A Study On Ideological And Political Education From The Perspective Of Cultural Characteristics

If culture dies, spirit will extinguish; if spirit extinguishes, China will perish.Being the root of ideological and political education, culture permeates the whole process of it. However, traditionally, ideological and political education has been“politics-oriented”. In fact, as education is a part of culture, ideological and political education is also a cultural phenomenon because it is a special form of practicing education. The purpose of putting forward the concept of “cultural characteristics” is to make a breakthrough of the tradition that restricts ideological and political education to political education by putting ideological and political education within a given cultural framework. With the interlinks betweenthe different factors of ideological and political education and culture revealed and the inner cultural property of ideological and political education outlined, a cultural supporting system will thus come into being so as to gain a complete and in-depth understanding of ideological and political education.“Moral character” refers to “moral quality” and “character”. By attaching the combination of “moral character” and culture to ideological and political education,the aim is to express and expound on understandings of some basic questions of ideological and political education under a cultural framework. As a significant part of human beings’ education activities, whose cultural characteristics are transparent.From the perspective of static state, all elements of ideological and political education are branded with culture. From the perspective of dynamic state,the process of ideological and political education is about educating people.Ideological and political education, as an activity of spreading and creating culture,should display humanities and ethnic features; it should return to life and embody the quintessence of nurturing “people” with “culture”.Besides cultural characteristics, ideological and political education possesses political, economic and social characteristics. Only by associating with these characteristics can the meaning of the cultural characteristics of ideological and political education be comprehended in a more profound way.From the historical perspective, it can be known that ideological and political education is endowed with cultural characteristics by analyzing its course in cultural evolution at different times home and abroad. In China, the idea that “he who can perceive social and cultural changes will guide people to a brighter future” was proposed very early. From ancient Confucianism to the New Culture Movement andthen to the modern movement of “promoting the vigorous and prosperous development of socialist culture”, the cultural characteristics of ideological and political education are increasingly enriched and have become more and more important along with the evolution of Chinese culture. While western moral education pays high attention to the main subject of culture——human. They care about human’s spiritual world and the generation of spirits. They also respect the emotions,needs and personality of education receivers and at the meanwhile, value the educational function of culture. All these theories lend support to research on the cultural characteristics of ideological and political education.Reflections on the present situation of ideological and political education indicate that due to the disregard for its cultural characteristics. The problems it faces can be concluded as: the social status of ideological and political education is gradually reducing; its effects are criticized; and it’s not so able to guard national cultural security like before.There are profound reasons behind the loss of cultural characteristics in ideological and political education. First of all, from the perspective of social and historical development, ideological and political education has always been politics-oriented, which covers the cultural characteristics of it. Secondly, the pressure imposed on humanities by science results in the loss of humanities in ideological and political education, making it an activity of spreading knowledge which is far from being close to real life and the aim of education people with culture.Last but not least, ideological divergence is an important factor that ideological and political education can’t fully function and reap good resultsThus, ideological and political education should develop its cultural characteristics, which is the new demand of ideological and political education in a new era. Above all, the purpose and content of ideological and political education should demonstrate cultural characteristics. Its aims should not be restricted to serving the political stability and economic prosperity of the society, but return to its essence——people-oriented, that is, cultivating people in an all-round way until they have “complete personalities”. An ideological and political education emphasizing cultural characteristics should add more educational content that will enrich people’s life, such as emotional education, life education and happiness education, etc. apart from its five basic aspects of ideological education, political education, moral education, psychological education and law education so as to guide people to a brighter future.In addition, the principles of ideological and political education should return to its cultural essence. With culture being dispersive, people-oriented, ethnic,life-concerned and dynamic, it is a must for ideological and political education to object compulsion, value guidance, adopt the method of educating people subtly,display its concern for people, pay attention to the ways of returning to life and experiencing life and respect the personality of education receivers. In conclusion, an ideological and political education returning to cultural characteristics should follow the principles of flexibility, imperceptibility, people-oriented, returning to life and democratic equality.Last but not least, the method of ideological and political education should highlight cultural characteristics. Intelligent education intends to solve the problem of knowledge and understanding, while the moral education should attend to the problem of faith and discipline. Ideological and political education doesn’t aim at the mastery of concepts or knowledge but the all-round development of people. Therefore,cramming education won’t satisfy its needs. What it needs is a more cultural,scientific, humanitarian and arousing method of education, for instance, by talks and communications, evoking feelings through certain circumstances, practicing, subtle cultivation and moral narration, etc.All in all, ideological and political education is inseparable from its cultural roots. It is a cultural existence endowed with cultural characteristics embodying the core spirits and value of culture.