From Industrial Education To Vocational Education

Industrial education began in the late Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. It was into the climax of the development in New Deal of the late Qing Dynasty period and continued in the period of the republic of China. Until1922,"vocational education" was substituted for "industrial education" formally in Nonyl Xu-gou Schooling. From industrial education to vocational education, the name changed,with the development of education purpose,education objectives and curriculum setting,etc. The development of China’s vocational education also presented different characteristics. Cai Yuanpei as a industrial education advocate,his industrial education thoughts in the early and vocational education thoughts in the late are extremely rich and distinctive. They are important contents in China’s vocational education thought.Because of Cai Yuanpei’s outstanding achievements in higher education, many researchers of the education thoughts of Cai Yuanpei most focus on his higher education thoughts, but ignore his vocational education thoughts. So,this article is trying to research on vocational education thoughts of Cai Yuanpei. Cai Yuanpei growed up in the late Qing Dynasty, and developed in the republic of China. His growing crosses two stages which are the industry education and the vocational education. During this period, Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thoughts are also very different. Based on this, against the background of industrial education and vocational education, this article analyses the formation background and the developing process of Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thought, and sums up the main content of his vocational education thoughts, and evaluates his vocational education thought, so as to develop the historical value and influence of his vocational education.Owing to the defeat of Opium War in1840, the Qing government saw the western powers’ military power. Also, the defeat caused the crisis of the traditional education thought,and caused the Western Learning wave. The utilitarian education which was directed by the ideological trend——"Traditional Chinese values aided with modern Western ideology"prevailed. Also in this background, Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thoughts began to take shape. With the development of vocational education, Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thought constantly developed and enriched, too,and finally developed into a relatively complete vocational education thought. He compared general education with vocational education, and analyzed the connecting and differentiation, and then pointed out that the development of vocational education needed to change ideas and its development path. In industrial education period, he also proposed "work-study" education, and advocated "labor sacred","concurrently engaged in work and study" and "work and study together". Cai Yuanpei also put forward specific suggestions on the development of vocational education. He insisted on dealing with the relationship between the vocational education and general education healthily and safely. He advocated to develop vocational education by means of government’s macroeconomic regulation and control, and cultivating students’ vocational interest, etc.Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thoughts have extremely important significance in the educational philosophy, the education purpose and the professional ethics, etc, of vocational education.They also have far-reaching consequences for the later development of vocational education. However, due to the limitations of the times, the deficiency of Cai Yuanpei’s vocational education thoughts is obvious.