The Development Of Secondary School Education For Girls In Modern Shanghai(1850-1937)

In my paper "The Development of Secondary School Education for Girls in Modern Shanghai", I regarded girls’ secondary education of modern Shanghai as the main object of my study. I concentrated some of the most important features in the running status of schools, training goal, course, teaching, female students, and teachers of Shanghai girl’s secondary education during each phase,to render a complete and detailed recreation of things from scratch to the development process of modern education system. In addition, I analyzed the main characteristics of its development and influence to provide some reference for modern girl’s education.The paper is divided into six parts:chapter one is introduction, mainly illustrating the reasons, scope,methods, the innovation points, the limitations of my research, and some major findings in existing literature.Chapter two to five consist the main body of my paper, integrating the development and changes of education for girls’high school in Shanghai from four phases. The first period, namely embryonic stage, began in late Qing dynasty from 1850 to 1897, with the influx of missionary into Shanghai, girls’school run by church break the tradition of non-girl’s school in Shanghai. This period was represented by the McTyeire School and the St. Mary’s Hall, which laid the start of girl’s high school education in Shanghai. The second period, namely exploration stage, was from 1898 to 1911,our countrymen spared no efforts to advocate and run girl’s school, which laid the foundation for girls’secondary school education in the future. Church girl’s education in Shanghai, featured with extended grades and standardized courses, has already developed itself into the stage of real middle school education. The third period was normative stage, from 1912 to 1927, when girls’secondary education was officially approved. At that time, girls’ secondary education in Shanghai ushered in its spring. A large quantity of new schools were built and old schools were expanded in both grade and scale.With the reform of academic system and courses, this period witnessed the heyday of Chinese self-administration girl’s secondary education. The last period was the establishment stage from 1928 to 1937, when it was under the dominance of Nanking National Government, girls’secondary schools in Shanghai run by both church and fellow countrymen drew close to government regulations, featured with normalization and localization. Combined all these features of educational level, curriculum, teaching quality and management of girl’s secondary education in Shanghai during this period, I argued it was initially featured with modern school education system.The last chapter was the conclusion. Based on the above-mentioned description, I summarized the main features and limitations in the way of its development,demonstrating the paralleled development of boy’s and girl school and its inclination towards modern education system. However, highly affected by political situation and government education policies, coeducation rarely developed itself based on the development of woman itself. I also analyzed its indispensable role in the secondary education system and its positive effects on women’s liberation movement and process of equality between men and women in modern Shanghai, some historical implications are offered in the last.