Analysis of Westernization New Education and Its Influence on China Education

We make an objective evaluation of its role and influence in modern society.

First of all, it began to break the centralization of feudal ideology and culture centered on Confucianism in China's education, and introduced western learning into educational content to cultivate new talents needed by social development. In the long feudal society of China, Confucianism has always occupied the dominant position in the ideological field. It adapted to and maintained the economic base and superstructure of feudal society. Although the Opium War and its subsequent series of failures proved the backwardness, hypocrisy, decay and incompetence of China's traditional education time and again, the die-hards still refused to make any changes driven by vested interests and stale ideology. During the Westernization Movement, western learning appeared for the first time in traditional education, showing the juxtaposition of middle school and western learning, which was ideally summarized by some later thinkers as "taking middle school as the body and using western learning". In fact, on the premise of respecting feudal political theory and ethics, it is allowed to introduce and spread foreign languages, natural sciences, technologies, military theories and strategies, as well as practical science and technology such as world knowledge and public international law. The introduction of these fresh knowledge has adapted to the changes in our country, especially to the rise of enterprises such as industry, transportation, communication and mining and the needs of national defense modernization. The practical role of western learning is gradually expanding, and more and more people attach importance to it, which gradually poses a threat to arrogant middle schools and begins to impact. As the teaching content of the above-mentioned new schools shows, although middle schools and western learning coexist in these schools, with special emphasis on the supremacy of middle schools, in fact, western learning has surpassed or even surpassed middle schools in teaching content and teaching schedule. It shows that the role of western learning is expanding day by day and its status is gradually improving; The role of middle school is shrinking day by day, and its status is gradually declining, showing a helpless decline. This has undoubtedly played a positive role in changing the old educational content, changing the knowledge structure of China intellectuals and cultivating new talents needed to adapt to social progress.

Secondly, it impacted the stale imperial examination system and provided a premise for the reform of the education system. The new education in the Westernization period first broke the situation of reading only Confucian sage books, and guided students to spend more energy and time facing nature, learning natural science and mastering the ability to ask for wealth from nature while facing the society. This is undoubtedly a revolutionary update to the outdated knowledge structure. In the way of education, the new education is different from the imperial examination system which only pays attention to written examination. It not only teaches systematic scientific knowledge in schools, but also emphasizes the role of practice in education, so that students have both theoretical knowledge and practical ability. In addition, the purpose of the new education is no longer simply to select officials for the feudal government like the imperial examination system, but to cultivate practical talents in various fields for the society. These changes brought by the new education are in sharp contrast with the old imperial examination, and with the development of modern society, they are increasingly showing vigorous vitality and vitality, thus forming a strong impact on the imperial examination system. Although at that time, the new education could only be a vassal of the imperial examination, and the old regime and old consciousness still tried their best to hinder its development, it undoubtedly became the basis for replacing the imperial examination system in the future.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the new education has promoted social progress and the renewal of ideas. The new education has trained the first batch of professionals in foreign languages, diplomacy, military affairs, science and technology, and met the urgent needs of modern diplomacy, foreign trade and personnel dispatched by foreign institutions. Adapted to the rise of many new things such as modern industry, transportation and communication; It also laid the foundation for modern national defense construction, especially the establishment of the navy. These talents are playing an increasingly important role in the above fields. It has become the backbone of gradually getting rid of the control of western powers, preventing being cheated and promoting China's modernization. More importantly, the new education has cultivated the seeds of spreading science and culture for our country. Students and foreign students in the new school can use their foreign language and scientific knowledge to broaden their horizons and actively draw nutrition from the world knowledge treasure house; Distinguishing the advantages and disadvantages among many theories has played a pioneer and bridge role in many aspects for China to better understand the world and spread scientific culture and advanced ideas. The new education has also changed people's ideas and social atmosphere to a great extent. Western learning, to be exact, is mainly science and technology introduced from the west, and people pay more and more attention to it; Its practical value is more and more affirmed by people, thus promoting the transformation of social values. The imperial examination system takes reading as a stepping stone to be an official, while the new education cultivates students' ability to achieve their careers after reading. For the first time, the concept of being an official by reading was greatly impacted. Among some intellectuals, new world outlook and social thoughts have also begun to spread. All these indisputably show the important role of new education in promoting China's modernization.

Undeniably, there are many imperfections in the educational content and teaching methods of the new education in the Westernization period. There are not many kinds of schools, and the teaching content has always been shrouded in the atmosphere of "middle school as the body", and it has never got rid of the position of the imperial examination. However, it took the lead in opening the gap in the feudal educational fortress that lasted for thousands of years, blowing in new winds and planting the seeds of new learning. This alone deserves our great attention and full affirmation.