On Guidance

There are two ways of supervising students in school. One is rigid regulation and another is guidance. The later one, which means teachers supply advises on what to do and how to do, is rarely found in educational works from mainland of China. Combining with regulation, it always is replaced by a concept—moral education, which should be the end of education but be used as a means now. To make clear the role of guidance in schooling and pedagogy and find out why the concept of guidance is not introduced to teachers and education scholars of mainland, this paper makes a research on history of guidance and its status in theory of education.Guidance always is educational function. Carrying up the history of guidance, I found that at the very beginning, guidance was Primordial education itself; later the appearance of curriculum made guidance as the assistance to teaching in school; in the beginning of 20th century, guidance in school was conceptualized; by now, the guidance system has been one constituent of schooling. Besides, Guidance must be viewed as one essential means of education. In the educational end-means form guidance is one of important means, which is committed to realize very ends of education.Many countries and areas has conceptualized guidance but not mainland of China where exists a lot of guidance actually. This abnormal phenomenon is due to the confusion of educational end-means form. It leaves guidance and regulation in a mess and then the works of school cannot be divided rationally and clearly. Only if we untangle the confusion and identify guidance from regulation could we struggle out of the morass. Only if we establish the guidance system, hold the concept of guidance and take on the responsibility will the guidance be more efficient.