Critique Of "Attacks On Dewey's Educational Thought"

This dissertation firstly analyses the Chinese movement of attacks on Dewey's educational thought launched in 1950s with nation-state theory, and then reveals its significance, attempting to make contribution to propelling self-scanning of Chinese contemporary pedagogy.The introduction firstly sets forth problem of study and value of study; sorts correlative literature and then explains the feasibility to choose nation-state theory as analyzing framework.The first chapter analyzes the historical reasons of attacks on Dewey's educational thought from two aspects: strategies to cope with outside crises and thought reform as a result of resorts to people's subjective will in the course of revolutionary modernization. In particular, the exclusiveness of nationalism is an important factor which should not be neglected. Nationalistic parties always have a deep emotion to resist colonialism in the course of modernization.The second chapter summarizes the movement of attacks on Dewey's educational thought. There are three phases during the movement: prologue, development and climax. The first phase is about attacks on T'ao Hsing-chih, the following is on Hu Shih and attacks on Dewey comes the end.The third chapter sums up and discusses the focuses of attacks on Dewey's educational thought. This chapter analyzes these focuses from attacks on educational essence, attacks on educational aims, attacks on teaching theory, attacks on "children centre" and attacks on moral education.The fourth chapter analyzes the characteristics of texts that attacked on Dewey's educational thought several aspects. There are language manners, logical style of writing and pattern of demonstration. The reasons for forming these characteristics were analyzed in this chapter, too.The last chapter mainly discusses the relations between the movement of attacks on Dewey's educational thought and Chinese contemporary pedagogy, propelling self-scanning of Chinese contemporary pedagogy through studying what influenced on pedagogy due to attacks on Dewey educational thought.