Dewey’s Democratic Education Thought Used As Reference For China’s Secondary Moral Reform

Based on the theory of ragmatism, Dewey establishes democracy education thoughtsystem, and put it into practice. His mpiricism, education essence theory and teaching theoryadvocated the respect for subjectivity and initiative of educatees as well as practical education,which has a profound influence throughout the world. Even in the21st century, Dewey’sdemocracy education thought still has its practical value. At present, our country isundergoing a new round of moral reform. Based on China’s national conditions, we can drawlessons from excellent elements in Dewey’s democracy education thought, so as to find a newway for moral development with Chinese characteristics.The first part analyzes the middle school moral education of the situation and geneticanalysis, middle school moral status of the following aspects: Middle school moral contentwith social practice disjointed; the middle school moral education method seemsmechanization and simplistic, ignoring the subjectivity of students; Middle school moralevaluation focused closed text exams, ignoring democratic practice education; Middle schoolmoral education focused on imparting knowledge, ignoring the democratic spirit andcharacter abilities. Situation analysis of the causes of middle school moral education: Middleschool moral education seems single, formalized; The moral awareness issues of moraleducators; communities, schools with poor coordination; social environmental impacts.The second part analyzes several major propositions of Dewey’s democracy educationthought. Firstly,"education is life", which holds education as an important tool for social lifeand is a necessity of social life. Secondly,"education is growth", which is one of thecornerstones of Dewey’s education theory. he believes that growth is the essence of educationand is a part of life. Lastly,"school is society". He analyzes the essence of school in terms ofschool and social function for education, and then puts forward the theory of "Education withno Aim"The third part analyzes the lessons we can draw from Dewey’s democracy educationthought for China’s middle school moral reform, which can be divided into three parts. Thesocial background of China’s middle school moral reform expounds the similar socialbackground of current China and Dewey period in the United States. It points out problems inChina’s traditional value, the weak consciousness of individuals and the challenges thatglobalization brings to China’s education, which prevent the development of China’s moralreform. Dewey’s democracy education thought will provide an effective solution to thisproblem. Dewey’s democracy education thought, i.e.,"education is life","school is society" and "learning by doing" can be adopted for the current problems in China’s middle schoolmoral reform, thus highlighting the urgency of the education reform in China. Dewey’sdemocracy education thought, which analyzes the inspiration of middle school moral thought,the inspiration of middle school moral principle, the inspiration of middle school moralmethod, the inspiration of middle school moral curriculum, can be used as reference.