Tang Wenzhi's Educational Idea And Its Contemporary Significance

Tang Wenzhi (1865-1954),whose courtesy name was YingHou, and literary name WeiZhi or RuJing, was a famous educationalist, a master on the Traditional Chinese Culture and an engineering pioneer in modern China. With his noble personality, great aspiration, persistent pursuit and profound knowledge, he attained splendid achievements and also made outstanding contributions to the development of China's modern education. From 1907 to 1920, he served as the president of Shanghai Higher School of Science and Engineering, and from 1920 to 1950 the president of Wuxi Academy of the Traditional Chinese Culture. Under his management, Shanghai Higher School of Science and Engineering not only cultivated lots of engineering talents, but also laid a solid foundation for today's Shanghai Jiao Tong University rising as a famous University of Science and Engineering.Although it is just a junior college, Wuxi Academy of the Traditional Chinese Culture has played an important role in inheriting Chinese Culture and cultivating talents on the Traditional Chinese Culture. With the number of excellent talents cultivated for our country, it is crowned as a model of transforming a traditional academy into a modern college. All of the outstanding achievements are closely related to Tang Wenzhi's advanced educational idea.The idea of attaching importance to the Traditional Chinese Culture, advocating Humanistic Education and cultivating students'morality through the promotion of the Traditional Chinese Culture,which in particular embodies Tang Wenzhi's insightful understanding of the ultimate aim of education——how to conduct oneself, which is exactly what should be reflected on in China's tertiary education and also why I choose it as the topic for my thesis.This thesis consists of 3 chapters. The first chapter analyses the origins of Tang Wenzhi's educational idea in terms of social background, academic background and practical background. The second chapter makes a summary of Tang Wenzhi's educational idea by exploring the historical material. Tang Wenzhi's educational idea can be mainly divided into five parts: (1) idea of education's goals——to make different goals under different situations. (2) idea of running school——to place emphasis on both Scientific Education and Humanistic Education. (3) idea of talents cultivation——all-round development of Moral Education,Intellectual Education,Physical Education and Aesthetic Education, with especial emphasis on Moral Education.(4) idea of teachers'management and appointment——to respect teachers and incorporate talents (5) idea of students'management——strict management with affection and care. Comparing it with the current tertiary education, the third chapter sums up the significances and values of Tang Wenzhi's educational idea for today, which will be introduced from three aspects. Firstly, the tertiary education should pay attention to Humanistic Education, and try to improve students'humanistic quality. Secondly, Moral Education is of primary importance in tertiary education. Thirdly, tertiary education should improve students'morality through the promotion of the Traditional Chinese Culture.