| With the crisis of art education and the ultimate challenge of education as problem consciousness,this dissertation re-examines educator Tao Xingzhi’s practice and focuses on the aspects transcending specific concerns and of more universal significance,which were mostly unnoticed by previous discussions,and explores his enlightenment on art education of today.Besides literature review,Introduction covers the research principles of this dissertation-not to frame Tao’s practice into the concept of “art” as a discipline,but to reveal the fundamental connection between art and education.Chapter 1 discusses Tao Xingzhi’s art education and the art of his educational practice.Starting with Tao’s opinion on aesthetic education,this chapter points to the tension and harmony between the two approaches to education: as a tool to save the nation-state or as a game whose process is an end in itself.The unique aesthetic style of Tao’s educational practice will manifest itself after discussing several important issues in Tao’s education,such as to differentiate education’s processing nature from purposeless,to the pursuit of poetry as the highest realm of educational practice,and to overcome difficulties by poetizing them.Chapters 2 and 3 explore in turn several key concepts in Tao Xingzhi’s education system-educator,educatee and their interactions-against the historical background of enlightenment education of the multitude,and show why his practice of taking social problems as the starting point would lead to a radical understanding of “educator” or“educatee” yet an indirect answer to instant social needs.As an educator,Tao Xingzhi developed a unique opinion on the relationship between the group and the self in the process of “getting close to the people”,and strived to change the students’ expectation of “unidirectional flow” from teachers to student,which had been a profound educational tradition.As for the concept of educatee,Tao Xingzhi applied this to any human being without discrimination,and viewed the potential educatees not simply with the eyes of an educator,but something akin to a buddha showing mercy to all without distinction.He cherished the utopian idea of selfless education and promoted his “Little Teachers Scheme” with the core spirit of “spreading knowledge upon acquisition”,by which the aim of education evolved from shaping rapidly a generation as modern citizens for the building of a new China to the general transformation of humanity,a decidedly drawn out process.Chapter 4 explores the relationship between life and education,and expounds on how Tao Xingzhi’s approach to education was able to spur people on.This chapter shows how Tao’s criticism of traditional education for its inefficiency in spread led to a thorough change in the foundation of education-from its focus on morality to a focus on life.Tao’s own life as an educator demonstrated the meaning of “education through life” perfectly.His dedication to real life was beyond the dichotomy between being above and involved with worldly considerations,which had been prevalent among traditional Chinese elites.Chapter 5 explores Tao Xingzhi’s practice against a background of long-term history and discusses his attitudes towards innovation versus tradition.Tao examined the ongoing education practice against and tried to find an appropriate position for it throughout human history.The dichotomy between the evaluation criteria and the foundation of education broke through the mainstream pursuit of speedy results and reflected the tendency of transcendence in his education.Conclusions reveals how Tao Xingzhi’s practice met the ultimate challenge of education,being capable of responding with the core concept “life” unlimitedly to specific spatial and temporal conditions.That is how Tao’s practice remains illuminating to art education of today. |
PDF Full Text Request