The Image Of "Individual" In Chinese Textbooks

As the mother-tongue education in China, Chinese education has been imposing on students' values in name of literature and art directly or indirectly. This study implements its investigation and research in the Chinese textbooks of primary school. The investigation mainly points to that what kind of personality our primary school Chinese textbooks canonizes, and what kind of attitude it treated towards all kinds of human instinct or rights, and whether such value-orientation is accordant with ideal school educational aim.The problem has been presented in Part One which starts with a description of the process from entering the field of the study to establishing the investigation focuses, as well as the display of the native historical background of individual.Under the guidance of problem presented in Part One, Part Two mainly clarifies the value-orientation of Chinese textbooks on two dimensions of "altruism" and "self-regard" by frequency statistics of subjects and by which demonstrates the image of "individual" in textbooks.Part Three analyzes the conclusion given by Part Two which is that the "individual" value-orientation on dutiful to eldership, devotion, compassion for the weaker, passion for nature science showing from the textbooks basically meets Chinese cultural tradition's request for individual. However, the textbook has been showed either little concern or maltreated to the hope for love and loved, pursuit of beauty, rights of possessing private possessions, independence consciousness and capability and such other values. In other words, the textbook has paid more attention to altruistic and to self-regard, and on the tendency of morality education, "social morality" education wrong, "individual morality" education even worse.The value-orientation of Chinese textbooks in China's primary school has showed cold-shoulder and belittlement to human nature, human rights and individuality, which is right the deep-seated cause for some current "sharp" or "high" education problems occurring. To face the problem as dissociating from individual's "base line" of his character showing with the textbooks, this article assumes that these themes should be discussed as follow: one, how to renew and strengthen parts of the value-orientation in textbook such as independence in thought, freedom in spirit, individuality, moderate selfish, earn one's own living, spice of life, safeguard of body, and so on; the other, how to more soundly think over the human nature, human rights and individuality when edit textbook, presenting a living scene more close to children's real life, displaying an individual image with more perfect personality and free individuality.