The Research On The Educational Value Of School Ritual And Realization Path

At all times and in all over the world,school rituals exist and play an active role in the field of school education.But with the development of society and technology,"the disenchantment of the world"deeply affects all areas of society,and education is no exception.Loss of reverence for education has caused many problems in school rituals,which are becoming less and less solemn and holy in many schools.Current situation of school rituals is becoming increasingly worrying.Meanwhile,the theoretical research on school rituals has just started,and needs to be further improved both in quantity and quality,which has,to some extent,led to ambiguous understanding of school rituals,and affected the realization of its educational value.Many social problems also reflect that people's mental state,value and belief need to be promoted.Therefore,our Party and government have issued several programmatic documents to strengthen the guidance to people's mental state,value and belief.As one of the ways to guide youth to actively practice the socialist core values,school rituals play an important role in helping youth to live a spiritually valuable and meaning life.In a word,whether for individuals,schools,or the society,it is necessary to conduct deeper and systematic research about school rituals and its educational value.It will help to establish a solid theoretical foundation for improving the practice of school rituals,to nourish students' spirit,to guide them to have a valuable life,and to establish a better school ritual theory.This research,with a combination of documentary method,a survey method,and historical method,following the route from theory construction to practical investigation,and then to theory promoting,focused on two aspects:One is the theory construction to school rituals and educational value,and the other is the investigation of current situation.The questionnaire survey was conducted with a self-compiled "school ritual questionnaire" to 385 teachers and 1329 students from primary schools and middle schools in each district and county of Tianjin.At the same time,an interview and observation were made to get a better and deeper understanding of the current situation of school rituals and educational value in basic education.Based on the research results of anthropology,religious studies and sociology,this research deliberated over and systemized again the origin and development of ritual,its definition and values.In this study,we believe that ritual is generated under the combined action of mentality,physiology,economy and understanding ability.it goes through three stages:nature ritual,religious ritual and social ritual.to deepen the understanding of "ritual",this research analyzed "ritual" etymologically in Chinese context and English context,and analyzed the relationship between rite and ritual,which are often interchangeably used in Chinese context.we think these two terms are entity-property relationship.rite is hypogyny conception of ritual.Based on the above analysis,we define ritual as group activities in which value systems and social standards existing in body actions and symbol marks are externalized in a certain procedure and through solemn performance,and then internalized into individual thinking,affect and value in the mold of social affect.Ritual has multiple values,mainly including:transmitting group memory,gathering group identification,presenting social standards and values,establishing moral community,arousing sense of respect for the ancient sages,leading people to form belief,satisfying spiritual needs,and purifying soul.Based on previous study on ritual theory,this research is to study the basic theory of school rituals,firstly determining the range of three frequently used but confusing concepts:"education ritual"."school education ritual”and "school ritual"."School ritual”was finally chosen as the core concept of this research because of its clarity and scientificity;Secondly analyzing the reasonable attribution of "school ritual" and classifying it as"educational activities".Considering the concept classification of ritual and investigation results about reasonable attribution of school ritual,we think school ritual means school education ritual.It refers to group education activities,which have following features:held in school field;having standard and strict procedure;special situation;transmitting social standards,value system through performing and symbolizing;and guiding students' value and beliefs.School rituals consist of subject element,content element,method element and space-time element.With the analysis on the existing research results,and the consideration of the actual situation in basic education,this research divided school rituals into three types:routine ritual,emergency ritual and growth ritual.routine ritual can be divided into daily routine ritual,weekly routine ritual,semester routine ritual,and academic year routine ritual.Each kind of ritual has its merits and demerits.and they can interconvert under some conditions.they together form colorful school rituals.To better grasp and establish school ritual's educational value,this research combed through the historical changes of domestic and overseas' school ritual and its educational value.Research found that religious ritual is the earliest ritual,and belief is the primary value of school ritual;social politics,economy,etc.have great influence on school ritual,and school ritual has powerful social value;the educational value of school ritual has shown a trend of diversified development,and original value has received more attention.With the consideration of both historical findings and modern interpretation to school ritual,we think the educational value of school ritual are mainly reflected as follows:spreading dominant value,guiding belief establishment;inheriting group memory,gathering collective power;acquiring social regulation,cultivating noble morality,arousing sense of responsibility,promoting students growth;enriching school life,and nourishing students'spirit.Theory construction achieved calls for the care for reality.After analyzing the data of investigation,we presented the current situation of school rituals in basic education.The research shows that school ritual in basic education is carried out in a planned and ordered way as an essential part of school life.School ritual is organized orderly whether in ritual behavior of ritual subject or in basic elements of school ritual.Flag-raising ceremony is taken seriously,traditional rituals are revived,new school rituals appear constantly,school rituals presented a trend of multiplex development,and there is a boom in school rituals.The research also shows some problems,such as the omitting of the ritual during the changes of classes and the absence of graduation ceremony.What's more,ambiguous understanding of ritual subject,overuse of political authority and technology,and utility thought,all have prevented school rituals working effectively,resulting in some behaviors that are contrary to ritual spirit and principles.So far,the current situation of school rituals is a mixture of problems and hope.The research on the current situation of school ritual educational values in basic education shows that school rituals play an active and effective role in leading dominant values,improving students' understanding level and promoting ideology and morality.School ritual has achieved its educational value to some degree.But in basic education,the current situation still has some problem.For example,school ritual as a guide to student behavior is not in full play,the aesthetic value and belief value of school ritual are deficient,value subject status is in an embarrassing position,resulting in decline of the noumenon value of school rituals,and there appears alienation in school ritual's educational value.All these problems reflect a challenging situation in realizing school ritual educational value.To improve the current situation,we studied the elements which affect the realization of school ritual educational value,and argue that subject element,object element and social element are the principal aspects.Specifically,subject element includes ritual subject's level of understanding,emphasis and organizing ability;object element includes school ritual's content element,method element,space-time element;and social element includes various elements,among which laws and regulations,and educational value tropism influence the realization of school ritual educational values more directly.Multiple elements' influence increases the difficulty in realizing the educational value of school rituals,and clear understanding of the influential elements is the key to the problem.On the above analysis,this research put forward the effective path to realize school ritual educational value:deepening the understanding to make a solid foundation;carrying out school-based research to develop school ritual with school characters;well planning and organizing school ritual work;designing and organizing school ritual based on the student-centered principle;making top-level design to set three-level school rituals,straighten out its internal relationship,and activate innovation system.