Educational Tradition And Its Transcendency In Gender Perspective

Based on the attention to the predicament and challenge from gender which contemporary education of China is confronting, this dissertation has reviewed and reconsidered these two kinds of educational tradition of China in gender perspective: Gendered Education and Gender-neutral Education. Meanwhile the dissertation has explored how to transcend the two kinds of educational tradition. The main contents of the full text is as follows:The gender predicament which contemporary education of China is facing can be included that the education of neglecting gender hasn't eliminated gender inequality in the education field, but the education emphasizing gender is still hard to break through the traditional fetter. The study reckons that the formation of the dilemma mainly stems from the influence of educational tradition of China One of them is the educational tradition neglecting gender, and the other is the educational tradition emphasizing gender. Thus, the author proposes the argument that if the contemporary education of China wants to go out of the gender predicament and meeting the challenge from gender, its crucial way should lying in taking gender perspective to give the objective understanding, the rational reconsideration and the creative transformation to the educational tradition of China.This study has adopted gender perspective. Gender perspective is one kind of feminism perspective .What the perspective pays crucial attention to is the women's inequality in social life. Therefore, the study on gender perspective places emphasis on the female. Otherwise gender perspective doesn't mean to abstract the female isolatedly, instead, it puts the feminine question in the power relations which gender contains to carry on the inspection and the analysis. We adopt gender perspective to analyse questions in order to improve feminine disadvantageous situation and make the male and female develop equally,freely and comprehensively.At the foot of gender perspective and basing on the characteristics of construction,production and explanation which educational tradition possesses, the study holds that there are two kinds of educational traditions of China: Gendered Education and Gender-neutral Education .The abstraction and definition to these two educational traditions have established the theory premise for the full study.According to the basic principle which should be followed to study educational tradition: the objective understanding, the rational analysis and the creative transformation, this dissertation has used gender perspective to inspect historily,reconsider rationally and transform creatively aiming the two kinds of educational tradition.The study has inspected the two kinds of educational tradition historically accodding to combing their courses of being delivered. Basing on the inspection , the study deems that Gendered Education has influenced deeply by Chinese traditional gender discourse which emphasizes gender differences.The educational tradition integrates the male and female simultaneously, but it was restrained by the fetter of Gender Essentialism.Gender-neutral Education is the production of education resulted from gender discourse of gender equality in modern China.The educational tradition has challenged Gender Essentialism in Gendered Education and endowed the male and female with the identical education right, but it actually has fallen into the Masculinism. The reason lies in the mutual function of between the discourse about gender equality which taking the male as the standard and the other power factors. These power factors are mainly nationality and class contradictions which had beening exisited continually and highly centralized planning economy after the founding of People's Republic of China .Thus, in these two educational traditions , there is not only the spirit worthing inheriting and developing, but also the concepts which needing distinguishing,criticizing and changing.Based on the historical inspection to the two kinds of educational tradition, the study has reconsidered the main dilemmas of them and the conclusions have been drawn :Gender differences and the rationship between gender differences and gender equality should be understood dynamicly; The same educational result needs not only the same educational process but also different one; As to the relationship between the educational process and result, insists that the same kind should be treated samely and different kinds should be treated differently; The Equal education doesn't mean fully same education, but its core should be the same education; Male and female should be cultivated as "the full human being".It is the core problem which the two kinds of educational tradition both have beening facing that how education should treat the female. And confronting the problem, both of them have the same feature, that is excluding the female.So, the problem becomes the focus when this study reconsiders the two kinds of educational tradition. Then the dissertation holds that Chinese education should include the female instead of excluding the female. In Chinese contemporary educational field, including the female means including women's gender. Based on the historical inspection to Gendered Education and Gender-neutral Education, and referring to some related achievement on contemporary Women's Study, the author deems that including the female should include the four most important categories: Home, Motherhood, Care and Connection.After the historical inspection and theoretical resonsideration, the study believed that Gendered Education and Gender-neutral Education both have reasonable and valuable spiritual cores which should be inherited and developed. Although some main viewpoints of these two kinds of educational tradition are mutually contradictory and even opposite, they can be supplemented mutually and used for reference with each other. Therefore, a feasible way to transform the two educational traditions creatively is harmonization. Harmonization means that different parts are integrated as a whole, and new things and lives are breeded through the harmonization. Gendered Education is combined with Gender-neutral Education, and then produces a new traditon which is fitting to the development of Chinese contemporary society,education and human being .The new educational tradition has derived the essence of Gendered Education and Gender-neutral Education and renewed their biased, narrow and obsolete viewpoints. Taking the relational studies and practice in domestic and foreign contemporary education for reference, the author defines the educational tradition as Gender-sensitive Education.The practice of gender-sensitive education in school may carry on through the following ways: As for the teaching material, gender consciousness should be integrated into compiling teaching material and being regarded as one of standards by which to examine teaching material. Simultaneously, the differences of cognitive styles existing possibly in the male and female should be considered when teaching material are compiled; As to curriculum, we should endow knowledge related to the female with validity, and adjust the contents of curriculums, namely establishing Domestic Curriculum and integrate it into the other discipline curriculums; As far as teaching is concerned, we should try our best to match the study styles which is different between male and female and pay attention to each kind of gender-power relationships in class; As far as teachers' education, we should carry on Teachers' Gender Consciousness Teaching with plan, organization and system; As far as educational morality, we not only make the education have the moral character of Care, but also integrate Home and Motherhood in the female into the moral character of education, that is: Let the school become Educational Home, and let the education become Social Motherhood.