Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 Unique but Inclusive Individuality: A Dialogue with John Dewey and Liang Shuming Toward Educational Reform in China Huajun Zhang Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION UNIQUE BUT INCLUSIVE INDIVIDUALITY: A DIALOGUE WITH JOHN DEWEY AND LIANG SHUMING TOWARD EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN CHINA By HUAJUN ZHANG A Dissert tion submitted to the Dep rtment of Educ tion l Le dership nd ,olicy Studies in p rti l fulfillment of the re-uirements for the de.ree of Doctor of ,hilosophy De.ree Aw rded: Sprin. Semester0 1003 The members of the Committee pprove the Dissert tion of Hu 5un Zh n. defended on Febru ry 140 1003. ______________________ Jeffrey Ay l Milli. n ,rofessor Directin. Dissert tion ______________________ Tom Anderson Outside Committee Member _______________________ ,eter E ston Committee Member _______________________ Shoupin. Hu Committee Member Approved: Jeffrey Ay l Milli. n0 Ch ir0 Dep rtment of Educ tion l Le dership nd ,olicy Studies The Gr du te School h s verified nd pproved the bove n med committee members. ii This dissert tion is dedic ted to my p rents iii ACKNOWLEDGEMETS The Chinese T oist schol r L o Zi once s id: 9The 5ourney of thous nd miles be.ins with one step.: My completion of this dissert tion is nevertheless n import nt step in this intellectu l 5ourney. Behind this step re c re0 support0 encour .ement0 nd love from m ny people. My .r titude first .oes to my dvisor Jeffrey Ay l Milli. n0 who demonstr tes to me the f scin tin. world of thou.ht0 who is lw ys willin. to listen to my unpolished ide s nd is p tient but sh rp enou.h to help me cl rify my ide s. It is his deep respect for different cultures nd different w ys of thinkin. th t h s encour .ed me to write philosophic l tre tise in En.lish. I lso would like to th nk my committee members Tom Anderson0 ,eter E ston0 Shoupin. Hu nd my former committee member Kin. Be ch. I th nk them for their p tience in .uidin. me throu.h the ye rs of my study nd I surely know it h s not been n e sy t sk. It is privile.e for me to h ve h d the opportunity to le rn from them. I lso th nk L ur L n.0 the director of the Le rnin. Systems Institute. Without her .enerous support0 I m y not h ve h d enou.h cour .e to be fully en. .ed in this philosophic l study. While knowin. the seed of this dissert tion w s pl nted in the history of my life0 I h ve to th nk m ny te chers nd friends who help me to cultiv te the ide s in p st ye rs. My under.r du te mentor Chen Xi olu t N n5in. University .ives me .re t de l of dvice0 .uid nce0 nd support durin. the v rious st .es of my study nd person l .rowth. Robert Cowen nd Ed Vickers t the University of London0 Ruth H yhoe t the University of Toronto0 , trice I t rol in our own dep rtment0 Ch n.yun K n. t the University of British Columbi nd Jin. Lin t the University of M ryl nd .ive me lots of encour .ement0 .ood dvice nd cheer. Their mentorship nd friendship deepen my underst ndin. of 9te chers.: Indeed0 m ny friends nd colle .ues h ve helped me lot throu.h this 5ourney0 especi lly0 the devoted dministr tive st ff N t sh Bl nkenship0 Becky Culp0 Jimmy , str no nd M ry ,eterson. Aihu 0 C rrie0 Cynthi 0 H roldo0 Jennifer0 Ji n0 Josh0 Scott0 Sh nn 0 nd Youn.woo0 mon. m ny others in my dep rtment provide me with lots of emotion l support0 intellectu l convers tion nd writin. ther py. iv Besides the intellectu l nurturin. nd friendship0 the uncondition l love I receive from my f mily is my true motif to strive for bein. .ood person0 to seek the me nin. of .oodness0 nd to develop my f ith in educ tion. My p rents never h d the ch nce to h ve hi.her educ tion. But their insi.ht0 wisdom nd p tience in life m ke them my best te chers forever. They te ch me0 with their d ily words nd beh vior (yan chuan shen jiao)0 bout how to become .ood person (zuo ren): the most import nt lesson to le rn. They demonstr te their tireless nd humble le rnin. ttitude throu.h their own lives0 in -uite different w ys thou.h. This dissert tion is dedic ted to them s si.n of my .r titude nd my polo.y for le vin. home for m ny ye rs. This work is lso fruit of my sister who tried to enli.hten my mind t very e rly .e by providin. me with .re t books nd writin. me hundreds of letters when she w s w y from home to pursue her studies. Fin lly0 I would like to th nk my husb nd0 who is lw ys there to receive my b d emotions0 to comfort me nd muse me. Without him0 I would not h ve thou.ht bout st yin. whole summer in the be utiful c mpus of Cornell University nd would not h ve discovered the work of Li n. Shumin. in the Kroch Asi Libr ry. Indeed0 this is work m de by collective efforts. Without ll the love nd c re I h ve received0 this writin. pro5ect m y never h ve existed but would inste d h ve only ro med in my mind. I cl im sole uthorship of its we knesses. v TABLE OF CONTETS Acknowled.ment AAA..AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA iv Abstr ct AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA vii 1. Individu lity in the R pidly Ch n.in. Chinese Society AAAAAAA.. 1 Introduction AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 1 9I m not here.: A person l reflection .................................................... C When I meet the world: Soci l ch n.es in postDM o Chin A. E Jumpin. into two bo ts t the s me time: Scores vs. suzhi in Chinese educ tion 14 A new conception of individu lity throu.h philosophic l di lo.ue AA 17 1. Individu lity in Comp rison: The , st nd the West .................... AAAAA C5 Individu lity in Chinese history AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA CE Individu lity in liber lism0 critic l theory nd postDstructur lism AAAAA 54 C. Educ tion l Comp rison throu.h ,hilosophic l Di lo.ue AAAAA 71 Introduction AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 71 ,hilosophic l ppro ch to educ tion l in-uiry AAAAAAAAA 74 Conclusion: Comp r tive philosophy of educ tion s possible ppro ch 84 4. A Di lo.ue with John Dewey nd Li n. Shumin. AAAAAAAAAA.. 30 Introduction AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 30 John Dewey: Experience s n .ent of selfDtr nsform tion AAAAA... 3C Li n. Shumin.: InnerDself s n .ent of selfDtr nsform tion AAAAA 108 A soci l self in DeweyIs nd Li n.Is philosophies AAAAAAAAA. 111 Conclusion AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... 1C0 5. Developin. Individu lity in Chinese Educ tion: An Aesthetic Appro ch A... 1C3 Introduction AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 1C3 A new conception of individu lity throu.h inner stru..le AAAAAA.. 140 Tellin. life stories s n esthetic ped .o.y AAAAAAAAAAAA 14C Conclusion: A propos l for esthetic educ tion in the Chinese context A... 1EC Biblio.r phy AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.. 171 Bio.r phic l Sketch ......................................................................................A 180 vi ABSTRACT This dissert tion is written in the context of the r dic lly ch n.in. Chinese society0 in which the individu l e sily .ets sep r ted from the me nin. of life nd follows the du listic soci l conventions for success. This problem is consistent with the situ tion of the present educ tion l pr ctice in schools. Educ tion does not respond studentsI disconnection from the r dic lly ch n.in. society nd thus c nnot provide me nin.ful resource for cultiv tin. individu lsI selfDidentity. Thus0 this dissert tion su..ests philosophy of educ tion which hi.hli.hts the cultiv tion of studentsI uni-ue but inclusive individu lity so th t the individu l le rns how to nurture oneIs own mind in this r dic lly ch n.in. context r ther th n .ettin. lost nd feelin. empty. This conception of individu lity is inspired by the Americ n pr .m tist John Dewey nd the Chinese Confuci n schol r Li n. Shumin.0 contempor ry of Dewey. Thou.h livin. in different cultur l tr ditions0 both of them su..est th t we need to cultiv te oneIs individu lity if we re constructin. democr tic nd free society. DeweyIs work criticiJes the trend of extreme individu lism in the context of Americ nIs r pid industri liJ tion. Li n.Is work h s different focus bec use he meets the dilemm of Chin Is moderniJ tion in which rupture between the Confuci n tr dition nd the westerniJ tion is very serious. Li n.Is concern is still live in contempor ry times bec use we do not h ve the stron.