21世紀大學理念的激盪與通識教育的展望

The Confluence of Ideas on the University and Prospects of General Education in the 21st Century

本文分析「傳統」與「現代」這兩種教育思想在最近20 年來在美國、日本、臺灣高等教育界的爭衡，及其影響下的大學通識教育之現狀與未來展望。本文第2 節首先指出：傳統的教育觀之基礎是教育的「非工具論」（noninstrumentalism），強調「全人教育」，力求人文、社會、自然科學的均衡發展，重視共同與通識教育。現代的教育觀的哲學基礎是教育的「工具論」（instrumentalism），重視「工具性技能」的學習，要求教育與研究的「商品化」，較不重視通識教育。這股現代的教育潮流起於美國，影響波及日本與臺灣。本文第3 節檢討在兩種教育理念激盪下，21 世紀日本、美國與臺灣的頂尖大學通識教育的現狀，發現美國與日本的頂尖大學學生畢業總學分中，通識與共同教育的學分都佔1/3 以上。本文也回顧臺灣大學2014 年起傾向現代教育觀的通識教育變革。本文第4 節扣緊當前臺灣高等教育界通識教育的現狀，主張「通識教育是提昇學生生命的教育」，使學生「窮智見德」並「攝智歸仁」，致力於學生畢業後長程競爭力的培育。本文結論認為：通識教育以「人」為本，應致力於「心靈覺醒的學習」，在21 世紀高新科技突飛猛進的新時代中，必將發揮極為重要的作用。

This article reviews the conflicts and confluence of traditional and modern views of higher education in the US, Japan, and Taiwan in the past two decades, with special attention on its impact on the development of general education at the university level. We point out in section two that the traditional view of education is based upon noninstrumentalism. It emphasizes a “holistic education” which calls for balance among the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences and assigns great importance on core curricular and general education. On the contrary, the modern view of education stems from instrumentalism. It calls for the acquisition of “technical skills,” demands the “commercialization” of education and research, and holds general education in lower regard. This trend towards instrumentalism originated from the US and has since spread to Japan and Taiwan. In section three, we review how general education is implemented in top universities in the US, Japan, and Taiwan in the 21st century under these competing views. We discovered that core curricular and general education credits amount to over 1/3 of the total credits for graduation in all top universities in the US and Japan. This is not the case in Taiwan. Therefore, we also account for how the modern view has dominated higher education and revolutionized general education in Taiwan since 2014. Finally, we argue for the benefits of implementing general education in section four. We believe that general education could improve the lives and competences of students. It teaches students to “intellect is subordinate to morality” and “look beyond intellectual pursuits to seek morality.” We conclude by calling for a “people-oriented” general education which stresses “mindful learning,” arguing that it would play an important role in our technology-driven era.