Facts And Values

The issue of school students' burden and related study on it weigh much light so far in educational alter. However, the study is especially significant at the period when educational study needs to focus more on issue researches rather than the construction of any system. In theory, this issue regards to human's freedom, harmony, full and all-round development, questions or answers "whether there is human (student) in education or not in the end"; in practice, starting from a more valuable issue angle of view, the study on this issue will lead educational practice from "teaching" converting to "educating", explore the essence of "Quality Education" and the true path towards it.In the preface, the value and study methodology of this issue are introduced. The significant value of this issue is emphasized and connected to educational philosophy and educational value to promote this issue to a highly theoretical level in order to draw more attention from theoretical field and educational practical undertakers. As to study methodology, it is introduced in the preface that since there is plenty of so-called empirical research to the basic fact of this issue, and the unavoidable subjectivity of each individual researcher in his study hypothesis, the differentia in the level of criterion of survey and analysis method, the general limitation to sample range of survey and the lack-effect of single object to demonstrate collectivity. Moreover,the issue seems to be an objective factual one on the surface, but it can be considered one regarding to psychology and value after canvass. Therefore, this dissertation argues that it's unnecessary to involve in so-called empirical research such as "how heavy is school students' burden", that is to say, there's less significant essential meaning to do any more such research. On the other hand, the dissertation views that it will have more theoretically interpretive power and play much more important a role in conducting educational practice to conduct some speculative researches on value-orientation which is most destitute at present. Thus, based on the significant factual research material and concluded both by others and the author himself, this dissertation primarily undertakes speculative method to deploy study process with the philosophical reflection as a general methodology rule. In transversely scientific field, the methodology of this issue includes the combination of historic method, thinking scientific methods (integration, induction, generalization and concretion), systematic method, complexity research method and interpretive method which will be beneficial to the research of this issue. The means of data collection is literature analysis study and some records from "field surveys" are also adopted.Chapter One can be considered as a factual judgment research and the foundation of the following value study in which the ever-increasing serious issue status is described and interpreted after a brief review to the half-century course of coping with the burden issue in our country, systematic and profound coordination and reflection to the study status in quo of burden issue are especially conducted and some new factual judgment conclusions are raised such as: not all school children's burden is of overweight, some existing differentia needs to be analyzed, governmental "Alleviating-burden Movement" lacks of rational support and practical pertinence. The specific discussion and reflection to empirical research methodology and scientific research paradigm in Chapter One support the author's some factual judgment.What goes further in the second chapter is that the author observes and explores the interior driving power to make students as the subjectivity to undertake their burden, the responsibility of the whole society to this issue, the pressure from the system of centralization of power, the scientific technology basis of productive work as the origin of course burden and the historic law of course burden swaying highly or lowly from the view angle of economics, sociology, ethnics and human nature. The systematic and profound discussion on the view of learning, work, work value and human nature in the burden issue reflects the author's strong personal value orientation in relative conceptions such as,school children's burden is mainly not caused by exterior pressure,it is not only students' burden but also the responsibility and duty which the epoch and society assign students to bear to create their own individual value and social value, the human's freedom and harmonious development is not a easygoing process,the burden issue reflects the profile of contemporary educational status quo in China, all fierce feelings of the masses, a storm in a teacup, endless complaint of suffering together with pure romantic humanist imagination are of no help to alleviate or resolve the problem, and so on.Compared with Chapter Two which discusses the origin, responsibility and some certain historic rules of the burden issue impartially and rationally, the purport of Chapter Three is rather different. The issue is promoted to the human educational value as educational value subjectivity and the standpoint of discussing issue is also changed. In the first two chapters, the objective fact and objective law as educational existing are discussed and this is the objectivity and indisputability of the issue discussed impartially which in some sense exculpate some responsibilities of overweight burden for people. Anyhow, people's educational ideas embodied in educational value hidden behind the established educational existing will be analyzed and reflected deeply in this chapter. Human's spirit, value conception and will power to transcend educational existing are highlighted and the human-oriented educational value, the precedence rule of interior educational value are illuminated in Chapter Three. Moreover, the author expresses his strong protest to utilitarian educational value and firmly unchangeable belief to idealist educational value, insists to educational humanist stand during the materialized historic period, iterates the Utopia idea and ultimate humanist consideration in educational field must be held ground, emphasizes the fundamental purpose of students' free and harmonious fully all-round development should never be betrayed.The content of Chapter Four is equal to a conclusion of the whole dissertation. The transcending over previous "Alleviating-burden Movement" is embodied in: liberating students by reforming view of knowledge and curriculum, alleviating and sharing students' burden along with the improvement of teachers' professional level, the pursuit to the true, the good and the beautiful in pedagogic process value, a learning burden view with a harmonious unity of knowledge, emotion and will towards "eudemonia education", and the construction of eudemonia educational principles in the end. It is believed that all these have transcended the limit objective of so-called "Happy Education" and "Alleviating-burden Movement" and reached a never-reachable theoretical height and value level lay in the past.Obviously, it is ever-growing urgent for us educators to have philosophical thinking towards education of China in the 21^st century. Perhaps it's just as Dewey said, educational philosophy is not a branch of philosophy for philosophy itself is just general theory regarding to education. Only educational reformers and innovators find the necessity of educational philosophy, while those scholastics just need a few fair-sounding words to exculpate for existing practice. Nowadays, what we need is not only those fashionable reforming sayings or ready-to-wear modes derived from foreign countries, but a more profound research to those superficial things both at home and abroad so as to discover their interior true essence and spirit. Only in this way, any educational reform will be able to elude from superficiality, fickleness and formalism.