Research On The Changes Of Agricultural Education In China In The 20th Century

In the late Qing Dynasty, with the western learning penetrating eastward, new schoolswere set up in great number in China to spread modern science and technology of westerncountries, and the agriculture school was one of the most important categories. Modernagricultural education in China witnessed a zigzag road of development during the 100years in the 20th century. It started off by learning exclusively from Japan, later fromAmerica and Europe, then the former USSR and finally America and Europe again. Theinterval between each change in models is on average 25 years, which indicates that there isno clear idea on how to build a system for agricultural education suitable for China. Whenit comes to where agricultural education in China should go in the future, it is extremelyimportant for us to learn from our own history and foreign countries with successfulagricultural education.This paper takes agricultural education at different levels in China in the 20th centuryas object. Based on adequate historical data, the paper examined systematically the changein agricultural education in the 20th century by employing the principles and methods ofeducation, statistics, education economics and education sociology and so on. Causes forthe change are also analyzed from a broad view. By international and historical comparison,problems and challenges facing today's agricultural education in China are concluded andstrategies for future development of agricultural education in China are put forward.After clarifying the background for the rise of modern agricultural education, thispaper focuses on the great changes in both educational thoughts and educational system. Byso doing, for the first time this paper divides the history of agricultural education in the20th century into four phases, namely, the period of inchoation (from the late Qing Dynastyto 1922), the system-founding period (1922-1952), the period of agricultural educationunder the planned economy system (1952～1978) and the period of agricultural educationafter the opening up and reform policy was adopted (1978～). Characteristics of the fourphases are analyzed and the criterions for the classification are described. This paper, however, breaks the routine that different phases of the history ofagricultural education are dealt with separately. It manages to study respectively the majoraspects of agricultural education in the 20th century as a whole, which includes theevolvement and innovation of educational thoughts and educational system, change in thescale of agricultural education and talent cultivation, evolvement of majors and curriculum,change in the makeup of teachers, evolvement of scientific research and extension,academic exchanges and cooperation and so on.Based on the analysis of historical data in the first three chapters, causes for thechange in agricultural education in China in the 20th century are analyzed both theoreticallyand practically in chapter four. Interaction between agricultural education and politics andsociety, economy, science and technology and education principle are clarified respectively.In order to study the relationship between GDP and the number of students enrolled inagricultural colleges and universities, quantitative method to test the correlativity is adopted.This paper concludes that they. are closely correlative to one another after the founding ofthe PRC, with the numerical value r of correlativity standing at 0.885. And it is also truebetween production value of the first industry and the number of students enrolled inagricultural colleges and universities, with a numerical value r of correlativity standing at0.892. However, there was no correlation between China's GDP and the number of studentsenrolled in agricultural colleges and universities from 1952 to 1978. The numerical value rof correlativity for the period of 1970～1999 is 0.901. Through quantitative and comparativestudy of correlativity, this paper concludes that there is a big gap between China and Japanin terms of the correlativity between GDP and the number of students enrolled inagricultural colleges and universities.Chapter five and six are a comparative study of agricultural education among Chinaand foreign countries. Problems facing China today's agricultural education are outlined;future changes in external environment and internal industry structure of Chineseagricultural education are examined. Finally, strategies for development of agriculturaleducation in China in the 21st century are put forward as follows. 1. Special regulations andlaws for agricultural sciences and education should be made to avoid the negative impacton agricultural education from political and man-made factors. 2. Ways should be found toimprove the overall quality of farmers gradually. 3. Study on education principles should bestrengthened; scale and structure suitable for agricultural education in China should befigured out and various practices to run agricultural colleges and universities should be encouraged. 4. Institutional barriers should be removed to achieve the integration ofagricultural education and research for higher rate of translating high-tech research resultsinto real productivity. 5. Encourage graduates from agricultural colleges and universities towork in rural areas by providing preferential policies.