Historical Change And Modern Value Of Education For Social Development

Human beings cannot live without social community. Thus, the relationshipbetween the individual and the community cannot be sidestepped. Education for SocialDevelopment is the kind of education that promotes harmoniousness between theindividual and the community, cultivates people how to deal with others, get along wellwith others and be good at organizing groups of people. Education for SocialDevelopment aims at promoting harmonious development of individuality andcollectivism, which emphasizes individuality and avoids extreme individualism,emphasizes collectivism and avoids excessive standardization as well. The thought ofEducation for Social Development has a long history and rich cultural value. The Bookof Learning, one of educational classics in ancient China, explicitly put forward theeducational objective Respect work and enjoy working with a variety of people.Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi and other thinkers expounded the thought ofEducation for Social Development in their own works respectively which influenced thedevelopment of China’s education. Thoughts of Education for Social Development likecultivating oneself to be expert in organizing groups of people, and improving one’skindheartedness through communication with friends and with the help of friends werethe goals of men of noble character in ancient China. Since modern times, thoughts ofEducation for Social Development were rejuvenated and closely related to themovement of saving our nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival. During theperiod of the Republic of China, on the initiative of Cai Yuanpei and Mei Yiqi, thoughtsof Education for Social Development achieved a remarkable development, andEducation for Social Development ranked together with Moral Education, IntellectualEducation, Physical Education and Aesthetic Education, and became the guidingprinciple in education. Nowadays, Education for Social Development is vigorouslyadvocated in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other regions. At present, MoralEducation, Intellectual Education, Physical Education, Aesthetic Education, Labor andTechnical Education are advocated in our educational objectives. Patriotism educationand collectivism education, included in Moral Education, are stressed in whichEducation for Social Development is implied. Nonetheless, the connotation of Moral Education can be referred to almost everything. Therefore, generalization of the MoralEducation is actually to weaken the effect of Moral Education. The inconspicuous effectof Moral Education is a convincing case in point. This is the reason why we shouldenhance Moral Education on the other side.Development of human beings is based on psychological development. Thecognition of human gregariousness, human social behaviour and moral behaviourprovides a psychological perspective for Education for Social Development. The aim ofeducation is to promote human development in an all-round way in which Education forSocial Development plays an important role. Education is regarded as a social activityof cultivating people. In the process of the whole activity, Moral Education, IntellectualEducation, Physical Education, Aesthetic Education, and Labor and TechnicalEducation are correlated and interpenetrated with each other. Coordinated developmentof them will mutually promote. Otherwise, too much stress on one particular aspect orignorance of one aspect will hinder the all-round development of people. For instance, ifIntellectual Education is over stressed or Education for Social Development is ignored,they are both bad for human all-round development. In the function of cultivating aperson of unsound mind, education is carried out through different aspects but in fact allparts of education are interacted with each other. From the perspective of whole socialdevelopment, the highest level of Moral Education, Intellectual Education, PhysicalEducation and Aesthetic Education can be represented in the Group. The highest idealof human beings is to promote harmony, progress and development of society and socialgroups.Education for Social Development advocates the social values of honesty, trust,equality, rationality, democracy etc. Education for Social Development is not carried outalone, instead, it is contained in the curriculum and teaching. Cultivation of communityis realized through teaching and group activities in all subjects.