The Socialization Of Universities

As an educational place for the community,unlike other social institutions,universities should bear more social responsibilities,but universities now are infested by social values and forget the true meaning of their own,leading to a series of problems.The American Philosopher Alan Bloom inherited his teacher Leo Strauss' s idea of political philosophy and wrote “The closing of the American mind”,exploring the harms of relativism and equalitarianism values to modern people based on the discussion of harms to universities and modern societies by the modernity.Bloom suggested that universities should be higher than the society,stimulating and leading the development of community in the right direction,rather than adapt to social trends.To achieve this goal,a free education should be implemented in universities to lead students to read the classics,in order to regain the rational spirit.This paper is divided into three parts based on Bloom's idea of university education: the first part deals with the origin and influence of Bloom's thoughts,including the influence of Strauss' s thought on Bloom,the social background of Bloom's idea of university education,and the research status of this idea at home and abroad;The second part explains the university education ideas reflected by “The closing of the American mind” specifically,analyze the harms of bad values of modern society to the university education and human society,such as egalitarianism,egalitarianism,relativism and so on,pointing out that the direction of university development should be the free education and guidance of the community;The third part discusses the inspiration to current Chinese university education from Bloom's university education idea and analyze the problems of domestic universities,concluding that universities should not be socialized.Bloom's idea of university education has provided a warning to the development of universities and society today.He has made his special opinion on the universityeducation by his ruthless criticism of contemporary social liberal values: The university is not a general education place,neither a temporary springboard for employment;the university should be the social "gadfly" with enough thinking ability for judgement and value concepts,"providing some non-democratic experience for the democratic society today".Universities should not enter the trend of society,but adhere to their mental health and moral pursuit,preserving a rational road for this rapidly developed and materialistic society.Bloom called on everyone to re-read the classics,fight with the invasion of modernity with ancient rationality,pursue the truth,kindness and beauty to achieve the return of human nature.He is not attacking the democracy and objecting the modern civilization,he is trying to deal with today's value crisis,so as to maximize the restoration of the true meaning of democracy.Bloom's idea of university education gives us the brains of the minds of the world,and provides a new perspective on the problem.His ideas are useful for solving the problems of university education and social values in China.When the crisis comes,our universities should never forget the heart.They should return to the guidance of rational thinking,and achieve the return of human nature.