A Study On Rousseau’s Civil Physical Education Ideology

With the formation of China’s civil society and the rise of national fitness to a national strategy,the status of citizens as the main body of China’s sports operation mechanism has become increasingly prominent.Citizens as both the subject and object of sports,the formation of their sports concept and habits,and the implementation of their sports rights are inseparable from education.Therefore,exploring the historical origin of civil physical education is of great theoretical and practical significance in cultivating a new generation of highly qualified citizens with both mental and physical wellness as well as in implementing notional fitness strategies.Jean Jacques Rousseau is a famous French enlightenment philosopher,whose profound philosophy and education ideology as the matrix of the modern physical education thoughts processes the civil physical education concept as one of its essential components.This paper adopts literature review,induction,deduction,historical context as the research methods.Based on the understanding of Rousseau’s literature and the academic research on his psychical education ideology,it sorts out Rousseau’s theory and practice on civil cultivation and physical education,and constructs his ideology of civil physical education.The formation of Rousseau’s civil physical education ideology is closely related to his era.Starting from the Medieval,the education in Europe was controlled by the Christian Church.Under the influence of asceticism,physical education was underestimated and suppressed.Later,the rule of the Christian Church declined.The Renaissance was started to break the Christian Church’s monopoly in Europe.The humanists in the Renaissance advocated the "perfect person" education and the cultivation of talents with all-round development of morality,intelligence,physique and aesthetics,therefore,rediscovering the value of physical education.In the time when Rousseau lived,the contradiction between the feudal autocratic monarchy and the new bourgeoisie became more and more intense in France.As a member of the new bourgeoisie,Rousseau fiercely criticized the feudal autocratic monarchy and connected the citizens with the nations by expounding the essence of the nation-state from the perspective of the relationship between citizens and their motherland.He tried to cultivate his ideal citizens through physical education activities.Rousseau has formed the following proposals on how to cultivate citizens in the aspect of physical education.First the physical education should be started from children.A healthy body is the basis of Rousseau’s civil education.He advocates that education should firstly focus on building up children’s body in nature to let them have healthy bodies.The second is to actively intervene the health of citizens through physical education.The physical approaches citizens can adopt in childhood include having free activities and exercises in nature,breathing more fresh air and so on.School sports approaches include building sports ground,carrying out group sports activities,etc.The sports approaches citizens can adopt in adulthood include organizing club sports activities,holding sports games and so on.Third,citizens’mind and body should be developed harmoniously.Rousseau believes that body carries feeling and morality generates from feeling.While,morality and feeling react on body.He proposes to set the education content according to the characteristics of psychological development in each stage.There are four stages.Both the first and the second stage include physical education and health care.These four stages are complementary and inseparable,and jointly serve the goal of cultivating citizens with harmonious body and mind.Rousseau’s civil physical education ideology is of significant historical value.His theory of civil education was used by the French revolutionaries to guide the practice of civil education,and then promoted the transformation of physical education in Europe from gentleman physical education to citizen physical education.It was then brought to the British colonies of North America by European immigrants,leaving a profound and long-term impact on the practice of physical education in the United States.Although Rousseau’s civil physical education ideology has prejudice against female sports and medicine,his idea of civil physical education not only provides France with a feasible way to cultivate citizens,but also creates a new era of modern civil education in Europe and shapes the image of modern citizens.Nowadays,China is in a new era,where the citizens’ fitness literacy is to be comprehensively improved.Rousseau’s civil physical education ideology can provide theoretical reference and ideological enlightenment for our country’s citizen physical education.