试析卡内基基金会的高中汉语教学项目(1961—1974)

The High School Chinese Language Teaching Project Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York(1961—1974)

1958年的《国防教育法》是美国联邦政府颁布的第一部对教育进行干预的法案,它也反映出美国首次把汉语教育提升到了国家安全的战略高度。在冷战思维的推动下,卡内基基金会为了维护美国的国家安全和世界霸主地位,积极参与《国防教育法》的实施,在全国范围内资助开展高中汉语教学项目。高中汉语教学项目展示了卡内基基金会利用资本调动教育资源服务国家安全的目标。高中汉语教学项目虽然未能达到卡内基基金会将汉语转变为主流外语的预期目标,却扩大了《国防教育法》的成果,弥补了美国汉语教学的不足,为培养汉语人才和中国学专家奠定了基础。高中汉语教学项目表明卡内基基金会并非自我标榜的非政府组织,而是积极参与冷战、服务美国国家安全利益的机构,显示出美国社会力量参与国家政治的隐蔽性。

The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was the first legislation promulgated by the U.S.federal government to intervene in education,and it was also the first time that the U.S.raised the Chinese language to a strategic level of national security.Driven by the Cold War,in order to maintain the U.S.national security and its dominant position,the Carnegie Corporation of New York actively participated in the implementation of The National Defense Education Act and funded the Chinese Language Teaching Projects in High Schools nation-wide.The Chinese Teaching Project demonstrated the goal of the Carnegie Corporation of New York to use its own economic advantage to mobilize educational resources to serve the national security.Although the Project failed to meet its expectations to make Chinese a mainstream foreign language,it enhanced the Chinese teaching in the U.S.,and laid a language foundation for training Chinese talents and China experts.The Project showed that the Carnegie Corporation of New York was not a self-claimed non-governmental organization,but one that actively took part in the Cold War to serve the national security interests.It revealed the presence of American social forces in national politics.