Inclusive Education In China:Cultural Interpretation And Criticism Of"Learning In Regular Classrooms"

Inclusive education came into being because of demand of Postmodernism trend and Western civil rights movement in the1980s. Inclusive education advocates zero-reject philosophy and the abolition of the isolated form of special education in tradition, so that all children can learn and succeed in ordinary schools. Inclusive education as a new ideal of education, not only arouses extensive discussion among the educational theorists, but also has a profound effect on the educational development all over the world.The mode of disabled children learning in regular classrooms in China is a product of the combination of local special education practice and inclusive education thoughts. After more than twenty years of development, learning in the regular class makes great progresses, and has become the main form of education of disabled children. However, the developments stop and even recede in recent years. It deserves our attention.The aim of this study is to examine the universal ideas which influence and shape learning in regular classrooms practice from a cultural perspective, to interpret and criticize the cultural connotation of our practice by comparing with the cultural backgrounds in the West, to make suggestions for future development. The theme of this dissertation is reflected in the following three aspects:1. Description on learning in regular classrooms practice from a cultural interpretation perspectiveThe study shows the following cultural phenomenon in the practice of learning in regular classrooms by collection and interpretation of relative texts:(1) Students learning in regular classrooms are subject to neglect and exclusion. They fail to obtain full membership and run the risk of dropping out at any time.(2) There is hierarchical order on the basis of merit and intelligence level in ordinary classrooms. Disabled students are considered as low capacity. It’s believed that reducing the difficulty of teaching methods is reasonable.(3) In the ordinary classrooms the students learning in regular class students struggle to survive mainly because of the love of the teacher, help of classmates and interpersonal relation maintained by their parents.2. Criticism on learning in regular classrooms practice from a cultural comparative perspectiveThe study compares the Western cultural background of inclusive education with ours and come to the following conclusions:(1) The development of inclusive education of Western counties establishes in the conflicts between modernist culture and postmodernism culture. While our development is based on culture of immature modernism (2) Western culture of rights greatly promotes the formation and development of the concept of inclusive education, while China’s traditional Confucian culture deconstruction the concept of individual rights and impede the development of learning in regular class practice.(3) Inclusive education both in Western world and China is limited to elite culture.(4) Western minority culture is conducive to promoting the social integration of disability groups; Chinese culture of disadvantaged groups go against the social integration of people with disabilities. Suggestions on learning in regular classrooms practice from a cultural change perspective.Last part of this study makes five suggestions to improve cultural environment of learning in regular classrooms practice:(1) Shaping the rights culture through the improvement of legislation and appealing system.(2) Building multiple and tolerant culture by actively publicizing the education.(3) Actively promoting the modernization of special education through the strengthening the scientific research in the field of special education.(4) Gradually forming a form of minority culture through the establishment of the organization of the disabilities themselves.(5) Deconstructing elite education and culture by updating educational ideas.The conclusions illustrate that our learning in regular class practice has made certain achievements, but also hindered by cultural concept. Carefully examining and transformation of Chinese society and culture will be able to bring greater space for the development of the practice. The development of inclusive education has become the major trend of the development of education worldwide. In this trend, learning in regular classrooms practice continues to play a greater role in the field of special education in China, Believe in the near future, it’s promising that learning in regular classrooms will improve and become the main way of equal access to education for children with disabilities in China.