Educational Utopia

The theoretical research and practical exploration on the learning society has become one of the hot issues among the research of education development in modern society. The thesis is supposed to closely re-examine the theory of learning society from the educational ideology of Hutchins, the presenter of the learning society theory, abiding by the research principle of reviving historical facts and reviewing the original works. Through the investigation of its theoretical basic and historical background, the essential meaning of learning society is to be found and evaluated from a theoretical point. And it is expected to help people properly understand the theory of the learning society and inspire the practitioners working on the construction of the learning society in China.Hutchins presented his the learning society theory on the condition of the world economic, politic and social development in 1950s and 1960s and under the historical background of social and educational development in the United States. His theory is based on the classical educational ideologists' thoughts that had spread in the Europe since the ancient Greek, including the emphasis on humanity, the pursuit of good moral integrity and the harmonious development of mental, moral, physical and esthetic ability. Meanwhile, its presentation aims to criticize the flood of pragmatism education thoughts and the "education investment theory" which was bloomed at that time in the United States in order to improve the economic development. The educational ideology of learning society is a new idea of education in the process of the further improvement of modern educational thoughts and essentially relates to that of lifelong education.The learning society created by Hutchins is built on the basis that the society has grown in a faster speed and more spare time has been increased. As a result, the learning society is required to be built by the fast developing society. And on the other hand, the increased spare time makes it possible to construct the learning society. The learning society stands on a point that everyone should be educated sufficiently and comprehensively. Free education is what the learning society has proposed the nature ofeducation. Lifelong education is the golden rule guiding the construction of the learning society. And the dominant thinking of pedagogy in the learning society is to give prominence to students' learning initiative. The universities in the learning society should be an independent academic society preserving human sense and social conscience.Hence, Hutchins1 "learning society" is definitely different from the one that we ordinarily think is a society which has simply developed education system, or in which people are learning to seek pragmatic gains under the pressure brought by economic or professional conditions. The learning society is the one where people are liberated from labor and able to fill their spare time with learning to improve the self value and cultivation. Its intension is not merely to look from phenomenon, everybody has a chance to receive an education during all one's life, all the places are suitable for studying everywhere, its deeper meaning lies in it is chosen by a kind of specific education value, it is the human society that thirsts for via educating in a kind of humanized social environment but realizes the ideal of the self-perfection that is pursued. It is concluded in the thesis that the theory of the learning society proposes to create a wholly new educational ideology and fundamentally reform the traditional education system instead of partially amending that of the antecedence one. It inherits the essential part of the modern education thought, highly advocates the spiritual essence of humanization, democratization and lifelong of education, has offered a prerequisite of rational thinking for educational development in the future. Its "human-based" educational intention arouses people to rethink over "education goals" and describes an ideal frame of education in a society which is so de...