A Study On The Vicissitude Of Educational Practice Of Baldwin School For Girls In Nanchang From 1902 To 1952

In the course of Baldwin School for Girls' 50 years of existence,the school's educational practice has been reformed continuously,and mainly since 1925,the most various changes and reforms have occurred.This thesis intends to have a systematic review of the vicissitude of Baldwin School for Girls' educational practice,and further to study the causes for the vicissitude of the school's educational practice.This thesis adopts the research methods of empirical approach of historical materials,interdisciplinary comprehensive research method,and case study.This thesis analyzes the archival documents of Baldwin School for Girls on one hand,and combines the research of history,religion,and social culture on the other hand by fully discovering first-hand documents related to Baldwin School for Girls.Besides,this thesis takes the Baldwin School for Girls as a case of missionary schools for studying and researching,which is helpful for better understanding the vicissitude of missionary school's educational practice.This study finds that the changes and reforms of Baldwin School for Girls' educational practice can be concluded as the transformation of Christianized educational practice into secular educational practice and the sinicization of school nature.The conflicts in concept and reality are the main causes for the vicissitude of Baldwin School for Girls' educational practice: in concept,the conflicts between Christianity and Confucianism,as well as materialism caused a significant impact on missionary activities;in reality,the continuous development of China's society and education,the establishment of new governments and the recovery of educational sovereignty caused the Baldwin School for Girls' reform in educational practice directly.The vicissitude of Baldwin School for Girls' educational practice created a positive impact.On one hand,the school had cultivated a lot of secular talents by conducting secular education of its students.And on the other hand,the Baldwin School for Girls had made its contributions to China's modernization by doing patriotic training.The study on the vicissitude of Baldwin School for Girls' educational practice helps us fill up the gap in the school's early history,and draw inspiration from the Baldwin School for Girls for today's educational practice.For example,we can provide suitable courses for girls based on their gender characteristics,and also meet the practical needs of the society and time.