Education Under Masks

Should a nation or a culture keep its own character in the process of globalization? How to keep them and what kind of education can give inspirations for transferring culture and keeping their identity? The paper studied a very obvious and representative phenomenon, i.e., the educational function of the ground-opera in Anshun district of Guizhou province. The Tunpu group teach the young their history, Confucian culture, ethics and customs through the rites of ground-opera. Therefore the ground-opera becomes an important symbol of recognizing themselves and their culture, thus reaches the aims of transferring culture and self-identity. This paper, on the one hand, tries to study the relationship between transfer of culture and education, and as well as the integrated function which education affect culture. On the other hand, it studies the cultural function of education and tries to find how education and culture affects each other and influences people's development. It pays more attention to fieldwork because any kind of discussion about the types, structures and changes of education is an specific case. The specialty of studying of ground-opera's educational function lies in the way of investigation. By the studying of different areas, types and tempos of education, we can notice all the factors of education systems and its social background as well. Furthermore, we can understand all the meanings of educational activities and get a whole process of educational phenomena, and then try to explore the varieties of education's development and ways. It makes us realize that the study of education should be based on the forms of different areas, types and tempos. As what is said in philosophy, the commons exist in the individuals, and the universals exist in the specifics, but this common and the universal is not about the similarities or the similar patterns between the ground-opera which has educational function and other forms of education, but the similarities among all the cases. Basically, it is the different possibilities and methods for the development of education in different areas and types in different times. Besides this, deep researches on Spring Festival of this district and the ground-opera from the point view of literature and anthropology have been done in this study. By the understanding of the process, plot, moral character and effectiveness on the local people's daily life from theses rites of ground opera, the educational value and its social sense is analyzed and demonstrated in the aspects of promoting the recognition of self-identity and local culture, the behavior criteria and ethic consciousness of the Tunpu group.The results of this study are as follows: First, the education of the ground-opera is a kind of functional education. Secondly, different nations created different cultures and patterns of education indifferent areas and environments in order to survive and seek the meaning of real life, The third one, education is a process of being constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed, thus makes education and national culture get together closely. Fourthly, culture makes education have more patterns. Different cultures have different needs and values, and different educational ways.