A Comparative Study On The Physical Education Ideology Of Tao Xingzhi And John Dewey

J.Dewey’s education ideology was introduced into China at the beginning of the last century thanks to the efforts of many overseas Chinese students, during that period, like Xingzhi Tao and Shi Hu. The physical education ideology of J. Dewey is dispersed among his general education concepts. Through systematic studies of J.Dewey’s education ideology, its physical education concept includes sports power, children’s games, skill learning, "experience" education and dual emphasis on moral and physical educations. Formation and development of educational thoughts of Tao, to some extent influenced by his teacher, J. Dewey, includes "Health First", life-long sports ideology, "Little Sir" teaching concept, "Teaching do" sports concept and the combination of "body" and "wisdom" educations. Through the comparative method, this paper compared, first, the concept of physical education philosophy and pedagogy base of the two persons, and then the concepts of physical education. As a conclusion, the physical education concepts of the two people share some similarities as well as differences. The commonality is reflected in advocating nationwide fitness programs, stressing that "clever" learning for students of various cultures and emphasizing the importance of educating practice. The differences include the media and tasks of physical education and the focuses and objects of education, which is caused by the different cultural and historical backgrounds.With the comparisons between the educational concepts of Tao and J. Dewey, it concludes that both of them play an important role in guiding our school education system.