A Study On The Limit Of School Moral Education

In the end of the 20th century, the evolution of people's viewpoints of values has been caused lots of moral issues with the transformation of economy and society. With the reflection of these moral issues, many persons interrogate the responsibility of school moral education customarily. Since the institutional education having begun in modern times, school moral education has always been expected highly. People often exaggerate the role of moral education to omnipotence, and states often emphasize the responsibilities of school. School moral education constantly receives criticism for its being out of expectation. Because of the great change of society and forces from society, school moral education has fallen into a predicament. Through the whole civilization of human being, moral education is no longer decisive to the moral formation and moral development of individuals and society, though it is necessary. The role of modern school moral education has changed greatly.Now the function of moral education has become one of the main topic in educational research. Before our discussion one preconditional subject should be reflected. Are the functions of school moral education unlimited? The idea about it affects not only the aspiration to moral and moral education, but also people's action of education and the effect of moral education. Understanding the limit of school moral education itself could help people raise reasonable expectation, help school perform its tasks clearly and fully. With the concern about the predicament of moral education, it is necessary for us to study the limitation of it.The exaggeration to moral education has been a long history. People believed firmly that school moral education had either many functions or great power, and believed it could decide the progress of human being. Deepening into the essence of the theory, although it blooms in good wills with moral idealism and unlimited confidence to moral education. It exposed its flaws which neglected the limiting conditions of educational activities, the limitations of school, and the limitations of man's thought and action. Because of the biased understanding and excessive optimism to school moral education, and the social standard of concept of moral education, they both led moral education gradually deviated its subjective value in cultivating individual's moral character.The functions of moral education change with the social progress. In traditional society people trusted that moral played a key role in state's organism, so moral education also played a great, even decisive role in social cultivation and social stability. But with the appearance of complicated and rich life styles in modern times, the formative conditions of moral and moral education have changed a lot. Their status and role have also been falling. Simultaneously institution has become the primary guarantee for social virtue and for man's virtue. Utilitarianism and scientism are wreaking havoc with our modern civilization, they have corroded people's moral spirit, and the alienation of educational practice. Finally the ethical spirit of moral education in school is being weakened. Taking a panorama view in all causes to modern man's moral development, compare- tively school would no longer decide one's virtue in the varieties of social effects. Eventually schools' endeavor is less and less powerful.Modern educational activities in school are fulfilled by the subjects with the help of medium of moral education, which includes teachers, students, content of moral education and its methods. They themselves all exist flaws. The moral knowledge and moral values in the content are regulated and limited, which causes it far below individual's demand in life, it is in a low and basic level in cultivating one's moral emotion, accumulating one's experiences, forming moral attitude and tempering moral behaviours,. Applying regulated, planned moral knowledge and goal of moral values to guiding a changing and developing person, the process and effectiveness are uncertain. What students gain from the practice of formulation, idealization and incomplete subjectivity could not adopt them to the real life. Teachers are another source of effect. In view of the fact that teachers' quality of moral education are not perfect in reality, the interaction and understanding between teachers and students could just reach a certain degree because of the limited level of students development, we could neither raise too ideal requirement to teachers as moral authority and moral model, nor excessive and irrational demand. In a pluralism social life teachers and students develop their moral quality within a learning community.The practice of human to a subjective world is greatly different from that of human to an objective world. Because the former practice is to construct human 's significance world. It's a creation to his own consciousness and soul, whose changes could be invisible and uncontrolled. That causes the special mechanism of moral education practice. After the working of all elements in moral education, the effectiveness is still unknown and limited. In details, educational activities affect individuals in an indirect, concealing and postponing way. In the process some frontage functions are weakened by some negative functions. These features indicate that a good virtue would attribute to the endeavor from the whole community, also from a life-long learning.One's social being decide his social consciousness. Man's moral concept forms in the social practice. Different social practices demand different moral principles and moral values, form different moral experience. Moral quality is constructing, forming and developing constantly in social life practice. By this opinion, man's moral quality develops not from educating but from his own practice. People must expect school moral education rationally, and approve it leniently and understandingly. School's role is just guiding and basic. We never deny the capability of school moral education, but we must forever understand its limit thoroughly.