A Study On The Normal College Of National Central University During The War Of Resistance Against Japan

After the transformation of Higher Normal School into University,the higher normal education of China had gradually entered into a trough period,which resulted in the shortage and incompetence of middle school teachers,which caused a serious problem of convergence between what teachers had learnt and what they would teach.Though during 20s and 30s of the 20th century,the Ministry of Education had tried many times to change the situation,all of these endeavors failed.With the outbreak of the war of resistance against Japan in 1937,the shortage of middle school teachers became worse and worse,which prompted the Ministry of Education to deal with the problem seriously.After Chen Lifu became the Minister of Education in 1938,he began to reform the higher normal education immediately,requiring that 6 national normal colleges be set up,and the normal college of National Central University was just among one of them.The transformation of education school to normal school in National Central University was relatively rapid compared with other five normal colleges because of the accumulation of teachers and equipment for more than 20years,the process of which experienced the period of Nanjing Higher Normal College and Education School of National Central University.Since the foundation of 6 Normal College in 1938,the Ministry of Education had set up 5 more successively.And there were a total of 11 National normal colleges by the end of the war of resistance.The Ministry of Education had expected to promote higher normal education through these colleges and train a number of qualified middle school teachers in a short period of time.However,many problems had been exposed in the course of the development of the colleges,which had caused great controversy among the various circles of society,including Zhu Jiahua.In 1944,Zhu Jiahua replaced Chen Lifu as the new minister of Education.In accordance with his usual thought,he decided to restore the role of Arts and Science colleges in training middle school teachers.Normal colleges in comprehensive universities like the National Central University began to reorganize,the department of Arts and Science in normal college was abolished and it's regulated that Arts and Science school should enroll normal students in order to make sure the number and quality of middle school teachers,which resulted in that the organizational system of the Normal College of National Central University had basically restored to the prewar.During the period of the war of resistance against Japan,the formation of students and teachers of normal college also showed some obvious characteristics.On the whole,students that volunteered to apply for Department of Education were the most,while those who applied for normal college,especially the percentage of students from the department of Arts and Science in normal college was relatively low.And because of the location of National Central University,the trend of the localization of students enrolled gradually became more and more obvious.In terms of teaching staff,the number of the normal college's teachers increased rapidly and professors made up a large proportion.In accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of education,the normal college teachers' salaries had a clear regulation,though there were no teachers receiving the lowest level of salary,living standard of the teachers was not very good compared with the price level at that time.In accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of Education,after the foundation of the Normal College of National Central University in 1938,it started a unified teaching and management model.For example,the college carried out multi-level teaching and training system,including primary department,undergraduate department and advanced studies,of which an adjustment of the courses for undergraduates was specially paid attention to,in order to take care of professionality and normality at the same time during the cultivation of normal teachers.But the modal that the Ministry of Education required,namely to do some co-study with College of Art and Sciences,made such kind of courses can't completely adapt to the requirement of normal education,the teaching effect was not so obvious.Moreover because of lacking funds and teachers,the work of the primary department and advanced studies didn't go on so smoothly.Generally speaking,the development of the Normal College of National Central University was relatively difficult during the period of the war of resistance against Japan.But because of the number one status of the National Central University and a long time's accumulation,it still set up some distinctive departments during the war such as Art department,a special subject of Scout Boys.At the same time,educational psychology department of normal college paid special attention to educational research work,which led to the co-development of the cultivation of teachers and research work.The establishment of normal college of National Central University enhanced the status of higher normal education in the whole education system during the war of resistance against Japan,which made the normal colleges obtain independent funding and more right to speak.It saved and developed China's higher normal education.From 1937 to 1945,the normal college played an important role in assisting secondary education,local social education and improving public knowledge level of the rear area.Moreover,it had a huge impact on the development of its own.At that time,the normal college brought together a number of well-known experts and scholars,which improved the teaching and research level of the normal college greatly.But it is undeniable that there were many factors in the process of its development,which led to that the effect far failed to meet the expectations of the Ministry of Education.More concretely,there were three main points.At first,the Ministry of Education not only failed to solve the problems of social status and salary of primary and middle schools teachers,but also the regulation about the normal college students' treatment,employment and further study was not so competitive,which greatly reduced the enthusiasm for students to apply for the normal college.Secondly,the Ministry of Education still regarded the normal college as Arts Department,under the influence of the educational policy stressing more on Sciences,the normal college faced a serious shortage of funds,which limited the development of normal colleges.At last,the excessive intervention of administrative forces had caused the development of schools to be divorced from reality,and the educational policy lacked continuity.Despite all of these factors,it was still an important exploration of modern higher normal education,and it still had great enlightenment for today's higher normal education.