Harmony In Diversity

Culture and education, like two sides of a coin, are closely related with each other. In theory and practice, however, much attention has been paid to the relation between education and politics as well as economy, the relation between education and culture receive little attention. This thesis is an attempt to address the cultural orientation of the development of higher education under the context of globalization in that culture orientation is an important perspective which should not be neglected. The higher education within the global context actually involves two opposite standpoints, namely 'the West as the center' and 'nativelism' . It is argued that both 'the West as the center' and 'nativelism' are forms of 'one-as-the-center' , which, as a rigid thinking of the opposition between the West and the Chinese, should be deserted nowadays. Hence harmony in diversity, the cultural orientation of the development of higher education against the background of globalization, is put forward as the tenet of the thesis.The idea of harmony should be paid due attention for the development of higher education in the era of globalization. In Chinese culture the word 'harmony' does not merely mean "to agree with another idea, feeling etc. " or "sort of aspiration or pursuit" ; it is rather just an integrated three-level ideological system, i. e. the combination of fundamental ideas about the nature of the universe, the ultimate goal of humanity and the basic attitude toward life with harmonious coexistence of various factors as the core content. On the basis of the development history and trend of higher education in different countriesacross the world, 'harmony in diversity'----the cultural logic ofhigher education development can be roughly divided into four stages, that is, embryonic stage, primary stage, intermediate stage and higher stage. To observe and study the development of the present higher education from the perspective of 'harmony in diversity' is of great importance in that it is a right remedy for clearing up the idea of 'one-as-the-center' in the theory and practice of higher education. Only through the way of conscious cultural introspection can 'harmony in diversity' be achieved.