英文摘要 |
Under the impact of the introduction to and influence of Western culture for years, our society has been surrounded by a unique atmosphere: moral standards are muddled and people have limited ability to distinguish right from wrong. Apparently, the confused society and education system result from the shaky stance taken between our culture and the western one. Pursuing moral and spiritual values has been highly-valued in our culture. Ever since western culture was introduced in the late Qing Dynasty, cultural harmonization has been the main approach to deal with the two different cultural systems. However, the overriding importance of individuality has caused conflicts in our moral system. The ideological value a nation pursues is the foundation of its cultural development as well as the factor shaping the society. Such a system reflects the basis and the binding force that a society is built on. When the model is reshaped by foreign cultural values, it could cause confusions in values and judgments or even social disruption and cultural collapse in the receiving society, as most people may misinterpret the original value system and consequently deny or abandon such a system. It may seem rather easy to abandon one’s own cultural values. However, complete conversion to foreign culture values can hardly be possible. In terms of long-term development of the nation, should we be cut off the most fundamental values to our society? This is the question that should be addressed when speaking of character education, moral education, and life education. Based on studies focusing on the idea and values of Chinese and Western culture, this paper aims to explore and analyze future directions for character education in our country. Furthermore, this paper also serves the goal to clarify and distinguish the elements and factors to be included in the curriculum of character education and their implementation. A cross analysis is also conducted in the present research to investigate the influences of traditional Chinese cultures and Western thoughts in character education. Such an investigation may demonstrate the necessity, potentiality and future directions to character education. |