The Analysis On The Civic Education In China Under The View Of Citizenship

Citizenship, as a popular word in politics field, has increasingly been given attention in recent years, and this phenomenon arises because the theory of citizenship has made deep revelation to the relationship of rights and responsibilities between a nation and its citizens as well as a community and its internal members. It also indicates that the fate of the individual citizen is closely connected with that of the nation. This paper will start from the discussion of what is citizenship, and then inquire into the theory of the citizenship, civic education and the citizen educational mode which serves as the result of the combination of the formal two. Based in the inquiry, the paper will further study the development of civic education in China and its defects. Meanwhile, it offers some solutions to the problems. The structure of the paper is as the followings.Chapter one is the summary of citizenship. Within this chapter, the diversity of the theory of citizenship will be demonstrated on the basis of the introduction of its concept and different explanations, through which the features can be analyzed: citizenship is the most fundamental and comprehensive summary on the relationship between a nation and its citizens as well as a community and its internal members. Citizenship which does not only make claim to the qualified citizens, but also points out the civil right and obligation is used to explain the relationship of power and responsibility, therefore it obtains two characteristics: universality and mutuality. They are interdependent and interactive. Moreover, they induct the new orientation for the development of civic education.Chapter two which evolves around civic education first introduces the connotation, formation, and development of the theory respectively, and then its three main types: liberalism civic education, communitarianism civic education and multiculturalism civic education, therefore this chapter helps to generalize and understand the basic elements of civic education. Furthermore, it continues to introduce the aim that would deepen the understanding of the theory. However, it does not cover every aspect of civic education, but just selects several related to this paper to explain.Chapter three discusses the relationship between citizenship and civic education. It first expounds the dialectical relationship of them by illustrating two aspects of their relationships—"citizenship as the starting point of civic education"and"civic education showing the spirit of citizenship". Based on the understanding of their relationship, the two theories should be combined to develop citizenship education and to introduce the theory of citizenship into routine education. Citizenship education as the universal education should be extended. Moreover, the routine education that entails the concept of citizenship possesses the permeability. Thus, citizenship can serve as the internal link of other moral and social general knowledge courses to deepen the consciousness of being a citizen and participating in social activities.Chapter four focuses on the civic education in China that possesses its own features in terms of its development. The phenomenon that the civic education is within ideological education and sets its teaching aim and content to cater to the demand of social development causes the existence of the educational problems. Three of the main problems will be discussed in this part. First, the content of teaching is only attached to exams, which causes the loss of the meaning of education. Second, the courses offered are numerous, jumbled and complicated. Third, the universal education is neglected and the advanced education is emphasized. And some ways are proposed to expand the avenues and improve the methods to civic education, such as the reconceptualization of the view of education, and the enrichment of the connotation of education. Those ways offers the fundamental thoughts to enhance the civic education in our country.