Kolberg’s "Justice Association Strategy" And The Inspiration For Moral Education In Chinese Universities

Laurence Kolberg (1927~1987) is one of the most famous American educatorsand psychologists in twentieth Century, who plays a very important role in moraleducation renaissance. In30years research of Kolberg, he wrote and published nearly200pieces of papers, research reports and monographs. His research of thedevelopment stage of moral cognition and the practice of moral education has aprofound impact on moral education in USA. At present, Chinese scholars researchmainly about Kolberg’s development stage theory of moral cognition and moralphilosophy, while pay less attention to Kolberg’s moral education practice. There aretwo parts of Kolberg’s moral education practice method, one is the moral dilemmadiscussion method, the other one is "justice association strategy"."Justice associationstrategy " is based on Dewey’s moral education theory and critically inherited fromDurkheim’s collective education statute theory, which is the extension of his researchon "moral dilemma". Thus, the moral dilemma discussion is the base of " justiceassociation strategy "."Justice association strategy " is a kind of moral education practice, according tothe principle of collective education, which means to establish a democratic groupincludes both teachers and students. In this group, we should use the fairly anddemocratic atmosphere to make the members to develop themselves. lead themembers implement moral behavior better. Justice association strategy" completedthe transition of moral education from the classroom education towardsextracurricular practice education, which has epoch-making significance. Thisdissertation mainly systimatically analysis the history of Kolberg’s "justice associationstrategy", include the era background and the theoretical origin, as well as thetheoretical and practical foundation and the generation process. Therefore, tosummarize the advantages and disadvantages of the "justice association strategy" tojudge the achievement and problem in China’s existing moral education in collegesand universities, then get inspiration for moral education in Chinese higher education.