A Study On The Thought And Practice Of Popular Education Of Gan Yuyuan

The idea of popular education in modern China emerged in the 1920 s and developed rapidly in the 1930 s,and is one of the most influential trends in the history of Chinese educational thought.The popular education ideology absorbed advanced educational ideas at home and abroad,took the essence of them and combined them with the actual situation in China,and put forward educational ideas such as making education available to all people,making basic education available to the uneducated and continuing education available to the educated,and at the same time promoting the function of self-government,and forming an open educational ideology system.In the process of the vigorous development of popular education thought,a large number of popular educators emerged,and Gan Yuyuan was one of them.After graduating from university,Gan Yu Yuan(1903-1999),character Guobo,worked in the experimental area of popular education under the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Education,and engaged in the practice and research of popular education with Yu Qingtang,Gao Jiansi,Chen Lijiang and other popular educators.For example,they set up the Huangxiang Experimental Zone to conduct experimental work on popular education,formed a professional group to study and promote social education,organized with Yu Qingtang,Dai Gongliang and others to establish a special course on film and broadcasting to promote the development of electrification education in China,and participated in the preparation of the National Institute of Social Education,etc.They had rich experience in educational activities.At that time,Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Education gathered many famous educators such as Yu Qingtang,Gao Yang,Chen Lijiang,Fu Baochen,Lei Peihong,Xu Gongjian,Xu Xiling,etc.Most of them had studied in Europe and America and brought advanced education theories from abroad,and Gan Yuyuan gradually formed his unique idea of popular education through continuous interaction with other educators.In his view,the content of popular education should be based on life activities,so his popular education included seven items,including health education,family education,livelihood education,speech and writing education,political education,social communication education,and leisure education,which covered the whole life activities,and in order to achieve the educational goals,he also formulated detailed implementation projects according to the seven educational goals.In addition,Gan Yuyuan also wrote a number of papers on the theory of popular education,and the idea of popular education is the essence of his educational thought.Gan Yuyuan’s popular education system is both theoretical and practical.In addition to his research on theoretical aspects of popular education,Gan Yuyuan also paid much attention to the practice of popular education work.Gan Yuyuan,together with Yu Qingtang,Zhao Bu Xia,Qin Liu Fang and others,conducted educational experiments in Huangxiang,and during his work in the Huangxiang experimental zone,he carried out experimental work on popular education with political education as the center.He organized the Huangxiang Credit Cooperative,formed the Village Improvement Association,and organized the popular school in the Huangxiang Experimental Zone,which he presided over.At the end of the three-year experimental period,he achieved considerable results and wrote a relevant article summarizing the work of the Huangxiang educational experiment.Some features of Gan Yu Yuan’s popular education thought and practice,such as introducing scientific methods into education,advocating the socialization of popular schools,paying attention to the actual needs of the people and developing their livelihoods,and making good use of organizational power to focus on the cultivation of group consciousness,have not only promoted the renewal of educational philosophy and enriched the theoretical system of popular education,but also have positive significance in promoting the scientific development of education and the popularization of education for all.The experimental work of popular education undertaken by Gan Yuyuan provides a practical reference for running schools nowadays and has certain practical significance.