Study On Andy Green’s Critical Philosophy Of Education

Andy Green is a well-known contemporary British educational philosopher and educational historian.He is well-known for his research on the "relationship between education and the state" and has become an educational scholar who explored the relationship between education issues in the era of globalization.Andy Green’s theory of educational philosophy embodies the organic combination of empirical research,historical research,and the core of Marxist philosophy.Green conducts a systematic and in-depth study on the relationship between education and the state and society and its dialectical movements.He also sets up a unique theory of educational philosophy,and further promots the development of western pedagogy.According to Horkheimer,"the real function of philosophy is to critique popular things." The important realistic problems that global education has faced since the second half of the 20 th century have become the realistic starting point of Green’s educational critical thinking.The convergence of globalization and education gave birth to the myth of "educational globalization",which shakes the existential foundation of the nation-state education system.The post-modernity and the irrationality of education promots individualized educational user supremacy and weakes thelegitimacy foundation of national education system.The privatization and competition of education advocated by neo-liberalism and the marketization of education have impacted the publicity and authority of national education.Facing the predicament of the public education system and the actual education crisis,Green insists that the relationship between education and the state should be an important way to reflect on education.Focusing on the relationship between "education and the state," Green inherites critically the Marxist state-society view;Gramsci’s hegemonic theory and Althusser’s ideological state machine theory;western sociological education theory;and British new left cultural criticism Theoretical viewpoints such as adult education thought expound the characteristics of nationality,class dominance,ideology,structural function,and potential liberation of education,and gradually constructs a holistic theory of educational critical philosophy.Education has obvious ideological connotation,which is the logical starting point of Green’s critical philosophy of Education.Green points out that education is an ideological state machine,reflecting the essence of the state and the basic way of social control.Education is not a compulsory control process,but a process in which the ruling group "transforms" its special interests into the general interests of society,thereby encouraging people to identify with the current ruling order.At the same time,Green also points out that education is relatively independent and autonomous in form.Educational activities have their own specific existence and operating logic,and are not completely subject to the interests of the ruling class.It is a tool of liberation.Therefore,the ideology of education has the characteristics of tameness and liberation.On this basis,Green points out the basic contradictions within educational ideology,namely,the homogeneity and diversity contradictions of educational content,the separation of elites from the masses in the education object,and the game between the individual and the country in the education subject.Educational ideology,such as the globalization of education,the post-modernist concept of education,and the neo-liberal concept of education,have been deeply criticized.Green advocates the pluralism of education to shape the multiple cultural subjects and citizenship,advocates the popularization of education to enhance the cultural quality and social status of the people at the bottom,and advocates the nationalization of educational subjects to promote the publicity and fairness of educational behavior.National education is themain body of Green’s educational philosophy.The establishment of the national education system reflects the realization of the ideological power of the ruling class and is the path to politicization of education.National education is the official and mandatory school education provided by the state to the general public with public funds,which reflects the basic logic of education politics: education is to adapt people to social life to make them good citizens.Green traces the origin and development of the national education system from a historical perspective,and criticizes the original ideas such as the origin of Whig theory,the origin of structural functionalism,the origin of production relations,and Weber’s conflict theory.He also reveals the national education system from the perspective of historical materialism,and explains the political legitimacy and imbalance of the national education system.In particular,it penetrates into the social and historical background of countries such as Britain,France,the United States,and Germany,and analyzes the unique national characteristics of education combined with national power,social structure,and cultural factors;it also reveals the ultimate goal of national education is to promote national identity and realize the legitimacy of nation-state rule.The theory of social cohesion is Green’s interpretation of the relationship between education and the state,as well as the value purpose of his critical philosophy.In Green’s view,social cohesion refers to the social state in which the entire society and the individuals in it are linked by relying on consensus,which not only represents a whole social relationship,but also is closely related to the state’s system.Green analyzes and criticizes the different types of social solidarity,the types of social cohesion of different institutional models,and the role of education.On this basis,Green defines the basic connotation and essential dimensions of social cohesion,and emphasizes the representation of the national,individual and value dimensions of social cohesion.Equality of distribution and social tolerance,subject freedom and political participation,and social consensus on legitimacy all have become important factors for social cohesion.In the end,Green explaines the important role of education as a "social glue to repair social rifts",and to achieve social cohesion in contemporary nation-states by eliminating educational inequality,rebuilding national identity,and building multicultural identity.The transformation of educational ideas into practical educational practices requires effective practice methods and means.Green has constructed the practice of contemporary education from four aspects: public education system,national curriculum,vocational and technical education and lifelong learning.Green advocates constructing a public education system,opposing neo-liberal education marketization and "choose school" behavior,rejecting selective elitist education system,and realizing equality of education distribution to promote the realization of social justice and solidarity.In terms of national curriculum,it is necessary to reflect the dominant consciousness of national culture and values,and to break through the narrow patriotic ideological consistency,and establish a multi-inclusive civic education curriculum system.In terms of vocational and technical education and training,Green emphasizes "the role of the state and society and authors in the vocational education and training system",and achieves individual development and liberation through production activities.Lifelong learning is the main way of self-construction.Green advocates the model of lifelong learning under the egalitarian system and universal adult learning opportunities,and emphasizes the socialization of the social welfare state,income equalization labor market policy,and the socialization of the political and cultural spirit to achieve the goal.In the era of globalization,the emergence of the dilemma of public education and the increasingly crisis of education is more serious,Green insists on starting from the macro perspective of "Education and the State" and deeply criticizes various ideological trends,emphasizing the ideological nature of education,Demonstrated the necessity of the existence of national education,reveales the social cohesion of educational activities,fully defines the feasibility of today’s educational practices,provides an important theoretical tool for people to correctly understand and analyze the contemporary education crisis,and gives us the theoretical innovation of educational philosophy provides some inspiration.In the process of theoretical construction,Green uses the historical materialist perspective to trace the dialectical relationship between education and the state and the historical process and evolution,and applies it to the interpretation of education in the era of globalization,which overcomes the dogmatic grasp of Marxist education thought and enriched Marxist education theory.Green pointed out the important status of social equality and justice in education,regarded it as the mission of education,and focused on the problems of educational inequality and social order caused by inequality of distribution,which will help us understand more deeply.The nature of Western education and its problems.Green focuses on the macro research method,which avoids the "ecological fallacy" produced by the individualistic methodology,and provides scientific research data and support for his theory.Of course,Green’s educational thoughts also have insurmountable incompleteness,such as insisting on the priority of social life and ignoring the significance of individual existence.It touches the basic contradictions and conflicts of society and demonstrats the inequality in educationwhichinvolves more class relations and class interests as the root cause.However,Green presupposes the legitimacy of capitalist modernizationand resortes to more equality National policy and education systeminstead of criticizing the economic foundation of private ownership.Because he is stucking to the historical context of western modernity.It is necessary for us to reflect deeply.We should criticize its theoretical dregs and learn from its theory where it is useful on the basic theory of Marxism.We must strengthen the leading role of the state in education and rationalize the relationship between the state and education.We must also strengthen the education of the core values of socialism and strengthen the sense of socialist value and national cohesion.We must realize that education is not only to maintain the order of society,but also to construct and cultivate a positive force,which is internalized into people’s behavior,promotes the overall progress of human civilization,and realizes the free liberation of human beings.