从合并学校到标准化学校:20世纪初美国乡镇自治与乡村教育改革

From Consolidated Schools to Standardized Schools:Town Autonomy and American Rural Education Reform in the Early 20th Century

20世纪初,为应对日益严峻的乡村教育危机,美国教育专家和州政府提出了关闭乡村单间学校、建立合并学校的改革方案。这个方案遭到乡民的质疑和抵制,原因是它与乡镇自治和乡村学校由地方社区管理的传统冲突。随后,州政府从尊重地方社区管理学校的传统、激发乡民教育改革的主动性出发,重新定位政府职能,出台标准化学校改革方案。新方案对提高乡村教育质量起到了积极作用。美国乡村教育的改革历程,展示了政府、学界与乡村社区之间的冲突与合作的复杂图景,说明了美国特殊的社会传统所塑造的制度变迁路径。

In response to the rural education crisis in the United States in the early 20th century,education experts and state governments proposed to consolidate the“one-room schools”in the rural areas.As schools were used to be governed by local community,the local farmer refused to accept this proposal.Since then the state government begun to respect the tradition of local control of rural schools and appreciate the initiative of the farmers in education reform.Afterwards,the state government proposed standardized school reform programs in which the government only played an auxiliary and stimulating role.The American rural education reform demonstrated the conflicts and cooperation among government,academia and rural communities and the unique path of educational system transformation shaped by the local control of the school.