. When the philosophy of school-running is oriented to the official, society, schools, and teachers, students are put in a subordinate position as the objects of management and instruction.

26  Chris Whittle. There Is No One Right Way for Education Reform. The Beijing News, Jan. 16th, 2015.

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In shaping-oriented school management, students, teachers, and managers are not equal since managers are superior to the rest. So, it tries to safeguard the managers and capitalize on their privileges to conduct management. There are explicit or implicit differences in identities and roles between mangers and the rest. In the management process, managers consider themselves as administrative leaders and often demonstrate their condescending and bossy attitudes. Shaping-oriented school management usually takes its own position as the starting point and unilaterally establishes the management standards and regulations without consulting teachers and students. If a student does not meet its standards, it often gives punishment and occasionally praise or criticism to them, which at length serves its self-proclaimed dictatorship. In shaping-oriented education management, managers put their own interests first, and all management actions are aimed at safeguarding their interests and elevating their dignity and authority. Once their rights conflict with students’ basic rights, managers will neglect and even infringe upon the latter. Shaping-oriented management believes that its regulations are so insurmountable and therefore often adopt management regulations to limit students’ personality and free development. It even uses some tricks to undermine students’ personality, fetter their freedom, thereby subtly or directly conveying the managers’ ideas to them. Shaping-oriented management treats different students as standard components and overlooks individual education and differences in students’ personalities and states of development. Shaping-oriented school management has only one requirement for students and others being managed, without any other choices, opportunities, or elective system. It values fixed knowledge and standard answer. Even students’ dormitories and seats are arranged by schools, leaving no room for choice. Shaping-oriented school management normally adopts monotonous and outdated methods while considering itself always right. The ultimate objective of shaping-oriented school management is to shape students into ones with the managers’ ideal personalities, instead of promoting their free and independent development into the best of themselves. Shaping-oriented school management is not worthless, however, as human has been establishing order through it for some 2000 years. But

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there is a gap between it and human-centered education, and it can hardly cater to human nature or social demands for human growth, hence the need to change when human society moves to the new stage. Service-Oriented School Management The concept of service means that management should be student-­ oriented and students are the basis of schools, without whom there is no need for the existence of schools, teachers, or school management. Therefore, in terms of school-running and management, schools should respect students’ basic rights and serve their needs for growth and development via serving teachers or teaching. Under the background of social shift to humanism, education managers need to reexamine and comprehend the nature of education, discuss the thinking and mode of school management, and firmly establish a sense of service for it. Education is centered on students’ growth and development. More and more families are increasing investment in education, while raising the expectation of schools for their children to get a better education. The right of the learners to choose the school should also become the basic principle of education as the right of everyone to enjoy education. Certainly, without control there will be more schools, which will naturally break up the monopoly. In a moderately competitive environment, schools must swallow their pride to equally interact with parents and students, which also requires school management to firmly build a sense of service. In order to survive the competition, schools must be distinctive, change their thinking, and value the service for students and parents. The logical basis of service-oriented school management is that education means service. Whether it is a public school funded by the state or a private school funded by students’ tuition fees, the state or the student (parents) is its investor and consumer. All school work, such as school management, logistics service, educational activities, classroom teaching, and teaching reform, should serve these investors and consumers and be responsible for students’ development. School-running is judged by whether students are willing to choose the school for study and living and whether parents are satisfied with all aspects of the school work; a teacher’s teaching is judged by whether students like his class or not. Therefore, all school work is required to be performed with a sense of service.

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The education service must respect consumers and investors, have a good service attitude, and regard customer satisfaction as a key basis for evaluating employee performance. Meanwhile, the uniqueness of education service lies in that its object, the student, is also the subject of education, who are living persons with thoughts, emotions, and initiative. During education service, service providers and objects are multi-level and multi-subject. The school as a whole mainly serves students, parents, and the society. The school management service includes teaching and logistics service with different contents, whose objects include front-line teachers, students, and parents. The education service also features a timeconsuming yielding and non-repeatability, with the successful and healthy development of students as its final product. The training of students requires joint efforts of schools, families, society, and students themselves, while schools play a major role. In service-oriented school management, managers, educators, and the educated enjoy equal personalities and rights, so they are not just teachers and students, rulers and the ruled, evaluators and the evaluated, but also friends. Teachers are asked to evaluate students, while students also have the right to evaluate teachers; teachers are no longer the authority of knowledge, but students’ companions in pursuit of truth; students are still required to respect teachers, while teachers also need to respect students; teachers no longer enjoy their inherent dignity and instead have to win the respect of students with their personal charisma and rich knowledge. At the same time, teachers’ authority in knowledge is also challenged by students with greater ability to absorb new knowledge. Teachers and students will have equal communications, and sometimes students can even inspire teachers in some areas. Only by constantly learning new knowledge and accepting new ideas can teachers win students’ favor via high-quality teaching and education activities. Service-oriented school management enables students and parents to choose schools and vote with their feet, which can effectively promote the quality of service. It can spur tailored management and teaching for students of different ages, personalities, and needs, while respecting their individuality and giving play to their specialties. It also introduces the competition mechanism in terms of human resource management, so that teachers can establish a sense of serving students and parents wholeheartedly, foster good professional ethics, and get on well with students and parents.

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Service-oriented school management needs to obtain trust and sustain itself on the basis of better quality, instead of the government’s backup that secures teachers’ stable lifelong occupation and indiscriminate egalitarianism. In contrast with private schools, public ones stand in advantage with an accumulation of longer history, richer experience, more social prestige, and better qualified teachers. However, the more and more diversified school-running system is transferring the competition between private and public schools into a generator of a better education ecology, especially with the flexibility of private schools stabbing as a sharp sword at public schools and triggering their service-oriented administration reformation. Service-oriented school management needs to break through the rigid and closed thoughts under the planning system and to motivate every source both inside and outside the school, including the source of students, teachers, funds, and information, so as to see a full energy exchange between schools and society, combined with higher initiative of teachers and students. Just as Tao Xingzhi once said, “Education that fails to make full use of social forces is an inept one, and education that fails to meet social demands is a blind one.” Service-oriented school management needs to widen ways to contact parents with self-built parents’ meeting that boosts their initiative to engage in school affairs. Criticisms from parents and students should be listened to whenever raised, so that mistakes can be timely redressed and the environment conducive to cultivation can be mutually preserved. Service-oriented school management needs to establish an effective system to secure learning conditions, with service of all links improved. School administration ought to match up well with teaching for all sorts of study activities to sail in plain. Schools should try hard to make better conditions for study and activities to cater for sensible requirements of parents and students. They should also improve the hardware to make the campus beautiful and agreeable with people especially students centered on and make facilities practical, elegant, and safe.

5.3   What Is the First Basis of School-Running Usually, with multiple grounds of school-running, schools of different ideas give priority to different grounds. Public schools hand in the discretion to their competent department, and the actual school operators also have some few say. In comparison, private schools have relatively more

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discretion on its own basis of running and methods. However, owing to the restriction of the whole education system of assessment and administration, the room for even private schools to decide why and how to run themselves is still rather limited. The first basis of school-running manifests its running logic. One that centers on people, especially students, is bound to give priority to the concrete and actual needs of their growth and development. What Is the Basis of the Government to Run Schools Let us again take the development of Chinese schools for example. Figures 5.1 and 5.2 show the development of schools of all levels and sorts in China (except Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 1949 to 2008.27 To make it clear, the number of schools peaked with the “Great Leap Forward” that started in 1957, though their small scale and low quality still failed people’s great demand for education. Schools began to enlarge the scale and cut number after 1961, which is shown in the figure as a decreasing trend. Still, as students in each school has been mounting, there was an apparent distinction in school enrollments between 1949 and

Fig. 5.1  The number change in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008  The data in Figures 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4 are all sourced from education yearbooks.

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Fig. 5.2  The respective number change in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008

2008, despite the 1.6 times increase of the number of schools from 352,000 in 1949 to 577,000 in 2008. After 1978, the number of kindergartens continued to expand mindlessly, whereas the number of other sorts of schools kept steady. Meanwhile, with the decrease of school-age population and the adjustment in structural layout of primary and secondary schools, the number of schools for compulsory education was cut down. Figure 5.3 suggests that the number of school enrollments was merely 25.78 million in 1949, when a rapid increase which lasted 30 years took place and saw in 1978 the number reaching 224 million, namely, 86 times more than that in 1949. Thereafter, the total number of students went down with the shrinkage of school-age population and that of compulsory education. Since 1990, the number of school enrollments has surged again to 259 million in 2008 with an increase in the number of students of non-compulsory education, namely, kindergarten, high school, and university. The data above indicates that the government runs schools in accordance with the spontaneous requirements of the society, with little overall and professional planning or long-term arrangement, let alone consideration for individuals. As a consequence, the number of schools fluctuates greatly. It should be noticed that the layout of rural schools before the mid-­1980s adhered to the principle of “a primary school for each village

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Fig. 5.3  The number of enrollments in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008

Fig. 5.4  The respective number of enrollments in schools of all levels and sorts from 1949 to 2008

and a middle school for each township,” which was to set up schools based on administrative division instead of population, and delivered objective benefits to nearby enrollment. But the issue of Compulsory Education Law in 1986 forced local governments to achieve nine-year compulsory education by massively rearranging primary and secondary schools in rural areas, even without abundant financial resource, and with schools there,

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Table 5.1  Data of the “cancelling teaching points and combining schools” movement across China from 1998 to 2007 Years 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total reduction Proportional reduction

Number of Schools (10,000) 60.96 58.23 55.36 49.13 45.69 42.58 39.42 36.62 34.16 32.01 30.09 30.87 50.64%

School Enrollments (10,000) 13953.80 13547.96 13013.25 12543.47 12156.71 11689.74 11246.23 10864.07 10711.53 10564.00 10331.51 3622.29 25.96%

especially middle and high schools, canceling or combining year by year. In 1990, one-third of schools were canceled in Guizhou Province, where lots of high schools in townships (of 5000–15,000 population in mountainous areas) were canceled and combined into one that located in the county’s town. Besides, several middle schools were combined into one central middle school, whose location was so far away that it took three or four or even more hours for some students to attend school and that explained why most middle school students were live-in ones. The ten years from 1998 to 2008 witnessed the climax of “cancelling teaching points and combining schools” movement around China. The basic data can be found in Table 5.1. An important reason for the “cancelling teaching points and combining schools” movement is that with less school enrollments, combining schools can provide quality education, balanced development, and beneficial school-running. Table 5.1 shows that the decreasing rate of schools is twice that of population. In 2005, China Educational Information Daily covered a case of this movement in a county in Lvliang, Shanxi Province, that “2005 marks the ‘key year of education’, … within 2 years. The number of primary schools in rural areas has been reduced from 205 in 2003 to 94, middle schools from 15 to 7. In total, 119 primary and secondary schools have been canceled or combined, with mixed-grade classes and

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single-student school all eliminated. From decentralized to scale school running and from conventional to modernized education, a leapfrog development has been made within a relatively short period. … more than 20,000 rural students have benefited directly.” It was the primary schools in remote and impoverished mountain areas that were influenced the most and with the greatest force of reformation, which spared and wasted a great number of schoolhouses and infrastructures that were costly built before. Parents and children all suffered from the great inconvenience, with kids of six or seven tramping dozens of miles through mountains for school and wide concerns about students’ safety on school buses. Some regions were hit by a drop in the students’ living conditions and re-rise in dropout rates. Boarding was adopted by some regions as a solution to the great distance from homes to schools, but boarding fees added a new problem to families’ burden to cover educational expense. Since not designed for boarding, most schools were incapable of catering to students’ basic requirements, for example, accommodation, water, bathing, sanitation, and security. Moreover, there was a lack of family and personality education, while many elders were forced to rent houses to accompany their grandchildren. The education quality failed to improve despite the higher costs. Villagers in some areas have protested in varied forms but made no difference. It is indeed reasonable to cut down school numbers as appropriate according to population and wishes of villagers, but the cancelation and combination of Chinese rural schools are obviously based on the leaders’ pursuit for political achievements. The cancelation of schools where teachers were reluctant to work in did not follow the procedures of polling and failed to secure students’ nearby enrollment; instead, it was conducted with the main goal of reducing the local governments’ educational expenditures to the greatest extent. However, those expenditures were transferred to farmers’ payment for education, students’ cost of time, and their safety risk. Clearly, this “cancelling teaching points and combining schools” movement did not center on local residents or children. The rearrangement of primary and secondary schools in rural areas advanced with The Circular on Improving the Administrative System of Compulsory Education in Rural Areas issued by the State Council in 2002 and Measures for the Management of Special Funds for the Adjustment of the Layout of Primary and Secondary Schools issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2003. To acquire the funds, many counties canceled and combined primary schools and teaching points, with as many as 1/2–2/3 of which

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were canceled in mountainous districts within the five years from 2003 to 2007. It had a fundamental and continuous impact on villagers in rural areas, especially those living in the remote mountain areas. The concentration of schools in counties and townships led immediately to the emergence of giant schools and classes that contained a huge number of students. For example, high schools in towns that hold 5000 or even about 10,000 were no longer in the minority. The restriction on personnel establishment and the difficulty in dismissing unqualified teachers prohibited qualified teachers from replenishing, since the incapable teachers were all relocated from schools that had been canceled. In spite of the inadequate teachers, many of them had to play a role in managing students’ boarding. In terms of boarding, students had difficulties in washing clothes, taking baths, and dining due to the schools’ inappropriate arrangement. In addition, due to the lack of facilities inside the school and the bad environment outside the school, where a great many of Internet bars and dancing halls pose public security risks, students and their parents became afraid of attending schools, which further lowered the teaching quality. To conclude, the giant schools face challenges from many aspects, including school administration, the building of school culture and spirit, as well as educational resource redistribution, and even challenges from a deeper layer, namely, the broken rural culture and the lost rural identity. “Cancelling teaching points and combining schools” had also occurred in the United States, where school districts once fell from 36,402 in 1961 to 17,995 in 1970. According to many research, though with full preparation of educational resources such as school buses, the reform did not prove to be beneficial to teaching quality, teaching investment, and students’ growth, and on the contrary brought about new problems. As a consequence, from the 1990s onward, the “Small Schools Movement” has prevailed in the United States which diversified the ways of running schools. The case mentioned above indicates that the government’s basis of school-running is not abstract but concrete and not hollow but realistic. “Putting people first,” though written on documents issued by the central government in 2002, was not fully implemented in practice. The case only covers one aspect of the layout of teaching points, but in fact, neither the school idea nor the educational content, assessment, investment, or its usage has put people first and met their actual needs.

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On the other hand, the basis of school-running directly influences the basis for a school to arrange its routine work, as well as the service attitude toward students. The school becomes a de facto abductee of the government in some specific matters. For example, schools cut down on sports since they dare not take students out for safety reasons emphasized by the government; schools have less knowledge on students’ study since exams are prohibited by the government to alleviate their study burden; schools have no choice but to order students to do cleaning in class for governments’ inspection and assessment, in which teachers and students are even encouraged to cheat. All the examples show a serious betrayal of the essence of education. From a perspective of the globe, other countries in the 1960s and 1970s mainly focused on the systematic planning of education, which included enrollment rate, structure, internal and external benefit, and so on. In the 1980s, the focus switched to school administration. And in these 30 years, the focus switched again to students’ learning, with an increasing concentration on their growth and development. In contrast, China has failed to keep up with the global trend by remaining to focus on systematic planning for a long time, which explains why human value remains low in China. What Is the Basis for Schools to Arrange Work What is the priority of schools to arrange their work? The author has asked this question to many people, and there were two polar responses. “Students” was one answer that most foreign educators agreed on. The most typical response was given by the Dean of the Israel Institute of Education Sciences, who said that students are not only the priority of school work but also that of national education policy. But in China, the priority is often given to several macroscopic and abstract words like “principle,” “line,” “guideline,” “policy,” or “the nature, purpose and mission of education.” Alternatively, the priority of school administration is acknowledged to obey and serve the political and economic development of society. Some seemingly authoritative books for education administration even put “Principles of Direction (with a clear aim and a comprehensive view)” first, attaching prior importance to the right direction in terms of education. Even such education that focused on the right direction has once gone off the track in recent decades, for which the fundamental reason is analyzed in depth to be a wrong view about how to treat human beings. The

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Common Program issued by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 1949 stated the essence of education: “national, scientific and open to the masses,” making it clear that it is not a small group but the masses who are to receive it. Education is for the masses instead of the selected few or the rich and powerful, so everyone should have an equal access to education. In educational practices, however, humans lost “possession” of education and students became subordinate since the original aim of education was transferred by interference from non-educational factors. For example, some administrators treat teachers and students as tools for their pursuit of political achievements, for which purpose they put excellent teachers and students together in a single school and support it with favorable funds. The institutional foundation, in which teaching, assessing, and administrating are all for their achievements, is then placed accordingly. What follows is people’s favor of schools that are underpinned by powers or money. In school-running practices, official documents are the first and even the only basis of schools, which neglected their original priority—cultivation of people. Schools have put the cart before the horse, which stands for persistently putting students’ needs for growth and development first, just as hospitals weigh lives the heaviest. Only with that basis can schools know what kind of talents are required and formulate related polices and documents on that basis. In educational practices, people-oriented education must be undoubtedly acknowledged as the first basis of school-running. The contrastive distinction between official-oriented and people-oriented schools is shown in Table 5.2. Table 5.2  Two different logic for school-running

Humanistic schools

Official-­ oriented schools

The first basis

The second basis

The third or other bases

Concrete individuals Individual development Real and concrete needs for individual growth and development Documents, administrative instructions

Demands for talents by society

National decrees, foreign experience, policies

Macroscopic requirements Students’ needs for by the country, abstract growth and requirements by the development society

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Adhering to the principle of “nature first,” humanistic schools must base their work on fully respecting students’ independent growth and development, so as to preserve their curiosity and interest and to rearrange teaching plans on the basis of maintaining their autonomy to learning. Students’ needs for growth and development is the first basis of any education and administration and even directs educational reforms. Teachers, principals, administrators, and organizations of all levels, governmental or non-governmental, in charge of administration or assessment, should all design courses, implement administration, and conduct work to meet these needs. The needs being foremost, the existence and distinction of students should be treated as respectable as human lives. The course design, teachers’ allocation, standard formulation, and administration reformation should all center on them. Schools ought to serve society with meeting its demands for education by catering to students’ needs, but not the contrary. In the past decade, however, education has centered on administrative powers and gone just the opposite. As a result of trifling students’ actual needs, education appeared ineffective in cultivating talents. In view of China’s experience of going off track in the past, the way back to humanistic schools is still long and arduous. Consequently, some diversions are called for: First, respect is required. Since human development is the precondition of a progressive society, more value should be attached to human development than any other aspects. Humanistic education eventually leads to the full development of every individual, so every individual must be respected by schools in terms of his independent choices and personalities. Respects should be paid to students and teachers, the autonomy of teaching and learning should be returned, and any one-sided compulsive instruction must be abolished. Second, education and schools should no longer be treated as tools or chips to advance economy or pursue political achievements. To liberate schools from administration and realize de-administration requires respect to inherent laws, attachment to quality, and scientific outlooks on quality and development. Schools should be managed according to their characteristics and internal logic in a professional way. Third, the key to humanistic education is the autonomy of educational parties, among which the most important is students’ freedom to learning, which covers their discretion over choosing, studying, and expressing. Everyone engaged in education is his own master, who deserves

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autonomy guaranteed by the government. Instead of giving instructions, the government is responsible for providing people with choices that fit and allowing them to take various paths of their own education. If the master of learning is not students and the protagonist of teaching is not teachers, diversity among schools will decay and autonomy in individuals will fade. Fourth, a humanistic school must be a transparent one. In that school, everyone stands equal and democracy prevails so that personality and intelligence can grow to the greatest. A democratic administration delivers democratic rights, which allows teachers and students to fully engage in school management. With talents respected and teachers as well as students trusted, school administrators can fully motivate them in managing and further transparentize the administration to ensure that their rights to know, to engage, and to supervise are secured. Fifth, de-centralization is required. In official-oriented schools, principals are the inherent center, and some schools even focus on teaching, which marginalizes both teachers and students. But people-oriented schools are bound to focus on students, who are a group of individuals. Every student stands at the center of teaching, administration, and assessment, receiving care in every possible way as a patient in a hospital. In fact, schools are polycentric since students all stand equal as separate centers. Sixth, humanization needs standardizing. In this process, the previously rigid standard should be humanized, in order that humanistic schools have laws and regulations to conduct work orderly, while their requirements are rationalized for varied individuals and the focus is placed on effectiveness. A more diversified mechanism of student assessment should be worked out to preserve students’ autonomy to learn with the new means that encourages self-assessment, self-stimulation, and self-study. In humanistic schools, priority is given to students’ needs for growth and development in every educational sector, including planning, teaching, administration, assessment, educational methods, and even all kinds of reforms. For example, students should be encouraged to set up all sorts of associations, which offer a good way for self-study; the collegiate system should be applied as it can help make life in the dormitories more vibrant and diverse while providing a good environment for students to develop their personalities and character. For another example, some systems, such as the selective system, optional class system, elastic education system, credit system, tutorial system, and case study system, may cost more effort and are incompatible

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with the current school administrative system which is a duplication of the government’s, but these systems stand in advantage of delivering more opportunities for students’ independent choices, strengthening flexibility, and giving spacious rooms for students’ various characters and personalities. These systems, which can only be built inside a humanistic school, base themselves on a teaching administrative system that mixes diversified and personalized management together and call for four preconditions: An improvement in discipline, major and course systems; an enhancement in teachers’ capability and quality; an optimization in teaching facilities; and an upgrade in the administrative assessment system. To establish a modern school governance system, it is the students who should stand in the center, who merit personalized development and varied paths, who are treated as special and polished to shine, and who are offered with choices and opportunities for more courses. Schools require a certain right in course construction to attract and retain students with their own personalized-growth-friendly guidance and service system for education and teaching consisting of course system, teaching structure in classrooms, teaching organizational forms, and student guidance and service system. And they also require reforms on time distribution, content distribution, and ways of activities, so as to motivate students with a structure in which every link focuses on their autonomy and cooperation.

5.4   Construct Modern Schools to Meet Students’ Needs for Growth and Development With the development of network information and massive open online courses (MOOC), more ways of learning such as learning at home have become possible and more approaches to knowledge have been paved. However, schools will remain as the place where the majority will study in the long future. As a consequence, an educational order, which is scientific, democratic, and normative, ought to be established in schools. Educational laws should be obeyed to consider the needs of every teacher and student. Individual differences should be respected, and people-oriented ideas should be upheld to fully promote the harmony of physical, psychological, and intellectual development in students. Schools are destined to unbolt their gates to embrace the openness and flexibility brought by diversified ways of study, so the journey to modernize schools that meet students’ needs will be long, thus calling for early departure.

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The modern school is not only a concept of time, but also an institutional consensus that people who pursue a better and more efficient education agree upon. Different as they may appear in varied regions and cultures, they are all essentially of modernity, the core of which is to guarantee students’ free will to study. In the modern school governance system, schools try every means to allow students to freely choose the content, the method, and the difficulty of their learning and even permit students’ assessment of their own study. To modern school administration, four pillars are essential, which are the autonomy in running schools as ensured by laws; an internal governance guided by the academics; a specialized committee led by administrative part-time teachers (professors) in charge of academy assessment, talent introduction, performance evaluation, and fund distribution; and students’ autonomous organizations that are well organized. Starting from formulating school rules, a modern school would grow into a spiritual homeland for students to rely on. The essence of modern schools is to optimize students’ autonomy in a way which they are centered, respected, and served till they have grown up and developed. The modern school system is a system established against the backdrop of a ruled-by-law society. The “rule of law” should be implemented in education, and the School Law should be formulated to assist the governance on principals and schools. Schools need to be responsible for their own behaviors as an independent legal person with limited liability and to open their educational resources, sports facilities, and libraries to the public. The current administrators of schools are manager, operator, and assessor rolled into one, without supervision and evaluation from the outside. What we need is a reform that separates operation and evaluation, decomposes the centralized powers, and returns them to appropriate persons. Even teachers ought to possess the discretion to select textbooks, which do not have to be the same among classes, as long as everyone is motivated to meet the curriculum standard, which is final. China’s Urgent Needs for a Modern School System and the Obstructions in the Way With the development of economy and society as well as the growth of the public’s demands for education, more and more educators agree upon building a modern school system consistent with China’s economy and

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society, shedding light on the direction in which schools will follow in the future. In reality, schools enjoy only partial freedom, which is the same to teachers, principals, students, and educational administrators. In whatever aspect, liberation is dearly longed so that the ideal education can be put into practice and laws can be followed. The creativity, diligence, and wisdom among Chinese people have been restrained and stifled by the rigid system, and these problems are evident as inspiring ideas filtered by governance turn out dull. Reasons of many sides may account for China’s lagging education, but the key lies in administration. A large number of research and practices have proven that school administration is now the fundamental institutional obstruction that blocks the reform and advancement of China’s education, and the core of that is the autonomy of school-running. A mutual problem among numbers of schools is that they are established and managed as an administrative branch of the government. Within schools, the administrative layers of the government have also been integrally transplanted, thus forming an excessively administrative school management system. At present, there are leaders of department rank or deputy department rank in every one of over 1000 public universities in China, and they sum up to more than 20,000. Besides, in primary and secondary schools, there are hundreds of thousands of leaders of the division and section ranks, who are nominated by upper departments without election. These personnel only serve their leaders and have no liability or passion to try understanding what students and teachers need. As a result, the administrative system is what radically impacts educational quality, which can be improved only by establishing a modern school system. The fact is educational administrative institutions have given too much curbs on schools, shrinking the autonomy of schools in managing their own personnel, funds, facilities, courses, and other aspects of education and teaching. The school-centered administration is not yet in place, and schools cannot conduct self-administration ruled by law. The unbalanced and uncoordinated resource distribution brings about unequal education and suppresses schools’ motivation. Inside the schools, the principal accountability system is not based on democracy, since principals are mainly nominated by and answerable to the Party committee or educational administrative institutions, which leads to their indifference to school staff, students, parents, and communities. This nomination also brings about difficulties for real talents to take

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on the principals’ position. On the other hand, short of democratic consciousness, principals would repel administration from others, making the teachers’ congress and education labor union a mere figurehead. As a consequence, indifferent attitudes and even opposition between principals and school staff appear commonplace. The isolation of schools from society and the infrequent communication between schools and communities and students’ families, combined with barriers among different departments and ill-developed communities, make it hard for the majority, including community members, students, and parents, to engage in school administration. Schools do not bother to connect with the public since they receive support in personnel, funds, and facilities offered by the government. That is exactly why the potential and efficiency of schools are choked, making it hard for most schools to develop sustainably. Thus, it appears quite urgent to set up a school system that is fair, just, democratic, ruled by law, clean, efficient, open, transparent, and consistent with communities, to turn traditional schools into modern ones, to turn ruled-by-men schools into ruled-by-law ones, to turn closed schools into open ones, to turn the isolated cultural island into the cultural incubator of villages and communities, and to sustain their development. The modern school system is built on the foundation of the new public management theory and related practices of marketization (quasi-­ marketization) and privatization of education. The Chinese education system should be in consistency with the reformed economic system; schools merit more discretion from the government whose functions have been transformed. What’s more, institutional innovation is demanded to relieve the pressure of inadequate investment, insufficient supply, and competition in choosing schools and to eliminate the educational privilege of the minority. The aim of the modern school system is to provide adequate, equal, low-priced, and quality education to as many students as possible and to create equal conditions for the masses to access quality education. The essence of the system lies in administration, which should be open, democratic, people-centered, and cultivation-oriented. In spite of the urgency, it remains difficult to build such a system. As early as in 2002, the Chinese government started the research on modern school system. But controversy and resistance emerged even then, with the suggestion that principals should be in charge of primary and secondary schools while the Party plays a role in politically underpinning and supervising the schools rather than leading as a political core.

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The main obstructions in the way of setting up a modern school system are as follows: First, Chinese education has been a closed one for a long time, restricting the progress in the ideas of educators and education administrators both in schools and in the government to meet actual needs and preventing the upgrade of school system. A modern school system is based on modern educational ideas, with teachers and students being the main body of schools and students’ development focused on, so the system puts students’ needs for growth and development in the first place and holds an open attitude toward education, which is thought to be lifelong. Second, the social system that caters for the establishment of a modern school system is underdeveloped. In current days, the government takes on multiple roles to administrate, run, and possess schools, as well as to formulate regulations and conduct assessment. On personnel, funds, and facilities, the coverall and inflexible governance with stringent administrative approval deprives schools of their autonomy in teaching, research, students’ enrollment and administration, talents cultivation and disposition, funds usage, and administration. This kind of social system not only diverts the direction in which public schools go, but also curbs the growth of private schools. A modern school system is one that can satisfy the basic needs of a market-oriented economy and learning society, which allows schools, as legal persons, to conduct autonomous and democratic administration by law. Externally, the system calls for detachment and counterbalance of decision, execution, and supervision, as well as their mutual enhancement, so as to set up, in consistence with the cooperation system and accountability system of schools, a leadership system that separates powers from liability and makes the most of every leadership department. However, in a society where democracy and the rule of law are still lacking, it is as hard as eating an elephant with a spoon to get the modern school system established. In his government work report in 2013, Wen Jiabao pointed out that: “We need to advance the development of socialist democracy and the socialist rule of law. We should ensure that the people occupy the principal position, make people's democracy more extensive, fuller in scope and sounder, ensure that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms prescribed by law, and promote people's well-rounded development.” Logically, his remarks suggested the precondition to modernize schools. Third, there is a lack of professional groups. The modern school system will not appear out of the blue, nor will it be designed and established by

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the government or its unprofessional administrative staff who are incapable of setting up an ideal system that mirrors social reality, keeps pace with the time, and rolls people-oriented, democratic, scientific, open, and ecological features into one. In reality, the balance has never been stricken between the academics and the administration inside the school, where administration is always in priority. Thus, academic powers should be wielded to boost initiative among teachers and improve the academic environment. What the government is supposed to do is delegate powers to schools that possess a professional group dedicated to education reform. Most importantly, schools are not genuine legal persons. Schools in existence are still an institution among numerous administrative layers in the government. They are internally a duplication of the administrative system and externally an affiliate of the government, with whom the legal relations are rather hard to regulate. In the modern school system, the school is required to be a relatively independent and complete legal person, which is similar to the non-business legal person as schools in other countries are deemed. However, Article 36 of China’s General Rules of the Civil Law writes that “A legal person shall be an organization that has capacity for civil rights and capacity for civil conduct and independently enjoys civil rights and assumes civil obligations in accordance with the law,” while Article 37 writes that “A legal person shall have the following qualifications: (1) establishment in accordance with the law; (2) possession of the necessary property or funds; (3) possession of its own name, organization and premises; and (4) ability to independently bear civil liability.” Since most public primary and secondary schools in China are incapable of “independently bearing civil liability,” they cannot be deemed as legal persons in the current legal framework in which “school legal person” has not been exceptionally defined. Relatively speaking, private schools, as independent organizations, must be legally ensured with their status as legal persons and form a complete corporation governance structure. But in fact, some instructions and policies from the government bind them more tightly than laws. So, as for schools run by private education or business groups, they should be treated as complete legal persons if the status is bestowed; if not, they are to be treated as incomplete legal persons. Public schools should also be applied to the principle that separates administration, operation, and assessment. Schools, as well as school districts, merit the status of complete and independent legal persons. The Higher Education Law, whose content resembles policies rather than laws,

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stipulates in Article 30 that the corporation capacity will only take effect in civil activities, thus blurring the legal relations between universities and the government. And in the content from Articles 32 to 38, the autonomy for universities to run themselves can hardly win respect of the government. As a consequence, universities stand as subjects of liability in civil activities but lose the status in affairs with the government. Moreover, laws, though still imperfect, should be enforced with greater forcibility. For the legal relations mentioned above to transform under an excessively administrative school system, it requires not only endeavors within the education system, but also efforts to streamline administration and delegate powers in government, as well as the reconstruction of the legal system of the whole society. Besides, the planned economic system is still the lion in the way of school administration. Despite the achievements made with the development of China’s market-oriented economy, the whole education system remains on the track of planning, embodied by the government’s absolute superiority and authority in acquiring material resources, distributing policy resources, and allocating students and academic resources. This phenomenon is shared by all schools, ranging from those under the central ministries and commissions, under the provincial governments, administrated by the county governments, to private ones. The last obstruction is the conflation of the Party and the government. “The principal accountability system under the leadership of the Party organization” is a confusing phrase, with the separation of authorities between the Party and the government blurred and the division of respective work unclear. As a result, the enforcement of the system varies among schools. The modern school system can be established only after an odyssey to tackle the obstructions mentioned above, but the urgency to set it up presses indefatigable exploration. Fundamental Connotations of the Modern School System System refers to the rules or norms of doing things and is crucial to guaranteeing, preserving, supervising, and restraining in a certain aspect. The school system is one that rules administration, teaching, society service, and school culture according to the functions of a school. The modern school system aims at catering to students’ nature and meeting their needs for growth by means of establishing a complete set of school

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administration norms and institutions to coordinate students, school staff, schools, and communities for sustainable development. The systematic institution consists of a school legal person system, governance system, property rights system (asset management system), system of interaction among schools and communities and families, as well as an internal teaching management system. The modern school system is an open, developing concept, whose inner attribute is modernity and whose connotations vary according to the times and society and conform to modern social ethics and features of a specific school. Each scholar may have a different way of expressing as they approach things from different perspectives, but the core is agreed on: Schools should open their gates to society, run themselves independently and legally, put people as the center, administrate democratically and scientifically, and adhere to the rule of law and democracy with the academics being their orientation. Building a modern school system requires consistent exploration and optimization. The modern enterprise system, as a reference, is an unprecedented system that bases itself on the developed enterprise corporate system and secures itself with the limited liability system, with the enterprise as the main entity. In this system, property rights are explicit, rights and liabilities are definite, and scientific administration is carried out by the entity rather than the government. The system consists of the enterprise corporate system, enterprise self-financing system, limited liability system for investors, scientific leadership system, as well as organization and management system. If an enterprise does not aim at profit-making, and the manager has no decision-making autonomy, then it is not a real modern enterprise. Though different from enterprises fundamentally, schools can learn from the modern enterprise system the structure and ways of running, especially the means to increase efficiency, which calls for basic elements such as a school corporate system, limited liability, establishing the school as the main entity, definite right and liability, as well as separate administration between the school and the government. The Outline of National Mid- and-Long Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) gives an account of the modern school system as follows28: 28  Outline of National Mid- and-Long Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020), sourced from China’s Central Government Portal, http://www.gov. cnjrzg2010-07/29/content_1667143.htm.

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(38) The separation between the government and the school, as well as that between administration and operation should be promoted. In coordination with China’s national conditions and demands of the era, a new set of relations between the government, the school, and society should be established by the modern school system, which ensures that schools will run in accordance with the rule of law, administrate itself autonomously, and uphold democratic supervision and society engagement. To correspond to the reform of the state administrative system, the rights and duties of the government and the school should be defined with explicitness. The diversity among schools should be preserved with an individualized administrative system and a school-running pattern that agree with different educational types. A mechanism to manage schools’ goal and performance should be developed. The publicization of school affairs should be further promoted and supervision from teachers, students, school staff, and the whole society should be embraced. With the advancement of the reform of public institution classification, the administrative system and related policies that match up with modern schools should be formulated, so that excessive administrational governance is prevented. (39) Schools’ autonomy should be guaranteed and enlarged. The government and its departments should establish the service consciousness, improve the ways of administration, and develop a supervision mechanism, so as to conduct less but normative administrative approval on schools and to ensure their autonomy and liability in school-running in accordance with the law. Within the framework of state laws and macro policies, universities enjoy extensive autonomy in teaching, researching, developing technologies, and serving society. Specifically, they are free to start or adjust disciplines and majors, to scheme for the school and implement it, to set up institutions in charge of teaching, researching, and administration, to manage and allocate talents, and to distribute funds and assets as they wish. General high schools and secondary vocational schools also merit further autonomy in terms of the patterns of school-running, means of cultivation, resource distribution, personnel management, cooperative education, and community service. (40) A modern university system with Chinese characteristics should be developed with an improved governance structure. Public universities ought to uphold and consummate the principal accountability system with the leadership of the Party committee. Rules of procedure and the decision-­making process are to be completed for the Party committee and principals to exercise lawful rights. Besides, the selection and appointment

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of university principals should be normalized. Academic committees shall play a role in constructing disciplines as well as academic evaluation and development. The effective ways for professors to conduct scholarly research should be explored, and their roles in teaching, academic research, and school administration should be given full play. The congress of school staff and students should be respectively built so that the masses can make a difference. The charters of schools should be strengthened. All higher educational institutions should design their charter in accordance with the law and manage the institution in accordance with its charter. Academic freedom should be championed to create a permissive environment. An employment system and position management system should be fully enforced, while a scientific assessment and inspiration mechanism should be established. Universities’ cooperation with society should be encouraged. Councils or boards of directors should be formed in universities so that society is allowed to support and supervise universities on a long-term basis. Effective patterns of coordination and cooperation between universities and industries or enterprises should be explored to incentivize the sharing of resources among universities, scientific research institutes, and social groups, with benefits delivered to economic construction and social development. Universities’ logistics are also urged to be open to the public. Evaluation of specialties should forge ahead. Professional organizations and social intermediary institutes are encouraged to evaluate universities on the level and quality of their disciplines, specialties, and courses. The assessment system should be more scientific and standard, with Chinese characteristics found on the basis of the cooperation with international high-level education evaluation organizations. A system should be in place for universities to publish their quality report annually. The Outline of National Mid- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) has such understanding of the modern school system: The system, which appeals for the separation between the government and the school as well as between operation and administration, and is based on lawful school-running, autonomous administration, democratic supervision, and social engagement, stands for China’s advanced conception of modern schools in 2010, but there is no certainty as to whether it can be achieved by 2020. Externally, running schools under the rule of law rather than governmental instructions is the precondition to establish a modern school system. Every school that is set up by law is inherent with autonomy to run

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itself, which belongs to groups like the senate instead of the principal or any others. Running schools under the rule of law embodies the idea of governing a country by law and paves a way toward the three aspects mentioned above. It demands administration under the rule of law of the government, management under the rule of law of the school, and engagement and supervision under the rule of law of society. Since the government interfered badly in school-running, only the rule of law can specify where schools stand in society and defend their autonomy from illegal intervention by external factors. Internally, the rule of law demands for standardizing all sorts of responsibilities and rights of the body according to the school rule. Every relation should be noticed, among which the most essential are students’ autonomy for study and their rights as the subject of study. Schools are inherently a platform that offers students opportunities to know and develop themselves. Students should determine their own future, instead of being “shaped” by a certain pattern. The key to ensure autonomous administration in modern schools lies in their position as complete legal persons. Within a framework where administration, operation, and evaluation are separated, schools enjoy the status of non-business legal person and the government only sets schools up and finances them before handing them over to educational intermediary organizations and professional administrative institutions. Only by then can administrative efficiency and professional quality get heightened, and the tax collected from taxpayers be made the most of. Only by establishing a school legal person system can schools administrate themselves autonomously under the protection of a hard shell. Democratic supervision refers to one that relies on certain committees to supervise all work in the school and to work together to effectively supervise the administrative power. Given that members in different schools have different preference, there are several kinds of internal governance structure that schools can adopt: One is the globally common principal chair system, which is under the leadership of the school democratic management committee (management committee, democratic autonomous management committee, school committee, school council); another is the principal accountability system; another is the principal chair system under the leadership of a board of directors (council); the other is the principal chair system under the leadership of education or business groups. Social engagement mainly refers to the participation of communities, families, human resource seekers, and alumni.

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To set up the modern school system, both the external and the internal relations must be dealt with. As for the external relations, three aspects are included: Relation between the school and the government, relation between the school and society, and relation between the school and other schools. As for the internal ones, basically there are the relation between the school and teachers, relation between the school and students, and even relations between teachers and students, those among teachers and among students are included. The key focus and core of a modern school system is to establish a system of education and teaching links. This system will be separated into internal and external and shall be introduced in the following.  he School’s Internal System T Internally, the inner system must root itself in pure study and direct itself with people-orientation, independent thoughts, and academic freedom. As a system that is implementable, it mainly ensures that teachers can teach and research independently without outside intervention and guarantees students’ scientific spirit which allows them to seek for the truth and tell the facts with their own eyes. It defends education, teaching, and academic research from the contamination of power, wealth, and desire and protects curiosity and exploration from fading with the strong counterforce of economic interests and political power. The current internal management system of schools in China logically conflicts with the transformation toward modern schools. First, work division between the Party and the government is unclear. Second, the status of teachers, students, and school staff are inexplicit. Third, the administrative power in schools is so overwhelming that academic power is out of sight. Lastly, students have neither shares of concrete rights nor shells to protect them. The inner system of the modern school system consists of at least the following three parts: The institutional and organizational system in which the school performs social functions as a social organization. Most countries and regions in the globe treat schools as non-business legal persons, whose major social functions are to cultivate talents and conduct research to meet social demands. These functions determine that corresponding systems are a must for them to be fully performed. The knowledge increment and discipline system in which the school produces and spreads knowledge as a knowledge organization. Everyone, whether he is young or old, educated or vulgar, should stand equal in face

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of the truth. And that is what the system pursues with knowledge put first, while everyone will have equal access to it regardless of his position or his being in the majority. Thus, a system that is democratic and inclusive is required by schools. The school teaching and degree system in which the school helps to cultivate talents as an educational organization. Schools are born as a palace of knowledge and the truth and bear the duty to cultivate ones that pursue the truth and master some professional skills. The law of pursuing truth and cultivating talents must be followed to perform the duty, which is the precondition for schools to serve society. As a consequence, this system is logically fundamental for modern schools. These three parts introduce two main bodies, namely, teachers and students, that the modern school system should serve. The foundation of the modern school system is teachers, whose status, rights, and awareness as master should be wakened so they can treat their position as a responsibility instead of a job to make living. The modern school system should provide teachers with favorable conditions and adequate opportunities to develop themselves and achieve their mission and that means sufficient manpower, funding, time, space, as well as rights to speak and know should be granted. The system also institutionally serves students as the school’s master. Every work of the school aims at cultivating students’ heart and soul and focuses on understanding and meeting their needs for growth and development. Every system should be designed to ensure students’ priority, whether in terms of school enrollment, the whole teaching process, school life, teaching assessment, or even graduation, with the purpose of inciting in-depth thinking about knowledge, research, and their whole life. Students are not to be surveilled but served, with equality, respect, and lessons from first-class teachers. To establish the inner administration system, schools are in urgent need of: First, the responsibility scope of the Party committee, the government, and the academy, as well as their relations should be defined. The work division of the party and the government should be made clear and the school’s orientation should no longer be administration or officials. Second, the status of teachers and students need confirming. At present, both teachers’ and students’ basic rights are not guaranteed, making it hard for the academic to add value and talents to grow. A school is unlikely to forge ahead unless its teachers are ensured with their interests. Three “products” contribute to a school’s social identity and its devotion to society: Its students, the achievements of teachers, and its social service.

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Third, the rather high level and focus of administration should be lowered. Only by adjusting the administrative focus can schools make the best of their experts and front-line teachers and tackle internal difficulties of all sorts with better efficiency and flexibility. Fourth, institutions should be set up to ensure students’ rights. For example, they merit full autonomy in self-administration and say in decision-­making. Student associations should be a microphone for students themselves, instead of an affiliate of Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) committee or a tool owned by counselors. In a student-centered school, resources of living and education should be distributed according to students’ needs. At universities, professors should engage in school administration, the academics should become relatively independent, and students should enjoy full autonomy.  he School’s External System T Externally, modern schools require a system that runs under the rule of law and deems schools as legal persons. The external system consists of multiple mechanisms of three layers, which are school-government layer, school-society layer, and school-school layer. As a legal person, the school is clearly distinguished from the government. It enjoys spacious freedom of creation since it is not an affiliate of the government; thus, it can do at will whatever is not prohibited by law, and it has the rights to supervise the government’s misconduct. The government’s duty lies in financing and funding schools according to the existing development outline, as well as modulating the scale, structure, and layout of education with economic means and, if necessary, administration, which should accord with laws and regulations, instead of words of the senior officer.29 Within the modern school system, the government has four duties on the school, which are ensuring the school’s conditions, serving the school’s development, supervising the school effectively, and championing fairness. To ensure the school’s conditions, according to Article 65 of the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, educational administrative departments should in the first place build the school using scientific layout planning, with land to be used for education preserved. To serve the school’s development, material and external service should be offered to ensure an 29  Yu Yueqing. The Government’s Function Regulation and Service of Macro-Management of Higher Education. Liaoning Higher Education Research, 1995(6).

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abundance in funds and to secure the campus from risks. And all walks of life should be called on to pay respect to teachers and education. To supervise the school effectively, the government needs to inspect on school-­ running, while the autonomy for a school to run itself, for students to learn, and for teachers to teach should be maintained. The usage of funds is also to be shed light on. Measures should be put in place to prevent the government from shifting its responsibilities to the school and intervening in the teaching and education process. To champion fairness, the government should develop basic education evenly without bias against schools in rural areas or those of private possession, or against needy students, who should be offered with subsidization to prevent poverty from depriving their access to schools. Special education should be supported, so that the individual needs of special children are met and society becomes inclusive to them. Private schools’ rights need securing in order to diversify the forms and types of school operators, thus catering to the diverse educational demands of the public. A learning society, in which everyone participates in lifelong learning, can be finally formed if education in schools and that in communities are connected. As one of the main players in the market, schools need to establish a normal exchange mechanism with the market. On the one hand, as one of the sources of school funding, the market is also one of the channels for raising education funds. On the other hand, the market can enhance the efficiency of education. Public education often appears as a policy monopoly. Due to the lack of pressure from market competition, the efficiency and quality of education is often much lower, and schools tend to be irresponsible to students. Furthermore, the market is also an important conversion for the diversification of school-running entities, which can break the monopoly of the government in running schools and play an important role in the optimization of the allocation in education funds. In the overall environment of market economy, vocational and higher education institutions, with the functions of cultivating specialized talents, promoting science development, and serving society, must establish closer ties with the labor market, knowledge commodity market, technology market, and various industrial sectors. Industries, institutions, as well as research are directly regulated by market activities, and it is necessary to constantly understand the needs of society and obtain social resources through its own services. Strengthening the participation of society in school affairs at the institutional level can enable schools to better understand the needs of society and employers. Higher education around the

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world has attached increasing importance to the establishment of market mechanisms. In 1995, the Education Report of Taiwan, China, pointed out that, in the planning of university education in human cultivation, the application of overall resources, social demands, and market functions should be taken into account.30 The educational factors in the formation of labor value around the world are increasing, and the commodification of complex labor is intensifying. Schools are no longer able to resist the “temptation” of the market. Independent third-party professional evaluation is an important component of the external system of modern schools. The evaluation of the level and quality of school subjects, majors, courses, and so on by professional institutions and social intermediaries is a product of the school’s development to a higher stage and is a professional lever to promote the overall quality of the school; only with a professional, scientific, and standardized evaluation system can we solve all the problems in modern education, such as the contradictions in diversified schools in terms of the school’s normative management, the problem of serious administrative tendency of the evaluation system, the pursuit of balance in the different educational quality demands of different stakeholders, the elimination of the government’s exclusive evaluation entity, as well as the absorption of multiple parties to participate in educational evaluation. By establishing an evaluation system of self-evaluation, peer-revision, and professional organization evaluation, the needs of modern school system construction can be finally met. The establishment of an independent third-party professional evaluation system can realize the true separation of management, evaluation, and action. Through its role in professional evaluation, it can carry out various types of evaluation such as professional assessment, curriculum assessment, institutional assessment, and subject assessment with professional indicators, thus evaluating, identifying, and examining the disciplinary strengths and school-running levels of different majors in different schools, so as to avoid measuring the schools with the same indicators. Measuring schools with the same indicators often make it difficult to identify a school’s running characteristics and the quality of a specific subject or major in a school.

30  Dai Xiaoxia. Proceedings of the Symposium on Cross-Strait Higher Education. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press, 1998, p. 112.

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The modern school is a part of the modern lifelong education system chain. It is an organizational component of the community relative to society. Therefore, we should also form a mutual participation and cooperation mechanism among schools, families, and communities. A benign, fair, and equal competition mechanism should be formed among schools and among the various entities within the school to comply with inter-­ school ethics. Procedures for Establishing a Modern School System Where should the establishment of a modern school system start? Different people hold different opinions on this. In fact, China has already practiced the establishment of a modern school system after introducing modern education into China. Peiyang University started the earliest modern university system construction in China, while the Imperial University of Peking imitated the Japanese system in the early years. These institutions, as well as the Peking University from 1921 to 1925, Southeast University from 1921 to 1925, Tsinghua University from 1931 to 1937, and Southwest Associated University which was established in April, 1939, were all classic examples of the practice of establishing a modern Chinese university system. Some famous primary and secondary schools established before and after also had their own school regulations to implement a modern school system. Since it involves the public and private school-running ideas, the school’s running system, the government’s school management system, and the school’s internal management structure, a more realistic path is to start from various aspects, to interact among all sides, and to make progress alternatively. In the process of establishing a modern school system with interaction among all sides, there should be common goals: To promote the full, overall, individualized, and lifelong development of students; to promote the professional development of principals, faculty, and staff; to promote the sustainable development of schools; and to promote the sustainable development in the community where the school is located. The most important and fundamental purpose is to realize the full and independent development of students. Under such a premise, several major steps in the construction of a modern school system are as follows: The first step is to secularize and specialize the school-running. The most important thing is to maintain the purity and professionalism of the

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school, to ensure the compatibility of the school, the freedom of thought, and the independence of research and studies. The second step is to separate the politics and schools as well as management and action and manage the school according to law. First, the legal person status of schools should be established according to law. We should improve the school legal person system through clarifying and defining the relationship between the government and the school, thus fostering an external market that is conducive to competition and establishing a more comprehensive supervision mechanism; we should also establish a track to prevent marketization and guarantee the independence, pluralism, and rule of law of teaching and research. The government needs to be clear about what it should do according to its responsibilities, so as avoid dereliction of duty, and what it should not do, otherwise it will break the law. Second, it is necessary to rely on a relatively complete legal and regulatory system to change the current school management style based on administrative instructions and to revise the Higher Education Law, thus changing the government’s direct management of higher education institutions into indirect ways such as legal supervision, financial funding, and so on. Schools at all levels must adopt a sound charter to enhance their sense of rights and responsibility, standardize the school’s major organizational principles and governance structure, conduct self-management in accordance with the charter under the rule of law, perform statutory duties, and refuse illegal intervention, so as to ensure the stable and sustainable development of the school. Third, all schools must formulate and improve the school regulations in accordance with national laws and take it as an important basis for school activities. Article 26 of the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that one of the basic conditions for the establishment of schools and other educational institutions is “to have organized institutions and regulations”; the first paragraph of Article 28 makes it clear that schools and other educational institutions should “conduct self-management in accordance with the charter.” Therefore, the school charter is the starting point and essential element of modern schools. It is the basis for the school’s self-management, self-discipline, and accepting supervision according to law. It is the basis for the school to formulate development plans and other rules and regulations. The school charter must be specific in defining the nature of the school, the rights and duties of the school, the organization of the school, the rights and duties of teachers and other

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employees, the rights and duties of students, the curriculum and teaching of schools, the management of schools, as well as basic relations between schools and families, schools and communities, logistics management, democratic management, and supervision. The charter of the university is formulated by the school and the corresponding government legislative institutions according to the legal procedures. It is adopted by the relevant legislative institutions responsible for higher education institutions and has the legal effect. The government manages the higher education institutions according to the laws and regulations or through the government’s participation in the board of directors. The board of directors does not interfere with the internal affairs of the higher education institutions. In the relationship between the government and the higher education institutions, the boundary between the government and the institutions is further clarified, and an efficient and capable government management and service system should be established. The general characteristics are that the government and the institutions are separated, the school is self-managed, and the power is decentralized, which are all the necessary process of the establishment of a modern university system under the current conditions. Governing the school according to law is to regulate the school’s education, teaching, scientific research, and social service activities, manage school affairs, guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of teachers and students, and realize institutionalized, standardized, procedural, and scientific school education, management, and operation by implementing school rules and regulations in accordance with national laws. Ordinary primary and secondary schools should also have their own charters to regulate the relationships and activities between the various subjects within the school. All school charters and regulations are the school’s public devices, which should be jointly established and observed by teachers, students, faculty, and staff but not used privately. In particular, they cannot be used by people with certain administrative power to constrain those without. The third step is to design and improve the internal democratic management of the school based on professional ideas. To improve the system and manage the internal affairs of the school according to law, the basic spirit of law, democracy, professionalism, and openness must be implemented in terms of teaching system, personnel system, financial system, legal person system, and democratic participation system, thus standardizing teaching, personnel management (including

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teachers and students), finance, and so on, and manage the staff and affairs with regulations. In this respect, over the past 100 years, China has accumulated a lot of experience, such as ruling the school by professors, setting up council or professors’ meeting. “Major items such as school charters, regulations, approvals, disciplines, curriculum, teacher recruitment, school’s budget and financial account must be discussed and decided by the council before they are implemented.”31 The administration should not override the academics, but serve the academics. We should run the school with the spirit of democracy and science and resist all kinds of social interference that violates the rules of education and teaching. The fourth step is to establish a developmental evaluation system for modern schools. Establishing a scientific and standardized evaluation system is an inevitable requirement for establishing a modern school system. China has a large gap with other countries in professional evaluation. The school’s evaluation system has a series of problems such as serious administrative tendency, lack of multi-stakeholder participation, lack of professionalism, and unscientific design of indicators. Thus, it is difficult to meet the requirements of building a modern school. The establishment of third-­ party evaluation system should focus more on the construction of intermediary evaluation organization. The reason for the emergence of intermediary assessment organizations is that the interests of education tend to be diversified, and the control of education is transferred from the government to the school itself and the market.32 The use of intermediary organizations for evaluation can not only better reflect the interests of different stakeholders in education, but also better ensure that the assessment can be objective and scientific, since intermediary organizations can be more professional as they are not directly managed by the government and they rely on their own credibility to survive. Therefore, intermediary assessment organizations should be actively engaged in the assessment of the level and quality of school disciplines, majors and courses, and we should establish necessary deliberation, consultation, and assessment institutions, which can provide relatively objective reference basis for the decision-­making of schools and governments, and allow the management decision-making process to be more scientific and democratic. To improve 31  Liu Kexuan, Fang Mingdong. Peking University and Tsinghua University (I). Beijing: National School of Administration Press, 1998, p. 53. 32  Ma Yanqi. Innovation of Modern University System and Higher Education Evaluation System. Jiangsu Higher Education, 2008(1).

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the evaluation level of modern Chinese schools as soon as possible, on the one hand, we must cooperate with international high-level educational evaluation agencies to make the assessment standards of Chinese schools in line with international standards; on the other hand, we must give full play to third-party forces such as local evaluation agencies, industry ­associations, and professional societies. With the focus on promoting the separation of management, action, and evaluation, we must establish a diversified evaluation system with comprehensive use of evaluation, certification, auditing, and other forms of assessment. The fifth step is to form a modern school culture. Under the background of knowledge economy, the modern school system is a school system that is people-oriented, education-centered, and connected with the market economy and follows the ecological rules of school education.33 Modern schools are guided by the modern concept of education. The core and foundation of the system is academic freedom, which reflects humanistic care. Its basic characteristics include democracy, balance, humanity, openness, and so on. Through system construction, adolescents should be provided with adequate, equal, orderly, low-cost, and high-quality education services to cultivate civic spirit to the largest extent; teachers should be ensured to carry out independent academic research, without interference from factors outside the academic forces; the system should be set up to ensure that students can independently explore and identify the truth, especially in the face of the struggle among the spirit of science, the pressure of power, and the desire for wealth, so as to ensure that academic research in schools is not driven and transformed by commercialization and various interests and powers and maintain the true spirit of knowledge seeking and exploration. The modern school system must create equal opportunities for the public to obtain the qualified education service. Within the school, we should try to balance and coordinate the decision-making power, daily management power, and supervision power as much as possible, so as to form an effective internal governance culture based on democracy and the rule of law, which is reflected in the democratic decision-making mechanism, management responsibility mechanism, and supervision and balancing mechanism.

33  Zhu Xiaoman, Liu Guihua. Function, Environment and System: The Construction of Modern School System Based on Ecological Concept. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Science), 2006(2).

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The sixth step is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between the school and society. With the legal person status and right of autonomy, schools should actively participate in society as social entities, who should not only serve society, but also lead society, and try to establish their own multilateral relationship with society rather than just unilateral relationship with the government. After the realization of diversification of school-running entities, the government monopoly in school-running should be broken; the role of the market in the allocation of educational funds should be strengthened; the enrollment of students, courses, and majors should be connected with the employment of higher education institutions; the integration of industry, education, and research should be achieved. In the above steps, the former is the basic premise of the latter, and there is no strict sequence. Therefore, in the process of building a modern school system, different people can choose different plans according to their own conditions and push forward their plans from different starting points.

5.5   The School’s Humanistic Management Principle and the Procedure Design The establishment of modern school system only provides an institutional basis for a defined ideal school, but it does not mean that all schools with the system are ideal schools. Humanistic management in schools may be partially implemented in schools without the system. If it is implemented in schools with the system, they will enter a more ideal state. However, it must be clearly realized that humanistic management is the most difficult way in school management, rather than the simplest one. Humanistic schools should not only take the system as the foundation, but should also establish diversified and inclusive school culture, so as to nourish the diversity and independence of teachers and students, and enable them to learn, reflect, cooperate, and share with each other in the diversified environment. The humanistic management of the school needs to scientifically deal with the relationship among the elements of the school, promote the harmony among these elements, and enhance the clarity of work, so as to make every party in the school understand, care, and support each other, then finally form a harmonious and pleasant psychological environment. Through rational and democratic decision-making and management, a

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harmonious, scientific, institutionalized, democratic, and humanized management within the school should be achieved, and the harmony among people, system, and emotion should be well reflected. Administrators of humanistic schools should be fair and have a thorough understanding of humanism and strong personal attractiveness. The educational concept of “serving students’ growth and laying a foundation for their development” should be formed in the campus. Everyone should focus their energy and wisdom onto the healthy and harmonious development of students. Science and democracy are the essential qualities of humanistic management in schools. Science requires a careful study of existing problems, and not only the principal alone, but also the teachers and students should make decisions together after reaching a consensus. Democracy is about trusting teachers and students and let them become the true masters of the school. The principal should be upright and make the school’s decision-­making process open and transparent. When all kinds of interpersonal relations in the school are harmonious and everyone can feel the energy of such harmony, then follow this kind of trend, so as a harmonious atmosphere between each other, the efficiency of learning will naturally be higher and the students will be healthier both physically and psychologically with more beautiful mind and more humanistic growth. Growth Demand Orientation After establishing the principle of taking the needs of students’ growth and development as the first basis of school work, it is necessary to implement it through corresponding systems and change the current exam-­ oriented school management mode. Strict discipline is an old tradition in China, and many people still like it and regard it as a feasible and effective means of education. A man’s instinct will resist the strict control of the outside world, but the man, before the formation of his own consciousness, is entirely a passive recipient, and in nearly ten to twenty, or more years of restraint, would lose his nature. During childhood, children always live under the care of adults, so most adults are used to making decisions for their children and do not let children make their own decisions. Over time, it becomes a big problem in education. Not only are parents reluctant to give up the habit of making decisions for their children, but also teachers in schools, educational administrators, and even government officials do not want them to make

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decisions. Therefore, many rights originally belonging to children are occupied by adult society. Many adults even repeatedly declare that this is good for the children, but in essence, this does harm to the child invisibly and endlessly. The demand of growth and development refers to the demand generated or produced in the process of the growth of human. In practice, the first thing to do is to understand the growth and development needs of students from three levels, which include holistic, group, and individual. The holistic demand is the common demand in the specific growth stage of the general individual, such as the thirst for knowledge and the need for communication. Group needs refer to the needs of a specific class or informal group under a specific natural environment and cultural background, such as rural children’s yearning for urban life and urban children’s yearning for nature. Individual needs are mainly based on the various needs presented by an individual’s unique potential at each stage of growth. Humanistic school management should not only fully understand the overall and collective needs of students, but also design corresponding teaching and management mechanisms to understand and try to meet the needs of the growth and development of individual students. Understanding and satisfying the growth and development needs of individual students cannot be obtained as easily as testing static physical objects. Of course, some scales can be used as reference to test students, but this kind of measurement may not be accurate and complete but has its necessity just as a reference basis. The more important mechanism to be established in schools is to design diverse learning and living approaches for students, so that they can choose independently on the basis of experience, as is shown in Fig. 5.5.

Fig. 5.5  Schematic diagram of the mechanism of understanding and meeting the personalized needs of students

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The first basic work for the school is to provide as many diverse curriculum and activity resources as possible for students to choose independently and provide opportunities for students to participate in and experience. In addition to the selection and participation of students in these activities, the school can evaluate different students using different criteria according to their will. In the evaluation process, students are diagnosed and tested their personality and character, and the results are provided for their reference of further participation and selection. In short, school education should meet the growth and development needs of students in sequence according to the logic of the needs. However, meeting the needs in the school is not the same as feeding, but a very complex process. Someone once expounded the theory of adding salt into soup: The human body needs salt, but if a man was required to eat salt directly, it would taste very bitter and salty to him, and he would not want to eat it every day. But if we put salt in the food or soup to make all kinds of dishes or soups, food which is originally not too delicious becomes tasty. There is even a saying that, “to be sweet, put some salt.” People like to eat salt while having soup and enjoying dishes. When the body absorbs the salt it needs, good health will be ensured. Humanistic schools need to emulate the salt-soup theory, and let the students choose their favorite food, preferred learning content, and learn in the way they enjoy, which is the most suitable for their nature of education. Only in this way can we enhance pertinence, improve effectiveness, then keep close to, serve and meet the needs of students’ growth and talent to the maximum extent. In the concrete form of schools, the student association independently organized by students is the most effective organization form to show and satisfy the individual needs of students. Student association is an important carrier of students’ growth and can carry out diversified activities, including social investigation, volunteer service, public welfare activities and work–study activities, and scientific and technological innovation activities. Through participating in the association activities which help realize self-education, self-management, and self-service, students can not only improve their ability in various aspects, but also enhance their sense of social responsibility. In addition, the school should arrange the curriculum and teaching to meet the academic demand of students, which is also the biggest demand that students have in the school. These arrangements include guiding students through their education process in a highly responsible and

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professional manner and offering professional support, in order to regulate their growth and development, to stimulate their enthusiasm and motivation of learning, to mobilize their positivity and initiative of learning, and to form the study habit of diligently learning, striving for progress, being honest and trustworthy, and daring to innovate. The curriculum and professional design of the school need to be closely connected with the needs of society at one end and the needs of students’ growth and development at the other end, leaving the choice of learning to students and creating the conditions that enable everyone to make their own right choices on what to learn, what to get after learning, and what to achieve after learning. The growth of students is not of a single dimension, but should be based on the basis of student life. The management of humanistic schools cannot diverge from the real life; instead, it should be based on the basis of life and need to meet the demand of students’ life within a certain scope. This is particularly the case for boarding students, where it is all the more important and necessary for schools to meet their living needs. Schools need to ensure the safety and quality of students’ accommodation, ensure that the food price in the canteen is not higher than the market price, enrich students’ after-school life, and help the students who have financial difficulties, while the corresponding management should be as much scientific and humanistic as possible, in order to satisfy students. Schools need to adjust the teaching ideas, systems, methods, and conditions based on the growth and development needs of students, make reasonable arrangement during the studying process in terms of the relationship of theory study and hands-on practice, and include all the growth demand of students in the school teaching plan and examination system with provision of necessary funds, rather than just focus on a single aspect of access to short-term interests. As a result, the social experience and understanding as well as the social sense of responsibility of the students can be enhanced and their ability to connect their potential with the needs of society can be improved, thus enabling the students to understand their strengths, obtain self-confidence, find the gap between themselves and others, get enlightenment from education, enhance their ability, and improve their own quality. Schools also need to meet the cultural and spiritual needs of students, so that students can enrich their spiritual life, sublimate their moral realm, improve their humanistic quality, and constantly improve their personality, temperament, accomplishment, and other internal qualities. Schools should

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guide students to conduct independent analysis and judgment on the basis of a large number of basic facts, thereby improving their abilities to analyze, judge, and avoid temptation. Schools should also teach the students to judge truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good and evil on the basis of personal experience, establish the belief of perfect personality and ideal society, and form their own world view, as well as outlook on life and values. Schools, under their own limited resources, should make full use of network resources to meet the needs of the development and growth of the students and enable students to use the Internet to obtain information, to post a comment, to express their views, to participate in public affairs, and understand the social service demand. Schools should make the most of this important channel with ideological, informative, and interesting contents that broaden the students’ horizons and guide students to browse the Internet in a proper way. Students’ growing-demand orientation should also focus on the factors that affect students’ healthy growth. For example, due to the long-term spoil from their parents, students are lacking in practice and training; have a relatively weak mentality and state of mind as well as a low level of self-­ control; and are unable to adapt to the rhythm of a rapidly developing and increasingly competitive society. Under increasing academic pressure, economic pressure, psychological stress, emotional stress, and employment pressure, many students suffer from anxiety, depression, and phobia, while there is also a vast increase in the number of people with psychological problems, along with a growing number of cases of irrational behaviors such as running away from home, self-harm, and suicide. These are realistic and stressful growth needs, which call for high attention of the schools. The school needs to establish and improve the internal psychological education. With an understanding of individuals’ real needs, the school should guide such students to establish a positive and enterprising life attitude, improve their mental adjustment ability, and cultivate good mentality. Schools should guide students to treat themselves, others, and society correctly, to face difficulties, setbacks, and honors correctly, to eliminate psychological confusion, to enhance the ability to overcome difficulties and withstand setbacks, to cherish life, to care about the community, to accept themselves, and to embrace others, thus realizing healthy growth. A school management oriented by students’ growth needs and one that is centered by administration are two vastly different educational management models. The former emphasizes that all school work serves students’ growth and development and respects students’ independent consciousness. In contrast to the previous education management model for

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students which focused on “restriction,” “preaching,” and “discipline” and constrained and controlled the students according to the rules and regulations, the student-oriented education management model emphasizes the understanding of the students as full and accurate as possible, intends to serve the growth and development of the students according to the changes of their psychological characteristics and growth, and changes the way of management from control to service, from the previous superior-­subordinate relationship to equal friendship, thus making the school management work really go deep into the minds of students. The service consciousness that a growing-demand orientation of school management advocates is certainly not to give up education or management but is based on more in-depth professional knowledge of the growth and development of people, with respecting other people’s personalities as the basis and with understanding the real growth development needs as the prerequisite. It advocates to change the education and management mode into a mode of service, thereby making the education management process more humanistic and preventing students and non-professional family members from going astray due to their unfamiliarity with the pattern of growth and development. The school should be responsible to provide professional judgment for students while leaving the final choice to the students. The Structural Features of Humanistic School Management Putting people first, if implemented in the school-running, means to be student-oriented. Therefore, it is necessary to change the interpersonal relationship and institutional settings within the school. The establishment of the relationship of all aspects must be based on the following concepts: First, take students’ growth and development as the central work in school-running, adhere to the idea of trying every means to serve students’ growth, and take students as the fundamental starting point and foothold of school work; second, respect students’ personality, basic rights, as well as individual value and social value, thus establishing the concept of respecting students’ status as the main subject of school work; third, fully affirm the legitimate interests of students, try to meet the needs of students in the process of growth and development as much as possible, and uphold the idea of understanding the legitimate interests of students. Therefore, it determines that the humanistic school must transfer the previous situation of part of people being the administrator and the other part

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being the subordinate, to the joint management of all members of the school. The basic characteristics of the school management structure are as follows. Flat The current management of school is one from top to bottom, and everyone’s relationship with others is in some leader-follower ones, and even in the class, there is a class monitor-class member relationship within all the members of the class, so most people become passive followers who have always feared the authority and the system and whose enthusiasm and creativity have been much restricted. Only in a flat mode of organization can the human value of as many individuals as possible be approximately equal to 1, and can the school be closer to a learning organization and give full play to the internal creativity of all the members of schools. A flat school management is the requirement of the final goal of realizing the equality of every member, and it works well to solve the overlapping, redundancy, and low efficiency in school-running under the hierarchical management of a school, which fastens the operation of information and improves the efficiency of decision-making, and at the same time also cuts down the distortion and loss in the intermediate procedures. In this kind of management, all kinds of personnel and institutions of the school need to directly face the students, solve the problems of students from a certain aspect, and form a system as a whole. Since there is more than one student in the actual school, the school with flat management in reality is a multiple superposition shown on the right of Fig.  5.6, forming a dish structure. This kind of school

Fig. 5.6  Changes in the management structure of humanistic schools

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management requires schools to be of moderate size, which means that some large schools at present need to be reduced to a moderate size. Down-to-Earth Student-oriented schools need to shift the focus of their work to the areas that students are most concerned about, take students’ internal needs as their working orientation, and effectively meet their fundamental needs. Its focus of work is not in the principal’s office, not in the academic affairs office or other school administrative agencies and departments, and also not in the teaching and research office. School principals, administrators, and teachers need to put their focuses and efforts on students. In fact, many schools are run by officials and bosses at present, so it is difficult to put people first and lower their point of focus. Therefore, it is necessary to delegate the power to realize the independent and joint management of teachers and students, so as to develop the qualities of students’ self-­ discipline, independence, and self-improvement. The down-to-earth mode requires the school to take the students’ development as the center of its own needs rather than its own political achievements or gains, and adjust the structure of needs and requirements of the school, so as to guide the school staff and students with the unification of the school’s education goals and personal goals for the success of each student, thus making “for all students, for all about students, all for the students” not an empty slogan, creating a variety of possible conditions to stimulate students’ intrinsic motivation of talent to the greatest degree, and putting the focus truly on education itself. Networked The so-called networked mode is to transform the one-way or single-line connections between teachers, students, staff, and various institutions to multi-line connections. The networked mode is determined by the demand, and the demand determines the relationship. The diversity of demand and the difference of different students’ demand determine that the relationship within the school should be a networked one, but not as it is now, which is just radial with power as its center. A humanistic school’s management mode needs networked relationship. Many teachers and students’ relationship is based on love and care or common interest rather than formal official relationship, which determines that the existing school setting will encounter problems that cannot be adapted to, so it needs to be adjusted to give more space and time for informal communication between teachers and students.

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The network itself enables everyone to play a full role in the school, which means that everyone’s strengths may become the educational resources in the school for others to enjoy; at the same time, the responsibilities between people can also be expanded, thus forming a broader and more complex chain of responsibility. The development of modern information technology provides information support for the networked school structure, so that part of school structure which previously needs to rely on systems or institutional settings can be replaced by information, thus reducing the number of school systems and institutions that needs to be set up and realizing the school’s educational function via networked communication. Interactive The current school management is more like a closed, mandatory, and inpouring mode, which emphasizes the common restrictions on students’ studies, but ignores the initiative and participation of students as well as the service to students and also ignores the individual creativity of students, which is not beneficial to the independent formation of students’ personality. The basic assumption of humanistic school management is that it must face each individual student, respect, care, and guide each student, and promote the individual growth of each student, rather than “carve” students according to the standards of schools and teachers. Interactive education is the transformation from preaching and indoctrination to inquiry, heuristics, inducement, and creative education, with the emphasis on the awakening of human nature and the transformation from the external control of students to the independent internal control of students. Instead of preparing lessons, designing teaching, and managing schools behind closed doors, teachers and schools should actually determine how to internalize educational content according to students’ internal needs. Students’ active needs and teachers’ active teaching promote and choose each other. Instead of passive acceptance in the past, we should interact with each other equally, pay attention to inner experience, and grow together. Both management and education should be paid equal attention to, and mutual education and mutual progress should be made. Institutionalized management and humanized management should be combined to care for, understand, and support each other. From passive and compulsory management to active and democratic co-management, we should strive to ensure that all the staff can understand management

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and the rules of education, establish the sense of service, and integrate democratic life style into education management. Interaction itself requires openness, and thus diverse, independent, and equal subjects can interact with one another. If there exists status difference, the interaction between different subjects is difficult to work, so mutual respect in the school is the precondition of interaction among the members, and what is especially needed is the principal’s respect for teachers and students, teachers’ respect for students, and regarding every student as an independent individual, a developing individual, an independently developing individual, and an individual equal to themselves, so as to let the teachers and students grow together with shared happiness. Asymmetric Most campuses nowadays stress symmetry, from the buildings to the facilities, and the school organization structure, for example, a certain administrative post is often with one principal and two deputies, or one and three, while the requirement for students, which is “the comprehensive development,” also emphasizes the symmetry. However, due to the diversity and uniqueness of people, the formal symmetry in educational practice is often difficult to play an effective role. The most important educational work in a school is often done by a few teachers; what is really necessary is only a few of the school’s many institutions; it is often one or two of the many courses offered by the school that work for the students, especially for certain specific students. Therefore, management of each school should be personalized, and cater as much as possible to the students’ growth and development needs, and to the best of their mind and personality, with the pursuit of nature but not a complete and symmetrical form or the conformity with other schools. It should put the students’ legitimate rights in the first place, meet the needs of students’ learning and life to the greatest extent, and compress the parts as much as possible where it cannot meet the demand of students, so as to seize the key point rather than cover everything. In terms of the organizational form of the school, asymmetry turns the previous focus on formal organizations to the focus on the development of students’ informal associations, which can be spontaneous or self-­ conscious, so that students can find their interest points in club activities, thus activating the academic atmosphere and enhancing the academic cohesion of the school.

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In short, the structure of humanistic schools needs to be determined according to how schools can effectively serve the growth of students and carry out teaching, research, management, and social services with the cultivation of talents as the main focus. Such a structure requires the reduction of management organizations and managers, so as to avoid the passive state of schools, teachers, and students; students’ learning independence, teachers’ teaching independence, and school-running independence are thus guaranteed. The school is in an autonomous environment and has a strong spirit of independence. Its basic features are openness, equality, participation, cooperation, innovation, and sustainability, which ensure the timely meeting of the needs of different students in the school. Teachers and students as well as education administrators work together to form a learning community. Everyone is here for learning and growth, with a positive attitude to care for life and to create happiness. Operating Procedures of Humanistic School Management The source of humanistic school management is the demand of students’ growth and development, and it is the information source of school teaching, management, evaluation, and other activities. The school should arrange the subsequent work according to the information on the growth and development of students, rather than set a target subjectively, and cannot simply arrange and cover the school with administrative instructions. Its basic operating procedure is shown in Fig. 5.7. As is shown in the figure, the first task of the school is let school staff and various institutions understand the growth and development needs of

Fig. 5.7  Operating procedures of humanistic school management

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different students and store relevant information into the information feedback platform of the school for each link to use. Teachers design the teaching according to their understanding of the needs of students’ growth and development as well as the information obtained from teaching resources and the information platform; school administrators conduct school management according to the needs of students’ growth and development, teachers’ teaching needs, school regulations, and information obtained from the information platform; the evaluators shall conduct the evaluation of students’ growth according to the needs of students’ growth and development, teachers’ teaching situation, school management situation, multiple evaluation standards, and information obtained from the information platform; and the information of the evaluation shall be stored in the school information feedback platform for reference in subsequent teaching links. In general school management, the above process is a continuous cycle, and the previous cycle of information is the basis for the next cycle. Ensuring that every link of work is rigorous is crucial to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of students. In each link of teaching, management, and evaluation, students’ opinions and suggestions should be fully listened to, and records and procedures should be open and transparent as much as possible, as a basis for evaluating teachers’ work and understanding students’ academic performance. The school’s main work should have strict procedures, the decisions involving students’ growth and development must only be approved after multiple rounds of discussions to understand the situation and analyze the advantages and disadvantages, and a consensus as well as a common vision of the teachers, students, and school administrators should be reached, with all parties obtaining corresponding information, decision-making, and governance rights as the standard of the humanistic school management process. In order to protect these rights, students need to have substantial independence. There need to be autonomous organizations that are completely autonomous and set up in accordance with democratic procedures, which can smoothly express the demands of students’ growth and development and protect the rights of students’ independent growth and vital interests. Teachers should have their own organizations to protect their rights and have professional training, to ensure that teachers exercise their right to independent teaching based on their own

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understanding of students and professional awareness, and to ensure that teaching does not become a tool of external forces. Public school principals should be selected at statutory levels; even the appointment of teachers and students must be subject to certain public opinion expression process; the administrative department cannot appoint principals who cannot be accepted by teachers and students. Teachers and students can supervise and impeach the principal in accordance with the school charter or relevant procedures during the principal’s term of office. The lack of guarantee of the above rights of teachers and students will not make the school truly people-oriented. The evaluation of students, teachers’ promotion, capital allocation, and so on within the school shall have rules and procedures determined in advance by fully legal democratic procedures. Professional committees and other forms of organizations shall be formed in accordance with rules and procedures, and the agreement shall be reached after fair, open, and professional assessment under the auspices of the organization, and links of public announcement, appeal, and reconsideration shall be set up, which are subject to the supervision of teachers and students outside of the committee. The abovementioned process is the practice of humanistic education. Only through the above process can people be cultivated to respect the rights of others and maintain their own rights, and at the same time understand their obligations and treat others as equals.

CHAPTER 6

Evaluation: Toward Pluralism and Independence

China has a long history of examination, but the current professional level of educational assessment lags behind that of most countries in the world. The main reason lies in the long-term use of a single evaluation method under the control of administrative power and the lack of competition and comparison, leading to the situation that there are no talents under a single standard. It is an inevitable direction for the evaluation of humanistic education to move toward pluralism and independence, which in line with human nature will bring forth a large number of talents and meet the needs of China’s social development. How to evaluate education and people is directly related to how to assume the human nature. When the appraisal power is in the hands of administrative power, the main function of the evaluation is to control or select; people-oriented developmental evaluation’s ultimate basis is human nature; this way of evaluating should not be on the basis of the administrative authority, so as to meet the goals of promoting people’s growth and development. The function of the evaluation itself is to serve people’s growth and development. Humanistic evaluation needs to clarify the responsibility and right boundary between the evaluation and the evaluated and establish an evaluation system with multiple participation. The evaluation should be based on what kind of people they are, rather than shape people by evaluation. Good educational evaluation is one of the necessary conditions for the benign development of modern society. People-oriented educational © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_6

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evaluation needs to ensure the principal status of the people, give full play to the pioneering drive of the people, and promote their independent development. It is not a kind of power in itself but means to make objective and real measurement and record of the growth and development state of students according to their nature and find out the potential direction of the growth and development of the students, so as to provide a reliable basis for the education of students from all sides. At the same time, it is one of the basic systems for promoting social equity and justice, improving people’s well-being, liberating and developing social productive forces, enhancing social vitality, and promoting more efficient, equitable, and sustainable development of all social programs. It is an important lever to promote equal access to basic public services, accelerate the formation of a scientific and effective social governance system, and ensure that society is vibrant, harmonious, and orderly. It is one of the contents of building a law-based government and a service-oriented government and working to rationalize the relationship and de-administration between public institutions and competent authorities. It is an integral part of the formation of a complete and effective system that adopts scientific norms to make all aspects of the system more mature and more stereotyped and will play an important role in building a society with equal elements between urban and rural areas and between regions. The essence of evaluation is to promote students to develop in a more clear and confident direction. How to establish an educational evaluation system oriented to promoting the personalized growth of students is no longer an individual thing, but something concerning everyone.

6.1   There Are No Talents Under a Single Standard For decades, that China’s education, with the largest population in the world and profound cultural and historical foundation, failed to cultivate many outstanding talents has become a mystery that many people are trying to solve. The key to this mystery is educational evaluation. In practice, how to evaluate a person determines how to teach, whether teaching can really serve a person, and whether a person can grow. If the evaluation deviates from this goal, or deviates from the realization of this goal, then the more is invested to education, the greater the damage will be. For decades, it is because of the use of an overly unitary standard to evaluate

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education targets that Chinese education has suffered serious obstacles to the growth and development of talents. Who Is the Demander of “One Single Standard” In June 1979, the newly opened China sent a delegation to the United States to make research on primary education, who wrote a report after returning home. In the same year, as an exchange visit, the United States sent a research team to China and also wrote a research report. According to the report of the Chinese education research team, American students were full of ambition regardless of their virtue and ability. Primary school students in the second grade, who were almost illiterate and use fingers to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, talked about invention and creation every day; they focused on music, physical education, and esthetic education rather than math, physics, and chemistry; the classroom was almost out of control, and the worst was that there were even students wandering everywhere in the classroom as if strolling on the streets. The conclusion was that primary education in the United States was already out of control, and China was bound to catch up with and surpass the superpower in technology and culture in another 20 years. And according to the report of the US research team, in class, Chinese primary school students liked to cross their arms and put them on the table in front and did not change the posture randomly unless the teachers asked questions and they tended to raise their right hands. Before 7 a.m., students were the most common people to see on the streets of China. Chinese students had “homework,” which was the continuation of school work at home; in China, students with the highest test scores were called excellent students and usually receive a certificate, while others did not. The conclusion was that Chinese students were the most hardworking in the world, and their academic performance was the best compared with that of students of the same grade in any country in the world. It was predicted that in 20 years, China would leave the United States far behind in terms of technology and culture. Twenty years later, the so-called sick basic education in the United States produced dozens of Nobel laureates and more than 100 intellectual billionaires. No school in China produced such a talent. Thirty-five years later, even those who studied and worked hard in the United States after receiving high-school or college education in China did not perform better than those educated in the United States.

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The failure of the two reports to come true showed that the two sides had incomplete information on how to manage schools and evaluate students, among which the evaluation problems called for the most consideration of all Chinese educators. After reviewing the evaluation practice of China’s education in recent decades, the single-standard evaluation of education comes from the overall control and arrangement of education by administrative power, which covers not only the management and teaching of schools, but also how to evaluate students, teachers, and schools. Though the idea of “Health comes first while study the second”1 has long been put forward, and a student health record card system2 was also established in the 1954–1955 academic year for students in their third year of high school, but in reality, due to the lack of rigid assessment, the decline of Chinese students’ physical fitness continued for a long time. After 2000, several consecutive surveys on students’ physical fitness showed that Chinese students’ physical fitness showed an overall declining trend. In the moral aspect of ideological and political education, almost every year, the relative departments would issue some documents to provide some improving measures. However, when students became members of the society after graduation, the low moral status of the whole society aroused widespread public concern, and when these students went abroad, they would even make our nation lose face. For decades, the problems in the quality of China’s education have been rising, but because of years of lack of clarification in education quality standards in China, in a rather long period of time, political standards have been serving as the standard of education quality, and there have been so much documents over and over again being issued in requirement to strengthen the students’ political and ideological education. Even if other aspects were addressed, the requirements still just use the much political-­ related standard to replace the scientific evaluation of the students. On February 12, 1979, Jiang Nanxiang, Minister of Education, said in response to a question from the press, “At present, schools are shifting their emphasis to learning rather than no-learning, to paying attention to exercise rather than not; and to establish a normal teaching order. Now 1  Mao Zedong. Selected Letters of Mao Zedong. Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1983, p. 401. 2  Central Institute of Educational Sciences. Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 118.

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what kind of talent we want is still those good in the three aspects of morality, intelligence and physical quality.”3 After 1985, the standard of education evaluation has tended to be monotonous, and examination has become the only means in reality. Test scores become in fact the only basis of evaluating, and the graduation rates become the overriding measure of the quality of education, the practice of education evaluation is more and more based on the college entrance examination, though measures like the high-school examination, supervision, and evaluation have been taken during this process, there is still no measure stronger than the entrance examination in evaluating education, which has caused many problems in China’s education quality. Sorting out the documents on education quality issued by the government over the past 60 years, we can find that, on the one hand, the government has been issuing documents to explain the definition of education quality and required schools to run schools in accordance with the educational quality specified by the documents; on the other hand, due to the diversity of educational reality, the explanatory power of documents issued by the government on educational reality is very limited. Almost every time when a document is published, it will always emphasize that it is important to “strengthen the Party’s leadership over education,” which makes it difficult for professional educational evaluation standards to form and play a role, and the constant emphasis on “all-round development of morality, intelligence and body” gradually evolves into a single standard with the highest power of interpretation. Education evaluation under administrative control is determined by the uniqueness of administrative power. In order to facilitate their own control, administrative parties naturally choose a single standard. They have a greater demand for a single standard than any educational party. Thus, it generates the official-oriented school management, teaching-oriented teaching, and score-oriented evaluation in the educational practice, so that all education follows the final logic that everyone accepts the control of a common controller, who tends to control all the people with a series of “standard answers” as the control tools of the students’ growth and development. This means that catering to the examiners will enable people to receive high scores and benefits and finally get into a good school; otherwise, the opportunity will be lost. As a result, many students in more than 3  Central Institute of Educational Sciences. Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 542.

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ten years of test training have formed a profit-oriented and passive personality, and those who pass the test have become refined egoists with high scores and low ability, greatly reducing their human value. Professional evaluators also need relatively uniform standards to some extent, from the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale to various measuring tools now. And different from administrative control of a single evaluation, all of the professional standards cannot be imposed on by evaluators, but can be applied only when the evaluated or those who need the evaluation results have acknowledged the evaluation scheme. Different professional evaluators can design different professional evaluation standards and methods, and on the whole, they constitute a diverse and inclusive evaluation ecology. Similarly, individuals also need relatively consistent standards to some extent, because they need to compare themselves with others. However, the individual’s demand for such standards is not absolute and can even be replaced by different standards. Relatively speaking, individuals need more standards, so that they can choose a more suitable one for their own evaluation, rather than accept the mandatory evaluation by the only standard. From the point of view of the whole population, the result of evaluating all people by one standard is that all people are not talents and have difficulties in becoming talents. In reality, people who are evaluated by a single standard often have a passive personality. This kind of person usually does what the teacher asks him to do at once; he will also do quickly what his parents tell him to do. But when his teachers and parents do not tell him what to do, he does nothing and does not know what to do. There are already many such people, causing a huge waste of the country’s human resources. Much money has been spent in cultivating some people who are weak, spiritless, and less energetic. Over time, these people will cause social problems when they go into society. In terms of the test scores having the highest recognition in China, those with low test scores are eliminated. They are not considered as talents by this evaluation and lose the opportunity to receive a higher level of education, which hurts their self-confidence and self-esteem, thus affecting their success. What about those who get high marks? From an internal perspective, they may completely abandon their nature in order to get high scores, which is a setback from their nature in relation to their growth and development. Some of them may lose the possibility of success completely. From the external aspect, every high score is a temporary process, and he needs to face a lot of challenges. Even if he often gets high scores,

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those who fail to get high scores occasionally will suffer greater setbacks than those who do not care about high scores, which is often the starting point for him to go on the road of becoming a loser. To some extent, the life track and performance of those who rank first in the national college entrance examination in each province year in and year out confirm the above analysis. Single-standard evaluation also causes students to make a common misunderstanding that the end of success is the college entrance examination, which determines one’s entire life, and in many schools, everything they do is for the college entrance examination, especially in high schools. Students’ existence as “people” has been submerged by cold scores, and the day they enter the university is the day of stopping learning. This kind of exam makes students become “tired” of studying. Teachers are also very innocent under the value orientation of “scores first.” They are also very tired and numb. Having been numb for a long time, the teachers only have scores in their eyes and only pay attention to students’ scores as well as students with high scores. It is also true that teachers are too distracted to notice students with low scores. Society evaluates schools by their college entrance examination scores, and the principals only evaluate teachers by the scores, leading to teachers becoming “teacher man” and “craftsmen” in the “score processing factory.” Because of this, the basic consensus among education professionals is that no one is a talented person by a single measure of diversity; the talents cultivated by a single standard cannot meet the diverse needs of society. If one standard is used to evaluate all people, almost all people will fail. It can also be seen from the above analysis that the individuals and professional evaluators involved in education are not the inevitable demander of a single standard, but the relatively amateur and non-professional managers are the sticklers of a single evaluation standard in order to meet the needs of control and convenient control. Only by completely separating management from professional evaluation, can it be possible to change this situation and to seek and establish an educational evaluation that is relatively professional, diversified, and in line with human nature. What Is the Basis of Evaluation Different people have different opinions on the evaluation of students, which is the normal situation. When one person tries to ask another person to accept his evaluation view of students, or ask the whole country to

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use the same standard to evaluate students, what we have to ask is what the basis of this evaluation view is. Schools in China generally attach importance to students’ academic performance and believe that the improvement of academic performance can be achieved through efforts, not just a reflection of innate ability. It is not just an individual’s goal to improve one’s grade, but also a shared goal of a whole class.4 On May 17, 1959, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued ten documents on education that advocated not only good health and bright future, but also high grades.5 On November 20, 1962, the Ministry of Education issued a notice to try out the Interim Regulations on Student Achievement Assessment of Institutions of Higher Learning Directly Under the Ministry of Education (Draft) and abolished the regulations issued in 1955. The New Regulations stipulated that the examination of students’ academic achievements mainly adopts the methods of tests and examinations. Generally, four grades of “excellent,” “good,” “pass,” and “fail” are adopted in the scoring of the examination. For a few courses with special needs, the “hundred marks” system can also be used. Examination of students’ political consciousness, ideology, and moral quality mainly adopts the method of appraisal.6 These evaluations are based on knowledge acquisition and political thought. According to various educational textbooks published in mainland China after 1950, the fundamental basis and criteria for measuring and evaluating the implementation of education are as follows: the Party’s education policies, aims, tasks, principles, objective educational laws, and teaching syllabuses. It is interesting that few of these high-end concepts have ever mentioned people. After China implemented the reform and opening up, constructivism and other ideological trends flooded in. Since constructivism advocates creating an open and interactive learning culture, each learner should not wait for the transfer of knowledge but should construct their own knowledge and give meaning to experience based on their unique experiences of interacting with the world. It advocates the evaluation with free 4  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p. 111. 5  Central Institute of Educational Sciences. Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 246-247. 6  Central Institute of Educational Sciences. Educational Memorabilia of the People’s Republic of China (1949-1982). Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 1983, p. 320.

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objectives; it tries to make the education pay more attention to solving real tasks through taking real tasks as the standard; it encourages learners to actively participate in knowledge construction by taking knowledge construction as the standard; it pays more attention to the evaluation of the process of knowledge construction rather than the results and stresses the integration of effective evaluation and teaching through taking experience construction as the standard; it advocates situation-driven evaluation through taking rich and complex situations as the standard; it argues that as for evaluation based on learning background, designers and evaluators must consider the learning background; the evaluation criteria and forms are diversified. Each link of these specific evaluation techniques takes people into account to some extent. The Multiple Intelligences Theory focuses more on people and emphasizes the diversified content in terms of educational evaluation, which pays attention not only to children’s acquisition of knowledge and skills in various fields of learning, but also to the development of children’s learning interest, emotional experience, and communication ability; it understands not only the physical, social, and linguistic development of a child over a period of time, or his interests, personality characteristics, learning methods, and development advantages, but also the development of all or a group of children in a certain field or a specific activity; it pays attention not only to the current development of children, but also to the analysis of the past, the anticipation of the future, and the discovery and development of children’s potentials in various aspects so as to understand the needs of children’s development. The specific content of evaluation of children can be selected according to the purpose of evaluation and the needs of education. Regardless of the way in which the content is divided, evaluators should have a correct value orientation and adopt a dynamic evaluation method in evaluating early childhood development; in the interaction with children, teachers should continuously observe and evaluate their development potentials, adjust teaching strategies and the suitability of environment and materials, and give appropriate support to guide their development. The fundamental difference between the above evaluations lies in what the basis of educational evaluation is. China has long adopted a government-­oriented approach. Despite the influx of thoughts after the reform and opening up, China’s evaluation system has not changed. Although some schools have carried out the student-oriented education and tried to conduct student-oriented evaluation, however, such

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evaluation lacked institutional support. Due to the lack of evaluation system, students and practitioners of education reform felt confused about the operation of student-oriented classes. Some of the reforms eventually returned to the final exams, school year exams, and college entrance exams. The school’s evaluation of teachers was mainly based on the results of stage tests, final exams, and school year exams and linked the teachers’ bonus with the students’ performance. As a whole, it could not get rid of taking exams as the best way. When the educational evaluation is based on the government or the scores, it will inevitably become the evaluation of control, repression, and externality, and students’ interest in learning and internal driving forces may be in the wrong direction or difficult to exert. Some attempts to reform teaching methods and teaching modes, such as student-oriented teaching, will inevitably hit a brick wall of management and evaluation mechanism. A theoretical question that needs to be answered is what exactly is the fundamental basis of educational evaluation. The root of education and evaluation is the human nature assumption, which must be directly related to how to evaluate people and their studies. The existing examination evaluation system assumes people as a stereotyped tool rather than a varied subject and takes people as the basis of evaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine human nature, regard it as the basis of the evaluation system, and readjust the relationship between the government and the people. The value basis of the current college entrance examination enrollment and evaluation system with a strong nationalistic education concept is the Confucian theory of “Self-cultivation, Family Harmony, State Governing and World Peace,” which is in direct conflict with the people-­ oriented thought, the scientific concept of educational development, and the cultivation of innovation and practical ability, with the basic assumption of cultivating tools rather than people with personalities and thoughts; it pursues the idea of being a man of men and selects such people through examinations, which directly conflicts with the idea of equality. That everyone is equal, however, is the value basis of the people-oriented educational evaluation system. Human nature is the ultimate basis of people-oriented evaluation of students’ growth and development. People should be evaluated according to their nature rather than the subjective judgment of the administrative authorities. Only in this way can we promote the growth and development of human beings, integrate the reform of examination enrollment with the

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development of students, and build a modern country that is prosperous, democratic, civilized, and harmonious. The people-oriented evaluation of students needs to change the existing human nature assumption, in other words, to turn the basic assumption of the current college entrance examination enrollment system of cultivating tools rather than people with personalities and thoughts, to cultivating the young in the unknown environment of the future world. Having transformed the human nature assumption, education needs to conform to human nature and takes it as the ultimate basis of educational evaluation. In this case, it is necessary to understand the human nature, the differences between people, the development of human beings, and the future direction and trend, as well as the individual’s lifelong development, so as to enrich the evaluation thoughts, change the long-standing examination worship in educational evaluation, make the thought lubricate every difficult step of improving the evaluation, and thus we can design a variety of evaluation standards and methods to solve the problem of the people-oriented evaluation from the technical level. Talents Only Emerge from the Diverse and Independent Evaluation in Line with Human Nature Everyone is unique, different from others. Only by making the best of the maximum advantages of each person can we give full play to their roles in society; the development of society also calls for diverse talents, which are two aspects like the pot and the lid. Although they are different, they can match each other. People-oriented education is aiming at making everyone embark on their own path of education, rather than all people consciously and passively accept a unified model of education. When it comes to establishing a diverse and independent evaluation, diversity means multiple standards and there are as many kinds of standards to build as there are human natures. There is, of course, a limit to the number of the standards, and to solve this problem, the United States uses aptitude tests, which aim to test in which direction you may have an advantage in the future and your nature will develop. Independence is among a variety of standards, which means that each person chooses a suitable standard according to their own advantages, potentials, and nature. It is the requirement of the full development of talents to change from the single evaluation to the diverse and independent evaluation. Because the process of human evolution through millions of years itself is diverse,

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the evaluation of people should also be different; on the basis of multiple standards, each person should choose a suitable standard to evaluate according to their own potentials and ambitions. This evaluation is not only an external evaluation of a person, but also a self-evaluation with external standards. If we use one standard to evaluate all people, there will be no talent in the world, and simply making use of multiple standards does not necessarily generate talents. First of all, we need to ask how the multiple standards are established. If they are still made by administrative personnel or through non-professional arrangements, similar to the previous government-­dominated administrative job allocation where one person might be asked to work in industry at random and another person in economy and trade, it is still against the objective law of the growth and development of the talents. A reasonable standard to evaluate talents does not come from subjective judgment, but from a deep understanding of human nature and large-­ scale surveys and statistics, and then according to the statistical results, the classification is made in line with the theory and human nature. For example, the Multiple Intelligences Theory can be used as a theoretical basis for evaluation, together with many other related theoretical bases. Of course, in addition to individual innate physiological and genetic genes, the scope of this survey also covers the uniqueness formed by different students in different regions, different family environments, and different cultural traditions in a diversified society, including not only objective personal needs, but also subjective values, aspirations, and sense of duty. Educators need to respect the differences of students in educational practice and should not measure students’ success or failure with uniform standards, but help them find their own nature and take the initiative to develop themselves in a truly responsible manner. Relevant parties, including the students themselves, should treat every student with an open and appreciative attitude, so as to inspire the positive power of every ordinary student. The diverse evaluation standards based on the deep understanding of human nature are the premise to ensure that evaluation is based on human nature. To ensure that the evaluation in the evaluation practice conforms to the nature of an individual, it is necessary to guarantee the opportunity for the evaluated to make choices independently in the evaluation process. That is to say, they choose the evaluation standards suitable for themselves to accept the evaluation according to the knowledge, experience, and judgment of their own advantages and potentials, as well as their

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ambitions. Since it is ultimately up to each individual to decide whether or not it conforms to their nature, ensuring self-selection is an extremely important part. Of course, in the process of self-selection, teachers, parents, friends, and professionals can provide suggestions, but the final decision is in everyone’s own hands. In the practice of choosing, when it is difficult to accurately determine our own strengths, potentials, and ambitions, we can choose several standards to evaluate ourselves, and gradually understand ourselves in constant trials and errors. In the process of making choices in life, everyone needs to constantly reflect on themselves, prove themselves by practice, hold the initiative of evaluation in their own hands, and take every external evaluation as an opportunity for recognition. With the diverse evaluation standards in line with human nature, not everyone can do the evaluation work, but the professional evaluation team should do the work according to professional rules and procedures. Examinations in China have a long history, but the scientific evaluation of people is not that long and professional. It relies too much on examinations with the same standard, emphasizes the selective function, and neglects the function of diagnosis, improvement, and motivation; it simply adds up the unequal scores of each course to get a total score, thus ignoring the distinction between professional personality differences and inhibiting the development of personalities and potentials; taking the result of an examination as the basis of exceeding its weight, it forms a phenomenon that “one exam determines one’s whole life” and ignores the initial state, development process, and future trend of a person in a certain period of time. This simple and non-professional evaluation is actually the main obstacle to the growth and development of talents. In addition to diverse standards, the diverse and independent evaluation also includes diverse evaluation subjects. The reason why the existing evaluation is too monotonous is that there is only one subject, so it is impossible to have a systematic and diversified evaluation system, which makes education difficult to improve. Therefore, a diversified evaluation system should be established gradually through the diversity of subjects. Without the diversity of subjects, that of evaluation is actually a castle in the air, ultimately impossible to achieve. In addition to teachers, the main subjects responsible for evaluation activities can also include professional evaluation institutions, educational decision-making structures, school administrators, parents, student groups and individuals, and other relevant personnel outside the school. Giving full play to all these subjects will

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make the evaluation results more objective and comprehensive and stimulate students’ enthusiasm in learning. The multi-subject evaluation methods mainly include self-evaluation and others’ evaluation. Self-evaluation means that learners make value judgments on their learning status according to certain evaluation goals and standards, so as to reflect on themselves and fully mobilize their learning enthusiasm. Others’ evaluation refers to the evaluation conducted by people other than the learners, which also includes the professional evaluation in the school, peer professional evaluation, and independent third-party professional evaluation. Others’ evaluation can be more objective, reliable, and authoritative. Only when there are more third-party professional evaluation institutions in society can the evaluation quality be improved in the selective competition. The multi-subject developmental evaluation focuses on the behavior of students from a multi-dimension perspective, which is more conducive to the growth of talents. In the implementation process, the multi-subject evaluation design is extremely professional and needs to be done sincerely to avoid formalization and information distortion. Different subjects use different standards, and thus evaluation standards and methods need to be clear, specific, and easy to operate; the evaluation rubric including evaluation standards and methods should be simple, practical, and in line with the learning situation, so as to provide operational basis for self-evaluation, mutual evaluation, teachers’ evaluation, and parents’ evaluation and facilitate these subjects of the standard and method to carry out evaluation activities. It is more beneficial for students to carry out learning activities purposefully and avoid overhead evaluation activities. The methods and the contents of different evaluation subjects should also be different, which cannot indiscriminately make students, friends, teachers, parents, and so on all “participate in”—that is, the content of students’ evaluation should not be designed as that of teachers’ evaluation, and the evaluation items that are not suitable for parents’ evaluation or are not well understood by parents should not be expressed by parents. Although these methods reflect the diversity of evaluation subjects and comprehensive evaluation results, due to the violation of professionalism, the evaluation operation is far-fetched and divorced from reality, thus causing the evaluation results to lose validity and reliability, while the effectiveness of evaluation regulation, motivation, reflection, feedback, and diagnosis cannot be effectively brought into play. In multi-subject evaluation, the functions of each subject are different. Not all contents need such evaluation, but it can be selected and used

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according to the actual situation. For example, in the group assessment activities among students, students’ individual experience and feelings should be respected, and each student should be given a flexible space for democratic participation, communication, and cooperation. Although such evaluation is not that objective, it can enable students to get real evaluation experience through sincere participation, which is conducive to independent growth. Independent third-party professional evaluation also needs to simplify the test process and refine the analysis and interpretation on the basis of high professionalism. Compared with the previous examinations, the changes brought by independent third-party evaluation are as follows. First, it emphasizes the importance of collecting information comprehensively and objectively, making analysis and judgment according to data and facts, establishing evaluation on the basis of a large number of data support and scientific analysis, and advocating a change in the past practice of mainly relying on experience for evaluation. Second, it pays attention to the degree of students’ progress and schools’ efforts and the value-added evaluation and has changed the past practice of emphasizing only results but neglecting the starting point and paying no attention to the process of development and change. Third, it emphasizes the importance of establishing an internal quality control mechanism in schools, beginning from the starting point to control the whole process of quality, and getting rid of the over-reliance on external evaluation as well as the ignorance of self-diagnosis. Only by breaking the superstition of scores can we be closer to human nature. Scores are a reference, but not the only basis. A basic principle is that only when the evaluation power is further decentralized will it be possible to break the monopoly and the superstition of scores. Unified examination and calculation of scores, and the change from the provincial examination to the national examination, are actually a further concentration of evaluation power. Compared with the recommendation without objective basis, referring to the score is progress; compared with the comprehensive professional evaluation, only referring to the score, however, is superficial, extensive, and backward. The change from an official examination to an independent third-party professional examination is actually to adjust the interest relationship between the government and the public and to show more respect to students and schools. In fact, to a certain extent, the government should delegate powers. The power of the independent third party is limited. It should be effectively supervised, that is,

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to make it difficult to fake. The government should withdraw from the leading role of evaluation and make students, schools, and professional evaluation organizations become the real protagonist. Let each person give full play to their own advantages and potentials and fully develop, so as to establish a big country of human resources and a talent-strong country. Can such a system rely on just one institution? Can we rely on government monopoly? Can the government do it all? Definitely not. Is it workable to rely on the planning mode? Definitely not. Educational evaluation ultimately depends on the professional team system, multilateral consultation, and multi-aspect coordination. Diversity is the most basic criterion for social educational evaluation.

6.2   Evaluation Serves People’s Growth Is the educational evaluation system workable? The ultimate standard is whether it can really cultivate students and talents, which is the most critical criterion for evaluating the quality of examination enrollment and daily teaching evaluation system. The evaluation of the student does not aim to weigh the student on the balance and tell him his weight. The purpose of evaluation is to enable students to grow better, think independently, create independently, and grow into new talents. From Controlled Selection to Service For a long time, people often use “baton” to describe the current college entrance examination enrollment. It is precisely because such baton makes education evaluation in a high position, with control over the examinees and even the whole education and teaching system, which confuses the primary and the secondary positions. The root of all kinds of problems in the current college entrance examination enrollment system lies in the excessive centralization of enrollment and examination power by non-­ professional government administrative departments in a planned way. The key goal to improve is to turn the main subject of college entrance examination enrollment from the government to students, schools, and professional organizations and to change the government from an athlete to a referee to play a good role in ensuring fairness and justice. The examination enrollment should be coordinated with the curriculum management and teaching as a credible reference and basis for the growth and development of people and then jointly serve the growth of talents and

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national development strategy. This reform can be summarized as transforming the examination and enrollment from a “baton” to a “server” that serves the growth and development of talents, from the current administration-oriented plan to a major-based independent enrollment, in order to expand the choice of schools and students. To position the function of examination enrollment as a server is to serve the cultivation of innovative talents with independent thinking, independent creation, innovative spirit, and practical ability, to cooperate with curriculum, management, and teaching so as to serve the growth of talents, to serve the growth and development of different talents and the national development strategy, which is subject to the trend of human development. The ideal state of the examination enrollment system is to let the examinees and the universities contact, understand, and “fall in love” as much as possible, so that they can fully understand each other, judge and make two-way choices independently, and combine voluntarily, so as to better stimulate their internal potentials to achieve better development. At the same time, the strong “matchmaker” in the process of enrollment should be eliminated to form an equal, respectful, harmonious, and developing relationship between students and schools, so as to enhance students’ self-­ confidence; evaluators should be allowed to collect the multi-facet information and data of the evaluated, so as to give an all-round, objective, and true evaluation, and guide the evaluated to become successful. On the whole, it forms a virtuous circle of gradual promotion in line with the growth of talents. How to evaluate a person and his studies is bound to be directly related to the human nature assumption. In fact, the government-oriented educational evaluation in the current system design is the embodiment of nationalistic education concept in educational evaluation. The cultural and value basis formed over thousands of years is difficult to change in a short time, and it will become an obstacle, which plays a role in the process of reform. The nationalistic evaluation concept, embodied in the unified examination syllabus stipulated by the government, is issued in government documents. Highly unified examination standards basically deprive teachers, students, and schools of the right to suggest and choose in the college entrance examination enrollment, as well as the space for professional development. The rights of schools and students cannot be fully guaranteed, so it is difficult to truly achieve development independently. As a

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result, all the sections below the college entrance examination only pursue scores but ignore human personality, characteristics, and effective development, thus violating the basic principle of people-oriented thought. Students are enrolled by government institutions in a unified way, rather than through examinations conducted by schools or professional third-­ party institutions or by schools independently according to their own professional development. The enrollment work is carried out by the government (enrollment office), which on the whole deprives students and universities of their rights to opt independently, resulting in the separation of responsibilities, rights, and interests in the process of enrollment and mutual loss. The main function of the government in the process is to control rather than evaluate; it does not even have the professional ability to evaluate. The relationship formed by this is that all aspects of teaching and school work serve the examination, rather than the evaluation of examination serves the growth and development of people; examination and all sections involved and teaching are subject to a seemingly omnipotent power. The relationship between the evaluators and the evaluated is completely reversed, which prevents students from learning the content consistent with their own nature and needs and prevents generations of students from becoming talents commensurate with their gifts. The result of evaluating students with a single criterion (examination scores) and refusing diverse and independent evaluation is that students submit themselves to the examination and seek for opportunities from the admission authorities as the selected rather than the main subjects of independent display selection, which leads to strong examination-taking behavior and a waste of the precious youth time of the generations. For schools from kindergartens to senior high schools, college entrance examination becomes a “baton.” The courses and college entrance examination enrollment controlled by the government are neither professional nor able to meet the requirements of independent development of the students and universities. The students and the whole teaching revolve around this baton, and so does the curriculum—that is, the content included in the examination syllabus will be taught and studied and vice versa; neither the college entrance examination nor the curriculum is in line with the real needs of the growth and development of people, and to a certain extent, it becomes a huge shackle to restrain the growth of talents. As a result, this system of college entrance examination is gradually becoming the object of avoidance for rational people. On the one hand, people begin to vote with their feet and choose to leave for other countries. Also, SAT (Scholastic

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Assessment Test, an academic ability evaluation test sponsored by the College Board of America), with its flexible mode of the college entrance examination, not only holds many examinations every year, but also is open to students all over the world, which undoubtedly provides great convenience for foreign students to enter famous American schools,7 which leads to the competition between SAT and the college entrance examination in China for excellent students. On the other hand, the number of examinees who choose to abandon the college entrance examination, fail to register in the examination, register for the examination but fail to attend it as well as who receive the admission notice but fail to register at the school has increased year by year. This kind of examination enrollment system, which is disadvantageous to both the country and the people, has to be changed. The college entrance examinations in China and East Asian countries have a vague connection with the long-standing imperial examination in the region. The government uses it as a tool and the people have an extensive and deep complex about it, thus forming a lasting coupling between control and being controlled. Since the ancient society did not have such a great demand for creativity, fewer members of society were included in the scope of imperial examination. As an official selection system, it still has its value. It has completed the selection of social managers at a lower cost and completed the establishment of a criterion of replacing the family of power and influence with intelligence. It has also become a machine for killing talented people in the later stage. However, with the differentiation of examination functions, now a special National Civil Service Examination has been set up. This single and obviously controlled approach is also used to evaluate all the students, which hinders the development of professional evaluation and the normal growth and development of all people. When and only when the evaluation is an objective description of the evaluated, learners can grow independently along their own advantages, potentials, and aspirations without distortion, so as to avoid compulsory abnormal development. Only in this evaluation environment can individuals grow up with strong plasticity, which provides a variety of possibilities for their further education and growth. Such people, like liquid glass taken out of a melting furnace, can be rotated and stretched to adapt to independent growth in various environments. 7  Li Guo, Liu Jingshu. Bureaucratization eroded university education—“foreign college entrance examination” caused severe brain drain. Workers’ Daily, March 7, 2014.

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In the compulsorily controlled evaluation environment with examinations, immature individuals’ nature will be distorted and molded prematurely, thus destroying their development potentials. It is like a piece of glazed porcelain, which was beautiful at that time, but it is difficult to change its form and application according to actual needs or make any other changes for it is easy to crack and scrape. The main evaluation method of basic knowledge and basic ability (“double bases”) that China values is the examination, which tests knowledge. When knowledge is presented in the form of examinations, it is embodied in a standard answer which is not complete knowledge, but only a medium of control. In addition, knowledge is not equal to ability, and now the education based on standard answers has ignored and destroyed the overall ecology of knowledge. As a result, for many children with high test scores, their knowledge is incomplete and their abilities are not well embodied. Such students do well in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), which is still a test of knowledge without taking into account how much time they spend and how they achieve it. In different teaching situations in China and the United States, if both Chinese and American students calculate 3+2=5, their PISA scores are the same, but due to the different teaching and thinking processes, it cannot be concluded that the two examinees have the same literacy. In contrast, American education clearly divides children into different levels. Taking mathematics in junior and senior high schools as an example, there are different requirements for ordinary children and children with special abilities. That of ordinary students is not high, which provides students with the space of independent choice. China, however, has a high demand for every child, and just like hanging a duck, it hangs up all the children without autonomy. The practice of the United States has made room for children to develop and to make their own choices. So, children with a talent for mathematics in the United States have a deeper level of learning than Chinese college students and so are other subjects. Chinese students are busier with various examinations and further studies. Therefore, in the evaluation of the quality of education, it should serve the growth and development of students with a deep understanding of the characteristics of education, but not look at the data alone. Educational evaluation based on service is similar to prospecting. What it does is not to select but to find out the advantages of each person among the existing objects, to diagnose their development status and problems, and to understand students’ current interests, aspirations, imaginations,

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and practical abilities. Educational evaluation can take examination as one of the tools, but not the only tool—that is, examination cannot be used as the only basis for evaluation. Just as American universities admit students, SAT scores are only one of the factors of admission reference. It is not wise to attach too much importance to SAT, which makes students waste too much energy on exams. It is precisely because of the existence of controlled educational evaluation that among students in China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, Chinese students study the longest time every day in the most rigid and monotonous way. Too many standard answers and reviews have engulfed students’ motivation and interest in learning and strangled their imagination and creativity. Spending the most energetic years of one’s life learning limited knowledge over and over again is also a very inefficient learning method throughout one’s life. However, the social basis of the controlled educational evaluation is the selection of officials, and its continuation is based on the official needs. There is a point of view that the imperial examination system made it possible that “all the talents in the world are in my league” in the past dynasties of China. In Chinese history, the imperial examination was actually an examination for selecting officials. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, due to the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905, scholars were cast out of the system and became what Parsons called “free-flowing resources.” Some of them were absorbed into the new social system and became soldiers, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, and publishers. Others were always wandering outside the system, who would become so-called roaming scholars if they could not find their place in the system. Those scholars who wandered on the edge of the system and outside were most likely to become the opponents and gravediggers of the system, and some even attributed the demise of the Qing Dynasty to the abolition of the imperial examination system. Undoubtedly, the demise of the Qing Dynasty was a progress of the Chinese nation after tribulations. Even if it was because the “roaming scholars” participated in the revolution and the surplus labor force (“vagrants”) echoed with them, it promoted the social progress. If the control is conducive to social stability, it is more conducive to enhancing the motive force of social progress that intellectuals become free-flowing resources. Tung Meng Hui, which was founded in the same year as the abolition of the imperial examination, was a great alliance of revolutionary

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“roaming scholars” and a powerful driving force for the social progress of China since then. The win-win choice for the government, society, and the evaluated is to maintain orderly and free flow, rather than control all people in a centralized and single way. Controllers often do not use control directly as a reason to maintain such a backward evaluation system, but use fairness instead, which is the most difficult thing for non-professional people to understand but what they also crave most. Fairness in China is often simplified and formalized because of the influence of the traditional Confucian thought of “inequality rather than want is the cause of trouble.” If we suppress different types of talent development channels with the one-size-fits-all educational evaluation for the sake of fairness, it would violate human nature and only achieve the fairness of everyone dying together in form, but not the fairness of everyone living fully and independently according to their own nature. Fairness, which is based on the suppression of the path and initiative of human nature’s development, actually makes the opportunity cost paid by all people unimaginably high and greatly depresses the human value of the whole society. The opportunity cost of this waste of talent is too high to be estimated, resulting in the human resources of countries with large population far weaker than those with small population, such as Israel. Controlled educational evaluation makes students under the pressure of competition in examinations for a long time, so it is impossible for them to have long-term self-growth plans. Instead, they can only concentrate on examinations that will determine their life path. What every student can get fairly is the immediate benefit. The essence of the qualifying and scrambling in study from kindergarten to university is to compete for limited high-quality educational resources. Competitions for short-term benefits will lead to the abandonment of long-term development goals in life, which is one of the important reasons why those who get high marks often have difficulty in their career. A supplementary means of controlled educational evaluation is to make use of people’s scarcity mentality caused by the lack of educational resources and take evaluation as the threshold for people to obtain more and better educational resources. Driven by this mentality, parents make their children immersed in cram schools and large number of homework from an early age, hoping to first grab the scarce school resources in front of them. A steady stream of people has been captured in the struggle for scarce resources, so is people’s attention by scarce quality education

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instead of social problems and natural mysteries which are more valuable for children’s growth. Regulatory evaluation is the goalkeeper of their attention and nothing can enter without passing through it, which will not only affect people’s educational insights, but also influence the path of life. When people are extremely focused on solving current problems, they cannot plan the future effectively. Just as someone asked Mo Yan why he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he replied, “because I had little schooling.” In participating in the competition for high-quality educational resources, many people forget that compared with well-equipped classrooms and senior teachers, the more important educational resources for children to become talented are actually their family’s cultural background, values taught by precept and example, aspirations and visions with imperceptible influence, and more importantly, their own potential. In the long run, it is not worth the candle to waste a child’s teenage years of limitless possibilities and his natural curiosity, which is the greatest resource. Rather than abandoning these precious resources in the controlled educational evaluation, it is better to abandon this evaluation and find a new self through the service-oriented educational evaluation, so as to embark on a more promising road of development. Control always has boundaries and time limits. In modern society, the control of educational evaluation, which all members of society need to participate in, is a double-edged sword. It hurts those under control on the one hand and controller on the other. Nowadays, the rapidly increasing number of young students studying abroad is one of the representation. Substantive changes will occur when the controllers realize that they are really unable to control, or that the cost of control is much higher than their affordability, and that the control does more harm than good to them. Of course, such reform by the government alone will inevitably lead to the dilemma of making self-surgery. The prerequisites for a reform are as follows: First, further emancipating the mind and changing the tool orientation of human nature assumption; second, speeding up the reform of government management system, streamlining administration and delegating powers, allowing professional organizations to grow and develop, and gradually returning professional power to professional organizations; third, strengthening the implementation of the rule of law, enacting the law of examination enrollment as soon as possible by the National People’s Congress, and standardizing the boundaries of responsibilities and powers of all parties in the process of examination enrollment. The realistic path

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of reform must begin with the reform of government management system and then gradually improve the professional procedures and the levels. If the whole system is not changed, the reform will become an ineffective attempt. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, adopted on November 15, 2013, clearly pointed out the general direction of the reform of the examination enrollment system: Exploring the operational mechanism organized and implemented by professional institutions, supervised by society together with the macro-management of the government so that the enrollment and examination are relatively separate, and students can choose to take exams many times, and schools can enroll students independently according to law, fundamentally solving the drawbacks of the phenomenon that “one exam determines one’s whole life.”8 On September 4, 2014, the State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Examination Enrollment System and deleted exploring the relative separation of enrollment and examination defined in the Outline of National Mid- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2010) and Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform, which was regarded as a half step or a small step of the reform. The generation of professional service-oriented evaluation takes a long time and cannot be achieved overnight. For social development, the worst situation is that professional independent third-party evaluation has not yet been generated when regulatory evaluation cannot be carried out. Therefore, in the transition period, on the one hand, a large number of professionals should explore and practice the establishment of an independent, third-party, professional, and service-oriented evaluation system; on the other hand, controllers should be wise enough to make room for professional service-oriented evaluation to grow up with enough time and space. The evaluation aiming to serve learning activities, of course, should be objective, accurate, and credible. At the same time, the evaluation method and process for the evaluated students need not only to effectively guide them to carry out inquiry activities, but also to truly record their real and 8  Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform. Xinhua News Agency, November 15, 2013.

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personalized experience and harvest in learning. It should be in line with the principle of scientificity, interest, conciseness, and easy operation in designing learning records that are humanized and easy for teachers and students to carry out sub-item, staged, and personalized operation, which the Internet has made possible. It regards the recorded process as a natural component of learning activities and makes it a lever to leverage learning behaviors. When designing evaluation records, we should pay attention to actual effect. The specific requirements are as follows: First, the use of time should reflect the immediacy, that is, learning records should be closely throughout the whole process of learning; second, recording forms should reflect flexibility and equivalent ways can be used when recording students’ experiences, discoveries, and gains; third, attention should be paid to recording the peak and inflection points of students’ learning behavior, which can most effectively and practically reflect the changes of students’ growth and development. In short, we should establish an independent, professional, transparent, and fair educational evaluation system based on students. Independence means that students and schools have more independent choices of evaluation; professionalism means that it is implemented by professional teams, and personnel and procedures are specialized and refined; transparency means that procedures are open and can be monitored; fairness means that all people and schools are equal. Only in this way can we promote the transformation of educational evaluation mode and form a healthy educational ecology. Power Boundary and Balance Between the Evaluators and the Evaluated Evaluation is the lever that leverages learning behaviors as well as the responsibilities and rights of all parties involved. How to maintain the balance must be considered in people-oriented education. The difference in evaluation between humanistic education and non-humanistic education is the fulcrum of this lever. The former pays more attention to students’ growth and development. Based on the vertical evolution of the examination enrollment, the comprehensive analysis of various practical problems, and the horizontal

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comparison with other countries in the world,9 the conclusions are as follows: the fundamental problem of the existing examination and evaluation system in China lies in that the non-professional power oversteps the professional functions, that is, the examination and enrollment are entirely led and implemented by the government, and the evaluation system is mostly based on the administrative evaluation and managed in a non-professional way, leading to neither professional evaluation process nor substantial fairness; the understanding of the basic characteristics of students is not deep and comprehensive enough, which can neither meet the diverse needs of students and schools, nor is it open and transparent, and there is a large space for gray power to operate; although the enrollment on the basis of that everyone is equal before the scores can show fairness in form to a certain extent, it is not professional and comprehensive enough, resulting in difficulty of achieving real substantial fairness; it will, finally, damage the growth and development of talents as well as the improvement of the composite national strength. The unified college entrance examination after 1950 was essentially an examination for selecting and training cadres for a long time. With the popularization of higher education and the establishment of civil service examinations by the state alone, the government-controlled college and high-school entrance examinations failed in the functional shift to the general evaluation of talents. With the expansion of the participation in the college entrance examination, the employment problem of college graduates is prominent since the cultivation of students in colleges and universities is seriously out of line with the demand of social human resources. The dislocation between the function and the responsibility of the existing college entrance examination as well as related problems is more serious. Therefore, it is getting more urgent to change the main bodies concerned in the college entrance examination in time and return to professional testing and students’ professional diversion and selection in the education industry. In the current evaluation system, there is obviously an unequal and passive relationship between the evaluators and the evaluated. The former even have simply become “executors” of various administrative orders,

9  For example, the enrollment of Harvard University is student-centered, showing the characteristics of actively serving students from the aspects of procedures, rules, standards, and so on.

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who carry out a simple standardized quantitative evaluation on the education of students and their development status. The educational evaluation system is a component of the social management. Taking the government as the main body is bound to follow the administrative logic of government management, thus lacking professionalism. On the one hand, it is difficult to put people first, ensure the principal status of the people, and give full play to the pioneering drive of the people; on the other hand, it is difficult to effectively realize social fairness and justice, conform to the law of the growth and development of talents, and enhance people’s well-being. Meanwhile, it is contrary to the basic spirit of further streamlining administration and delegating powers, effectively transforming government functions, building a law-based and service-­oriented government, and working to realize a rational relationship and the de-administration between public institutions and competent authorities. In the current educational evaluation system, which is completely dominated and implemented by the government, the government plays multiple roles and firmly controls the content, standard, and selection of college entrance examination both as an athlete and a referee; the whole process is dominated by administration, and the professional force is limited to a certain range of assistance without much professionalism, and only the score can be used to judge students with huge differences in personality and ability, which leads to the increasingly prominent contradiction of fairness between different regions; the planning system, which takes less account of the needs of schools and students and the changes in regional population and enrollment ratios, is an oversimplified and non-­ professional evaluation of education. For example, the scores without equivalence between different subjects are simply added up, and the total score is taken as the basis of admission. The scores of students from different regions and schools are simply compared, regardless of the condition under which the examinee obtains the score; the admission is excessively concentrated and compulsory. Students’ applications and the college admission have always been strictly limited to the score range of 105% of the examinees, which makes it difficult to satisfy the needs of examinees and schools and hinders students’ lifelong growth and development; it is convenient for the government to quickly select people who are suitable for a certain condition according to a unified standard, but it is difficult to meet society’s diverse demands for talents and to truly cultivate diverse outstanding talents according to their nature and potential.

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The reform of educational evaluation involves adjusting the relationship between national and students’ development. The deep essence is the adjustment of the responsibilities and powers between the evaluators and the evaluated. The basic assumption is that the personality of both sides is equal, but they play different roles in the evaluation activities and the responsibilities and powers related need to be balanced. That is, the power exercised by the evaluators to the evaluated should be balanced and consistent with the responsibilities, and the responsibilities that the evaluated need to bear should also be consistent with their powers and rights. Only when the rights and powers of students are guaranteed can the evaluation be truer and there will be more motivation to avoid overestimation or underestimation, which will be conducive to the full development of students. And thus, a society with sufficient talents and a country with great strength as well as enough innovators and human resources will be built. In the evaluation process, the multilateral equality should be formed: equality among different students and schools and between students and schools. On the whole, a multilateral relationship of equality, respect, and harmonious development should be formed and embodied in the relationship between students and schools and between the evaluators and the evaluated. Only in this way can the evaluation be optimized, thus objectively reflecting the changes of students’ emotions, attitudes, and values, so as to reduce the sense of being eliminated as well as the harm to students’ self-confidence. From a social point of view, we should change the concept from being a man of men in the past to striving for equality for all. From everyone’s point of view, we should start small and let reform accumulate gradually; we should think big and look far ahead, rather than being hampered by the immediate interests, and strive for the rights we deserve. Students, parents, and teachers should participate in breaking the monopoly that should not exist and strive for better development opportunities for the whole society. People-oriented evaluation is diverse and independent among multiple parties. As for the evaluation of teachers, the controlled evaluation only includes that by administrators, while the people-oriented evaluation includes that by students on teachers’ teaching, peer evaluation as well as the empirical evidence of their teaching performance and the final evaluation should be the sum of all aspects based on a certain weight. Teachers, students, and relevant parties should be consulted before a set of evaluation schemes is formed, and it is necessary to define the boundary of

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responsibilities and rights of all parties concerned based on a professional empirical basis. More attention should be paid to the empirical evidence in the evaluation of students. For primary and secondary schools, it is necessary to establish their own evaluation systems, including two aspects: one is to establish a comprehensive evaluation system of primary education quality, which includes a comprehensive evaluation index system, the improvement of evaluation criteria and methods, and the scientific application of evaluation results; the other is to improve the safeguard mechanism to promote the evaluation. The key is to establish professional standards and regulations for evaluation, to carry out reforms in curriculum teaching and enrollment examinations outside primary and secondary schools, to strengthen the basic professional abilities, and to guarantee the investment of evaluation funds. The balance between the evaluators and the evaluated is also reflected in the frequency of the test and the interpretation and use of the test results. Reducing the frequency of the test helps to protect the rights of the evaluated and vice versa. The more accurate the interpretation of the test results is, the more conducive it is to the development of students, while the more deviated, the more detrimental it is for students’ development, thus doing harm to their rights. If the use of test results is equivalent to their functions, it is beneficial to protect the rights of most of the evaluated, but too high or too low is not that conducive. The basic principles for defining the power boundary of all parties are as follows: first, the responsibilities and rights should be unified with a clear boundary; second, all parties should be empowered according to their characteristics, with administrative organizations responsible for the administrative power and professional agencies responsible for the professional power; third, each subject supervises, checks, and balances each other, with the whole process open and transparent. To improve the legal system is the key to clarify the relationship between the parties and the boundary of responsibilities and powers. Without a sound legal system, it is impossible to reform the existing enrollment system and establish a perfect professional evaluation system. The government should delegate its power and withdraw from the educational evaluation, so that students, universities, professional evaluation personnel, as well as organizations can become the real leading roles. Therefore, it is necessary to promulgate the Examination Law as soon as possible to clearly regulate the boundary between the social responsibilities and

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powers of all parties concerned. Otherwise, the socialized examination will be lack of guarantee and basis, and it will be difficult to carry out independent third-party professional evaluation. However, due to the fact that various public and private educational institutions and relevant government staff coexist with the current educational evaluation system, many people occupy a high-level position in society by attaching importance to their academic qualifications. They tend to be the most well-suited to the system, and they pass on their social advantages by spending more on exam-oriented education to ensure that their children excel in the system, which makes the educational evaluation system, which is in urgent need of reform, more rigid under the conspiracy of various social groups, thus making it more difficult to apply the rule of law in the educational evaluation.

6.3   People-Oriented Evaluation System and the Basic Principles What is the ultimate basis for judging the quality of educational evaluation? It is whether students can become talents or not. The people-­oriented education needs to be evaluated based on students’ growth, and then carry out learning and teaching based on the evaluation, so as to stimulate the inner potential of students to achieve better development. Functionally, selection should be weakened and developmental evaluation advocated; methodologically, the combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation should be implemented; as for subjects, the combination of self-­ evaluation and peer evaluation is preferred, so as to realize the diversification of evaluation subjects; as for index, comprehensive quality evaluation, diagnosis of growth problems, as well as discovery of advantages and potentials should be advocated, and individual differences paid attention to, thus realizing comprehensive coverage and diversification of evaluation indexes. The designed scheme and measures will not be perfect without ideas or with ideological problems in the reform of evaluation system. It is not comprehensive and far from enough to analyze and solve problems simply from the technical level, but it is necessary to make the thought lubricate every difficult step of improving the educational evaluation.

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Evaluation System with Multilateral Participation Educational evaluation is a mechanism embedded in society. In China, the related system includes examination, enrollment, as well as both as a whole. If the administrative dominance is not changed, no matter how the reform is, the evaluation is impossible to be truly professional. If still confined to the change of evaluation techniques and modes under the guidance of administration, it is still a non-professional reorganization of administrative functions. Such evaluation cannot ultimately satisfy the diversified needs of students and schools, cultivate innovative talents, or meet the needs of education for China’s social development and establishment of a country rich in human resources. If both the examination and enrollment are altered, rather than the principal status of the government in the examination enrollment, the unified examination under the leadership of the administration and the centralized admission based on the planning mode cannot be changed, but will only change from a low-level chaos to another, without any substantial changes, making it difficult to be consistent with Comrade Xi Jinping’s emphasis on “modernizing China’s system and capacity for governance” on February 7, 2014, at the opening ceremony of the thematic workshop among major officials at the provincial and ministerial levels on implementing all the guiding principles from the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.10 The college entrance examination enrollment, without changing the administrative subject, still embodies an administrative management thinking rather than the thinking of rule of law; it is divisional management, rather than multilateral co-governance; it is unidirectional, compulsory, and rigid rather than cooperative and inclusive with multilateral participation, and the effectiveness is difficult to guarantee. The unclear positioning in examination enrollment is not solved, and many contradictions in educational evaluation still exist and even deteriorate. Therefore, the government should withdraw from the examination, enrollment, and educational evaluation, where it is not professional, so that students and schools, which should be the main body, are able to regain their place. At the same time, the government should streamline administration and delegate powers and return to the small, 10  Xi Jinping. To insist on confidence in the system is not to stand still. Xinhuanet, http:// news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-02/17/c_119373758.htm, February 17, 2014.

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service-oriented, and oversight-oriented government, which is really in line with the direction of modernization of the national governance system. It will form a relatively complete and stable system after releasing space for the independent generation of professional organizations and speeding up the rule of law as well as the construction of modern school system and professional evaluation teams within schools. Objectively speaking, there is still a long way to go from the withdrawal of the government to the establishment of the professional evaluation system; if the government does not withdraw, the latter will not be able to start growth because of the lack of space for independent growth and development, and thus real change will never come. Therefore, such a goal is difficult to achieve in reality. Reforms should be implemented from singleness to diversity, from unity to pluralism, from the absence of an institution in principle to design a scheme applicable to different schools in different parts of the country, to the release of space for independent reform experiments and the establishment of an evaluation system with multilateral participation based on certain procedures and orders reached through consultations, with the government playing a supervisory role to guarantee fairness and justice (see Fig. 6.1). The basic principle of the evaluation with multilateral participation is that the participants of students’ growth and development are the evaluators and the evaluation of the participants is processed professionally, systematically, and programmatically, so as to make it more scientific and reasonable in terms of equivalence and weight distribution.

independent third-party evaluation

grower

teacher

professional evaluation by enrollment schools and employers

demand of human resource positions and school enrollment

accompanying evaluator

government and social supervision

Fig. 6.1  Sketch of the educational evaluation system with multilateral participation

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It is impossible to establish a mature professional mechanism under the leadership of the administration. History has shown that if non-­professional government organizations overstep the professional power, there will be no real reform. To establish an evaluation system with multilateral participation, we need to advance based on its characteristics orderly. Starting with management, we need to establish an operational mechanism organized and implemented by professional institutions, supervised by society together with the macro-management of the government so that the enrollment and examination are relatively separate and schools can enroll students independently according to law. It is an important step related to the reform of the government management system and a part of the reform of the national governance system, aiming to return the subjects of examination enrollment and student evaluation from the government to students, universities, middle schools, and professional evaluation organizations, and to endow independent third-party professional organizations with the autonomy of evaluation. By analyzing the current college entrance examination system, we can draw the conclusion that the major areas in urgent need are administrative control, planning system, and centralized admission. If these three are not changed, the so-called reforms in other areas will not work. After the management reform starts, the enrollment reform should be taken as the core, and universities ought to take the responsibility as the main body. As the final “destination” and “exit” to determine the destiny of the examinees, the enrollment mode is more critical than the examination mode, and in other words, the enrollment determines the examination. The reform of examination cannot be carried out before colleges get the right to recruit students and professional organizations get the right to evaluate. What mechanism should colleges and universities apply in order to ensure the fairness and justice of power operation when they become the main body of enrollment? First, the procedures of the enrollment should be professional. Colleges and universities are supposed to clarify the procedures and standards in the prospectus and eliminate all non-­professional interference as far as possible. Second, be open to the public, including the way students are admitted, the results of various examinations and tests, and all information that does not involve privacy. Third, the boundaries of responsibilities and powers should be clearly defined. The enrollment permission and responsibility from discipline to school and then to college level should be clarified, and the mechanism of internal mutual supervision and restriction should be established. Fourth, set up regular external

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supervision, including the government’s supervision as well as accountability in enrollment and the system for reporting and handling irregularities, so as to protect parents and examinees’ right of supervision. In addition, network technology can be used to establish an examination enrollment service platform, and colleges and universities can join in with equal status, so as to eliminate enrollment batches or privileges, which is a comprehensive reform of the enrollment system, with enrollment as the core and colleges as the main body, rather than giving special favor to a few colleges. Universities do not need to attach too much importance to the restriction of administrative power. If they have reliable examinations and information, they can make use of them. If not, they can carry out examinations by themselves. Every country in the world has been aware of the complexity and importance of evaluating the quality of education. The Federal Government of the United States has invested $350 million to support states to establish more comprehensive and complex evaluation systems, not only to find problems, but also to provide timely and accurate information for teachers to improve teaching as well as students’ academic achievements. Since March 31, 2011, the results of GCSE (academic proficiency test) in every secondary school in the UK have been open to the public so that parents can learn about the overall academic performance and teaching situation of the school, which can also provide reference for children to choose schools. The common trend of research in various countries is from single evaluation to comprehensive evaluation and from subjective evaluation to empirical evaluation. The emphasis of evaluation should be put on improving classroom practice, ensuring the early participation of all stakeholders and putting students at the core, and the criteria, systems, and policies of evaluation are supposed to be on this basis. Multilateral educational evaluation requires a large range of professional teams to comprehensively understand and evaluate students. Social examination can only be carried out with the withdrawal of the administrative body and it is a test organized by an independent third-party social intermediary organization, recognized by the enrollment schools and freely selected by students. The function of the examination is not a selection but an objective evaluation of students. The test results can be used to apply for universities, which serve as a reference for admission, but not the only basis. That is to say, only when colleges and universities recruit students independently can the examination be socialized and vice versa. The decisive factors of the effectiveness of the multilateral educational

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evaluation system lie in whether there are enough professionals to form a professional team, whether professional norms can be established and formed, whether the examination enrollment can be implemented in strict accordance with professional rules and procedures, and whether trust can be built in the public. Evaluation Shall Vary with Different People High consensus is reached in today’s society that many problems arise because of scores becoming the only measure of talents selection. The biggest drawback of the current college entrance examination is that the score determines everything. Compared with recommendations without objective basis, it is a progress to evaluate in terms of scores; compared with comprehensive professional evaluation, it is superficial, extensive, and backward to evaluate only by scores. However, the main body of this malpractice is non-professional administration. If students are evaluated in a professional way, scores will not determine everything nor will one exam determine the whole life. The basic principle in setting up the educational evaluation mechanism is that evaluation should vary with different people, not the other way around. Since people are diverse, talents can be roughly divided into academic talents, vocational talents, professional talents, and career talents based on their growth. Compared with their attributes, vocational talents correspond to operation (skill) talents, professional talents correspond to research (ability) talents, and career talents correspond to versatile talents (perfectly equipped with a variety of knowledge, skills, and abilities). In their growth, academic talents are the basis for vocational talents, professional talents, and career talents. At the same time, vocation (skill), profession (ability), and career (versatility) are also the three major directions of differential growth of academic talents. There remains a major problem in the professional evaluation, that is, how to form the criteria of classification and the detailed standards of the growth and development of academic talents according to the abovementioned directions and standards, and on the basis of the integrated models of talent theory and academic theory, to construct the basic model of academic talents and the basic model of measurement and evaluation, and to further develop the corresponding basic standard system of academic talents, as well as the content and index system of measurement and evaluation.

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With the development of educational evaluation and talent evaluation, a great number of theories have been accumulated for reference and use. Multiple intelligences theory, various talents theory, educational goal classification theory, cognitive diagnosis theory, non-intelligence factor theory, brain science theory, and so on have been widely applied in the field of educational evaluation and talents evaluation in many countries. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences puts forward a multi-dimensional intelligence structure system, which holds that the growth, inheritance, and success of human beings mainly depend on this basic structure. It proposes new human intelligence structures: ontological intelligence (musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic), instrumental intelligence (verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical), object intelligence (interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic), and existential intelligence. These four types and eight kinds of intelligences are closely related to civilization, culture, and society, and together form a complex three-dimensional intelligence structure system. The evaluation of people’s growth, inheritance, success, and so on according to the Theory of Multiple Intelligences is bound to be a comprehensive evaluation system that highly combines people’s cognition, behavior, culture, and non-intelligence factors (emotion, interest, efficacy, motivation, style, and so on). Various talent evaluation and selection theories originating before and after the Second World War have gradually developed into a comprehensive evaluation combining intelligence, non-intelligence factors, cognition, behavior, culture, and so on. The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives divides educational objectives into three “domains”: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. It is highly isomorphic with the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and talent theories and contains and structuralizes the intelligence theory, theory of non-intelligence factors, and constructivism theory, which helps to set up the basic structure and target model of comprehensive evaluation of educational evaluation. To some extent, the brain science theory has proved the scientificity and effectiveness of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, talent theories, the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, and comprehensive evaluation based on them and taking them as basic structure. The high-school and college entrance exams, which shoulder the important tasks of assessing and selecting academic talents in China, lack clear evaluation and selection theories and corresponding models, and thus, the validity of talent evaluation and selection cannot be guaranteed.

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The American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council of Measurement in Education published Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing in March 2003, which clearly pointed out that when setting the test validity standards, the recommended interpretation and use of each test score should have theoretical basis, with the validity proof and theoretical review explaining the intended use11 (Standard 1.1). Test developers should clearly explain how test scores should be interpreted and used. All subjects for the test should be clearly defined, and the structure of the test to be measured should also be clearly described (Standard 1.2).12 In other words, the support for the validity of the exam lies in some important credentials, like the theoretical basis, the definition of the test object, and the evaluation architecture, especially the validity credential of the evaluation and selection test of high-stakes academic talents, which is the problem remaining unsolved in the evaluation of people-oriented education. It is inevitable, under the assumption that the evaluation determines the growth of people, that super-strict training education will emerge with high intensity, which will distort human nature and reduce human value, so that human nature and superior potential cannot be fully developed, and no outstanding talents will grow up, because they have been destroyed before they grow up. The logical basis for people-oriented evaluation is that the demand for growth determines the objective of evaluation. People are growing up accompanied by evaluations. In practice, the tests that different people have mentioned are not necessarily the same thing. For Chinese people, the first priority of the examination is to distinguish between high and low, and the more important function of testing, with no difference between high and low on the whole, is to know where you are and in which direction you will move forward. Proper examination, especially self-test, is helpful for learning. If you do not have tests often, there is no specific basis for teachers and students to recognize the relationship with relevant knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Students who only study for a long time with no tests will get lost, and do not know where they are or what they 11  Theoretical basis should indicate what preconditions are needed for the research of the recommended interpretation. 12   The American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council of Measurement in Education. Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, March, 2003.

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can do, and sometimes even lose their confidence in learning. On the one hand, tests help to detect difficulties in a certain part of the learning content, expose loopholes in each part, and give students timely feedback. Then teachers can teach and students can learn in a targeted way. On the other hand, through the information feedback brought by the tests, students will know what to improve and in which direction they are most likely to make breakthroughs, thus improving overall learning and enhancing confidence. The more timely the tests in practice, the smaller the amount of learning objects, and thus the greater the possibility of improvement and the less the burden of study. It can not only cultivate students’ perception for nuance, but also conduct fixed-point evaluation and accurate learning. Only in this way can testing really serve learning, not learning for testing. Such formative evaluation can help students improve the process and effect of learning, so that they can reach the standard in the necessary summary evaluation. To serve learning through examinations is in essence to serve the growth and development of students. For a student, this kind of evaluation is to analyze the advantages and potential directions based on the obtained measurement information, and to analyze the disadvantages and figure out whether they are obstacles in his growth, thus avoiding unnecessary training and evaluation which strengthen the disadvantages. That is to say, the content of evaluation required by various students is different. Tests should be synchronized with education and growth of students. The method of evaluation should also be determined according to the growth. China now adopts more standardized tests and pays more attention to the “low-end skills” of “know what” in Bloom’s Taxonomy. It is difficult to measure higher-end thinking abilities such as analysis, synthesis, application, and creativity. The United States has gone to the other extreme, paying too much attention to students’ creativity while too little attention to “low-end thinking ability.” As a result, the knowledge base of students is weak, and strict training will be carried out at the college. Therefore, people-oriented educational evaluation calls for an open vision. While designing an evaluation of “low-end thinking ability,” more subjective and open test questions or innovative evaluation methods should be applied so as to comprehensively evaluate students and provide feedback. The evaluation should not endlessly classify students according to grades, but follow their nature so as to provide credible reference for their growth and development.

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Setting Up Diverse Evaluations That Track the Whole Process for Choice There are many technical indicators and parameters for evaluating the quality of education, but they can only obtain some objective information, which is difficult to reflect the value and human feelings. Whether education is successful depends ultimately on whether everyone is respected and fully developed and has the autonomy to move toward greater happiness and dignity. The goal of people-oriented education is to meet the needs of moving forward in life. Education reform is a means for society to pursue justice, fairness, equality, freedom, and democracy, which should meet the increasingly diversified educational needs of people. Educational evaluation needs to be diversified to satisfy people’s need for diversity in education, and the educational evaluation system should be constructed based on the growth needs of students. The basic logic of evaluation of people-oriented education is as follows: first, according to human nature, we should set training objectives, talent concepts, and scientific and diverse evaluation standards to realize the diversification of evaluation criteria of education as well as evaluation methods; second, all sectors of society should participate in the process of empowerment and equivalence transformation of different evaluations; third, we should improve the professional evaluation of the comprehensive quality of students with different natures and not make too rigid requirements; fourth, we should explore a variety of evaluation methods to promote the development of students’ nature. The overall development of global educational evaluation is that it has entered an era of diversified, personalized, and comprehensive development evaluation. In order to establish a scientific and diversified evaluation system of education with development of students as the core, we need to learn from international experience to solve the practical problems in China and take it as an important measure to diagnose education problems, perfect education policies, and improve education and teaching. The global educational evaluation has gone through six development periods and five theoretical stages, namely, examination period (since the emergence of school until the end of the nineteenth century, also known as embryonic period), testing period (testing theoretical stage, early twentieth century to the 1930s), description period (goal-centered theoretical stage, the 1930s–1950s), judgment period (standard-making theoretical

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stage, the 1950s–1970s), result identification period (constructing theoretical stage, since the 1970s), and comprehensive evaluation period (multiple intelligences theoretical stage, the 1980s–1990s and major development afterward). These six periods and five stages also point out the basic logic and direction of China’s educational evaluation reform. What basically synchronizes with the sixth period is a new round of in-­ depth education reform in the world, which marks the arrival of a diversified, personalized, and all-round comprehensive development education era based on growth with the aim of “happiness plus success.” The educational evaluation of countries with developed education represented by the United States has accumulated rich theoretical and practical experience. After experiencing various drawbacks brought about by the “test-centered” evaluation model with simple standardized tests (in essence, intelligence tests and cognitive tests) as the evaluation criteria, since the 1960s, “performance evaluation,” “authentic evaluation,” and “situational evaluation,” which are mainly used to assess students’ comprehensive quality, have started to rise in the United States and become an important supplement to standardized tests. Today, the United States has formed a comprehensive evaluation model of “GPA (academic achievement) plus comprehensive quality evaluation plus standardized test (learning competitiveness test), or application and research potential test” in evaluating students and schools. The definition of the target structure of comprehensive evaluation is comprehensive evaluation objective = learning (achievement, ability, and accomplishment) evaluation objective + growth (degree, personality, and accomplishment) evaluation objective + application and research potential (or learning competitiveness) evaluation objective. Therefore, the United States builds and implements the comprehensive evaluation of educational quality on the basis of “GPA + Comprehensive Quality + Standardized Examination,” supplemented by the National evaluation of Educational Progress (Academic evaluation + Comprehensive Questionnaire). The education concept implied in this comprehensive evaluation model is that the subjects of educational evaluation are people with different characteristics and tendencies. Students’ abilities and qualities are composed of many aspects. Since any evaluation method has its limitations, we cannot only rely on the conclusion of one evaluation method, but should select appropriate evaluation methods and means according to different aspects of students’ abilities and qualities. Although it is not yet a complete humanistic evaluation, it has taken a solid step in the people-oriented direction.

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On the one hand, the educational evaluation in China is deeply influenced by the traditional imperial examination; on the other hand, it is restricted by the administrative power. It has gone through the examination period (from Zhou Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty), the introduction of educational evaluation from the United States (from the period of the Republic of China to 1949), the introduction of educational evaluation from the Soviet Union (the 1950s–1970s), and the “tests of basic knowledge and skills plus extracurricular activities” period (the 1980s to the present). During the period, the curriculum reform has attempted to promote the evaluation reform but without much effect. So far, China’s educational evaluation has basically remained in the testing period. Its characteristic is to use the result of educational measurement as that of educational evaluation, that is, to replace evaluation with score. Evaluators only play the role of evaluation technicians and collect teaching information with a relatively objective method, to a certain extent, overcoming the subjectivity, randomness, and casualness of the traditional examinations. The biggest problem that arises from this lies in the attempt to use numbers to express all the characteristics of the educated, ignoring the more important characteristics of human nature that are difficult to be evaluated in this way, such as students’ attitudes, interests, creativity, and appreciation. It is very complicated and difficult to quantify all of these evaluations of students. If the measurement results are taken as evaluation results, it is too mechanized and one-sided and lacks complete and comprehensive understanding of the educated. Therefore, the evaluation content needs to track the psychological quality, basic ability, core knowledge, professional quality, learning results, and value-added status of students in the process of growth in a certain period of time, which is more reliable as the basis for evaluation. It is necessary to advocate a diversified, individualized, and comprehensive educational evaluation model and to establish a comprehensive education quality evaluation model to coordinate the structural relationships among various parts, perfect the evaluation standards and contents and the measurement standards, develop measurement and evaluation tools, and establish an evaluation result interpretation and application system as well as a standardized implementation process for comprehensive education quality evaluation. Only by solving the above problems and their experimental verification, scientific appraisal, and related supporting systems, mechanisms, resources, and other issues, can we truly break through the dilemma of educational evaluation in China.

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The scientization of evaluation method is mainly embodied in three aspects: first, it focuses on comprehensively and objectively collecting information, analyzing and judging based on data and facts, establishing evaluation on the basis of a large amount of data and scientific analysis, and changing the previous practice of mainly relying on experience and observation in evaluation. Second, it pays attention to examining the progress of students and the efforts of schools, thus changing the past practice of emphasizing results rather than development and changes and introducing value-added evaluation. Third, it stresses promoting schools to establish internal quality control mechanisms, thus changing the practice of relying too much on external evaluation and ignoring self-diagnosis and self-improvement. The evaluation data can come not only from the tests on students, but also from the real records of the behaviors and activities of the evaluated. These records can be concentrated in some fields of community activities, learning activities, and daily life and can also be general records. The newly developed degree monitoring “bracelet” can be used as a recording tool. The function of educational evaluation should shift its focus to guidance, diagnosis, improvement, and encouragement. The purpose of educational evaluation is to improve rather than to prove or sift. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and diagnose the evaluation contents and key indicators, give evaluation conclusions separately, and put forward suggestions for improvement, so as to form a comprehensive evaluation report on the quality of students’ education instead of simply saying good or not good. In the use of evaluation results, emphasis is placed on improvement and incentive functions. The evaluation results will serve as the main basis for improving educational measures. After the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the reform of the national college entrance examination and high-school entrance examination proposed by the Ministry of Education in relevant documents includes comprehensive evaluation = academic evaluation + comprehensive quality evaluation + unified examination (learning ability examination, or application and research potential test). It attempts to adopt a structure and model based on “academic (quality and ability) evaluation + comprehensive quality evaluation + unified examination (or standardized examination)” supplemented by education quality monitoring (or national education progress evaluation). In the process of promotion, the theoretical, technical, and methodological problems in academic evaluation, comprehensive quality evaluation, and standardized examination still need to be solved.

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In theory, students’ academic evaluation needs to design a new multi-­ dimensional score structure. Technically, it is necessary to provide rich information for academic diagnosis and screening based on the generating process of cognition and thinking on assigned scores for test questions, scoring and statistical analysis, and provide reference for equivalent conversion between different tests. In application, it can not only provide multi-dimensional and multi-comparison results of data, but also provide data reports for different groups, thus providing reliable, credible, and effective scientific tools for educational consultation. It can also provide reliable and effective scientific platforms and tools for research, teaching, and management, as well as scientific operating platforms for teachers’ professional development.13 Due to the unclear definition of students’ comprehensive quality evaluation, the evaluation criteria and index system are not perfect. The evaluation methods and techniques are unscientific, with certain subjectivity, arbitrariness, and randomness. The results are not comprehensive and comparable. The evaluation process is irregular, opaque, and has poor credibility. Performance evaluation, represented by the portfolio evaluation method, has become an indispensable evaluation method in educational evaluation and talents selection in the United States. Schools that use the portfolio evaluation method in the United States have gone beyond kindergartens to universities. The target groups vary from students to administrators, and the application scope covers the graduation of students, education accountability, employment and evaluation of teachers, professional development of teachers, selection and evaluation of administrators, and so on. The portfolio method has irreplaceable advantages in promoting students’ self-awareness and the cultivation of good quality, helping teachers better understand students and the effects of teaching, and providing more comprehensive information for parents and enrollment units. The electronic portfolio made by information technology and network not only has the function of guiding students’ growth, but its advantage on large storage and accessibility also enables students to present them at any time. The technical problem of it is how to design the contents of the portfolio carefully according to the purpose of the evaluation. Scientific scoring standards and scales are needed. The evaluation results need to be 13  Yao Chunyan, Zhang Yong. New Educational Evaluation Technology Solves Educational Evaluation Reform Problems. Examination (Theoretical Practice), 2014(3).

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explained and guidance given to the application. At the same time, raters need to be trained and the scoring process needs to be standardized to ensure the reliability of scores. The problems in students’ comprehensive quality evaluation in China include (1) how to define the concept of the quality and the evaluation; (2) constructing a theoretical system and model for evaluating the quality; (3) perfecting the evaluation standard of the quality; (4) perfecting the measurement standard of the evaluation; (5) perfecting the index system of the evaluation; (6) developing tools for the evaluation; (7) formulating the tool operation standard for the evaluation; (8) improving the presentation of the results of the evaluation; (9) establishing a system for interpreting and applying the results of the evaluation; (10) designing an experimental promotion model for the evaluation; and (11) designing a credibility guarantee system for the evaluation. The first problem to be solved in standardized examination is to define discipline talents and academic talents and define the concepts of academic talents and applied talents. Second, set up the theory of evaluation and selection of academic talents and the evaluation model. Finally, establish an evaluation and selection index system for academic talents. The improvement of professional evaluation is a long process, but the premise is that administrative power needs to allow schools to, according to their own school-running orientation, set up their own professional team, explore independently, put forward the enrollment requirements, and specify what grades and materials candidates should submit. Social examination institutions should provide examination evaluation services according to the enrollment requirements of universities, with unified knowledge and ability tests and subject-level tests. Students can choose which tests to take according to the requirements of the school they apply for. Only through such examinations and enrollment can basic education truly get rid of the rigid examination. When the main body of examination and enrollment is not changed from the administrative department to a professional organization, any efforts made to achieve comprehensive evaluation, multiple admission, and the separation of admission and examination based on the unified college entrance examination and the results of academic tests for high-school students will be in vain.

CHAPTER 7

Teaching: Education for Life

Influenced by the concept of narrowing education and the restriction of the institutionalized education system, people are becoming smaller and smaller in front of the system, thus causing education and teaching to drift away from life. However, good education will never be separated from life. In this respect, not only the judgments made by education pioneers, but also a large number of practical examples of education have shown that teaching cannot be divorced from personalized life. The teaching principle followed by people-oriented education is to use life to educate and to meet the needs of better development of life. To use life to educate is to make full use of life resources so as to enrich education content, form, and method. It is necessary to establish life-based courses. Teaching should be based on experience and grafted with new knowledge. Education that meets the needs of life should teach students to realize their mission in life, to cultivate their personality, and to become real men in pursuit of truth. People-oriented education needs to start with the real initial state of teaching subjects, closely follow the needs of growth and development, protect students’ interests and autonomy, encourage their independent choices, and advocate them to be masters of their own lives, so that students can plan, design, and be fully responsible for their future lives, as well as continuously surpass the real world and continuously improve their quality and value of life.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_7

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Education is definitely not only a matter of being an official, or a matter of religion, culture, words, and science, but also a matter of human life. Only human life can become and deserves to become the central issue of education. The nutritional elements of school education alone are not enough to bring forth flowers of personality development and fruits of innovation and discovery. Society is the full scope of education; life is the whole process of education; and the growth of talents and the emergence of creation must have the soil of practice. School teaching should not be a simple feeding but should give different guidance and teaching services according to the needs of different students’ life to move forward. The development trend of world education and teaching also shows that education for all is turning to learning for all.1 Learning for all is not just learning in schools, but also learning to live a broad and individualized life. Curriculum-centered education is turning to student-centered education and pursuing development for all, as every student is important. Individualized development means that every student is different, schools need diversified development to adapt to it, and the top decision-making level of education needs direct communication with students. Ability-­ centered education is turning to values-centered education. In the final analysis, it is to educate students how to treat themselves, others, society, the country, and the world, establish a fair, strict, and inclusive school, and put the cultivation of students’ character in pursuing excellence, innovation and curiosity, diversity, respect for others, and other aspects in a more important position. Imparting knowledge is turning to cultivation of innovative spirit. The cultivation of students’ innovative spirit and ability is based on inquiry learning, practical learning, and cooperative learning. Shaping the Education of Tomorrow: The 2012 Report on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development points out that “learning” refers to learning to ask critical questions, clarify one’s own values, envision more positive and sustainable futures, think systemically, respond through applied learning, and explore the dialectic between tradition and innovation. The use of information tools has triggered a change in teaching model. Attention has been paid to the improvement of students’ information literacy. The application of information technology in the field of education and teaching has gradually shifted from the changes in tools and technologies and teaching model to the structural changes in school form. 1  Tao Xiping. Six New Trends of Contemporary World Education and Teaching Reform. China Education News, April 27, 2014.

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7.1   It Is Not Good for Education to Break Away from Life The current education and teaching in China bears the imprint of Prussian origin. Such teaching runs through many national concepts and government will and is embedded in classroom teaching through the lever of assessment and management. Many of them have little to do with students’ current life, resulting in many students choosing to flee from school in the second or third grade of junior high school after entering puberty. Teaching Has Gradually Distanced from Life In Chinese schools, the standard teaching model includes several basic elements: entering the teaching building at six or seven o’clock in the morning; during the 40- to 60-minute class, the teacher is responsible for speaking and the students are responsible for listening; there are about 10 minutes of rest interspersed between classes, lunch, and the PE class. After school finishes in the afternoon, students go home to do their homework. In fact, some students arrive at school earlier and leave much later, and some students who stay at school also need to study in classrooms at night, during which there is little time and space for students to learn their favorite content and carry out their favorite activities. Under the restriction of standardized curriculum schedule, the originally vast and beautiful field of human thought has been artificially cut into manageable parts called “subjects”; the original inclusive concept was divided into separate “curriculum units” to facilitate teaching in a limited time; questions and answers are arranged one after another to facilitate the calculation of scores. At the beginning of 2015, a popular online post titled When I was young, I was knowledgeable too! said, “When studying in high school, I could do trigonometric functions, recite classical Chinese and understand Newton’s law. When walking out of the school gate, why did I forget all the knowledge I learned in middle school, but my life was not affected? Is there any problem with the textbooks?” This post reflects the common feeling of many people that teaching is not related to life. Let us take a look at what is generally considered to be a high-quality classroom teaching in China. They are all teaching processes preset by teachers. Every detail of a Chinese classroom teaching is preset by teachers, and almost no consideration is given to the requirements and performance of

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students in the classroom. No matter in big cities or remote mountain villages, teachers must prepare detailed lesson plans before class. In addition, many local education administrative departments have specially printed teachers’ lesson preparation books. Teachers must write lesson plans according to the format prescribed by their superiors. Schools regard teachers’ lesson plans as one important basis for evaluating teachers. Lesson plans become a record of teachers’ work performance. When evaluating teachers for professional titles or year-end awards, lesson plans are necessary materials and basis. Over time, Chinese teachers have difficulty understanding the fact that teachers in other countries in the world do not have lesson plans in class. As a result, they have to ask how to teach without lesson plans. Lesson plans vividly illustrate the teaching philosophy of Chinese teachers.2 Due to the careful arrangement in the lesson plan, the whole class is arranged by the teacher. The more carefully the teacher arranges, the fewer opportunities students have to take part in the class on their own initiative, not to mention the opportunities for students to express creative thinking beyond a teacher’s teaching plans. Therefore, Cheng Jieming said that China has many teachers who teach well. He has listened to numerous classes but rarely seen a class jointly shaped by teachers and students which is similar to western teaching.3 He cited two typical examples. One was a good teaching method praised by the education circle in a famous primary school in Beijing.4 That teacher looked very experienced at first sight. She arranged the lesson very well, made some paper paste teaching aids, and spoke in cadence. During the class, she asked many questions and students responded enthusiastically. The teacher explained profound theories in simple language, and students must have learned very well. But we as outsiders felt a little uncomfortable that students followed the teacher’s thought without giving theirs. The teacher also raised many rhetorical questions and cited many counter-examples and wrong examples to stimulate students’ thinking but that was still the thought arranged by the teacher. What again made outsiders uncomfortable was the tense 2  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p.102. 3  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p. 103. 4  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, pp. 103-104.

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atmosphere when students answered questions. When the teacher asked a question, many pupils immediately raised their hands to answer it, just like a quiz show on TV. Moreover, the discipline in class was strict, and every student raised his hand in the same posture with upper arm flat on the table and the forearm pointed up to form an angle of 90 degrees with the flat upper arm. However, what was even more uncomfortable was the discipline of raising your hand before you speak. Even if the pupils wanted to answer questions, they could not say anything like “let me answer!” or “I understand!” aloud. So, they just unconsciously gave some sound. On the one hand, visitors would be moved by the students’ spirit of active participation. On the other hand, they would be concerned by the children’s self-restraint. Another Chinese teaching in a combined class in Zhejiang was also arranged very tightly by the teacher, which might be too tight to leave any space for students to think and explore for themselves. What is even more frightening is that “this situation has become a tradition and a culture, as if teachers are responsible for arranging every minute of the class. Students are also used to thinking that they should just follow the teachers.”5 It is this cultural tradition that suppresses students’ instinctive creative spirit and destroys their consciousness of independent exploration. In China, teachers’ classroom performance is highly valued. Moreover, there is an underlying concept that the key in the process of teaching and learning lies in teaching.6 Therefore, the teaching reform in various places takes teachers’ open teaching as the highlight, turning open teaching into performance teaching, which to some extent deviates from the specific actual needs of students. In contrast, the so-called Open Classroom has become popular in the United States in recent years. In a broad sense, open classroom means that teachers adopt a completely open attitude and shape each lesson according to the needs of local students at that time.7 According to the report of the Law Enforcement Inspection Team of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the inspection of the implementation of the Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, in 2012, the retention rate of nine-year compulsory 5  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p. 105. 6  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p. 106. 7  Cheng Jieming. Education in Mainland China. Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1993, p. 106.

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education was 91.8%, and the dropout rate in rural junior high schools was relatively high in underdeveloped areas of the central and western regions, especially in remote, poor, and minority areas, with some areas exceeding 10%.8 Suppose the national retention rate is 91.8%, if the rate in urban areas exceeds 99%, the dropout rate in some rural areas will be about 20%. According to my field investigation, the dropout rate after grade two in some rural junior high schools was as high as 40%–50%. For example, among 170,000 students enrolled in grade one in a certain western region, only 100,000 of them graduated from grade three. Why did these people drop out of school? Field investigations in many areas showed that the main reason before 2000 was economic difficulties. After 2000, the main reason was that children aged 13 or 14 had no interest in the school curriculum, no sense of belonging to the school, and weariness of learning. They could not bear it any longer and dropped out of school without informing their parents and teachers. In 2012, five school-age children died of carbon monoxide poisoning inside garbage bins in Bijie City, Guizhou Province, which was a typical case related to this. Four of the five children were in a state of dropping out of school. Despite repeated mobilization by teachers, they all refused to go to school on the grounds of poor grades and no desire to study. Psychologically, they thought that the sense of belonging of the school is not as good as wandering around. Although this is an extreme case, it still reflects the seriousness of the problem that teaching is separated from students’ life and actual needs of students’ growth and development, because those who would rather wander than go to school are extremely disgusted with school life. A nationwide dropout rate of 10% is a huge number. These people have given negative answers to the correlation between school life and their own lives. There are still some people who have not dropped out of school and still stay on campus under various binding forces such as parents, classmates, and teachers. There is no national empirical survey on their experience, but some surveys show that about half of the students think that school teaching has nothing to do with their lives. The macroscopic performance of school education being separated from life is that it fails to design courses and teaching plans according to 8  Huang Xiaoxi. Four major imbalances in compulsory education in China. The dropout rate in rural junior high schools in the central and western regions is relatively high. Xinhuanet: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-12/23/c_118675788./htm.

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the needs of students’ growth and development, but only for examination. Children with different advantages, potentials, and aspirations are required to receive teaching in the same class according to the same teaching plan, and students with different learning steps are required to learn in the same way. At the same time, tests are used to sift out students continuously, making more and more students feel eliminated and lose self-confidence. Teachers who are engaged in teaching on the front line also feel that school education is obviously divorced from life, and they also realize that classroom teaching cannot exist independently from real life. When students pursue their own interests and enjoy life, they forget what they have learned. School study has become a “job” that occupies the time of children and young people. However, there is little connection between this kind of work and real learning that can guide their life. Classroom teaching, which has been divorced from the reality of life, is boring and cannot effectively improve students’ enthusiasm for participation. It is difficult to improve the effect of classroom teaching either. Some teachers are also deeply reflecting on their teaching, realizing that more attention should be paid to students, and trying to design a personalized learning design guide to provide teaching support for students who are not adapted to well-designed courses and those who claim that “they cannot learn useful things in school.” What Is Pulling Teaching Away from Life? The prevailing teaching model in China was first implemented by Prussians in the eighteenth century. Prussians were the first to invent today’s classroom teaching model. Their original intention was not to educate students who can think independently but to cultivate a large number of loyal and easy-to-manage citizens. The values they learned in school made them obey the authority including parents, teachers, and churches and, of course, ultimately obey the king. The Prussian education system was innovative in many aspects at that time. Such an education system had made tens of thousands of people become middle class and provided a vital motive force for Germany to become an industrial power. Based on the technical level at that time, the most economical way to achieve the goal of education for all in Prussia was probably to adopt the Prussian education system. Germany’s education has played a great role in its industrialization, making Europe and even all humans pay attention to it and learn from Germany’s education and teaching system.

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However, this system prevents students from conducting more in-­ depth and independent research, which is detrimental to their ability of independent thinking. Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century, high levels of creativity and logical thinking might not have been as important as obeying orders in thought and mastering basic skills in action. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the United States basically copied Prussia’s education system. Just like in Prussia, this move can greatly promote the development of the middle class, enabling them to get a job in the booming industrial field. Apart from the United States, this system was also imitated by other European countries in the nineteenth century and extended to other countries outside Europe and the United States. After the new education movement in Europe and the progressive education movement in the United States, the influence of Prussian education declined. China received Prussian education from Japan, Europe, the United States, and later the Soviet Union and combined it with traditional Chinese education which emphasized memorization and loyalty to the monarch through the ages. After 1917, China also received the influences of new education and progressive educational thoughts. After 1950, China only learned from the Soviet Union and once again greatly strengthened Prussian education. In terms of the operation of schools and learning, China has been frantically pursuing efficiency for nearly a century in order to catch up with and adapt to the needs of industrialized talents. Compared with the natural development of European and American education systems, Chinese schools are more like the assembly line of Taylorism factories, which regard “people” as “economic people” and use interests as drivers for improving efficiency. However, it is not clear whether the efficiency molecules are “grades” or “educating people.” Simply focusing on achievements means that the education deviates from the people-oriented concept and takes little account of human nature and the needs of growth and development. If we compare the current Chinese schools with Taylorism factories, we will find that there are many matching characteristics. Chinese schools draw up a high learning volume and a large number of knowledge points that need to be examined, select students with good grades to form key schools and key classes, and have a unified national examination standard. There also exists a large number of stimulating rewards and punishments resulting from examinations and various activities within the school that give people benefits as long as they meet the requirements. The goal of the school is formally to develop rather than stimulate students’ potential.

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Every minute is devoted to obtaining examination results that can be exchanged for entrance certificates, bonuses, achievements, and various benefits, instead of everyone developing according to his own nature. Students seem to be industrial products on the assembly line, even the child laborers of teachers and principals. If they get a label and evidence through high test scores, their achievements will become the achievements of teachers, principals, and local government officials. In essence, Taylorism school teaching takes students as the carrier of test scores and requires students to find the mark of work achievements in daily life. Teachers and students are required to “do things right” rather than “do right things.” The requirement for students is to hand in good-­ looking homework and examination papers, and little consideration is given to the most effective development of their real learning and thinking abilities in their corresponding critical and optimal periods, which cannot be supervised in Taylorism schools. To be a good student, the first thing is to define one’s life theme, to do what one should do effectively around one’s life theme, to decide learning priorities, to measure the mastery of knowledge, and to manage learning time and space. This requires great initiative and freedom, which cannot be achieved by Taylorism schools. While countries that developed early gradually abandoned the Taylorism school education through continuous reforms in schools, such kind of teaching in China is still popular under the pressure of taking college entrance examination to study in colleges and universities. With the support of administrative power, the “county education model,” “super middle school,” and “largest test preparation factory” have formed in various places. However, in the future, society will no longer require practitioners to obey and observe disciplines. On the contrary, it will require practitioners to have greater reading ability, mathematical literacy, and humanistic connotations. Lifelong learners who are creative, full of curiosity, and capable of self-positioning will be required to have the ability to put forward new ideas and put them into practice. Taylorism school teaching objectives are precisely contrary to this social demand. Obviously, Taylorism school teaching has made an important contribution to China’s economic development in the previous 20 years. In many labor-intensive enterprises, a large number of workers engaged in simple operations are needed. These workers are standardized talents cultivated in batches from such schools all over China and have inherited the tradition of diligence and tolerance of hardship. Such situation has become an

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inertia force to support school teaching that is divorced from life. How long it can last depends not only on schools and the persons involved, but also on the macro policy, management system, and assessment system of the whole education, as well as many vested interest groups associated with this system. Therefore, it is difficult to change it. Even if the discerning people can see the huge waste of social resources, it is difficult to change it in the short term. The above inertia often plays its role in an implicit way. It is manifested in the rules and regulations of the school’s curriculum, teaching, management, assessment, and other aspects, which makes the efforts to pay attention to the life of students out of tune with the atmosphere of the whole school. If teachers focus on the wonderful diversity and subtle differences of students, and their differences in intelligence, imagination, and talents, such teaching will be difficult. As a result, many teachers feel that they are asking for trouble after working hard for a period of time. Then they stop paying attention to things except teaching and even become mediocre. Of course, there are also some parents who realize the downsides of this kind of teaching to their children and choose to vote with feet to send their children to Europe and the United States to study abroad. However, unless these children stay abroad, if they return home to work, overseas returnees may not only be unable to find employment but also face continuous conflicts of various cultures and concepts in their future careers. Teaching Cannot Be Separated from Students’ Personalized Life Mr. Tao Xingzhi once criticized Chinese education for “running education for the sake of it and separating education from life” and “Teachers teach outed knowledge without flexibility; Students learn without flexibility.” What is the root cause of the increasing burden on students? Of course, it has something to do with fairness and whether to make full and effective use of students’ personalized life foundation. In the past, educational reforms mostly adjusted the structure like economic reforms, that is, they did not deeply explore and follow the internal laws of education. Because the target of education is people, it is difficult for people to upgrade through structural and scale adjustment. The most important thing is to treat the child as a human being, to explore his personal life characteristics, to treat education as education, and not to change from focusing on the quality of education into focusing on the GDP of education. Therefore,

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we should think about what education is from the philosophical level or from the ideological level. To return to the origin of education is to really enable children to enjoy childhood, to truly receive a happy and complete education, to truly gather the best things in school, to let children meet with their own good life, and to find themselves. As a matter of fact, things that are happy, fun, and connected with individual life are not burdens for children, so children will not complain about what they like at all. Burden reduction does not simply mean letting children do nothing or not sending children to cram schools on Saturdays and Sundays. Instead, children should be allowed to choose what they like to do, turn the burden into fun, and make it a part of individual life. Every student’s life has its own accumulation of unique process. In addition to explicit knowledge, there is also tacit knowledge. Education that is separated from the individual life of specific students ignores these preconditions, which makes it difficult to guarantee the effectiveness of teaching. Teaching cannot be separated from students’ personalized life. It is because only through teaching that is closely related to students’ life can students learn actively, be full of interest, show extremely high learning enthusiasm, associate with more, wider, and deeper contents beyond the teaching scope, and also produce some creative ideas from time to time. Only then can the classroom atmosphere be animated. On the contrary, students will feel dull, passive, and helpless and complete the task mechanically if teaching is divorced from real life. Teaching cannot be separated from students’ personalized life, because the current teaching is generally simplified to book-based classroom teaching, which is seriously separated from the real life. There is a huge information asymmetry between young students and teachers in the information age. Teachers need to understand the life and personality of students in order to change the perspective of thinking and establish a good teacher-­ student relationship. In order to establish an ideal teacher-student relationship on the basis of loving and believing teachers, enhance the teaching effect and promote the personality development of both sides, a harmonious space between the lives of teachers and students needs to be established, and equality, mutual respect, and confidence are required. The reason why teaching cannot be separated from students’ personalized life is that the long-term teaching method separated from students’ life makes every student highly dependent on teachers and lose autonomy. In order to fully develop their personality and transform dependence into

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students’ active autonomy, we must find key points in students’ life to stimulate their enthusiasm for learning, so that all the vitality of intelligence, emotion, interest, and will can burst out and collide with each other among peers. Different people can bring different skills, information, and interests into a collective task, so that all members can benefit and achieve good learning effect in cooperation. Teaching cannot be separated from students’ personalized life. It is to make students feel that teachers not only pay attention to their studies, but also their lives, and have an appropriate attitude towards students’ life. Even when criticizing students, teachers should make students feel the kindness and friendship behind the criticism. Let the students feel that the teacher is willing to drop his authority and reach into the inner world of the students. Only then can the communication between teachers and students has more profound and extensive educational significance. Teaching which cannot be separated from students’ personalized life requires teachers to reflect frequently. Are students interested in their own learning and can they have fun? Is the knowledge they have learned relevant to them? Can they apply what they have learned to life? How to achieve the goal of improving students’ quality of life in teaching? The reason why teaching cannot be separated from students’ personalized life also lies in the influence of family environment and social environment. Students’ cognitive levels are different, and each student’s intelligence development speed is different. Therefore, for the same teaching task in the classroom, students’ acceptance levels vary a lot. Teachers should not only care about the completion of teaching tasks, but also take into account the acceptance of students and also inspire personalized development for different students. Teachers work as the organizer, guide, and cooperator of students’ activities. From teachers’ behaviors to students’ activities, sensory effects to athletic/motion effects, and making sure that students can learn to develop their own individual learning, teaching should meet the needs of different students’ development and guide students through cooperation, exploration, communication, comprehension, and application to truly understand what they have learned. The Outline of Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial Implementation) issued by the Ministry of Education puts forward strengthening the link between curriculum content and students’ life, the development of modern society and science and technology, and paying attention to students’ learning interests and experiences. Teachers should fully understand the great significance of life to human development and

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education, attach importance to students’ existing experience, and take the knowledge that students already have as the starting point of teaching, so that students can fully feel experience and understand life, thus creating a better life. Therefore, it is possible to make students’ learning a more meaningful lifelong process.

7.2   Educating with Life How to improve education and teaching is a matter of different opinions. Some American education experts have listed five trends in future education in the United States: the first is intelligent teaching methods. Frontline educators will find out the best way for students to learn according to the research of experts as the guideline for actual teaching. For example, teachers should reward students for their efforts rather than their learning achievements and take teaching learning strategies and helping students find the most efficient learning methods as their main teaching tasks. The second is learning based on games, which can help students learn and improve their learning results. The third is to temper the indomitable and unremitting spirit. It is believed that failure is the best opportunity for children to grow up and students should learn lessons from failure and improve. This ability will benefit children for life. Fourth, homework is questioned. There is no need to deprive children of time for play and family reunion in order to finish these assignments. Family social activities and emotional development are as important to children as learning in the school classroom. Many teachers and principals in the United States have supported “no homework nights” or have replaced homework with a certain goal. The fifth is to cultivate creativity. Children’s curiosity and creativity should be stimulated through the integration of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and people-oriented designs. Many schools began to try “project”-based learning.9 Making full use of life resources is the basic feature of the above trends. According to Tao Xingzhi’s theory of life education, life education is the education of life, education with life, and education for better development of life. “Educating with Life” was once misunderstood by some people as education in life without any order. In fact, he emphasized to live a planned, targeted, and organized life and receive planned, targeted, 9  Tao Xiping: Six New Trends of Contemporary World Education and Teaching Reform, China Education News, April 27, 2014.

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and organized education. It argues that education should pay close attention to students’ life and link students’ actual life to endow classroom teaching with meaning and value. Making Full Use of Life Resources to Enrich Education There was once a teacher in a Chinese university who was teaching students of the Chinese department a poem popular during the Second World War. The poem wrote “Spring comes, and the earth is covered with flowers/where are the flowers? They are picked by a beautiful girl/where is the beautiful girl? The girl is taken into the barracks by soldiers/where do the soldiers go? All the soldiers are in the grave/where is the grave? The grave is covered with flowers.” Such a poem lamenting the destruction of human nature and beauty by war and implying that beauty is invincible was misunderstood by many college students. In their mind, the beautiful girl was brought to the barracks by soldiers to pay the fine for picking flowers. Some people also thought that the last sentence of the poem had nothing to do with the theme and should be deleted. The poor imagination of Chinese college students was related to the long-term confinement of students in classroom teaching in primary and secondary schools. The scope of education is equal to that of life and as wide as the scope of life. The class in school is only a small part of life. If it is isolated from life, it will become more and more monotonous and boring. If we can select the appropriate content and resources in our life according to the needs of different people’s educational practice, education will become more and more abundant and targeted. Education that cannot make full use of life resources is just like an umbrella that can only protect one or two people from rain. Tao Xingzhi said it is incompetent education. Education that makes full use of life resources is like sunshine, which can shine light on everyone. It is also like rain and dew so that everyone can get its nourishment. People’s life is social in nature and individual education is social education in nature. It is inevitable that the phenomenon of “five days in school plus two days out of school equals to no effects” will appear just by looking at school or classroom education. Education is not the work of some people, but the work of the whole society. Education that does not understand the needs of society is blind education; education that cannot serve society is consumptive education; education that cannot use social forces

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is incompetent education. Only by making individual education deeply rooted in society and life can individuals not be separated from the essential attributes of society. According to the broad view of education, the purpose of education lies in the improvement of life. Instead of requiring the social practice on which life depends on to rely on education, education should rely on and serve life. Only when one centers on the pursuit of a better life can education have constant source. Life with rich connotation and exuberant vitality is the solid foundation of education. Education lacking the foundation of life is ultimately barren, no matter how much investment is made, how many courses are taught, and which famous teacher is hired. Based on students’ real life, classroom teaching, at the same time, is also a process to improve their life quality and value and inspire them to pursue a more meaningful, valuable and beautiful life shining with humanity. Isolated knowledge-based education cannot construct their complete and rich spiritual life and world, nor can it promote students’ proactive development. Therefore, classroom teaching should get close to students’ actual life, closely connect with their life experience, and be endowed with life meaning and life value as well as promote students’ life quality, life taste, lifestyle, so that we can not only make them learn how to study and live better, but also, on this basis, make the students be the real subject of learning activities, personal life, and social life. Life needs education, and education is inseparable from life. The noblest spirit, as the priceless treasure of life, cannot be bought with money, nor can it be learnt in class but is acquired from life experience and practice in life. A proactive and striving attitude in life is far better than moral preaching in class. Spiritual initiative is more valuable than passive preaching. Only by making full use of life resources to enrich the content of education can we realize the integration of science education and humanities education. Under the discipline of utilitarianism and pragmatism, science courses with practical value are greatly favored, while humanities courses concerning the mission, value, and ideal of humans are oppressed and even marginalized in the departmental teaching developed after the Industrial Revolution. Strongly coerced by science education, humanities courses are carried out in accordance with the standards and logic of science curriculum to pursue the objectivity and standardization in humanities knowledge. The subjectivity and diversity in its understanding have been rejected, which ultimately changed the humanity-­ centered

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education into training institutes for passing exams, obtaining scores and diploma, as well as seeking jobs, leading to the separation of education and life. Thus, we need to promote and improve the combination of education and life. While education that tightly focuses on classes and exams satisfies people’s material need and promotes pragmatism, it banishes people’s spiritual pursuit and makes them more and more confined to the immediate interest, intoxicated with wealth and power and indulged in the material world, and blindly pursue self-satisfaction and sensory stimulation. This kind of education no longer puts people’s own development and perfection as its ultimate goal or considers big metaphysical questions like “live for what” but simply cares about “live on what.” It is also addicted to teaching people how to compete for money, house, car, and so on, thus leading people toward an incomplete life. We need to use the full life to give feedback on the incomplete education. There are huge and even endless educational resources in the world of students, including Chinese, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In this sense, Tao Xingzhi believes that “true education exerts its power through life.” Only when education has the resources of life can we be lifelong learners. Only with life rather than limited school curriculum as education resources will education be closer to everyone’s needs and provide enough options to choose. Therefore, it can be more people-oriented and further meets the needs of different people to help them improve and develop their life. Life-Oriented Curriculum Life-oriented education still needs to convert the content of life into curriculum for teaching. The yardstick for whether a course is good and proper or not is whether it helps people become useful talent. Classroom teaching must pay attention to the current living state and lifestyle of students and should closely relate to the actual life of students and their life experience, as well as endow itself with life meaning and life value to improve their quality of life. Since July 1996, the Chinese government has organized experts to discuss and formulate an investigation plan for the implementation of the curriculum of nine-year compulsory education. The survey was conducted in May 1997, which uncovered a lot of problems. The education concepts lagged behind as the talent training objectives could not fully meet the

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needs of time. The pertinence and effectiveness of ideological and moral education were not strong. The course contents were complicated, difficult, uncommon, and outdated. With single curriculum structure and relatively closed discipline system, it is difficult to reflect the new content of modern science and technology as well as social development, which is divorced from students’ experience and social reality. Rote memorization and training with a large number of exercise and homework are quite common among students. Curriculum evaluation puts too much emphasis on academic performance and selection functions. Curriculum management emphasizes unity, making it difficult for curriculum to meet the needs of local economy, social development, and diversified development of students. The twentieth century witnessed three worldwide education reform waves. The developed countries have successively carried out educational reforms and curriculum reforms which aimed at improving the quality of education and training more excellent talents. Many countries regard talent training as an important guarantee of national security and ensure the inheritance of excellent traditional culture through curriculum reforms. Since 1949, China has carried out at least seven large-scale reforms in the basic curriculum and textbooks of elementary education. Many years of practical experience has proved that the inheritance of great traditional culture and the construction of an innovative country are largely dependent on the school curriculum reform. To realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the young generation must be trained with the spirit of dedication and innovation, with the latter as the key. To achieve this goal, the corresponding courses should play the role of a medium. We turned from relying mainly on natural or material resources for the economic development and national strength, to relying mainly on people with high scientific and humanistic qualities to create a happy society. This kind of people must meet two requirements: one is to master the basic learning tools, namely, reading, writing, oral expression, calculation, and problem solving; the other is to have basic knowledge and skills, as well as correct values and attitudes, and have the ability to improve their quality of life and fully develop themselves. They should actively participate in the development of society and can insist on lifelong learning. Therefore, it requires that the curriculum of elementary education must arouse students’ innovation passion and spirit, which could not be achieved by knowledge-based curriculum.

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The knowledge-based curriculum has its long-standing foundation, which puts the curriculum of classics and history as its core in ancient times. The Four Books and Five Classics of China, the Bible of the West, and the Quran of Islam have long been used as classical textbooks. Later, China used the Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, Thousand Character Classic, and Poems of one Thousand Writers as enlightened reading materials. Its advantage lies in the complete system and cultural essence after long-term accumulation. The drawbacks are that the depth is not enough and it is hard to develop specialists. After the rise of industrial civilization, the research on departmental instruction has also developed the subject-centered curriculum, driving the rapid development of realistic education. Its advantage is the specialization in the academic field, which can enhance the cognitive depth of various fields. The shortcoming is that the integrity of knowledge is damaged by the division of learning and research, which even leads to partial development of students. Herbart noticed the defect of discipline-based learning and advocated encyclopedia education, trying to rectify the problem of the education system. Though conducive to learning systematic knowledge, it also brings burden caused by unnecessary learning and even leads to a tendency of valuing acquisition of knowledge but ignoring human development. In order to correct this deviation, Dewey proposed the activity-centered curriculum. Several basic points of Dewey’s thoughts are putting children as the center, activity as the center, and society as the center. Based on Dewey’s theory, Kilpatrick conceived the “project method,” which has the advantages of attaching importance to experience and giving full play to students’ initiative but lacks systematism. For this reason, Taylor, known as the father of modern curriculum theory, put forward the proposition that curriculum is an effective combination of experience. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized? The Taylor principle regards target setting as the most critical step. He stressed that education goal should be taken as the center to design and organize the course content and evaluate it, so as to assess students’ progress and find out the gap between the actual results and the course objectives. Such information feedbacks can be the basis for the revision of curriculum plans or the renewal of the course target. The advantage of Taylor’s theory lies in its emphasis on experience as the basic element of curriculum and the role of experience in curriculum teaching. As experience comes from life, it represents a life-inclined curriculum

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theory. The disadvantage of Taylor’s theory is that it is not clear who has the power to determine the target. If it is in the hands of teachers, it regards teachers as the center; if it is in the hands of students, it takes students as the center. After the launch of the Soviet satellite in 1957, the United States exclaimed that its education was lagging behind; therefore, Bruner carried out the structuralism curriculum reform in the United States. He put forward a proposition: any knowledge can be taught in proper structure to any child at any stage of development. Its advantage lies in its emphasis on logic and order arrangement of knowledge, but its deficiency is its failure to notice the inherent characteristics of students’ cognition. Without strong universality, the structuralism curriculum reform failed in the United States in a very short time. However, China has not followed the general knowledge-based curriculum theory over a long period of time but insisted on the exam-­ oriented curriculum theory, which is characterized by learning for examination. Things beyond the exam will not be learnt; for example, as calculus is not required in the college entrance examination, high schools do not teach calculus, which greatly harm the development of talented children. However, American high-school students are required to learn calculus, and they are able to use it to do related researches in which they are interested in their 20s. China’s deep-rooted knowledge-based and subject-based consciousness forms a great contrast with the requirements of the times. In the age of industrial economy, the central task of school education is to impart knowledge. Systematic knowledge almost becomes the substitute for “curriculum.” The only thing one can do with knowledge is “discovery.” For students in schools, their task is to receive and store knowledge that has been “discovered” by predecessors. Under the guidance of this knowledge view, book-centered and teacher-centered phenomenon and rote memorization inevitably appear in school education. “Curriculum is the subject of teaching” or “Curriculum is the sum of teaching content and progress” has become widely accepted. The biggest disadvantage of this curriculum view is that the knowledge world presented by teachers to students has strict certainty and simplicity, which does not match the real-­ life world of students characterized by uncertainty and complexity, making education and curriculum far away from students’ real life. In practice, activities outside and inside the school which are not directly related to the imparting of knowledge and skills are often regarded as additional burdens

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and therefore excluded. This kind of knowledge-based curriculum is obviously not in line with the needs of the time. The process of mastering knowledge is not only students’ life process, but in essence also the process of cultivating students’ scientific spirit and innovative spirit. However, under the big pressure of examinations, the keen pursuit of book knowledge in the curriculum system of Chinese schools has intensified students’ learning burden and learning weariness. Students learn for examinations and teachers teach for examinations. It is difficult for students to feel that learning is the need of life rather than an additional burden, making it hard to improve the quality and level of education. In order to solve the educational problems in China, Tao Xingzhi’s life-­ centered curriculum theory contained in his theory of “life education” can be used for reference. He advocated that life is the center of education and the center of curriculum. The basic ideas are as follows: first, the content of education comes from life; second, the course content must include how to transform life and the elements of practice; third, objection to the simplification of “life is education” into “life is curriculum”; fourth, everyone should make clear his or her own life theme and determine and select course content and structure according to the life theme in a purposeful, planned, and systematic way. Around 2000, China launched the curriculum reform of elementary education, focusing on setting up courses in terms of functions, objectives, curriculum types, and management methods to train students’ innovative abilities. Three-dimensional goals were established to transform the original class with single objective (knowledge and skills) into a multi-­ dimensional one (knowledge and skills, process and methods, emotional attitudes and values). It also aimed to offer comprehensive courses and practical activities, implement flexible course management, follow “one outline and multiple textbooks” policy to end the history of “one outline and one set of textbooks,” and change the “outline” to the “curriculum standard” used during the period of the Republic of China. National, local, and school curriculum management policies have been established to develop local curriculum. The reform mentioned above is conducive to the connection between curriculum and life, but the reform goal of making full use of life has not been realized due to the distortion in the implementation. As education becomes more people-oriented, the curriculum must be more life-oriented. However, life-oriented teaching is not equal to

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shallow, generalized, and arbitrary teaching but to choose the right life theme to deepen learning on the basis of understanding individual potentials. Grafting New Knowledge on the Basis of Experience Life education should be carried out with students’ real life. Life is the foundation of teaching. Classroom teaching, as a kind of special life aiming at improving students’ life quality, value, and meaning of life, needs to focus on students’ life experience and improve their current living state and life quality. Teaching should be based on the protection of children’s right to live with joy, self-esteem, innocence, and vigor. Everything has its own root. Only things based on its root can last for a long time. Only ideas originated from the root can be true and reliable. The root of teaching is experience. Tao Xingzhi had an incisive metaphor: knowledge is like grafting. He said, “We must have the knowledge coming from our own experience as the root, and then we can graft similar experience of others on it. We must have individual experience as the foundation and then we can understand or use the experience of all human beings.”10 Therefore, classroom teaching must pay attention to students’ direct experience and break through the boundary between books and life. It needs to focus on students’ real life, improve their current living state and quality of life, and construct complete possible life to enhance the meaning and value of students’ life. Generally, students have two main ways of learning. One is to acquire indirect experience from book knowledge through classroom and book learning, which is accumulated and sorted out by human beings in long-­ term social practice activities, and characterized by externality, generality, abstractness, and simplicity. The other is to obtain direct experience through their own experiences, practical activities, and independent research, with the characteristics of personal experience, context, concreteness, individuality, and silence. One significant difference between Chinese and American teaching is that students in China are expected to follow teachers, do exercise in class, and do homework after class, while American students are encouraged to 10  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 2). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, pp. 21-22.

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take relaxing activities and actively participate in class and put what they have learned into practice. These two different ways of education and teaching play entirely different roles in the growth and development of students, leading to huge differences in the performance of the two students after they grow up. If teaching is separated from the direct experience and the real life of students, it is not only difficult for students to master comprehensive knowledge, fully develop their talents, and obtain good morals and perfect personality, but also impossible for them to experience and grasp the meaning and value of individual life. Moreover, it is hard to guarantee that they can learn to live better in the future. Life is a spontaneous form of education, and classroom teaching is a conscious form of life. Classroom teaching must base on experience but is different from general life experience. Based on history and reality, it is a kind of life that points to the possible survival and development modes of students in the future. Classroom teaching must maintain proper transcendence of real life and construct a new and more complete possible life for students. At the teaching level, people-oriented teaching should be based on the acquired real experience of students and serve for their growth and development. In teaching, we should give full play to students’ initiative and creativity, change teaching methods, actively create problem situations, and stimulate students’ motivation for learning. We should change our ideas on education and teaching and uphold that teaching is based on learning and for learning. We should increase the opportunity for children to operate, develop children’s interest in learning, and give full play to students’ strengths. Most of the traditional Chinese classes take indirect experience as the primary thing for students’ learning, whose main task is to grasp the accumulated scientific and cultural knowledge of humans and regard the indirect experience as a “highway” and shortcut for students to know the world, making them deviate away from the real-life world and also lose the ability to perceive the world. Even though it is sometimes emphasized theoretically that indirect learning experience should be based on students’ direct experience and perceptual knowledge, it is often omitted in practical teaching or placed in a subordinate and secondary position. Restricting students in books has severed the connection between the book world and the real world. Cramming education recklessly disregards the great value and function of students’ direct experience and real life to

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enrich and deepen the individual’s understanding and to promote their full and free development of body and mind. What is not compatible with the urgent need to cultivate innovative talent is the traditional emphasis on the imparting of knowledge and the assumption that the value of books is higher than the value of life in China’s current teaching. Due to their regularity, systematism, and abstraction, books are taken for granted that they can not only make people think clearly, but also prevent them from spending more time facing various conflicts, confusion, and even emotional conflicts. It neglects the fact that books separate people from real life. Except symbolized existence, books do not give people enough ability to cope with life, which is exactly what we need to seek in life. Without understanding the experience basis of students, teachers asked them to carry more and more books that record the accumulated knowledge of predecessors. Teachers and parents have to bear more pressure than the increasingly heavy schoolbags. Under this pressure, the direct harm is that teachers and students are forced to spend their time and energy on examinations. The pressure of examinations squeezes the time, interest, and space for teachers and students to digest knowledge on their own. They are overwhelmed to cram a large amount of examination-oriented knowledge, so that students are busy with reading, reciting, homework, and frequent exams from early in the morning to late at night. They have no time to digest knowledge, deepen understanding, read extracurricular books and newspapers, or to contact with society and reality to improve practical abilities and independent thinking. They cannot actively graft the new knowledge on their own experience. In order to get good performance on exams, some schools even stipulate that students are not allowed to read newspapers, listen to the radio, watch TV, or read extracurricular books. They are only allowed to read books related to tests. In the long run, children’s imagination and creativity will gradually disappear. Even in general classes, direct experience and indirect experience, the world of books and the world of life should be equally important, without favoritism. Students’ direct experience and living world are the foundation and source of classroom teaching, the starting point and foundation of students’ learning activities, the “matrix” of indirect experience, and the “digestive enzyme” for learning indirect experience and book knowledge, with the function of “activating” knowledge and promoting knowledge transformation into ability. Classroom teaching derogates the status and

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value of students’ direct experience and actual living world and only regards direct experience as a tool to master indirect experience or to serve the learning of indirect experience but lacks real experience in the process of knowledge exploration and discovery. In this way, the indirect experience and book knowledge acquired by students can only be a pile of “dead knowledge without vitality,” which will be forgotten shortly after exams, and the classroom teaching itself will be boring. In reality, some parents try their best to send their children to the best schools. The children then have to take great pressure and become less confident, which may ruin their life. It could be avoided if parents or schools can take their children’s experience into account to understand education and children’s problems. Before teaching, teachers should learn more about students’ experience, so that they can make it easier for students to really learn something with interest, which can further develop their personality. Without opportunity to experience, students’ sensitivity for experience will become sluggish over time, and their interest in innovation will be destroyed. Even people who are originally interested in innovation will gradually lose such interest after a series of rigorous cut-throat examinations. Looking back on his schooldays, Einstein said, “One had to cram all this stuff into one’s mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.” Creativity is intrinsically interest-­ based and non-competitive, which requires a relaxed, free, equal, and leisure environment that we need to spend time to experience. Given no opportunity to experience, students will not accustom to or completely lose the ability to experience. Here is a practical example. A teacher from the north studied in the south and accepted some new ideas. After coming back, he excitedly adopted the newly learnt measures to show his respect to students, which were embarrassingly rejected by many of his students. They said, “Teacher, what happened to you in the south? You are so weird.” “Is the TV station going to do an interview?” “Teacher, don’t tease us, hurry up to class!” “Our English teacher frequently beat and kick us. Although he didn’t respect us, our English score ranks first in our district.” “Teacher, we don’t need such respect! As long as we get high marks, we get the biggest respect and we don’t care how our teacher treats us.”

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Children have become accustomed to the reality of not being respected and do not want to experience on their own. They have been tamed and forced to get used to it and take it as an attitude of life. They instead feel uncomfortable and at a loss when they are respected as “human.” How can we create innovative talent in such kind of way? Such stories happen every day and have become commonplace. This reality strongly shows a kind of scarcity, and a kind of need, that is, education lacks the sense of democracy, and students lack the sense of being the master of learning, and innovative teacher-student relationship is needed. More than 70 years ago, Tao Xingzhi put forward the “Six Liberations” of developing creative talents, that is, freeing students’ mind, hands, eyes, mouth, time, and space. The liberations can become a reality only when principals, teachers, students, fellow workers, and parents work together to create a democratic school. Treat students as human beings with humanistic respect and care. Respecting individuality is an important prerequisite for innovation. Individuality is a person’ potential peculiarities or even uniqueness in talent, intelligence, ability, interest, temperament, behavior, and other aspects. The spirit of freedom is embodied in protecting students’ spiritual freedom, advocating tolerance, and stimulating creativity. The source of innovation lies in practice. The neglect of the consciousness and standards of experiential education leads to over-emphasis on the education achievements made by predecessors but insufficient attention on innovation. If every educated person wants to give full play to his potential and stimulates the initiative of learning and growth, the experiential process is indispensable. It is advocated to build a loose environment for students to doubt, question, speak, and innovate. Everyone is equal before the truth. We should abandon the absolute authority of teachers in the old tradition and create a new era of democratization of education and teaching. Experience should not be obtained only in the small campus, so we should take advantage of all kinds of opportunities to expand students’ living space, let students go deep into society and know more about society. We should especially enrich students’ activities, combine theory with practice, enrich and deepen the experience in activities to stimulate their inner innovative spirit.

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7.3   Education for a Better Life Positioning education and teaching as a current goal is quite common in the works of pedagogy and teaching practice. There is nothing wrong with such a definition, but it is neither comprehensive nor far-reaching. Every specific teaching behavior should be connected with the big goal of life happiness, so that the essence of humanistic education can be embodied. Teaching to Help Students Fulfill Their Life Missions Educational and teaching activities are more effective only when they are clear about the life mission of the current learners. The life mission of students is not given by educators unilaterally or compulsively but should be generated independently by students based on their own potential and understanding of social needs. If the two sides of teaching have different understandings on the students’ mission, they need to communicate, understand, and negotiate with each other until a consensus is reached. In reality, people tend to think that the mission of students is to learn to survive, live, and socialize individuals. When an individual is born into this world, he is not able to adapt to this society or live in this society, so he must be socialized. In the elaboration of his theory of life education, Tao Xingzhi thought that xuesheng (students) are ordinary individuals in the society. The meaning of “xue” is to take the initiative to learn, not to sit and receive instructions; the meaning of “sheng” refers to life or survival. What the students learn is the way of life, which can be noble or humble, partial or complete, permanent or temporary, spiritual or formal. Learners need to judge independently in order to live a happy life forever. In order to achieve the mission of life, students must develop the master spirit. Everyone should be the master of his own, of society, of mankind, and of life. Teaching is to teach people to be masters. How to teach people to be masters? Leading a life as a master is the education of a master. If one reads book and hears words that teach him how to be a master, but lives the life of a slave, it is absolutely a slave’s education or pseudo-­ master’s education. Without the master spirit, we can only muddle along and make individuals become machines and tools, without having our own missions. Master spirit is not patriarchal spirit, so the master here must be the master of democracy, the master among people, that is, everyone can be the master.

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To fulfill the life mission, the spirit of dedication is necessary, without which the mission would be hard to achieve. Only dedicated educators can cultivate dedicated students. Education is a heart-to-heart activity, which means only things from one heart can touch the deep inside of another heart. The determinant of the effectiveness of education lies in the willingness to give the whole body and mind to the students. Teachers should teach with the spirit of “come with the whole heart and leave without even a straw,” so that students could learn the dedication spirit from their teachers. However, teachers should not be believer-like dedicators but should hold self-conscious dedication spirit supported by their knowledge and moral consciousness. It is a kind of dedication full of optimism and independent growth, which can be widely recognized by society, and can motivate more students to have the spirit of dedication. To fulfill the life mission, entrepreneurship is needed. Entrepreneurial spirit is reflected by entrepreneurial qualities such as sense of responsibility and concentration. Each person takes his responsibility, and has his own post, where one can give full play to creative abilities. Everyone has the sense of responsibility, clearly knows responsibility, and takes responsibility. Entrepreneurship and social transformation should be closely linked. We need to realize that entrepreneurship and social transformation is one thing, not two things, whose goal is to realize the ideal society and can use difficulties to develop ideas and striving spirit to achieve the mission of life. To achieve our mission in life, we also need to develop the spirit and ability of cooperation in the process of cooperating. The cooperation in teaching includes the cooperation among teachers, teachers and students, parents, society, and education departments. To really open a bright path for education, students should get involved in collaboration, work together, and put their lives into their careers, so as to exert the great power to accomplish this important task. It is a common problem in traditional Chinese education that there is no organization, no full cooperation, but closure and slave to knowledge. Teachers and students are definitely not running a one-man show, instead we teach, learn and live together, and make friends with each other in a harmonious way. To achieve our mission in life, we need to develop the spirit of service. Life’s mission is not unipolar but needs to form a closed loop that is realized in the process of serving others. Lacking service spirit, one can only hide in a small building for self-entertainment. The spirit of service is not necessarily grand, but more likely to be concrete, micro, and intimate.

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The realization of the life mission also needs pioneering spirit. Take any unexplored realm as your unfulfilled duty. Be brave enough to do it alone and not be afraid of anything. The pioneering spirit requires that we should try our best to reduce internal friction and devote all our efforts to our pioneering work. It also requires us to oppose all conformism which will weaken the public spirit and dispirit the soul of nation. For the truly first-class people pursuing a better life, they must dare to explore the undiscovered truth and go into the uncivilized frontier. In all fields, regardless of high or low, people with the courage to create and improve are in the first class. The duty of education and teaching is to cultivate more such figures. Teaching for Personality Development Educators have talked a lot about teaching for the cultivation of individuality in history, which was also noticed by government officials. In April 1987, Liu Bin, then deputy director of the State Education Commission, proposed in the draft conference of the teaching outline of all subjects of nine-year compulsory education that “elementary education should not be a pure ladder for higher education, but a socialist civic education and a quality-oriented education for all socialist citizens.”11 In the aspect of developing personality, the “four pillars” of learning put forward by the Delors Report Learning: The Treasure Within and released by the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-­ first Century of UNESCO in 1996 has received relatively high consensus. According to the report, it is neither possible nor appropriate for education to meet that endless demand for “knowledge and skills” only quantitatively. The function of education is to train people with the ability to adapt to change, so that they can seize and take advantage of various opportunities in their own life, to update, deepen, and further enrich the initially acquired knowledge. The four pillars are: Learning to know—to cultivate the ability of “learning to learn” and, more importantly, to master the means of acquiring knowledge. “Seeking knowledge” is a process of repeated and continuous completion and restart in one’s life. Learning to do—to acquire not only occupational skills but also, more broadly, the competence to cope with various situations, including cooperation spirit, 11  Liu Bin. Liu Bin Talks on Quality Education. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, 1998, p. 444.

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innovation spirit, adventure spirit, and communication ability. Learning to live together—the ability to deal with tensions with others, between groups and nations, promote the development of each person’s body and mind, intelligence, sensitivity, esthetic consciousness, personal responsibility, spiritual value, and so on. Learning to be—to better develop one’s personality to be able to act with ever greater autonomy and judgment and strengthen personal responsibility in the realization of collective destiny. Rogers’ research proves that students’ enlightenment is not based on teaching skills, nor on subject content, curriculum plan, or vivid expression of audio-visual education, but on correct interpersonal relationships, attitudes, and qualities. Interpersonal relationship is not only an important aspect of personal development, but also a yardstick of personal development. Learning to coexist is manifested in learning to talk on an equal footing, communicate with each other, and respect each other. Find a new identity and establish new consensus in the mutual exchange and various “running-in.” As a reference, let us take a look at Tao Xingzhi’s discussion on cultivating personality: First, cultivate the spirit of harmonious coexistence and the capacity for self-governance. To deal with the relationship between individuals, it is necessary to have the spirit of harmonious coexistence. Students should first live together and have strength to assist mutually so that they can develop the spirt through living with others. The self-governance refers to self-management, legislation, law enforcement, and judicature on their own. The aim of self-governance is to achieve sequential movement in society on a larger scale. Students’ self-governance is not a free action, but joint governance; not to eliminate the rules, but everyone legislates and obeys the law; not to indulge yourself or to declare independence or opposition to society, but to serve the orderly development of society. Students’ self-governance is co-governance that promotes the development of students’ social experience. Second, the spirit of the rule of law. Any individual is just a member of human society, neither superior nor inferior. We should abide by social laws and regulations and make the rule of law become the conscious action of individuals and internalize it into the hearts of individuals. The idea to be established is that there is freedom within law and freedom within morality. It is the thief of freedom that oversteps laws and violates morals and other social laws and regulations. Therefore, real freedom belongs to

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all human beings. Every individual must strive for more reasonable and greater freedom while clarifying his own rights and responsibilities and practicing self-control. Third, the scientific spirit of living in harmony with nature. Treat nature with the scientific attitude and spirit. We should make more questions, more reflection, more criticism, but never follow blindly. Do not pretend to know what you do not know. Fourth, the euphemism spirit for social reconstruction. The reconstruction of society is an activity that all human beings carry out together, which is extremely complex and must be carefully considered and we cannot rush into it. The cultivation of euphemism spirit requires a long period of time, and the most effective method is nothing more than developing it in the reform of society in real life. Fifth, the strong personality and unyielding spirit to cope with the environment. When facing critical moments, we should act as “the virtuous free from anxieties, the wise free from doubts, the bold free from fear and the open-minded free from obsession.” “Neither riches nor honors can corrupt us; neither poverty nor humbleness can make us swerve from principle; neither threats nor forces can subdue us; and neither beauty nor luxury can lure us.”12 Take failure and setbacks as the mother of success and keep on fighting despite repeated setbacks. The unyielding spirit of an individual must be set upon the firm belief of the individual. Infirm, unscientific, and unclear spirit will only result in obstinateness. Some people compared the requirements of American schools with Chinese schools on students’ code of conduct. They found that American rules were very specific. American children need to master 25 basic manners before nine years old; for example, say please when asking others and say thank you when receiving something; do not interrupt others unless there is an accident because they will notice your problem after they finish talking; introduce yourself first when you are on the phone and ask if you can talk to them; do not talk dirty words in front of others, and so on. In cultivating students’ good qualities, Chinese education talks a lot about abstract concepts of gratitude, respect, and comity, but there is no specific code of conduct.

12  Tao Xingzhi. The Complete Works of Tao Xingzhi (Volume 9). Chengdu: Sichuan Education Press, 1991, p. 717.

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Teaching for Seeking Truth Only when the human value of the whole society is improved, can people have better lives. The clearer the truth is, the higher quality the life will be. Therefore, the goal that teaching and education cannot give up is to guide students to pursue the truth and to be real men. Normally, a man who keeps pursuing truth in learning will keep pursuing truth in personality. A man who continuously pursues innovation in business will adhere to sincerity and purity. Tao Xingzhi exhorted his students before his death that the greatest aim of life is love, and they should “teach people to seek truth and learn to be real men.” Wang Guowei pointed out in his The Purpose of Education that “If there is knowledge but no morality, there is no life happiness. Wise men at all times and in all over the world value morality more than knowledge.”13 In order to pursue the truth, the content of education must be true. We must have the spirit of seeking truth and rejecting hypocrisy and constantly improve students’ ability to distinguish the true from the false. We must form a life attitude that cares about the truth and the matter of right and wrong, regardless of gains and losses; otherwise, we will certainly cultivate exquisite egoists. To be a real man, teachers and students together should reject hypocrisies, tell the truth and not lie, and do real deeds and do not cheat. Pursuing truth and being a real person are the process of continuous progress in life, which is endless. It is necessary to cultivate the personality of modest learning, tireless learning, and embracing various ideas through education and teaching so as to establish their own views. We should cultivate healthy emotions: love for the real, disgust for the false, happiness when approaching the true, and shame and uneasiness when associated with the false. If teachers teach false content every day, and always wear masks when talking with students, and even ask students to do things they themselves cannot do, they will inevitably feel dull and tired one day. Teachers can enjoy teaching and avoid bitterness when they set examples for others sincerely and frankly. Teachers must keep improving themselves so that they can better teach their students, and they should continuously pursue the truth to avoid ruining students. In teaching, teachers should let the truth come out in its original form, without dressing it like angel, or  Wang Guowei. The Purpose of Education. Education World, 1906, 56.

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putting a mask of devil on it. Teachers can only tell the truth. Instead of telling lies and becoming a liar, teachers should refute falsehood. Truth is the sun, while distorted theories are black clouds. Teachers should have the courage to blow away the black clouds. Students are not compelled to seek truth or be real men. They need to learn proactively after receiving a teacher’s instruction. Knowledge acquisition from teaching is different from the acquisition through learning. While acquisition through learning is different from being good at learning, which is required when students pursue truth. Students should learn independently, happily, and efficiently under the guidance of teachers. Over time, they will form their own system for intellectual development and the pursuit of truth. Truth, goodness, and beauty are united. Truth is goodness and truth is beauty; therefore, seeking truth requires seeking goodness and beauty. Teachers should be true, good, and beautiful and become the transmitter of these merits, so that students can become real men of seeking truth under the edification of their teachers. The pursuit of truth requires developing experimental spirit, methods, and skills, abandoning subjectivity, and following scientific principles to teach and learn. The truth needs exploration, which cannot be done without experiments. Only reading books will not make us good teachers or find the truth. It is dangerous to imagine without basis or just do in accordance with the ancient law or imitate others. Everyone must derive some truth from his own experiments. If we want to be independent, to make progress, and to fulfill our responsibilities, we must boldly experiment and explore new theories that have not been discovered and not be afraid of hard work, fatigue, obstacles, and failure. Experiment means creation and innovation, so the spirit of experiment is the spirit of creation and innovation. However, the heavy cultural burden often destroys the spirit of experiment, so many people in reality do not experiment and just follow others’ lead. A man with the attitude of pursuing truth and being a real man can obtain a kind of power and belief. Only by sticking to their educational responsibilities can educators lay a foundation for the healthy growth and happy life of students. Everyone sticking to the pursuit of truth and becoming a real person will surely benefit the whole society.

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7.4   The Starting Point and Direction of Teaching Humanistic education should be based on the educational ideal of “teaching is for not teaching” and focus on cultivating students’ independent development ability, which needs the best match of educational method, path, and personal growth. To achieve the perfect matching, educators not only need to be proficient in teaching materials and study their students, but also should understand what requirements educational content puts forward for both teachers’ teaching and students’ learning and to seek a suitable starting point, direction, path, and goal on this basis, so that educational requirements can fall into the proximal development zone of students. Teachers should, on the basis of familiarity with textbooks and insight into students, actively explore the best educational methods and ways for different learners to promote individual growth. Starting with the True Original State As an independently developing individual, each student has his own thoughts and unique personality, as well as a specific state in a specific period of development. The focus of teaching lies in the lifelong development of students, and the starting point of teaching should be as specific and subtle as possible and as accurate as possible to understand the true state of students, so as to promote the personalized development and active development of students and realize the individual value and social value of life. The emphasis on finding the true initial state of students based on their needs embodies the implementation of the idea of satisfying students’ needs and personality development as much as possible. Though difficult to realize, it is worth pursuing with its value orientation on humanistic education. Only when we achieve this at the starting point can we possibly meet the requirements of students’ development and find suitable targets for student education. Soviet educator Lev Vygotsky once proposed the zone of proximal development, which was defined as a gap between the level achieved with children’s own ability (such as academic achievement) and the level that could be achieved with the help of others. He hoped that teachers can conduct teaching after they find the proximal development zone of students.

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But in specific teaching practice, it is difficult for a child to discover his own proximal development zone, and the development of a child is largely related to his personal choice. Therefore, in the face of all children, teachers must find out the real initial state of the students they teach, and then, interact with students to find out the possible development area based on the current development level of students. The initial state includes the cognition, emotion, attitude, and other aspects related to learning at the very beginning, including students’ intelligence, academic performance, gender, personality, family background, self-identity, shortcomings, strengths, and highlights. We need to pay special attention to adjust our own mentality and perspective to make a comprehensive observation and understanding. The Soviet educator Sukhomlinsky advocated that “All children without exception are gifted and talented. To discover, to show, to cherish, and to cultivate each student’s unique individual talents imply that individuality is raised to the full development of human dignity.” After we learn the initial state of students, curriculum and various educational activities can be scientifically and comprehensively designed and arranged. By organizing a series of thematic education activities and social practice activities, such as reading, science and technology, sports, art, and so on, every student can have the chance to develop in different levels through collective activities. What’s more, the effectiveness of the education and teaching activities will be improved and education and teaching will be guaranteed to resonate harmoniously with students’ development rhythms. After the establishment of classroom teaching system, the basic assumption of this system is that children in the same class have a common starting point, and the teacher starts teaching from a certain degree close to that point. Practice has proved that this assumption is difficult to operate, that is, it is difficult to implement on an individual level. Teachers practicing humanistic education should establish the concept that teaching is to serve. Just as doctors need to find out the causes and conditions of patients to cure, strictly speaking, people-oriented education is to accurately understand students’ current situation, ambition, and goal to implement teaching, rather than just teaching students according to teachers’ own ideas, teaching materials and curriculum requirements, ignoring students’ talents and interests, or just making students match their teaching methods and materials to meet the evaluation standards set by themselves. The fundamental point of the service spirit of teachers in

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humanistic education is to put students and teachers in an active rather than passive position. The education that harms people’s creativity is vague at the starting point of teaching, so it is difficult to conform to children’s nature in the teaching process, but inhibits the development of people’s personality. “Cramming education” and exam-oriented education, which have long occupied the leading position in education, do not consider the starting point of students, but only consider the requirements of examinations. Using the same teaching plan year after year, teachers send away groups of students. It is always too late for teachers to understand the starting points of students or they even disdain to do that, so that success or failure only becomes a matter of chance. They rarely consider that each student’s success or failure will affect his or her whole life. Regardless of the reality of students and textbooks, blindly copying the teaching design of famous teachers is also a practice of ignoring the real starting point of students. In practical teaching, teachers tend to regard students as weak, incapable, and emphasize that they have no knowledge, no ability, and lack independence, ignoring the students’ inherent enthusiasm, creativity, and the inevitability and possibility of development. Such famous teachers can hardly really teach students well. In teaching practice, the understanding of the real initial state is difficult and complex. The way of understanding cannot stop at tests but needs to be realized in the process of interaction and activity and positioned in the process of continuous understanding. An accurate understanding of the real initial state is directly related to whether teachers and students can establish a teacher-student relationship of mutual respect, democracy, equality, harmony, and sincerity in teaching activities, because only in this kind of atmosphere can students’ personality be exposed freely. Keeping Pace with the Needs of Development and Growth The growth of each person is a continuous process, and the teaching of people-oriented education is to keep pace with the needs of students’ growth and development rather than pull students’ growth and development. The teaching principle of keeping pace with the students’ growth and development needs should comply with students’ nature. This theory has two difficulties in practice: first, for student, teacher is the pre-learner. It is confusing to let the pre-learner follow the latter learner, but it is correct

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for the role positioning in teaching, as teachers are required to make devotion and efforts; second, having pre-set syllabus, curriculum standards, and examination requirements is almost a norm in the current teaching layout, which is not necessarily in line with the needs of student growth and development. All of them are in contradiction to the requirement of keeping pace with the needs of student growth and development. The real people-oriented education should naturally be learner-­ oriented. The concept of basic education in the United States is mainly embodied in the following aspects: learning for yourself; creativity as education goals; free speech in class; human rights as discipline; good friendship between teachers and students; books allowed for reference in examinations which are due within one week; 30 students in a class and 31 students is in violation of rules; about 1000 class hours per year, so that children have more free time to do what they are interested in; private report card which only parents can see; shallow teaching materials without strict requirements for children and focusing on operational and innovative ability; spontaneous participation in extracurricular activities; regarding education as life. In order to logically understand the development needs of students, it is necessary to clarify which one is formed earlier, the students’ nature or the teaching syllabus, course standards, and examination requirements, and decide which one should be adapted to the other. In reality, there are many people who have misunderstandings on this point. To solve this problem, we should not only rely on the teachers’ teaching, but also rely on clearing out the planned teaching outlines and rationalizing the setting of curriculum standards, examination requirements, and teaching system. If these conflicts are not well solved, the final conflicts and pressure will be laid on the students. In 2014, 50% of the Chinese students who committed suicide were in junior high school and 30% were in senior high school. Moreover, many of the students who committed suicide were students with good academic performance and in the top of their grade. The reason is that in the current education they cannot feel fun or realize their dreams, which is the greatest sadness.14 The above facts further illustrate the urgency of keeping up with the growth and development needs of students. However, in the eyes of those with only partial knowledge and thoughts, it is difficult and unnecessary. 14  Fang Zhanhua. Students Have the Right to Education but No Right to Choices. http:// learning.sohu.com/20150402/n410727006.shtml.

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Only by starting from the overall life, taking the actual performance of Chinese education for decades as basis, and taking the needs of social development as the reference, can we conclude that keeping up with the development needs of students is a better choice than teaching based on the subjective or seemingly objective syllabus, course standards, and examination requirements. Many adults worry that keeping up with students’ growth and development needs will take a detour. Yes, detours are inevitable. The development of a student’s thinking ability is just like a baby learning to walk. Sometimes he or she will fall down, but he or she should not be prevented from walking just because of the tumble. Only through a process of trial and error can a student achieve substantial growth. Not allowing students to go through this process or shielding students from this process will only deprive students of the opportunity for substantive growth. Every mistake of students means growth, which is a rare opportunity for growth, so teachers should have the attitude of “congratulations on failure.” To keep up with the needs of students’ growth and development, it is not necessary to adopt “one size fits all” solution in schools and teaching methods. Instead, it is necessary to determine individualized teaching plans according to specific students and set up a school curriculum system that meets their diverse needs. Even primary and secondary schools in the stage of compulsory education should realize the transformation from opportunity supply to demand supply, with the prescribed courses accounting for at most 60% and the courses selected according to students’ personal interests and needs accounting for at least 40%. The proportion of high-school elective courses should be further expanded. At the same time, the teaching management and evaluation should also be changed to the student-oriented direction. It is the general principle and trend of humanistic teaching to keep up with the needs of students’ growth and development, which also involves partial pulling in practical teaching. The discussion of this issue in an environment which is accustomed to pulling will inevitably evolve into the discussion of the degree of pulling. The only practical choice is to reduce pulling as much as possible, liberate students, and protect students’ right of independent study and choice. The benefits of teaching which keeps up with the needs of students’ growth and development go far beyond the time when students are at schools, because this kind of teaching develops students’ awareness and ability of lifelong independent learning. Facing the reality of “life is

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limited, knowledge is limitless,” everyone must firmly establish the concept of lifelong learning. No matter organizations or individuals, only by persisting in learning can they gain comparative advantages, and only by learning faster and better than competitors can they be competent for their jobs. The content of learning depends on individual choice. If these abilities are not acquired in school, students will show their weakness after entering society as high scores in tests will not do them a favor. In reality, no one can set the curriculum standards and examination requirements in advance when they are learning to be a person, to do things, and to create, instead people needs to continue to explore according to their own life course. Those who are accustomed to settings will lose their motivation and direction to learn when losing settings. Even if they are diligent in thinking and good at accumulation, it is difficult for them to learn effectively. In short, the teaching principle of humanistic education is to follow the needs of students’ growth and conduct smart-aleck pulling as little as possible. Aiming at Creating Happiness The ultimate goal of teaching cannot simply be exams; otherwise students are no longer motivated to study after the exam. Just as the present, many students take university life as a safe deposit box and a period of relaxation and rest. The ultimate goal of teaching is to create happiness—to create your own happiness, to create the happiness of others, and to create the happiness that you can share with others. Teaching toward happiness does not mean positioning classroom teaching as “preparing for the future,” as argued by Spencer.15 Making students sacrifice the present moment for an ethereal and virtual “adult life” and ignoring the needs and interests of the students at this moment, education then becomes a thing only with “bright” external appearance. The creation of happiness can start from students’ current real life, and they can experience and enjoy their own childhood life and fun in classroom teaching. They are always facing the future and creating the future. In this process, there will be setbacks, but setbacks themselves are not the 15  Spencer. Selected Education Works of Spencer, translated by Hu Yi and Wang Chengxu. Beijing: People’s Education Press, pp. 58-59.

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product of creation, but the scenery along the creation process. Aware of this, Tao Xingzhi proposed to “start from the savage life to explore the paradise,” which more precisely describes the current situation of teaching. Life cannot be completely defined or planned. People should choose their own real human life based on the accumulation and reflection of their own understanding of life, rather than being defined and pulled by others to a certain mode of life—there is in fact no choice under regulations and compulsion. What education needs to do is to cultivate young people for the unknown environment of the future world. People need to develop themselves independently in the unknown environment of the future. Therefore, classroom teaching should not and cannot stipulate everything in students’ future life, so that happiness can be truly created. When education uses established standards to plan and design classroom teaching, it often deprives students of their rights and freedoms. The urgent task of improving Chinese education is to optimize the free thinking of teachers and students. For a long time, many serious drawbacks have existed in Chinese education. The prominent problem is that it is hard for teachers and students to think freely, so that most teachers and students are in or close to the state of full control, thinking about the standard answer day and night. The main content of teaching materials in universities, middle schools, and junior schools is to indoctrinate knowledge to students, which seriously ignores (or even intentionally excludes and suppresses) the cultivation of students’ free thinking and will inevitably make it extremely hard for students to think freely, question, and create. No one can wish to build a person’s future happiness on the pain of today. But in reality, there are always some people who want to get tomorrow’s happiness at the expense of today’s pain and regard all the things that we are doing currently as preparation for the future life. Then he is bound to forget the current life and lose the current happiness, and even lose the ability to experience happiness, and it will also be difficult for him to experience the happiness of life in the future. Eventually, they will be in a state where they are always ready to reach happiness but can never really touch it. This is not the expectation of people-oriented education. It is an important criterion for people-oriented education to respect and care for students and make them feel the joy and happiness of their

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current life. This is the most effective way to teach students to respect others and learn to share. At the same time, it should be noted that the standard and requirements for students should not be lowered and it should make students feel that they are respected in school so that they will love the school and learning. For a student, to grow healthily and have an enriched life every day not only requires kind appreciation, but also regulations and punishment. He needs to experience frustrations and setbacks as a good student does not come into being only by praise. Stick parenting should not be involved, but his whole life still needs to be guaranteed by the awareness of rules. Whether in class or after class, to feel the beauty and happiness of the real life requires norms and order. Only in this way can students live happily and love life in the process of development. Only in this way can we lead them to create and enjoy today’s happiness. Only in this way can education today be full of strength and be the true education to create future happiness. As Mr. Liang Shuming said, education should focus on the whole life of the individual and lead him to the right road of life. Creating happiness is connected with the road at the metaphysical level. It requires people to have harmonious spirit and free soul, to think independently, to live a real and unhypocritical life and be calm to success and failure, so as to achieve humankind’s inner harmony. It takes a lifetime to practice. The harmony of the human mind is linked with the external environment and the health of human body. A good teacher-student relationship, interpersonal environment, and beautiful school environment will add color to the beauty of the soul. To create happy teaching, we should pay attention to the real life of students and keep close contact with the actual life of students. At the same time, we should lead them to perceive and pursue a better life, create a more ideal society, and transform the requirements for the ideal life to their demands and targets, so that they can have a clear future orientation and the organic combination between the real-life world and the possible ideal life can be achieved. Creating happy teaching is a dynamic process of continuously guiding students from reality to ideal. In order to achieve this goal, classroom teaching must enhance the sense of reality, cultivate their subjective consciousness to be the master of their own life, and provide them with a suitable living space and atmosphere to show their nature. It should also encourage them to choose and decide their own way of life, guide them to feel, understand, examine, and create their own lives, and let them create their own ideal society as the master of their life.

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The key to creating happy teaching is to protect students’ interest and autonomy. By cultivating students’ interest and subjective qualities which have lifelong benefits, studies only for examinations can be avoided. Students should be encouraged to choose independently and be masters of their own lives. This enables them to plan, design, and be fully responsible for their future life, so that they can be able to continuously transcend the realistic life world and continuously improve their life quality and life value.

CHAPTER 8

Education Parties: I Decide My Education

Every person’s educational outcome is ultimately decided by themselves. The basis of existing of education is existence in society, and one should be responsible for oneself, so that we can understand the bottom line as to be the master of one’s own education. For a long time, education administrators and teaching staff have surpassed many rights of educational parties. Educational parties have no clear awareness of their educational right and lack the ability to maintain and use their own educational rights effectively, thus a large number of people are having a passive attitude. People-­ oriented education should let students create or consciously choose a free and autonomous environment and provide for them an awakened state to maintain and use their rights to decide. Students should learn to choose for themselves rather than follow others, find their own paths, have their own effective learning methods, and make full use of the available educational resources. When talking about the current education, the public will always point out some problems. In fact, all parties involved have responsibility for the current unsatisfactory educational system. In the face of so many problems, do parents and students have any choices? Some people compare the current public education to a giant cake covering the whole country. There is only one cake supplier, and on this huge cake, each educated person is just an ant. It is almost impossible to change the cake by the ants, and if they don’t eat the cake, they will be starved to death. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6_8

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This metaphor does explain some problems to a certain extent, but ants are still living ants. It is not difficult to find that there is still space for them to choose if you observe them forage. We can’t say that we have no choice in the current education system. Everyone has to figure it out on his own and try to find even a little space for himself to have a relatively healthy growth. Parents should at least not turn family into the second battlefield of the exam-oriented education. Instead, family should become a haven for children. They should carry out different education at home and let the children play for one more hour, sleep for one more hour, or simply let them vote with their feet. Even if you only have a little choice, you should make the most of your right to choose, because your choice is to promote the improvement of the entire education. The mechanism of how personal choices improve education is that the independent choice of education parties will become the source of changes when there is even only a little educational differences and choices. It is powerful and lasting force and those unselected education is bound to disappear as there is no demand. If the educational parties do not discern and choose wisely, the backward education will still exist and the whole education cannot be improved. Therefore, that each education party holds the attitude that I should decide my education and make distinctions and choices among different education is the most far-sighted, powerful, and lasting motivation for people-oriented education.

8.1   Return My Right to Me Many problems in current education are ultimately reflected in the overstepping of individual’s basic rights. Adults around students, including teachers, parents, and education administrators, manage students’ rights through evaluation and teaching. The key to reform is that students can be the masters of learning, and they can choose how to learn on their own. From the perspective of people-oriented education, many problems in China can be solved if we can effectively guarantee the autonomy of the education parties. Freedom and Autonomy Are the Most Suitable for Education A person in a passive state can learn and may have some achievements, but he certainly cannot reach the height given by his nature. Therefore, the

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best environment for education is to let the learners be free and autonomous. In 1560, the Swiss watchmaker Booker made an amazing inference when visiting the pyramids: “The builders of the pyramids should never be slaves but a group of happy free men.” This inference different from the secular point of view was taken as a joke for a long time. However, more than 400 years later, in 2003, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that after the excavation of 600 tombs near Giza, it found the pyramid was built by local free farmers and craftsmen, rather than by 300,000 slaves recorded in History by Herodotus. Why did the watchmaker Booker deny the great Herodotus more than 400 years ago? How can he know the pyramid was built by free men by one sight? Booker was originally a Catholic follower in France. In 1536, he was imprisoned for opposing the rigid rules of the Roman Curia. As a watchmaking master, he was arranged to make watches during his imprisonment. Booker found that no matter what high-pressure means the prison authorities took, he could not make a watch with a daily error of less than one-tenth of a second in the place without freedom. However, before his imprisonment, it is easy for him to make one with a daily error of less than one-one hundredth of a second in his own workshop. Why? Booker thought hard. At first, he thought that the environment for making watches was too bad. Later, Booker escaped from prison and lived a free life. In a worse environment, his capacity to make watches with perfect timing was miraculously back. At that time, Booker discovered that it was not environment that really affected the accuracy of a watch, but the mood when making it. Therefore, Booker made two proclamations: “It is impossible for a watchmaker in dissatisfaction and resentment to successfully complete the 1,200 processes of watch-making; it is harder than reaching the heaven to accurately grind out the 254 parts required for a watch when the watchmaker is in confrontation and hatred.” It is based on his own experience that Booker boldly infer that “the great project of pyramid is built so finely, and the links are connected so well. The builders must be a group of free people with devotion. It is impossible for slaves who are lazy and rebellious to make such a pyramid where even a small blade cannot be inserted between the megaliths.” Booker became the founder and pioneer of the Swiss watch industry and his watchmaking philosophy has been passed down: do not unite with foreign companies that force workers to work or deduct workers’ wages. They think such companies will never make a Swiss watch. Behind it, a

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basic principle is reflected: under strict supervision, it is difficult to maximize human intelligence, and no miracle can be expected. Only when people are under a free and autonomous state of physical and mental harmony can their ability be optimized. From X theory, Y theory, and Z theory, which have been developed orderly in management, we can see that strict training can improve the efficiency of training when simple and primary skills training is conducted. But education is an extremely sophisticated and tough study, and the educational process is also complex. It gives students heavy-load, high-speed, and fast-rhythm training which is characterized by restraint, control, suppression, and supervision, making each lesson very tense. Students are required to compete with each other on every test and judged by uniform standards. This will seriously interfere with the normal growth of students and undermine the nature of human beings. And then students will be all the same, and there will be no outstanding talents, and more seriously, no talents at all. Freedom is to protect people from fear and fear will make students lose the sense of security. Without security, students will only protect themselves and they will not strive for autonomous development actively. Under such circumstance, students will not have intact hearts, let alone happiness, and they will gradually lose their educational endowment which is peaceful and full of curiosity. Autonomy means that individual development is determined by society to a certain extent while individuals have the initiative to choose their development. Autonomy is not selfishness, and selfishness can only constrain the development of autonomy. Autonomy is the ability to choose the best way to consciously monitor one’s own development and growth. Only the autonomy that fully recognizes the best match between society and oneself can be fully realized in society. Individuals without autonomy certainly cannot grow and develop fully. Autonomy requires individuals to choose their own goals, modes of thinking, and ways and means to solve problems. The autonomy and sociality of individual development are complementary. Without sociality, autonomy lacks foundation, and without autonomy, sociality is short of origin. Only individuals with strong autonomy can consciously adapt to changes in various situations and give full play to their enthusiasm and creativity, contributing to the development of society. Individuals with a high degree of autonomy have a clear direction, a strong sense of accomplishment and trust, and can appreciate the sense of trust, warmth, affordability, and

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comfort around them. Denying autonomy is denying the meaning of life, and there is no effective education. Individuals who are not independent are not good at developing themselves. In an environment suitable for education, your mind is no longer occupied by fear and no longer surrounded by ideals, symbols, and words; also, you can comfortably open up your whole heart and sense of touch, directly contact and collide with the skin of nature and society, smell the taste and breath of the world, and touch its texture. You can make full use of your deep insight and comprehension and you can always remain sensitive and thoughtful about what you learn unremittingly. With freedom and autonomy, one can achieve his spiritual temperament, cultural connotation, intrinsic character, and creativity. Without autonomy, all these cannot be achieved. Zhu Guangqian and Kuang Husheng, who managed Chunhui Middle School, were dissatisfied with the Kuomintang’s attempt to set up the Kuomintang Party Department their school. They were enraged, so they resigned and went to Shanghai to establish their own school, the Shanghai Lida Academy. Soon, this new school was full of humanistic atmosphere and the excellent faculty of the original Chunhui School. The school-running declaration The Purport of Lida Academy written by Kuang Husheng and Zhu Guangqian shows independence and freedom. It writes that, “we firmly believe that human beings are born equal, have the right to be educated and opportunity to develop the natural ability. If some people become obstacles to social development due to defective education, society should bear the responsibility. Education is the obligation of society, not its kindness. Now we are just fulfilling the obligations of the society conscientiously.” In the face of the increasingly severe status quo, “we are determined to break away from the trap and open up a new world, so as to realize the ideal of education freely.”1 Only free people have time to think and enjoy the happiness of creation. Education without freedom can never produce creation. Only with free education can we have the opportunity to be moved by our own creation, feel the value and meaning of learning, choose the education that we think is more valuable, and have the pleasure of inspiration, thinking, and self-fulfillment.

1  Kuang Husheng, Zhu Guangqian. The Purport of Lida Academy. The Liberation Daily, December 2, 1980.

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In reality, what education lacks most is freedom. The greatest suppression of freedom is lecturing rather than teaching. The educational parties should strive for autonomy and freedom, abandon the experience that cannot make them free, and get rid of all the limitations and patterns that prevent people from reaching real freedom to gain a constant understanding of oneself and to continue to reach a constant understanding of people and the world. In this way, one can keep learning about themselves and continue to understand human beings and the world. Educational parties should do more active learning and oppose imposing on people or being imposed on. Students should appreciate the pleasure of active learning, learn to act alone, control their own behavior, automatically manage their will, and avoid being guided by others without a second thought. When students encounter difficulties, they should learn to depend on themselves rather than depend upon others. They should not accept interference, prohibition, blame, and criticism even if it is from teachers or elders. Living in a silent and oppressive society is rough, sophisticated, practical, vulgar, and competitive, where people are anxious, bureaucracy and corruption grow, and individuality is rejected, pure education will also be refracted and polluted. Neither spirit nor creativity will exist, and it can only increase the material and spiritual burden of human beings and suppress human nature. True talents can never arise in fear and bondage. A true education can occur when students are free and away from fear. The reason why freedom is important for education is that it can raise one’s own advantages and excellence and make people realize their greatest possibility rationally. Each person can self-generate a natural one who conform to his own nature rather than be imposed upon and inculcated comprehensively, greatly reducing the possibility of variation-induced danger due to coercion. In a free state, education can avoid narrowness and cultivate the soul. It will care for and enhance people’s inner abilities according to the nature of the soul. Therefore, freedom is the proper attitude and environment which the outside world should maintain for the education parties. It is also a prerequisite for education parties to make their own judgments when they face differences. Although simple inoculation and standard answers are easy to get, it’s also easy to introduce people into narrow alleys and difficult for people to have proper judging ability. Therefore, freedom is compatible and inclusive, and it can achieve tolerance.

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Only in the state of freedom and autonomy, can some inner qualities of humankind, such as devotion, concentration, and curiosity, be generated effectively and play a role. Only in the state of freedom and autonomy can people understand and distinguish truth from falsehood. Liberal education is a ladder through which the public’s qualities can be promoted in an all-around way and more people can achieve their own excellence based on social demands in their own ways. Liberal education certainly requires a democratic and equal interpersonal environment. It forms a common value between ancient people and moderners, people of different races and countries, through which people can communicate with the great minds of human beings by reading their works, listen to the conversations among the greatest minds, and have an equal dialogue with them with almost 100-percent-human-value attitude, know the excellence and nobleness of the sages, learn their virtues and happiness without groveling before them. Free and autonomous education is a state that is most suitable for education. Each person has to explore such an education on their own because it’s subtle, diverse, and difficult, even without rules, regulations, and any preconceived truth. It shows the direction toward which ordinary people can work but it’s achievable in reality and it is most likely to push everyone to an outstanding education. Only freedom and autonomy can make people aware of the dignity of the soul while realizing the foundation of human dignity. Liberal education itself is a brave adventure, which asks the educational parties to abandon the existing standards, break through the knowledge structure set by predecessors, and liberate themselves from vulgarity. The Awakened Child Grows Best Different people who receive different education may grow differently. Relatively speaking, only those children who are indeed awakened or have already awakened can progress the furthest. It is common in reality to see people who “grow passively” With the prerequisite of body development and life growth, the awakening of humankind should be based on certain intellectuality, supported by understanding and guided by will. Once such power is awakened, at least one can promote his study and career rapidly. From a larger perspective, one can have the greatest will, infinite power, and understanding for the greatest truth, and therefore be invincible and unstoppable to change the world.

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Whether a person is strong or not, successful or not, or happy or not does not depend on physical strength or knowledge, but instead on whether the inner force of his life is awakened, which is the greatest power that one can display. The one with awakened inner force will make use of his knowledge, skills, interpersonal relationships, and other things as tools to realize his life goals, while the unawakened will aim at pursuing knowledge and mastering technology, even immersing himself in pursuing test scores, going to famous schools, studying abroad, high salary, having professional titles, and competing for research projects and awards, then he will go further and further in this direction without knowing where to go. There was a teacher who used his wits and courage to deal with the students for half a year. He was always strict with students, pointed out all kinds of shortcomings, frightened them with a stern tone, and cared about their problems of livelihood, including eating, drinking, sleeping, and even the time when they went to the bathroom. He was exhausted and sleepless to try to encourage them get rid of the laziness, love learning, and become polite, sensible, and motivated students. However, it did not turn out the way he expected. No one dared to tell the teacher about the bullying in the dormitory. It was not until the parents began to blame each other that the teacher came to know about it. When the child has not yet awakened, some teachers or parents always rush the child to the road and the outcome is often counterproductive. The child is woken up by others when he does not “sleep” well. At this time, both sides are uncomfortable, and the following schedule will be in a confused state because the child may not really wake up. If the initial conditions are wrong, it is like the first button in life is wrongly buttoned and the second and third button will be in the same situation. The best way for a person to awaken is to wake up naturally. This natural wake-up is like that seed germination requires sunlight and water. Everyone’s nature is his seed, which needs social, cultural, and interpersonal influences, and needs to be blown by the spring breeze of education and hatched by love. However, these are external conditions. Awakening is ultimately a matter of oneself. It requires the rhythm of oneself and one’s own life. One has to actively perceive the various external existence, allow his life to grow in reflection, enlightenment, and metamorphosis, and gain more power, which can be used by him and pushed him to wake. The great power after awakening is enough to guide people to the other side of life, to decide

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what to learn, what major to study, where to go to school, and what kind of education to receive. All these problems can be solved. Generally speaking, 13- or 14-year-old children are in the stage of natural awakening. Only after awakening will each talent have relatively sufficient conditions to decide their own growth and development. He needs to choose his own path and goal, and with continuous motivation, he will not slack off. For teachers, parents, and related parties, what they need to do for the child is to wake him up in an appropriate way and at a right time. Unfortunately, many parents and teachers have neglected it. When the child is still “sleeping” and his vitality has not been awakened, he is tormented and forced to do something under pressure and strict management. Therefore, parents, teachers, and children, unwilling to accept each other, are caught in a stalemate of mutual tiredness and hatred, and finally children become only be the victims. In principle, everyone has their own internal strength, and everyone will be awakened; but in the perspective of the end of life, there are always many people who never awaken in their lives and their inner strength has not been brought into full play for a lifetime. Of course, the main reason why seeds do not germinate lies in the external environment, including a person’s life experiences, family and school, or to put it in a nutshell, in the lack of appropriate awakener. Of course, all the education that people receive is to activate and awaken the great power in human body. If someone is not awakened, there must be both external and internal reasons. There is a mismatch between the awakener and the one who is to be awakened in terms of time, opportunity, content, and direction. It’s easier to wake up in a relatively loose environment than in a relatively depressed environment. It’s easier to wake up in a moderately stressful environment than in a completely stress-­ free or over-stress environment, in an environment consistent with one’s own interest than an environment that does not match one’s interests. Therefore, awakening is the most difficult part of educational activities. The common mistake people make is to take small tasks as great events, such as completing homework every day, going to a good school, finding a good job, receiving praise from their superiors, getting immediate benefits, and gaining official position and power, without realizing to look for opportunities to awaken the child through education. The achievement of the child is not the result of awakening, but the result of the simple combination of his physical strength and brain power, which can only have

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short-term effects while it is hard to sustain the continuous growth of life. Without awakening, even if one is hardworking enough, it is still difficult to give full play to the great role that human nature can develop. At most, there will be a relatively good ending in life, but a wonderful ending is impossible. The ancient Chinese said there is great achievement and small achievement. If you only want to pursue some small achievements like fame and fortune, relying on physical strength, brain power, relationship, and opportunity is enough. However, if you want to give full play to your nature, have a strong heart, and have a sense of happiness, satisfaction, accomplishment, freedom, and dignity, you have to awaken fully and arouse your vitality completely. A person with such a great achievement may be unknown to public and may not show off on the vanity fair or exchange the autonomy for worldly possessions. He can say to himself that he has no regrets in life. When a person awakens, he can feel their strength, safety, self-­ confidence, happiness, and freedom, with extraordinary self-consciousness when working. His growth path will also have twists and turns, but overall it is definitely much simpler, happier, and more relaxed than other children’s. With inexhaustible power in life, he does not need much supervision and company of parents, and he will explore new knowledge and raise new questions in the field he is interested in. This process is his natural growth process. When a person does not awaken, it will cause inner pain and hinder true awakening to the desire to do something. Even if a child has some gift, if improper compulsory education is adopted, it is hard to give his gift a full play as he is intended to awaken. In short, education is ignition rather than inculcation or control. Everyone must refuse inculcation wisely, make full use of the external cultural and educational environment, find the right time to autonomously and consciously awaken, and then drive on his own life track motivated by the tremendous power after awakening and guided by the clear insights after awakening. Maintain the Right to Choose Every human being is born with rights, but in the process of growing up, young people’s right to choose is often overtaken by adults. Therefore,

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after the child gradually generates his own awareness of rights throughout the growth, he should try to maintain his choice. As the child grows up, his independence determines that he can exercise his right to choose properly as the owner. Children gradually leave their parents’ protection, get rid of their control, constantly enrich their inner world and expand the space of independence and freedom, continue to develop their self-reliance, and their self-respect, honor, and desire for achievement come into being and are increasingly enhanced. These mean that children’s ability to exercise the owner’ rights is constantly improving. Throughout this process, adult family members and school teachers should respect children, respect their right as the host of learning, and make them an equal part of the family and school, so that their initiative can be brought into full play, especially in learning. On the other hand, children must also respect others with the largest human value. They cannot override others or consider themselves as “little emperors,” which are the prerequisites for maintaining their right to choose. Maintaining one’s own rights does not mean that children need no help, because the young people’s abilities and knowledge are at an immature stage. Adults should encourage, respect, and support them in their own affairs, so that children can learn to establish and judge their own self-personality and develop their selection capabilities. Such help is mainly characterized by providing a variety of possible suggestions and the final choice, and decision must be made by themselves. Adults also need to stand in children’s position to think about their feelings and take the initiative to understand what anticipation and suggestion the children have for their parents. They should not think of themselves as a symbol of authority and dignity and the rule makers. If children want to protect their rights, they can’t avoid saying “no” to their parents and teachers. Children have the right to say “no.” When they really think that it is “no,” they should be allowed to speak it out straightforwardly. Being able to say “no” and dare to say “no” is not only a manifestation of one’s independence, dignity, and self-confidence, but also an indispensable ability in various social activities. Children should also bravely and frankly say “no” to defend their rights. At the same time, it’s worth noting that saying “no” is not a habitual rebellion, but a judgment based on one’s own nature and rationality. “Obedience” is the standard of good children in traditional Chinese culture. Children who are obedient will get benefits and may have to give up their rights. They may only say “yes” to the teachings, instructions, and

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requirements of parents and teachers and they cannot say “no.” They can only comply and cannot refuse or oppose. If there are different or opposing opinions, no matter whether the opinions are right or wrong, it is already wrong before you say it. This kind of culture often make children fall into the trap of giving up their rights. It can be seen that, based on the 100% human value, the relationship between parents, teachers, and children is equal. No one should consider oneself superior or inferior. When you say “no,” no one will be blamed, spank you or punish you by not give you food to eat, or throw you out the house or expelled from school. The value of defending one’s own rights lies not only in rights but also in the development of his independent personality. In the current situation of ignoring the child’s legitimate rights and interests, it is still common to see that children’s legitimate rights and interests are ignored, so the legitimate guarantee of the rights of learners should be written into the Convention on the Rights of the Child and related legal frameworks, including protecting the privacy of minors and their basic rights to learn independently. A typical example in teaching is: A school promoted “rope exercise” in the morning activities and was also preparing to participate in  local competitions, so all students were required to participate. At 7:50, there was cheerful music on the radio. The students hurried to pack their own things reflexively, waiting for the teacher’s instruction to do the outdoor exercise. This was an activity that most students liked very much, but there were also a few little boys who didn’t like it. Most students were happy to play after getting the rope. Embarrassed to say that they didn’t like it, they just rejected to take the ropes. When the teacher asked them calmly, “Look, how well others jump! It’s also a skill! Why don’t you learn?” They said, “I don’t know how to jump rope!” and “I am afraid that girls will laugh at me.” The teacher could deal with them in two different ways: In the first way the teacher could say, “No, in order to honor the class and the school everyone must participate and you are no exception.” In the second way the teacher could say, “Everyone are having fun! How do you want to play with this rope?” Some students said, “We can use it in tug-of-war! We can also play ‘horse-drawn cart’.” The teacher said approvingly, “You are so clever, let me play with you too?” The above two different ways reflect different attitudes toward children’s rights, and the educator Montessori emphasized “giving children

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the freedom to choose.” Everyone should understand that bravely making their own choices may be risky and difficult, but learning in this way is 100 times better than passive learning. With the freedom to choose, children must learn according to their interests, always keep curiosity and enthusiasm, and learn the content which can give them the greatest sense of accomplishment; they must make full use of their self-control, combine it with autonomy, and cherish the relaxing environment; they must effectively use their own experience, build self-confidence, and develop their qualities like perseverance. They should also maintain constant passion and commitment to the long-term goals that they have chosen.

8.2   Choose the Right Way to Be the Best Self Chinese education has long been accustomed to the “quick march,” so people don’t know how to walk alone or advance by themselves according to their own interests. In the past 10 or 20 years, they used the same starting line as the standard. Many people have “panic at the starting line” and everyone wants to squeeze into the same track. The idea of winning at the starting line only applies to sprint competition. However, life is a long-­ distance running for a lifetime. If one runs too fast at the starting line, the stamina will inevitably become insufficient soon. The one who is the first one to reach the end is the real winner. The students who just enter the school suddenly suffer tremendous pressure, and such “winning method” will force more and more students to be tired of learning. Following the law of people’s growth and development, quick march and all people running on the same track are not the right ways. Only “strolling” is the cure for many educational diseases in China, because strolling is free and independent. Each person determines his own goals, follows no prescribed route or distance, and chooses the timing and distance on his own so that everyone can grow into the best self. Learn to Choose in Diversity Rather Than Follow China’s education today needs individual autonomy. Everyone takes their own steps, walks toward their direction and goals at their own speed and in their own way. This is the only way educational problems can be solved fundamentally.

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However, the problem in reality is that getting used to imitate others, so many people are overwhelmed when faced with multiple choices. After studying the history of Chinese science, the famous British scholar Joseph Needham put forward the “Question of Joseph Needham”: Why China’s science and technology was ahead of the West in the Tang and Song Dynasties but fell behind in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The main cause is the government’s imprisonment of ideas. Therefore, people could not think at that time. When people could not think for a long time, they became unable to think and considered that thoughts will cause disasters. Finally, they stopped thinking. This trend led to the regress of Chinese people’s creativity. Because of this, the global market, ranging from household appliances to clothing and toys, is full of “Made in China” products, most of which are “OEM” products. Chinese companies only earn a little processing fee, and most of the profits are taken by brand owners. Chinese children like watching anime, but a lot of them are Japanese and American animation works. The creativity of Chinese people is far from being fully developed. Who steal the creativity of the Chinese? This stealer is not someone else but educational behaviors under the current educational concept of not thinking and the educational system, educational methods, educational content, and educational evaluation that are generated or selected under the influence of such concept. The natural creativity of Chinese has been stifled by the Chinese education. The way to stifle the creativity is to encourage children to obey and follow, to comply and believe as soon as they are born, and discourage refusal, suspect, and opposition. If there is any disagreement, whether you are reasonable or not, you will be punished anyway. At school, one will be trained constantly by standard answers and the basic condition to elect class cadres and good students is that one have to listen to teachers. Otherwise, the teacher will definitely not agree. As a person living in such an environment, when one can’t change all these, one can at least choose to stay away and not to be lured by those temptations, but to gain more through one’s own creation. Parents ask their children to listen to them because they want their children to learn self-protection and the reality is to draw on advantages and avoid disadvantages; social managers are for social and political stability; education is affected by this and tries to meet the social requirements. Therefore, students are constantly required to meet the single-standard requirements. After several decades, individuals with great congenital

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discrepancies are domesticated into standard ones. When one is a parent, one can also make his own choices and determine whether or not to let his children follow the rules that destroy creativity. Learning to choose among diversity requires the ability to see diversity first. One should be good at using others and foreign objects to find himself. One can look for and find himself everywhere from classmates, teachers, books, and Internet. A person needs to have the spirit to suspect and prove and constantly asks questions in the face of reality. Following and obedience will turn diversity into uniformity, and eventually go to routine, habit, and convention followed by most people. Questioning will turn uniformity into diversity and lead one to find the principle that can withstand more doubts and trials, and finally to the truth. Creation and innovation intend to get rid of the shackles of traditional ideas, to question authority, traditional theories, existing conclusions and norms, so as to generate problem consciousness and critical thinking. To say “no” to what people have been accustomed to is the premise of all innovation and creation activities. Such an ability is formed by constantly maintaining one’s own innate divergent thinking in the process of education and requires a healthy skeptical attitude. If one is constantly looking for standard answers when being educated, especially in the critical period of thought formation (kindergarten, primary school, and middle school), it will definitely lead to a lack of creativity and it will be extremely hard to change. Usually, because of the multi-faceted learning objectives of different people, the diversity of learning content, and the individual differences of learners, learning is diverse. There is no identical learning. When one’s learning is different from others, it is normal. If they are identical, they should be alert to whether they have fallen into simple receptive learning and lack three methods of learning: self-learning, cooperative learning, and explorative learning. The way to help people grow and develop is to establish the concept of diversity of learning styles and to choose the appropriate learning style to learn according to the development goals, learning content, and one’s own characteristics. Effective learning is a subjective construction that conforms to the learner’s personality. It requires learners to dynamically, actively, and autonomously control and regulate their own learning processes and take advantage of learning resources. Passive learning may not be effective for the growth of the subject because of its unclear purpose, even though schools or others can provide students’ test grades.

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In short, only through diversified expectations can one open a path that is suitable for his own growth. Excellent people can avoid their immediate interference and always maintain their highest aim in an optimal state. Utility and vanity often lead to mediocrity. Find One’s Own Growth Path Everyone’s growth is a multidimensional higher-order equation, which is determined by multiple factors in a complex combination. After opening the path that is suitable for one’s own growth, he also needs to find his growth path different from others. Each person’s growth path is an opportunity combination of his own innate endowment and the actual interpersonal relationship. In this sense, each person’s growth path is not a ready-made path that is fixed and clear, but a maze that needs to be explored and selected in each link. But people still have rules to follow when they are looking for it. First of all, of course, you can get information from your ancestors. From the perspective of genetic characteristics, each person’s talent is much more homogenous with his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents than with others. The ways they grow and develop, the aspects where they have superior advantages, and their life experiences all have a very high reference value. At the same time, from a cultural point of view, the admiration of the ancestors’ achievements is a powerful driving force and a guide for everyone’s future life. In the process of growth and development, one can find the axial symmetry between himself and his ancestors. The search is complex and subtle with large workload, and different people can only rely on the information they can obtain for different degree of reference. Second, of course, to find the real ambition, one has to use the information from his own life experiences, verify his own advantages and potential, and locate the most likely breakthrough point in a specific period. From childhood, one should not simply imitate others but instead always make his own choices based on his own inner experiences and his judgment of the external world and put an end to relying on someone or a certain concept to make his own life choices. One should not be tempted by short-term interests, controlled by power or kidnapped by the others’ words. As the Italian poet Dante said in his masterpiece Divine Comedy, “Follow your own course, and let people talk.”

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Third, one should perceive the social needs and find the most suitable connecting point between his nature and social needs, where there is a broad growth path for him. Along this path, one will find a major problem in society and is most likely to solve it. He can be keenly aware of everything related to this and always highly interested in learning about this content. He will keep exploring and learn from observation, struggle, happiness, and pain. This is the growth path that suits him best. Of course, as one grows up, he will find his fellow travelers, who will be an important reference for him to explore his own path in life. He can more accurately locate and correct his life path by discussing and communicating with them, having dialogues, and forming teams with them. He will greatly increase the possibility of finding a unique way and walk out the path different from the predecessors. Standing on the shoulders of giants to reach the place where the predecessors have not yet arrived. In theory, there is no end to the path of human growth. It is not affected by the academic stage, professional status, and life experiences of people. In reality, many people stop during their growth. If one realizes that he is at the end, he will not continue to grow. Therefore, everyone should constantly question and seek the truth in order to reform society. Everyone should work hard to find the truth and the fulcrum to promote social transformation, so that he will always be in the process of growth and development. People, partly because they realize that they are still not perfect and know where they are not perfect, try to make themselves perfect, constantly accumulate experiences, constantly enrich themselves, always change, and always grow. Recognize your limitations helps you grow. If one thinks he is perfect, then he who needs growth has been dead. If one thinks he is now walking on the right life direction, always discovering and understanding, not rushing to find the end and just climbing without asking how high it is, then he will find the road ahead is far away and that’s definitely his life path. As the saying goes, the road is at the foot, which means people need to walk. It is important to emphasize that the road that suits one is in his own mind. He needs to think constantly, think while walking, and make a choice while walking. He should record, summarize, reflect, and improve his action track. Utilize his reflection to accumulate wisdom and take advantage of wisdom to broaden his growth path and extend it to a new height.

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Generate One’s Own Effective Learning Method There are many learning methods and numerous books introducing it. The key is to identify which is effective for us and how to turn them into our own things. Everyone should have their own unique learning methods. There is only one way to obtain it and that is to form it autonomously during the learning process. Different people learning in the same way may not necessarily have the same learning outcome. It shows that the learning method is personalized. In fact, the important reason for the huge differences in the effectiveness of learning among people is determined by whether or not their methods are appropriate or to what extent their own effective learning methods are formed. For those who have outstanding achievements, their learning method systems are not only suitable, but also particularly effective to them. The method system is undoubtedly a combination of methods. For example, some people combine different types of learning methods, like symbolic learning activities (with text symbols as objects and media, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing assignments), perceptual learning activities (perceptions of actual things and their models and images, such as observation, visiting, investigation), action learning activities (operation on actual things or organ movements, such as experiments, internships, production, games, music, painting, dance, sports activities), and communicative learning activities (such as dialogue, communication, and discussion). Such combination is more effective than the single learning method, and for different people, the combination is different in its time length, precedence order, and ingredient proportion. The combined learning method forms a learning method strategy in which “the procedures, rules, methods, techniques and control methods for learners to learn effectively in learning activities. It can be an implicit rule system and an explicit operation program and steps.”2 Learning objectives can often be achieved through a variety of different learning methods or strategies. The realistic path to form one’s own learning methods is to analyze, compare, and identify the various methods in the process of learning and then continue to select the superior and eliminate the inferior. In this 2  Liu Dianzhi. Research on Learning Strategies. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1993, p. 3.

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process, one can also observe others’ learning methods to enrich his own methods and expand preferred space. Even methods that may not be suitable for him can be adjusted by “complementing each other,” thus bringing his intelligence into full play. Usually, the learning method has more universal characteristics when used alone. For example, the memory needs to be reviewed in time and the encoding method can help remember more content. These are applicable to many people. The combination of more methods may become less applicable and more personalized. However, complex and effective learning requires the combination of methods, but how to generate a proper combination needs individual’s careful exploration because it is quite hard to find a general rule. According to the existing research, an individual’s intelligence, personality, and temperament have a subtle internal connection with his work and learning methods. Confucius, an ancient educator, noticed it and suggested “Ran You is liable to shrink back when he meets with new things, so I encourage him to go forward. But Zi Lu is much braver than the average, so I try to check his rash actions.” Encouraging the weak character and making the competitive one modest and tolerant. The method is also related to the learning content to a certain extent. It is related to the learning difficulty of his learning content, to his purpose of learning it, and also to his maturity. It is not appropriate to apply a method mechanically without distinguishing among learning content, learning objectives, and related situations, and the effect may not be good. Forming one’s own unique and effective learning method is synchronized with his growth, so he should not expect to form his own method system in a short period of time but needs to accumulate like the building of the Roman city. When he can use some methods proficiently, he can look for new efficient methods and when he can use some relatively simple method system, he can build a more complex method system. Such an effective method can help him grow better, and he accumulates a unique learning method suitable for him when grow up. In short, the best learning method is the one which is most suitable for you. It is the prerequisite for one to be the best of him to have his own set of effective learning methods and design a good learning strategy.

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Advance Toward One’s Own Life Goals The life goal is the direction in which people grow up. The new life begins with the selected goal, and goal leads life. To be the best self, one needs to know what he is, where he comes from, where he is now, and where he is to go. However, determining life goals is not a simple thing. Many people seem to have clear short-term goals, but they don’t have a constant long-term goal for their lives. Some people seem to have clear goals, but they don’t know that the goals they are pursuing is a void. Some people have determined how to promote their wealth and get rich, but they know that the valence of their original goal is not high in their late years. Some people have decided their goal, but they cannot realize it because they find no feasible way, and finally, they have to give up. It is rumored that a very common tombstone in the basement of Westminster Abbey changed Mandela’s life. The inscriptions are as follows: When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But, it too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world! Regardless of whether the inscription is true or not, the logic of the orientation of life goal that it clarifies is of reference value. The ancient Chinese also have the saying that “If your efforts all fall flat, you should examine yourself.” After human beings have experienced the long process of exerting force, turning to change themselves is an important function of people-oriented education. Only by changing human beings can human qualities be improved and can human beings survive and develop sustainably. For individuals, it’s the same. Only by finding the effective fulcrums that are available to us, can we aim at our own life goals. The basic principle for the ancient Chinese to establish their life goals is that “One who takes the pursuit of truth knows the right way and does good to society.” In short, it is to search for truth and then use the truth

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to solve social problems and to determine life goals in this direction. Childhood dreams, as well as certain urgent problems in reality, are the sources or materials to establish a life goal. Some researchers have estimated that only about 3% of human beings can set their own goals in life, which leads to few successful achievers. The study of different groups of people also shows that the proportion of people with different life goals is very large, indicating whether a clear life goal is set or not is subjectively determined by the parties. As long as one has the will, he can set his own life goals. Setting a clear goal is the growth point of all achievements. Almost all people who have achieved success in history have put their energy into their own goals. With goals, the inner strength will find the direction to release and one will eventually get lost during the untargeted drift. Studies have also shown that different people’s goals are not as clear as each other and the degree of conformity between their life goals and self-conditions is different, too. The one with larger achievement is those who have not changed their life goals for decades. They always work in the same direction and have almost become self-made entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and social elites in all sectors of society. Those with short-term goals can also live in the upper middle class of society. Their short-term goals are constantly being achieved and life quality improves steadily. They become professionals in all walks of life, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and senior executives. Those who have blurred goals live in the middle and lower classes of society. They have a stable life and work without any special achievements. People with few goals are almost always at the bottom of society. They, often unemployed, lead a very unsatisfactory life and need social relief. They often complain about others and about the society. This does not mean that people can charge high prices and the higher the better when setting their life goals. However, their life goals should be based on their own willingness, interests, and strengths and can vary with the change of their own strengths. The goal should not be too high or too low. When setting goals, it is prudent to lower the target at the starting point. After achieving a goal, you can continue to move beyond your goals. If the target is too high at the beginning, one will lose the motivation to move forward and will give up halfway as a result of excessive pressure and damaged confidence. After realizing the life goals in one stage, one will open his new vision. With such a positive attitude, he can

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experience the joy of success in the process of constantly surpassing the goal, and the road of life will become wider and wider. Once setting the life goal, one needs to do his best to achieve it. The most imperfect actions are also hundreds of times better than the best goals on the shelf. Even if it is not a big goal, it can never be realized without action. And even if the goal is relatively high, it will become reality once one puts constant interest and enthusiasm into it. Usually, people overestimate their abilities and establish grand goals, but they can’t find realistic path to achieve them. To achieve one’s own life goals, they first need to find the right direction. It was said that there was a small village in the Sahara Desert. None of the villagers had ever left the desert. They had tried many times but all failed. When a foreigner arrived there, he was confused after knowing it. He was determined to take two villagers to do a test. They left the desert in three and a half days. It turned out that the reason why the villagers could not leave the desert was because they could not understand direction. The foreigner told a young man in the village that if he wanted to get out of the desert, he could rest during the daytime and walk toward the brightest star in the north at night. To achieve life goals, we can also divide long-term goals into short-­ term goals, where the larger goals are disintegrated into smaller ones according to logical and accomplishable order, which can then be achieved one by one. We should focus on those core goals of great importance based on their role, function, value, meaning, and superiority and in the meantime learn from failures, gain experience from successes, and draw inspiration from innovation. It should be noted that no goals are the end of life. We should never overlook potential new life goals when having achieved the current one. There’s no end in moving toward your life goals, because once the ultimate goal is aimed at creating happiness for humans, you are sure to have endless work.

8.3   Make Full Use of Education Resources to Achieve Self-Growth When you become the master of your education, you are not alone. As long as you are careful, you will find many available resources around you. Some are provided by the government and some are provided by your

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parents or other people in your life. Good management and use of these resources will help you to attain high growth and development. What If You Lost Your Growth? There is a fable about growth that an apple tree started to fruit. In the first year, nine apples were taken away and only one was left. The apple tree was so angry that it refused to fruit as many as before. Then in the second year, four apples were taken away and also, only one was left. “Haha, I got 10% last year, 20% this year! Doubled.” The apple tree felt quite balanced. Actually, the apple tree could think in another way like this: choosing continuous growth. For example, in the second year, it could fruit 100 apples. If 90 were taken away, it could still get 10. Also, it was very likely that 99 were taken away. But it could continue to grow, and in the third year, it would fruit 1000 apples. Actually, the number of apples obtained doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that the apple tree is growing! Once the apple tree finally becomes mature, those obstacles in the process of growth will be ignored. The growth is the most valuable. In reality, many people are too concerned about how many achievements they have made, how many fruits they have grown and finally obtained. Everyone encounters so much resistance, frustration, indifference, marginalization, and calculation in their growth, yet should they therefore give up their growth? Should you be angry, annoyed, querulous, and decide not to work hard but just to muddle along? When you step into the twilight of your life and reflect on those old days, you will find that growth no longer exists, with passion and talent fading away. What have you got? Of course, we cannot be like this. No matter what you have lost in your life, you cannot give up growth, for it means losing your own capital and possibility to achieve all kinds of changes. Another way to inhibit growth comes from comparing yourself with others. In this way, you will lose such growth that matches your own talents. Though some care about their slow growth, it is hard to achieve growth as fast as other since different people are endowed with various growing paths and abilities. It is not appropriate to cross into others’ paths, or to race with others irrationally, which may lead to your own growth loss. Everyone needs to be responsible for themselves. On the one hand, we should work hard actively; on the other hand, we should take

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responsibility when doing wrong, rather than blame others. Also, we need to manage our own behaviors, attitudes, and emotions. Doing right things should not only be driven by others’ requests, but our behaviors should also be managed the same whether supervised or not. Common inducements for people to lose their growth are as follows. The first is being constrained by caring too much about reputation. For the sake of reputation, one may get lost in growth limited by such titles as doctor, professor, academician, or reputations of talent, excellence, and fame. The second is being trapped in the pursuit of interest. One’s natural growth may also be confined by rewards, benefits, salary, and lifelong jobs. Many people keep growing continuously when having not obtained stable life and salary, maybe because their driving force is getting secure jobs. Once they achieve this goal, or are even just admitted to the university, they immediately lose their growth. Their growths are sure to be insufficient for they have just covered one-fourth of this process. The growth is undoubtedly more important than money, so the interest they get can never compensate for what their have lost in the growth. The third is being bound by power. A position of power may lead to those thoughts focusing on how to keep power only, and then they become submissive to those who grant their power, and let position determine brain, thereby losing their own growth. Even if one has lost his growth for some time, he can still be sure to return, but the premise is that he has a strong will and entire realization, resists the temptation of reputation, interest, and power, develops independent personality, and thinks with his own mind. It is important for one to stand on his own two feet and see the facts and directions with his own eyes. Life is a journey. One can never bear the idea that he has achieved growth and stopped to enjoy the temporary accomplishment. Don’t care too much about the gains and losses of just a moment, because the continuing growth is always the most important. The German philosopher Jaspers has said that, if a person is forced to focus on the short-term goal, he will not have time to look into the whole life. Only those who do not give up their own growth for life will be able to fully exert his nature and fully reflect the humanity. Find and Have Your Own Soul If one wants to grow up to the best version of themselves, he should have his own soul, so that the highest attribute of human is complete. Many

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people in the real world are in a state of losing heart and soul. They value education itself more than the educated, and thus their minds are marginalized. The state of “absent-mindedness” forces education to be a simple training, making those with natural endowment to be general animals without human spirituality. The external motivation of their development confines the internal motivation, which becomes a key obstacle affecting the healthy development both physically and spiritually. The life can be divided into three levels. The first is material life, solving the problem of biological growth and life-building; the second is spiritual life, achieving human intellectual development and psychological belonging; the third is soul life, helping people find their soul dependence. Due to the hardship of life, many have exhausted too much energy dealing with problems of purchasing houses, eating career and lifelong jobs, which leads people to spend so few time and energy in spiritual and soul life that many have no idea about where their heart and soul are to be placed. The growth is a multi-level structure, not just a thread, nor a web, but a “bag of virtue” and a “frame of knowledge.” More importantly, in the process of growth one should attain a sound soul. The fundamentals of education is not just instilling knowledge, but more lies in cultivating individuality, establishing ambition, generating faith, embracing ideals, developing free thoughts, fostering independent spirits, enhancing cooperation consciousness, and pursuing truth; it is aimed at enhancing personal breeding, inspiring consciousness, and rejuvenating creativity, which helps to develop qualified citizens, rather than providing convenient path for status, occupation, diploma, degree, pays, and rewards; it is based on people’s growth and development and is a means for the entire society to pursue justice, fairness, equality, freedom, and democracy, rather than direct political principles, chips for political achievements and economic indicators, or copies and accessories of commercial and administrative agencies. Figure 8.1 is a diagram of the sound mind structure summarized from the literature on the mind in traditional Chinese culture. A person with a sound mind needs faith, responsibility, and conscience. Faith endows people with the ultimate value, goal, pursuit, the sustenance, and concern. With faith, people will have true happiness. They will get great spiritual motivation and face life with the mentality and perseverance which ordinary people do not harbor. Without faith, people will be in shortage of self-discipline and spiritual pillar, then act at will in terms of social behavior, ignoring morality and truth, fairness and justice, and bearing no bottom line.

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Ambition

Comprehension: perception, reflection, consideration,

thinking

Virture: morality, goodness, desire, fear, dislike, devil, blame, suffering, shame, concern, love, dread, wish, afraid

Intellectuality: perception, feeling, stupidity

Fig. 8.1  The sound mind structure

For a long time, the entire society and even the educational field have neglected belief education with utilitarian visions, or conducted a single type of belief education with forced means, resulting in the situation that most people have not truly established conscious and independent beliefs. They use false beliefs to vouch for promotion, giving rise to the prevalence of lies and dishonest conduct. People suffer from spiritual emptiness, with no sense of guilt. When confronted with contradictions, they show the cruelty and indifference in human nature, thereby causing a series of social problems. The members of society should be honest and responsible and bear responsibility and obligation to the country and society. However, so many people in reality do not understand what rights and responsibilities they have. Simply equating responsibility and obligation with obedience, or even viewing obedience as patriotism, will instead treat independent thinkers as unpatriotic “traitors.” People with this misunderstanding think that they only need to care about their family members, thus dealing with problems emotionally with double standards and being indifferent to the difficulties and sufferings of non-directly related people. They will also waive what they have to account for once they believe that they have not obtained what they deserve. Obtaining conscience is the pursuit in the era of Wang Yangming. Many only regard it as a scholarly discussion and do not fulfill it. They do

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not treat themselves, others, nature, and life with kindness and respect. The modern conscience also includes scientific literacy, mainly scientific and rational thinking, courage, integrity, and honesty. But in reality, many rely too much on luck or power. They are unwilling to explore the law and work hard step by step. They lack the spirit of adventure and are reluctant to seek opportunities improving their minds and lives via taking risks. Still many have no idea about how to lead a productive life for both individual and social well-being out of their scarce experience of being divine and respectful. The psychology that values “face” more than “inner beauty” prevents people from accepting truth, attempting to lead a more meaningful and respectful life, being courageous enough to what they consider correct, and being capable to tell right from wrong. In a society ruled by law, conscience also includes people’s concept of rule of law. More than 100 years ago, the Textbook of Republic published by the Commercial Press included a volume named Citizens’ Needs, which can be viewed as the start of China’s law education entering class and textbooks. Later, due to the setbacks in advancing the rule of law in the entire society, such education did not enjoy in-depth and effective implementation. Thus, the Chinese’ thinking patterns and habits were far from the rule of law, emphasizing relationship rather than law, which gave rise to such phenomenon as bending the law for the benefit of one’s own, embezzlement and bribery, and legal injustices. Everything Is What I Can Use To a large extent, one’s growth is concerned with how to deal with the relationship between “matter” and “self.” People who divide these two parts tend to serve for “matter” but not pursue humanism-oriented development. All things used for me are the basic position of people-oriented development. The birth of human life is the result of the continuous development and change of the material structure, which leads to the constant awakening and then the separation of matter and self, and finally the creation of the human “biological self.” The level of biological thinking is much greater than that of the original identity of “matter” and “self,” because human beings start to be armed with their biological instinct. From apes to human beings, the emergence of tools that can be directly manipulated is an important medium for further development of human nerve cells or brains and also increases the distance between “matter” and

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“self,” which makes the growth and development of human beings more dependent on acquired learning. In this way, the brain can think beyond the genes’ control within a certain range, enter the scope of the “id,” and acquire a richer self-awareness. Normally, thoughts are controlled by their genes. Even the most outstanding people’s thoughts which transcend such control can only account for about 5% of their total thoughts, so it’s sure that those with limited thinking ability, insight, and understanding can only bear conventional limited intuitive thoughts, because they have fewer thoughts beyond genes’ control than others. Among those thoughts beyond genes’ control, some are dominated by the culture in people’s life. People usually only remember the things that they are interested in, even can only see what they want to see, or just want to understand what they like to see, thereby forming a mindset, prejudice, blindness, and ignorance. Actually people’s minds are directly or indirectly manipulated by culture, so it is extremely difficult to think beyond their culture and those who can achieve this are rare. If we remove the part beyond genes’ control yet dominated by culture, there is not much left in people’s free-thinking space. Therefore, when one can minimize the cultural control on his thoughts and expand the part of his thoughts that transcends genes’ control (very limited), he can understand himself and his life more profoundly. If one is free to control his thoughts beyond genes’ control, adjust his thoughts beyond and not beyond genes’ control, and regulate brain cells to work freely but obey their own wishes, he then reaches the highest realm dealing the relationship of “matter” and “self” well. This kind of person has a particularly high level of insight, understanding, and enlightenment to achieve the goal of attaining the identity of “matter” and “self” as well as rebuilding the universe. In reality, it is a common phenomenon to serve for matter. There is a fable that an old man favoring quietness hates a group of children playing in front of his house. He initially asked them to go away, but it proved to be a failure. Then he came up with an idea. On the first day, he said that he would give each child 25 cents to thank them for playing happily there. The next day, when the children came back, the old man gave each child 15 cents. He explained that he had no income, so he could only give less, and the children were still happy. On the third day, the old man gave only 5 cents to each child. This time the children were angry. “There are only

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5 cents a day, and we will never play for you again!” The key here is who the child is playing for, “Play for your own happiness” or “play for the cents.” Many people are used to linking their growth or work with external materials, so that their behaviors are dominated by external factors, and even become the slaves. Their growths are confined by their own wages, bonuses, and other various external factors, so that the situation where the position or mouth determines the head becomes commonplace, and their growths are thus limited and stereotyped, or even hard to achieve. Establishing an active position in all things becomes a prerequisite for people to use all things in the universe. However, in reality, many need stable jobs to support their families. If they are forced to meet external evaluations, they may easily deviate from their internal expectations, and over time, forget themselves, do everything depending on external evaluations, raising the habit of serving for matter, and finally losing the pleasure of growing up. To achieve “all things are what I can use” still needs to establish people’s internal evaluation system, to understand the connotation of the philosopher’s “the ancient scholars live for themselves, and today’s scholars live for human beings,” so that learning, work, and growth are for their own but not for others. To achieve “all things are what I can use,” people should not just restore knowledge in the brains but incorporate it into their actions. After being put into brains for many years, knowledge will still be a collection and gradually be forgotten. But when it is incorporated into actions, it will generate new value and keep updating. Without physical practice, knowledge is just knowledge itself, and it does not turn into your own life experience and not really for your use. When knowledge is immediately implemented in the life once acquired, it will become a part of life, and people can use it to help not only themselves but others as well. No matter what difficult situations we are in, the most powerful force is always on our own body. Any external glare is far less important than the power we already have, because with our own strength and wisdom, we can subtly combine external things to form the suitable force. The philosopher Martin Buber once said, “You must start yourself. If you don’t go deep into your life with positive love, or do not reveal the meaning of existence in your own way, then for you, survival will still be meaningless.”

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“All things are what I can use” doesn’t mean that we have to use everything, and always we only need to share, or just put it aside. If we want everything to belong to us, we may end up being tired of everything, even crushed to death. At this time, we still cannot attain sound growth. Just as the soil which grows seedlings, the seedlings do not need soil, but are born in the soil, and will eventually be come into the soil. The life also comes and goes naked. Therefore, only after having defined our goals, can we determine what we need to use and what we have to give up. Though people’s growth and development are limited by life, but it has no end. Everyone needs to establish a self-improvement mechanism, which acts as a growth-feedback system. It transmits the result of growth within a certain period to the brain, including both positive and negative feedback, to correct future growth. Positive feedback is to strengthen and motivate one of the characteristics, while negative feedback is to weaken or eliminate a certain feature, such as being punished, criticized, and so on. Rather than mechanically processed, all feedback needs in-depth analysis by the brain according to our ambitions and deep understanding of the fundamental problems in our life and then we can accomplish the filtering of the feedback. If we don’t analyze it thoroughly or properly, we will face the crossroads of being servant to matter or driving everything in the universe. Without feedback, we will become isolated, far away from perfect development; without proper use of feedback, we may become vulgar, philistine, and smooth, collude and lose creativity and personality. Therefore, it is also difficult to be a healthy person, let alone the best self. Tao Xingzhi once said, “As birth is enlightenment, only death is graduation.” Everyone needs continuous learning, suspect, exploration, and discovering. We also need to persist and keep unique. Without a free soul, there is no real creation. Only by absorbing the nutrition of all things in the universe are we likely to become the best of us. The future of education in China and even in the world is ultimately determined by what wise choices can be made by each education party.



Postscript

At the beginning of 2014, I received a phone call from Ms. Yang from the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development inviting me to participate in the writing of the book on education as part of the Great Transformation of the Great Powers—China’s Economic Transformation and Innovation Development Series. At that time, I was the editor-in-chief of the four continuations of the 20th Century Chinese Educator’s Biography, and was writing Ye Qisun’s Biography; I was the editor-in-chief of an early education series and was writing Family Growth Game; I was also the editor-­in-chief of the eight books of History of Chinese Modern Educational Associations and was writing History of the Development of China’s Modern Educational Associations. So I felt too overwhelmed. Apart from that, since my weak eyes have just undergone a surgery for retinal detachment, I declined this invitation at the time. Unexpectedly, after more than a month, she contacted me again, saying that I was most appropriate to write this book under repeated selection. After several telephone conversations, it felt harder to decline this invitation again. Therefore, based on the theme of this series and my 30 years of field research and professional judgments, I will set aside the different opinions on education, and determine the transformation of education from nationalism to humanism-oriented as the most important educational transformation in China’s social transformation, and this will be the

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 Z. Chu, People-Oriented Education Transformation, The Great Transformation of China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6353-6

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theme of this book. In fact, this is the most important and essential theme of educational transformation in China’s transition period, while the others including MOOC, Internet+, and so on are only changes of the tools and environment, or just the media of this transformation, and are thus incomparable to the transition towards humanism-oriented. After nearly a year of conceiving, researching, and writing, it was finally completed within the scheduled time. However, there are still some dissatisfying parts. Due to various factors, many expressions are not so appropriate, accurate, or expressive. Due to time constraints, this book only elaborates on the most important issues in Chinese education, but more discussions and explorations are needed on many deep and meticulous questions, even a system, to realize this educational transformation. It is hard to know these issues thoroughly, and this book cannot achieve this goal. I hope that this book will serve as a note, attracting more educationists to focus on the real key issues of the current educational transformation, and not be biased, to distinguish that this is the midstream of promoting China’s educational progress, not entrenched in the tributary. While writing this book, I received the support of China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development and Zhejiang University Press. The editor-in-charge Wu Weiwei has done much work meticulously. I have always opposed the multi-person stitching writing method, which makes the whole writing process quite tough, so my wife Hu Cuihong helped me greatly in the data collection and entry. I would like to express my sincere gratitude here to everyone who has supported me. If you find any inappropriate content, please do not hesitate to point out, and directly contact me via my e-mail: [email protected]. Thank you very much in advance. Chu Zhaohui August 2015

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