The Study On Student Self-government In The Earlier Stage Of The Republic Of China

During the late of Qing Dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China, the thoughts of western democracy and freedom constantly made much impact in China. At the same time, they brought Chinese education a fresh breath——"self-government". That was a new kind of student management way, and it got attention of some higher students. The students began to set up various student-organizations, sponsored newspapers and magazines in Beijing, also in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and several other provinces. Although the schools were quite strict in student-management, a few "students self-government" organizations sporadically appeared in some schools. They hoped they could resist the feudal autocratic by the way, and could make a new country which would be powerful and rich.American educator John Dewey had been in China for giving lectures during the period from1919to1921. At that time, American "students elf-government"mode was brought in China campuses for changing students-management way. Influenced by Dewey’s thoughts of "education,society and life", nearly all sorts of schools began to use "student self-government" to train students’abilities in grouping, living, serving communities and so on. At that time,"student self-government" system was carried out in different forms. Nearly all kinds of student-organizations got development, and even jointed into a national students’union later. Since "the platform for students self-government" was published In1920by the Sixth National Education Association,"students self-government"was established as an important system for the school and student management.When "student self-government"mode spread in China like a raging fire, it also was questioned and criticized by some people. The criticism focused on two aspects.One was "seeing’student self-government’ as a fashion", the other was "the conflict between students self-government and school management". In fact, many students did not know what they should do when they were asked to be in charge of themselves. Various problems arose in daily school management, also in "student self-government" organizations. Thus, National Education Conference in1928approved a bill:we should carry out "Three People’s Principles"——Nationalism, Democracy and People’s Livelihood, and should establish the relevant education policy for saving the nation. The bill strictly ruled the "student self-government" organizations’establishment,enrollment,limits of authority, dissolution and restructuring matters. Since then, all kinds of "student self-government" organizations were asked to rectified, and "autonomy"in student-organizations was severely weakened.There are five chapters in the paper besides the introduction and the conclusion.The first chapter named "the history of student self-government". It is to do the simple combing for the historical side of the matter."Student self-government" firstly appeared in some universities of Western Medieval period. In such universities, students took the overall management of schools. The autonomy of students was quite strong at that time. After16th Century,"student self-government" mode had been replaced by the church and the "faculty governance" gradually. After a long period of silence,"Student self-government" had emerged again cause of Humboldt Reform and American Education Reform during18th and19th centuries. In fact, the form that students were entrusted to take charge of some school matters also appeared in our ancient academies. Students’ independent and autonomous spirit also showed in the system of "Best Pupils Participating in Management".The second chapter’s main content is to devote the ideological foundations of "student self-government". It contains three aspects:political philosophy, domestic cultural change and the new trend of international education at that time."Self-government" or "autonomy" is a political concept originally. There were some factors that jointly promote "student self-government" development in the early of the Chinese Republic. One was the combination of Chinese old gentry autonomy tradition and western mature local autonomy experience. Another was the conflict, struggle, rebelling or mixing between domestic traditional culture and foreign advanced culture. Of course, the change of education was another important reason, such as ideas’change, new groups of students, the rise of students’ power and so on.The third chapter named "Age Conditions of Student Self-government"."Student self-government" developed rapidly after the New Culture Movement and the May4th Movement. What was the direct cause? How it carried out? What was the response in education and in society? These questions are accounted in this chapter. Cause of the new educational aim’s drafting, the efforts from the former returned overseas students’, Dewey’s visiting China and the May4th Movement,"Student self-government" had been a fashionable student-management pattern with strong democracy and autonomous features. Those education experts and some famous people who were enthusiastic about education, embraced the "saving nation by education" ideal and eagerly hoped the new education could do something for saving the nation from danger.The forth chapter’s theme is to describe the performance of "student self-government" in practice. Education field started "student self-government" movement, and all kinds of schools responded positively. They helped students to set up their own organizations, and encouraged them to conduct autonomous activities. Besides setting up different students’ associations, they could manage themselves in some aspects, and participate in the school management partly. At the beginning,"student self-government" pattern run smoothly. It trained students’ autonomous abilities and made some good influence."student self-government" pattern had many different forms in different schools, but all had kept the democratic, independent and self-discipline training spirits. The pattern made some contributions, such as for Chinese education reforming, the new national spirit training, enhancing the quality of citizens and so on.The fifth chapter focuses on discussing the problems arising from students self-government, and analyzing the potential factors. There were some problems in the course of students’ practical exercises, such as their confusion of the right boundaries, self-government triggering students protests easily, seven damaging schools’ order and disciplines. These problems could be divided into two sorts: one was caused by the social problems, the other was from the contradictions between the different groups of a school."Student self-government" was an exotic mode, so it was new for many people of that age. There was no time for them to study systematically because it developed too fast. Of course, there were other potential factors which restricted the "student self-government" mode’s normal development. The last section of this chapter is used to analyze the deep-seated reasons which will be from the humanistic tradition, the political environment, the process of education reform and the youth themselves of that time.There were two keys in the students-management in the early stage of the Republic of China. They were students "self-governance" and "governance" from school. Cause the close relationship between self-government students, the student movements and the student protests, the education field began to rethink the legitimacy of "self-government". Later, especially after the foundation of the Nanjing National Government, the government departments strengthened the control and management of students. The elites from the students communities started to strive for their legitimate rights, and it had been going for a long time for them to struggle against the unreasonable system and the school rebels.