Study On School Values Education In The United States

Values education combines the formation of values and education activity, it is supposedto be education's important mission. As an aimed and organized education activity, valueseducation is important to foster in the youth sound values and to promote social leadingvalues construction. So many countries have carried out a series of research work on valueseducation from different aspects to maintain traditional values foundation, or to build up newpattern of values conforming to the time request. This essay discusses and analyzes theproduction, development and prospect of schools values education in the US from the view oftheory and practice, and compares with such education in China to give some enlightenments.This essay firstly expounds the research reasons as the following factors, the currentresearch situation and educational features of schools values education in the US, the relativeconcerns from some other countries, the transition of social leading values in China and theconnotation of comparison between school values education in different sections. Someinvolved basic concepts and confusing terms are discussed and discriminated in this essay.The research aims, contents, methods, meanings and creative factors are included here. Also,this essay discusses especially the research status and deficiencies in China and the USaccording to the current document literature.In order to grasp the macro development history of school values education in the US,we should take history as a mirror. The evolution of social leading values influences thechange of each factor of school values education. With historical evolution as the main line,this essay clarifies the emergency, development and current situation of school valueseducation in the US. Firstly, this essays starts with four important American history eras,which including early immigrant period, the Independent movement period, the westmovement period, the civil war, the Industrialization period and the postwar recovery anddevelopment period, and interprets the whole history of emergency and development of socialleading values in the US. Secondly, according to the characteristics highlighted in valueseducation at every era, this essay lists three development eras in school values education in the US, including enlightening, recession and recovery stage, as to clarify the overalldevelopment trend of American school values education. At the same time, this essay alsoanalyses the current developmental advantages in values education, and many opportunitiesand challenges endowed by the features of the times, education characteristic and socialenvironment.Education theory is the premise of teaching practices guidance, which influences thedevelopmental direction and the real effect of teaching activities. Discussion on the educationtheory of school values education is the key to this essay. As an education practice activitywhich is different from other subject curriculum, American school values education holds arich theory system. This essay points out that the educational aim of American school valueseducation is consisted of cultivation of qualified values that citizen should hold, clarificationof mainstream of the social values, establishment of the core values system and raising themoral level. The main educational principles comprise values neutrality, experience, rationand integration principle. According to the reality of school values education, this essayexpounds the changes and highlighted features of the teaching contents caused by timesrequirement, social development and national prosperity. As to the education methods, thisessay classifies two ways according to personality quality education theory and cognitivetheory, and discusses the unique in the course of education methods.Education practices is the key to values education. This essay expounds four main modeswhich are created or popular in the American school values education, namely valuesclarification mode, moral development mode, social action mode and considerate mode.Education mode is the symbol of mature teaching practice, and the four influential modesformed in the long teaching practices have shown important active functions to other nations.At the same time, this essay foresees the development outlook of education modes. As tocurriculum, this essay mainly introduces cultural and history curriculum, comprehensivesocial curriculum and auxiliary curriculum, and gives the overall features in curriculumsettings, which including paying attention to explicit curriculum, implicit curriculum andcovering many curriculum. At the real classroom teaching, this essay explains four importantcourses, including recognizing, selecting, solidifying and experiencing, and expounds some main factors in classroom teaching course. This essay discusses that the evaluation of schoolvalues education would be constricted by authority and traditional faith, and severalconfusions. As clarifying the evaluation standards, school values education evaluation systemwould be gradually perfect and reasonable.As discussed in the theory and practice of American school values education, this essaywill focus on the characteristics and development trend in the contemporary era. On the whole,the features of school values education are as three combinations as followed, combinationwith holistic subjects, with whole personality education and with self-evaluation. And thetrend mainly includes the link with education policy, the enforcement of consciousness underthe guidance of psychological, and the strengthen of school values education's propaganda.From one side, these discussions will provide a certain significance to our school valueseducation.The research on the American school values education aims at the inspiration andpromotion of our relative research. The last chapter introduces current research of our valueseducation, and points out the deficiency, including the lack of dialogue between teachers andstudents, the lack of specific description in education aims, the lack of lifestyle andhumanistic thinking in education contents and the lack of related experience in foreignresearch investigation. Secondly, this essay talks about the common and difference betweenschool values education in China and the US. Finally, this paper tries to put forward someenlightenment and suggestions, including in modern school values education, we should seekcommon ground while putting aside differences of guiding ideology, pay attention tostrengthen the ability to deal with values conflict, strengthen humanistic values in the culturalcontext, change the idea around the time request of life meaning and education ideas, improvethe teachers and students the value of their experience and so on.Epilogue part points out that the achievements on American school values education intheory and teaching practice are worth our attention and research, and also the Americaneducation scholars with keen insight to research and to explore the spirit of education schoolvalue outlook are worth learning. At the same time, our scholars should recognize the largedifferent social factors, and should be good at using the critical sight for comparison and analysis to gain more and more effective new knowledge and experiences.