The Construction And Demise Of The Curriculum Of Confucian Classics In The Modern School System(1902-1912)

Today,the development of China’s social economy has enabled Chinese people to review their cultural traditions with a calm mind,who increasingly realize the profound heritage of the excellent traditional Chinese culture with Confucianism as the core.The cultural value of Confucian classics has also been widely accepted.However,it is one thing for Confucian classics to have indelible cultural value;it is another for primary and secondary school students to read them.One of the main reasons against reading the Classics is that they are too difficult for primary and middle school students even though they are good.Here comes the crux of the problem,if those who approve of reading the classics can not cope with the actual difficulties,such as the curriculum setting and implementation in particular,in "primary and secondary school students’ reading the Classics",all the remarks about the value of primary and secondary school students’ reading the Classics are just empty talks,which cannot be implemented in the curriculum system.Therefore,only after distinguishing and clarifying the practical difficulties of offering classic courses in primary and secondary schools can we answer the real question of whether and how it is possible.It is the wisdom of history that is needed to clarify the real problems.Based on the curriculum,this thesis focuses on the evolutionary history of the classical curriculum in the late Qing Dynasty.Specifically,from the perspective of curriculum construction and implementation,it examines the process of traditional classical curriculum integrating with the modern school system and the dilemma encountered a hundred years ago,and reflects on the feasible direction for the reconstruction of the current classical curriculum.It also provides curricular inspiration for the depth of the current education of excellent traditional Chinese culture,which is a practical consideration.In addition,on the academic level,although the current studies of education history and curriculum history have noticed the problems of classical curriculum in the late Qing Dynasty,most of them are just briefly mentioned in the comprehensive researches.There is no systematic and in-depth monographic study,especially the investigation of the operation mechanism of classical curriculum under the modern school system from the microscopic perspective of curriculum.With the aid of the conceptual framework of curriculum,this paper analyzes the rise and fall of the classical curriculum in the context of the collision between Chinese and Western cultures in the late Qing dynasty,and revealing the difficulties of implementation of the classical curriculum.This research not only expands the study of curriculum history,but also breaks through most of the macroscopic researches on curriculum history.What’s more,this research reflects on the rise and fall of the classical curriculum on the micro level of the curriculum,which has made a contribution to academic innovation and knowledge share.The core issue of this study is why the traditional classical curriculum dies out in the process of integrating with the modern school system when investigated from the perspective of curriculum? For that reason,this paper firstly discusses the characteristics of traditional education of Confucian classics in China and the crisis that has arisen since modern times.Afterwards,how do the academic officials envisage and construct the classical curriculum when the western modern school system becomes an irresistible trend of the times? Then,in the process of implementation,what curricular difficulties do the classics courses of primary and secondary schools encounter under the modern school system? And what kind of curricular ideas are contained in the classical curriculum scheme in the Ancient School,and could it save the declining classics courses? Apart from the external political reasons for the collapse of the dynasty,what are the internal reasons for the demise of classical curriculum?It is found that the real crisis of traditional education of Confucian classics is faith-related.That is,Chinese people refused to believe that national culture,with Confucian classics as its core,could resist the impact of western culture,whose cultural confidence in Confucian classics was lost.The introduction of the modern school system in the late Qing dynasty meant the establishment of a new educational structure.However,the academic officials in the Qing Dynasty did not realize the changes in the educational structure and tried to transplant the traditional education experience of Confucian classics into the new school system as a whole,which was unreasonable.Specifically,in the implementation of the curriculum,there were defects in the planning and design of the classical curriculum,such as misplaced curriculum objectives,redundant curriculum content,single teaching form,and ineffective evaluation method,which weakened the educational effect of the classical curriculum.However,the specialization and lucubration in Ancient Schools turned Confucian classics away from real life,whose obsolescent education ideas in particular were powerless to solve the problems of the times,and the courses failed to arouse the students’ interest.Consequently,it can be believed that Ancient Schools are doomed to fail in saving the classical curriculum from the decline and demise.Nevertheless,the demise of the classical curriculum under the modern school system in the late Qing Dynasty might be regarded as the failure of Zhang Zhidong’s curriculum scheme,which does not mean the infeasibility of the classical curriculum being integrated into the modern school system.On the contrary,the demise of the outmoded classical curriculum provides the possibility for the birth of the new classical curriculum.In the reconstruction of the classical curriculum,the examination should be shifted from the cultural value of Confucian classics to its educational value.In a word,from the perspective of curriculum,there lies the inaccuracy in the principles of the classical curriculum setting in the late Qing Dynasty,not only that,but the layout of the courses is unreasonable.What matters most falls on the obsolescent education ideas in the classical curriculum,which could not generate the positive educational values in the modern academic system,and is doomed to bringing about the decline and demise.However,this paper examines the predicament of the classical curriculum in the late Qing Dynasty from the perspective of curriculum,aiming to point out the theoretical defects of the classical curriculum scheme in the late Qing Dynasty,and reflect the educational value of the classical curriculum.It is believed that the " legitimacy" of the classical curriculum can be reconstructed from the dimensions of the external value of cultural identity and internal value of classical wisdom,That is,Confucian classics is not only a course containing the classical wisdom of Chinese civilization that transcends its practical pursuit and instrumental value,but also a course indicating Chinese cultural identity that cultivates the value consensus of the entire nation.What needs to be learned in Confucian classics is not only the cultural "classics" in history,but also its "permanent educational value" that can nourish the spirit of the current Chinese students.In the compilation and design of the classics courses,we can adapt the idea of "turning cultural classics into educational classics".The classical curriculum should focus on students’ life experience and spiritual growth to realize the unique and profound value of education.