对清末教科书审定制的历史考察

A Historical Investigation into the Late-Qing Textbook Review & Approval System

清末形成的教科书审定制在我国教科书发展史上具有重要意义,它使教科书多样化有了较强的制度保障,为教科书的发展提供了生长的空间和规范的尺度。尽管清学部自己编撰了国定本教科书,但一则主观上没有一意孤行地以政治与权势强行让自己的课本占领课堂,更没有以行政命令的形式否定民间教科书的存在空间,二则客观上晚清政府也没有能力强势管控教科书市场。这一事实开了限定国定教科书权力空间的先河,明确了国定本不是唯一本的思路,为后来的教科书使用树立了典范。

The textbook review and approval system which came into being in the late Qing dynasty is of great significance in Chinese history of textbooks. It provided a strong institutional guarantee for the diversification of textbooks,allowed further improvement of textbooks,and set rules for well-regulated development of textbooks. Although the Faculty of Education in the Qing dynasty compiled national textbooks,the government did not doggedly enforce the use of these textbooks with its political power,or issue any administrative order to deny the existential space of privately-prepared textbooks. In addition,objectively,the late Qing government was incapable of forcefully managing and controlling the textbooks market. This fact started the history that the government only has limited power to decide which textbooks should be used,and made it clear that government-set textbooks are not the only choice for schools,setting a good example for later use of textbooks.