Children, Experience, And Curriculum: The Curriculum Philosophy Research

The mission of philosophical research on curriculum is to determine the curriculum aim and make the means meet the aim. Man is purpose in himself and may therefore not be reduced to a mere means to an end. If Kant’s such idea is correct, children should be considered as the curriculum aim or the purpose of education.The curriculum which regards Children as the aim will respect for the lives and world of children, and respect for children’s interests and needs as well, and allow children grow naturally in accordance with their nature. The curriculum is not external to children but the process of growth itself. Children’s growth is represented as the growth of experience. Experience is a process and outcome as well of the interaction between children and environment. The process of experience is the process of the growth process and the process of life, which is an active process. Curriculum which regards Children as the aim help children deepen and expand their experience, around the children for the purpose of combined with the interests and needs of children, centre on children’s previous experience and the lives of children, combined with the children’s interests and needs.When knowledge replaces the children and becomes the curriculum aim, and when the curriculum attempts to transform the children’s experiences and world with so-called objective knowledge, children become learning machines and knowledge containers. On the contrary, children are activists and their experiences are extended and expanded in experience-based curriculum. Knowledge is not driven from experience-based curriculum, for knowledge can be a part of the experience of children, and therefore which can also become the curriculum content. Helping children gain experience is not only consistent with the logic of knowledge and but also consistent with the logic of psyche, and not only consistent with the basic principle of that Man is aim but also consistent with the economic principle of efficiency and effectiveness.Children realize their growth in their experience, and get experience in their growth. Experience is both the aim of growth and the means of growth. Therefore, the curriculum objective should be a series of experience of growth. The selection, organization and implementation of curriculum experience should follow the children’s "internal schedule" on the basis of the previous experience of children, and in accordance with the way children gain experience. Curriculum evaluation should take the probability whether Curriculum can or has promoted children’s growth as a standard, not only to predict what kind of experience can meet the growth needs of children, but also to test whether the curriculum has been implemented to meet the growth needs of children.In the road leading to the curriculum which regards children as the aim, there are five enemies-Dregs of traditional Chinese culture, Shortcomings of industrialization, Dualistic thinking, Scienticism and Pseudo-science. So far this leads to a knowledge-based curriculum dominated the field of curriculum in China. To overcome these five enemies, we must harbor a respect for life, respect the children’s rights, carry forward the spirit of democracy, and regard children as the curriculum aim and not a mere means to the aim from beginning to end. We must look upon the curriculum issues and disputes in the horizon of a holistic, organic philosophy. Only in this way, education and curriculum can realize the purpose of promotion of children’s growth.