辞职的教育总长——论政治与教育激荡中的傅增湘

Resignation of the Minister of Education: Fu Zengxiang in the Political and Educational Turbulence

五四运动爆发后,教育总长傅增湘于5月5日、8日先后请辞,因未得允准仍主持部务。他一方面秉承政府旨意要求各校严尽管理之责、学生务当照常上课;另一方面协助各校校长积极保释被捕学生、挽留离京之蔡元培,实际上成为政府与学界沟通的纽带。11日,他离部"失踪",直到15日得到批令真正辞职。窥其原因,进步性的报纸多渲染其同情学界却无力应对的形象,借傅氏来宣传爱国运动、揭露政府腐败。傅之自述固如其言希图维护教育尊严却调停无术,退而远引。但究其根本原因,傅氏希望教育不被政潮推激,然而五四新文化运动期间,欲和协新旧、渐进发展的傅氏实则进退两难,无法按其教育理念施政。观其辞职余续,后继者袁希涛因与傅增湘、蔡元培、江苏省教育会的密切关系得到学界认可,却不被政界承认,引发教育总次长的权力争夺,进而在学界造成"挽蔡"与"挽傅"运动的合流,客观上推动了五四运动深入发展。

After the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, Fu Zengxiang, then minister of education, proposed twice to resign on May 5th and 8th, but didn’t get permission. On one hand, he acted under government instruction to demand that all schools should implement strict management to take students back to class. On the other hand, he actively assisted the principals to bail the arrested students and kept persuading principals like Cai Yuanpei to stay in service. In this perspective, he became the middleman between the government and the academia. Surprisingly, he disappeared on the 11th, and resigned on the 15th. The reason for his resignation was is worth studying in depth. Progressive newspapers portrayed his image that he sympathized with those who participated in the Movement but was unable to satisfy their requirements, in the interest of advocating the patriotic movement and exposing the corruption of government. His self-statement suggests that he stuck to the principle of balancing the new and old and implementing education reform peacefully. After his resignation, the successor Yuan Xitao was recognized by the academic circles but not by the political circles, which led to the power struggle for the minister post. Activists started the campaigns to retain Fu Zengxiang and Cai Yuanpei, which objectively promoted the development of the May Fourth Movement.