美国大学核心课程的理念解读

Understand the Idea of American Universities Core Curriculum

美国大学核心课程是在美国大学通识教育理念指导下的一种课程理论和实践,是美国大学几百年来教育改革和发展的历史结晶。特别是哈佛大学的核心课程,已成为美国乃至世界的各个大学学习效仿的榜样。本文致力从“中介”和“平衡”的角度来理论分析美国大学核心课程的理念:作为“中介”的核心课程,它既是通识教育理念的反映,同时表现为通识教育得以实践的形式和途径,使通识教育具有了可操作性和得以实现的可能;作为“平衡器”的核心课程,它致力于维护社会发展的需要、知识的时代特征、学生的需要三方面的平衡,体现了“以人为本、立足知识、服务社会”的宗旨。

The core curriculum of American universities is a kind of theory and practice, which is based on the idea of general education in American universities. The core curriculum comes into being during the process of educational reforms and development in American universities. Harvard University sets a good example for other universities not only in America but also in some other countries because of its core curriculum. The paper expounds the essence of core curriculum of American universities, and proves the theory of core curriculum through the perspective of 'intermediary' and 'balance'. As 'intermediary', the core curriculum is the form and way of practice of general education, reflecting general education idea. The idea of general education becomes realistic because of core curriculum. As a 'balance', the core curriculum aims at keeping the balance of the following three aspects: the requirement of social development, the characteristics of knowledge, and the need of students, which gives expression to the purpose of“ stress on humanism, basing on knowledge, serving society”.