传入与吸收:西方教育平等观念在中国

The Introduction and Absorption: Western Concept of Educational Equality in China

西方教育平等观念主要由传教士传入中国,维新派从中汲取养料,较系统明确地表达了近代意义上的教育平等观念。维新派认识到包括妇女在内的每一个人都要受教育,学校教育制度对于培养人才,进而促进国家富强、民族兴旺具有重要的作用。传教士所强调的教育是个人与生俱来的自然权利、教育要以个人为本位,受教育是个人生存的基本条件等,并没有被维新派所吸收。传教士自身的固有特性、文化之间的翻译转化、不同的文化传统以及当时中国的民族危机是造成传入和吸收之间差异的原因。

Western concept of education equality was mainly introduced by missionaries. The Reformists learnt from the missionaries and expressed the concept then clearly and systematically. The Reformists realized that everyone including woman should be educated; school system played a very important role in fostering talents and thus made a strong and prosperous nation. However, the Reformists didn＇t absorb some of the notions as following from the missionaries： everyone is born with the right to be educated; education is individual centered and to be educated is the basic condition for individuals to live a life. The discrepancy resulted from the inherent characteristic of missionaries, translation and transformation between different cultures, different cultural tradition and the national crisis then in China.