Notes:American Education Reform: History, Policy, Practice
新年第一课,从coursera开始。宾大的两位教授都很可爱,讲课时眼神十分活泼。绪论部分就顺便打了个软广,预告了课程后半,会细讲宾大创始人在美国教育史上的开创性(教授此刻便露出“这是申请季,所以你懂的”式微笑)。想到自己等结果也是等得焦躁,不如开始学些相关的history/education policy,以后读了研在seminar上还能有料可谈,所以就愉快地看了下去。
在从殖民时期的教育史说开之前,先给这门课对“教育”的探讨奠个基——“we need first to view education, quote, not only as a formal pedagogy, but as the entire process by which a culture transmits itself across the generations.”
___________以下是听课时的零散笔记,两个module后再接着整理_________
16世纪的文化恣肆蔓延,良莠不齐的作品流入市场。“Indeed, one 16th century writer, Thomas Nash, even complained that, quote, every gross brained idiot is suffered to come into print.”
家庭并不是生来就成为道德教化的场所的。新的美洲大陆上,学校和教会教育系统尚未形成,而以家庭为单位(多是以家中年长女性)的初级教育又常常因迁徙和离乱缺少必要的稳定性。勿论宗教与信仰面临危机,对年轻一代基本的道德教化都极为缺乏,“父不父,子不子”,成为最为棘手的问题。To face this moral threat, colonists, including through laws, increasingly turned to schools to complement an already increased burden that families felt in educating youth, especially for proper moral upbringing. 所以校园才形成了现在的规模。School, education, was now, per Bailyn, an instrument of deliberate group action, preserving or advancing group identities, norms and values.
惊人的发现:17世纪中期到18世纪的新大陆literacy比例高至90%,英国本土的非文盲比例67%则相形见绌。当时人们对读写技能的需求,主要是来自宗教层面“人人都须能够阅读并解释圣经的要求,而且,“Literacy, at least the ability to read passages in the Bible, was essential to membership in the colony.” 可见用阅读敬奉圣经,用圣经联接整个群体,是当时发展阅读的初衷。另一个需求的来源,则有关法律。“A related spur to literacy was the expectation that colonists would understand the laws of the colony.” 1642年麻省已颁布法律,要求父母对子女进行读写技能的培养,以使他们能解释并研读圣经。同时,家,农牧场,商铺都成为了儿童习得实际技能的场所,比如农场管理、手工活儿、甚至商贸往来等等层面。
看到这里我忽然意识到,为什么相较之下,中国社会即便是中上阶层的家庭,对职业学校和实用专业总有偏见。如果家中子女能上大学,即使是二三本,则是万万不肯在还有出路的情况下送子女去技校的。我们从国家发展之初,不仅是被“学而优则仕”绑架,更多的是缺乏工业生产的传统。农耕时代,一户一织,小农经营,没有大农场作业、机械化生产的需要,哪里需要像17世纪美国时培养的那种人才呢?加之美国地广人稀,有牧场等天然条件,又哪里会需要一个“手无缚鸡之力,只读圣贤书”的男丁呢?现代社会的歧视与怪现象,是蔓延自多么久远的时代呀。
说回到development of literacy这个话题。慢慢出现了dame school,家庭主妇收取一小部分费用来教授读写课。
在从殖民时期的教育史说开之前,先给这门课对“教育”的探讨奠个基——“we need first to view education, quote, not only as a formal pedagogy, but as the entire process by which a culture transmits itself across the generations.”
___________以下是听课时的零散笔记,两个module后再接着整理_________
16世纪的文化恣肆蔓延,良莠不齐的作品流入市场。“Indeed, one 16th century writer, Thomas Nash, even complained that, quote, every gross brained idiot is suffered to come into print.”
家庭并不是生来就成为道德教化的场所的。新的美洲大陆上,学校和教会教育系统尚未形成,而以家庭为单位(多是以家中年长女性)的初级教育又常常因迁徙和离乱缺少必要的稳定性。勿论宗教与信仰面临危机,对年轻一代基本的道德教化都极为缺乏,“父不父,子不子”,成为最为棘手的问题。To face this moral threat, colonists, including through laws, increasingly turned to schools to complement an already increased burden that families felt in educating youth, especially for proper moral upbringing. 所以校园才形成了现在的规模。School, education, was now, per Bailyn, an instrument of deliberate group action, preserving or advancing group identities, norms and values.
惊人的发现:17世纪中期到18世纪的新大陆literacy比例高至90%,英国本土的非文盲比例67%则相形见绌。当时人们对读写技能的需求,主要是来自宗教层面“人人都须能够阅读并解释圣经的要求,而且,“Literacy, at least the ability to read passages in the Bible, was essential to membership in the colony.” 可见用阅读敬奉圣经,用圣经联接整个群体,是当时发展阅读的初衷。另一个需求的来源,则有关法律。“A related spur to literacy was the expectation that colonists would understand the laws of the colony.” 1642年麻省已颁布法律,要求父母对子女进行读写技能的培养,以使他们能解释并研读圣经。同时,家,农牧场,商铺都成为了儿童习得实际技能的场所,比如农场管理、手工活儿、甚至商贸往来等等层面。
看到这里我忽然意识到,为什么相较之下,中国社会即便是中上阶层的家庭,对职业学校和实用专业总有偏见。如果家中子女能上大学,即使是二三本,则是万万不肯在还有出路的情况下送子女去技校的。我们从国家发展之初,不仅是被“学而优则仕”绑架,更多的是缺乏工业生产的传统。农耕时代,一户一织,小农经营,没有大农场作业、机械化生产的需要,哪里需要像17世纪美国时培养的那种人才呢?加之美国地广人稀,有牧场等天然条件,又哪里会需要一个“手无缚鸡之力,只读圣贤书”的男丁呢?现代社会的歧视与怪现象,是蔓延自多么久远的时代呀。
说回到development of literacy这个话题。慢慢出现了dame school,家庭主妇收取一小部分费用来教授读写课。
还没人赞这篇日记