爱德华·胡美在早期中美合作办学中的贡献及影响

Edward H. Hume's contribution to early Sino-American collaboratively-run schools and his influences

胡美带着建立医科大学的梦想,接受雅礼会委派来到中国。他参与筹建和管理的湘雅医学专门学校是第一所由中美合作创办的高等医学教育机构。由于必须照顾到中美双方的意愿,这所学校有着不同于当时一般教会学校和中国自办教育机构的办学特点。这所合办学校在医学教育与学生人格培养方面所取得的成绩,事实上也影响了胡美的办学理念,使他在出任雅礼协会总干事时,试图在一定程度上借鉴湘雅模式,对雅礼协会的自办教育事业进行改革,以适应当时中国民族主义高涨的形势。他的设想包括由中国基督徒控制雅礼以消除其属于外国机构的标签,在雅礼取消强制性的宗教课程与宗教仪式,加强雅礼与中国本土文化及中国社会的融合等。胡美与他的雅礼同事都强调维持雅礼对宗教信仰的重视,但由于对民族主义影响下中国人收回教育权运动的时代潮流认识不同,在如何达成这一目标上,他们无法取得一致。由于分歧太大,胡美对雅礼的改革建议没有被雅礼董事会接受,雅礼协会也失去了继续掌握主动的最后机会,其在华教育事业不久即被迫中断。

With the dream of establishing a medical university in mind,Hume was assigned to China by Yale.The Hsiang-ya medical college,whose preparation and management Hume was involved in,was the first higher medical education institution that was established through Sino-American collaboration.Because of the necessity to take into consideration the intentions of both sides,the college was endowed with educational characteristics different from those of average Chinese colleges and missionary schools at that time.What the college achieved in medical education and in cultivation of students'personality also exerted great influence on Hume's ideals in school-running so that when he served as the president of Yale in China,he attempted to reform the academic education of Yale's private institutions by borrowing Hsiang-ya's model so as to be adapted to the rising Chinese nationalism.His ideals included letting Christian Chinese control Yali to eliminate the label of foreign institution on Yali,canceling compulsory religious courses and religious rituals,combining itself with Chinese native culture so as to be integrated into Chinese society,and the like.Both Hume and his colleagues stressed the importance of maintaining Yale-in-China's emphasis on religious beliefs,but due to different understandings of the trend of restoring educational rights in China,they could not reach an agreement on how to achieve this goal.As a result,Hume's reforming proposal could not be accepted by the Board of managers,and Yale-in-China lost the last opportunity of taking the initiative so that Yale-in-China's educational enterprise was cut short soon.