杜威的“儿童中心论”:本真意义与现实品格

On the"Child-centered Theory"of Dewey:Its Original Meaning and Realistic Character

杜威的教育思想“儿童中心论”,其中不少问题并非不证自明、广为人知。有些问题不时引发人们的论争,很有必要加以辨析,以消除不必要的误读、误判。由于关涉的要素众多,“儿童中心论”具有鲜明的“家族相似性”。国内外有关杜威是不是儿童中心论者的论争,其根源在于如何看待杜威与当时美国进步教育的关系。杜威认为,人的心智生发于人与自然、人与人的相互作用并在这一过程中得到成长、成熟。对于进步教育,杜威既严厉地批判它因忽视“社会生活”“学科逻辑”而使得心智发展形式化、空洞化、浅表化,又在自身的理论与实践上广泛认同进步教育对儿童“本能”“活动”“经验”“自主”的尊重。正是对进步教育的这一辩证立场,构成了杜威“儿童中心论”的生长性、社会性、探究性等现实品格。从杜威的“儿童中心论”本真意义来看,与它相对的应是“静听中心”“训练中心”“个人中心”等,而不是人们通常所认为的“教师中心”“教材(题材)中心”“课堂中心”。

Many of the problems in Dewey's"Child-centered Theory"are not self-evident or well-known.Therefore,some controversial issues should be distinguished and analyzed in order to eliminate unnecessary misreading and misjudgment,especially a variety of misuses in educational practice.Due to the numerous factors involved,the"Child-centered Theory"has a distinct"family resemblance".At home and abroad,the dispute about whether Dewey is a child-centered theorist is rooted in how to view the relationship between Dewey and the progressive education in the United States at that time.Dewey believed that the human mind originates from the interaction between man and nature and between man and man,and grows and matures in this process.For progressive education,Dewey not only severely criticized it for neglecting"social life"and"disciplinary logic",which made the mental development formalized,empty and superficial,but also recognized the respect of progressive education for children's"instinct","activity","experience"and"autonomy"in his own theory and practice.This dialectical stand on progressive education constitutes Dewey's"Child-centered theory"in its development,sociality and practicality with the corresponding focuses on"listening center","training center"and"individual center",rather than the"teacher center","text(subject)center"and"classroom center".