Empiricism and Idealism
Do We Need a Mode Shift of General Education in China?
In: International Journal of Chinese EducationSearch for other papers by Jinghuan Shi in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Yi Lu in
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In recent years general education in Chinese universities has gone through rapid growth, which has led scholars to reflect on the motivations which underpin its current and future development. This paper establishes a framework based on the size of the universities together with whether the motivation is idealism or empiricism. This framework forms three typologies of general education in China, particularly from the perspective of curriculum design and student involvement. Three cases that each represent one of the three typologies are analyzed to depict the detailed characteristics. The main conclusion of the paper is that general education in its essence is an idealistic pursuit of a permanent goal, while in reality it is resource-dependent and rooted in historical conditions. China’s case studies provide a vivid example that general education reform starts with practical approaches of offering selective courses or building pilot zones and then by moderately increasing its scale and coverage, moving towards idealism across the spectrum. The key principals during the long journey are to avoid conformism, encourage innovations and maintain diversity.
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Li Cao “Towards a Dialectic Thinking about Cultural Quality-oriented Education and General Education.” Tsinghua Journal of Education 2007 27 32
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Cao Li, “Towards a Dialectic Thinking about Cultural Quality-oriented Education and General Education,” Tsinghua Journal of Education (2007): 27-32.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 483 | 150 | 17 |
| Full Text Views | 199 | 2 | 0 |
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Empiricism and Idealism
Do We Need a Mode Shift of General Education in China?
In: International Journal of Chinese EducationSearch for other papers by Jinghuan Shi in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Yi Lu in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
In recent years general education in Chinese universities has gone through rapid growth, which has led scholars to reflect on the motivations which underpin its current and future development. This paper establishes a framework based on the size of the universities together with whether the motivation is idealism or empiricism. This framework forms three typologies of general education in China, particularly from the perspective of curriculum design and student involvement. Three cases that each represent one of the three typologies are analyzed to depict the detailed characteristics. The main conclusion of the paper is that general education in its essence is an idealistic pursuit of a permanent goal, while in reality it is resource-dependent and rooted in historical conditions. China’s case studies provide a vivid example that general education reform starts with practical approaches of offering selective courses or building pilot zones and then by moderately increasing its scale and coverage, moving towards idealism across the spectrum. The key principals during the long journey are to avoid conformism, encourage innovations and maintain diversity.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 483 | 150 | 17 |
| Full Text Views | 199 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 40 | 7 | 0 |
