The Development History of Traditional Academic Highlands

China is one of the countries with the longest history in the world, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It was once the most developed country in education in the world. However, the modern higher education in China has only a history of more than a century, which is far behind the advanced level in the world. Modern higher education in China is a typical "late-comer exogenous type". The modernization of this kind of education does not directly come from the internal demand of traditional education, but is forcibly generated under the oppression of external forces. China's higher education originated from the "university system" in modern western countries. With the introduction of western university system at the end of 19 and the beginning of social modernization in China, China's higher education has started its own long and tortuous journey of modernization since its birth. Modernization is a multi-level concept, so is the modernization of higher education. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Republic of China, through the efforts of generations of scholars and politicians, China's higher education basically completed its modernization at the "content level" and "system level", but its modernization at the "concept level" received relatively little attention, let alone a special and systematic discussion. In fact, as the "soul level" in the development of universities, the realization of its modernization is particularly important for the development of universities. The reasons are as follows: firstly, as far as academic theory is concerned, whether the modernization of a country's higher education concept is completed marks whether the modernization of the whole country's higher education is finally completed; Secondly, as far as the practice of university development is concerned, the modernization of ideas is an insurmountable stage in university development. The fact of the development of universities in various countries has proved that only by thoroughly modernizing the contents, systems and ideas can universities achieve fundamental development. To realize the dream of prosperity, China must take the road with China characteristics; If China's higher education wants to reach the first-class level in the world, it must also take the road of education with China characteristics. This requires higher education to handle the relationship between tradition and transplantation, so that the modernization of transplantation is rooted in China's profound cultural tradition. This process will be extremely complicated and long.

First, the nature of the modernization of higher education

Talking about the modernization of China's higher education idea today has both historical and practical significance. Historically, the modernization of higher education in China only marks the final completion of the modernization of higher education in China. Practically speaking, the modernization of China's higher education idea is the fundamental way to realize the great development of China's higher education. Because the higher education system currently adopted in China is a western "university", but its concept is not western university autonomy and academic freedom, the further development of China University is naturally limited. Borrowing from the two categories of "body" and "use" in culture, we can say that the fundamental dilemma of China's higher education development lies in the incompatibility between body and use, and the way out for reform lies in realizing the uniqueness of body and use in China's higher education development through the modernization of ideas.

"Modernization" is a relatively fixed concept in the original meaning of western languages and has a specific time limit, so there will be "pre-modernity" and "post-modernity" in western texts. However, in the context of China, due to the emphasis on "innovation, innovation and re-innovation" in China's traditional culture, modernization is only a relative concept in the usual sense. On the macro level of social development, it can generally refer to the transition of society from a low-level form to another qualitatively different social form. In this sense, human society has completed a modernization, that is, the transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and is moving towards another modernization, that is, the transformation from an industrial society to an information society. Starting from this definition, higher education in the world has also undergone two modernizations, namely, the transformation from medieval universities to modern universities and the transformation from modern universities to modern universities.

Higher education in China is the product of social modernization in China. It was born in the late Qing Dynasty when the social structure of China changed dramatically, and developed rapidly after the Republic of China. It can be said that the direct origin of higher education in China is the western "university system", rather than the traditional academies and imperial examinations in China. In this context, the "modernization" of China's higher education will be carried out at two levels: time and space. First, the modernization of China's higher education is an inseparable part of China's social modernization; Secondly, China's modern higher education is a departure from the traditional higher education and an inheritance and development of the western modern university system. In order to make this foreign university system develop well in China, modernization is an inevitable process. Thirdly, the shadow of China's traditional higher education has always existed in the whole process of China's higher education development. Only through modernization can a relatively "pure" form of higher education be established in China. Since the late Qing Dynasty, modern higher education in China has gone through a hundred years. In this extraordinary century, compared with the whole process of higher education modernization in the world, China's higher education modernization has the characteristics of high starting point, late start and tortuous process. It is said that its starting point is high because China's higher education has not experienced the transition from medieval universities to modern universities, but is directly based on modern universities. It is said that it started late because when China introduced western modern universities, western countries had already completed the transformation from modern universities to modern universities to a large extent; The reason why the process is tortuous is that the modernization of higher education in China was completed in the period of extreme social turmoil in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

Second, the comparison of the evolution of modern higher education between China and foreign countries.

The modernization of higher education in China is a typical "late-comer exogenous type", which started late and was induced by external factors. Therefore, the continuous change of development mode caused by the reference, imitation and integration of western higher education has become a remarkable feature of China's higher education modernization.

1. Gradual change and mutation in the development of modern higher education

From a global perspective, the development model of modern higher education can be roughly divided into two types: gradual and sudden. Generally speaking, the development of modern higher education in European and American countries (except France) is basically gradual, with almost no obvious "leap". This "leap" can be clearly seen in the development of modern higher education in China, Russian and Japanese. In this sense, gradual change is the basic mode of the development of modern higher education in developed countries, and sudden change is the main feature of the evolution of modern higher education in post-developed countries.

The development of modern higher education (especially modern university education) in European and American countries is based on medieval universities. Although there are significant differences between modern university education and all higher education and medieval universities in some basic aspects, modern university education was not formed and developed on the basis of destroying medieval universities. In fact, in the course of hundreds of years of development, a series of systems of medieval universities have not been abandoned, but continue to play an important role in modern universities and even the whole higher education. For example, the college system and degree system of medieval universities have become an important part of the modern university education system. Moreover, some elite elements of medieval universities have not been abandoned with the changes of the times, but continue to carry forward as important spiritual wealth of modern universities. For example, the autonomy of medieval universities and academic freedom and equality within universities. In a word, the development process of modern higher education in Europe and America can be said to be a process of constant reform, renewal and transformation in medieval universities to some extent. Modern higher education in Europe and America should be regarded as a medieval university or a logical product of western higher education tradition. Of course, this does not mean that modern higher education in Europe and America is only a natural continuation of tradition, nor does it mean that the development process of modern higher education in Europe and America is only a simple quantitative change process.

Obviously different from European and American countries, the post-developed countries, such as China, Russian and Japanese, have mainly adopted the radical development mode in the development of modern higher education. One of the important reasons why these countries have reached the basic goal of modern higher education development faster than developed countries is that they have adopted a sudden development model. The so-called mutation model of post-developed countries mainly includes two meanings. First, modern university education and even the whole higher education are not the result of the natural development of traditional higher education in these countries. Higher education institutions and higher education systems established in these countries since modern times are not the product of the evolution of local culture and education. In these countries, there are significant differences between traditional forms of higher education and modern models. In other words, there are obvious faults in the development history of higher education in China, and there are obvious boundaries between the ancient and modern history of higher education. This boundary not only blocks the extension of ancient higher education to modern times, but also restricts modern higher education from accepting the traditional heritage from ancient times. Secondly, the modern higher education in China and other underdeveloped countries, whether it is the basic system or the specific methods, is mostly the result of transplantation, so it seems that it was established overnight, and there is no natural development process. The higher education system formed in Europe and America after hundreds or even hundreds of years of development has become a "newborn" in underdeveloped countries.

Judging from the development of modern higher education in China, this mutation is extremely obvious. As early as the pre-Qin period, China had higher education institutions. After thousands of years of evolution, before the Opium War, China's traditional higher education was fully developed. However, the development of modern higher education in China is basically not directly related to traditional higher education. No matter the Westernization School or the University Hall, it has nothing to do with the original institutions of higher education such as imperial academy, imperial academy and academies. Modern higher education institutions in China are mainly the products of learning from and drawing lessons from western higher education. Because of this, the development history of higher education in China seems to have been interrupted in early modern times, and this historical process, marked by Shi Jing Wentong Museum and Shi Jing University Hall, seems to have suddenly changed its original direction and extended forward at an unusual speed.

Both gradual mode and abrupt mode are universal and even inevitable development modes in the history of modern higher education. They came into being in different countries and regions, at different stages of social development, and played their due roles. Therefore, never judge the value of these two models, it is difficult to distinguish them. It should be said that these two models are the inevitable reflection of different social development models in the development of higher education. It is impossible to ask the later developed countries to take the road that the first developed countries used for hundreds of years, and it is hard to imagine that the first developed countries can explore at the same speed as the later developed countries. Different modes of higher education development are not entirely the result of human choice, but the product of the comprehensive effects of international political environment, domestic political situation and the resulting national development strategy.

2. Internal and external sources of the evolution of modern higher education.

The so-called endogenous development means that the motive force of a country's higher education development mainly comes from the inside, and comes from the objective needs generated by the country's own economic, political, cultural and educational development. The so-called exogenous development means that the motive force of a country's higher education development mainly comes from the outside and comes from some pressure exerted by other countries on the country. Generally speaking, the motive force for the development of modern higher education in European and American countries mainly comes from the objective needs of their own social development, while the motive force for the development of modern higher education in Russia, Japan and China mainly comes from external political, economic, military and cultural pressures. Of course, this is relative. Because even in European and American countries, the motive force for the development of modern higher education is not always internal. During the French Revolution and Napoleon's reign, the motive force of French higher education reform was not entirely from the needs of its own social development, but to a certain extent related to the great political and military pressure exerted on France by the anti-French alliance composed of Britain, Austria and Prussia. Similarly, the establishment of the University of Berlin in Germany was directly related to the invasion of France. However, compared with underdeveloped countries, the motive force for the development of modern higher education in Europe and America is increasingly mainly from the needs of internal social development. The motive force of China's modern social development and higher education development mainly comes from external pressure. Higher education in China has a long history, but the reform and development of modern higher education in China is not, or more accurately, not the logical result of the evolution of China society and China higher education itself. The basic driving force for the reform and development of China's modern higher education is the profound national and racial crisis caused by the invasion of China by western powers. The rise of Westernization School and the later establishment of University Hall were directly related to China people's understanding of the international and domestic political and military situation at that time. That is to say, the reform and development of modern higher education in China was not voluntary, but was "forced" by the invading foreign powers, and even the process of reform and development was related to this huge external pressure. The establishment of Shi Jing Wentong Museum is related to China's repeated diplomatic setbacks. At first, the Westernization schools established in various places were mainly weapons manufacturing and military schools, and later were industrial manufacturing schools, from Westernization schools to university halls. Every change in this process is related to the change of modern China people's understanding of western culture (that is, "western learning"). In fact, this is mainly related to China people's understanding of the causes of the deepening ethnic and racial crisis.

Endogenous development and exogenous development, two different dynamic modes, are not determined by people's subjective will, nor can any country choose. However, this difference has a profound and comprehensive impact on the development of modern higher education in a country. A series of differences between European and American countries, Russian, Japanese and China in the development of modern higher education are closely related to the source of development power. In endogenous developing countries, the reform and development of their own higher education is initiated under less external pressure. Therefore, this kind of development itself rarely has a sense of urgency or crisis, which is relatively calm, with more development options and stronger planning and continuity. In foreign-born developing countries, the reform and development of modern higher education are under great pressure, and a new type of higher education institution which is almost completely different from the original higher education in China has been developed. Therefore, choices and opportunities are extremely limited, and the urgency of development replaces planning, which will inevitably lead to a series of avoidable mistakes and setbacks.

3. The evolution of modern higher education.

Like social change, there are two basic routes for the reform and development of higher education: one is the bottom-up route and the other is the top-down route. The so-called bottom-up means that the reform and development of modern higher education are initiated and promoted by universities or other higher education institutions and social figures and institutions related to higher education. Only at a certain stage can the state and the government join in and play a role. This situation mainly occurs in the historical process of modern higher education in European and American countries, and Britain and the United States are typical in this respect. In a sense, so is Germany. Top-down means that in some countries, the reform and development of modern higher education were initially initiated and promoted by the state and government, and political and administrative forces played a leading role in the development of modern higher education in these countries. Universities and other institutions of higher education, social institutions and individuals play a subordinate role in the development of modern higher education in China, that is, various forces from society and education mainly play their roles according to the relevant laws and policies formulated by the state and the government. Of course, this division is relative. In the development of modern higher education in Europe and America, "bottom-up" is not the only route, and France is a very typical country that adopts the "top-down" route. Even in typical countries that take the "bottom-up" route, "bottom-up" is not the only route, such as the United States.

In the development of modern higher education in China, Russian and Japanese, the promotion from the central government (in some cases, from local governments) has always been the main factor. Judging from the situation in Russia and Japan, the central government has always been the only driving force to promote the modernization of higher education in their own countries, and the central government has always played a leading role. In modern China, the situation is more complicated. Although China has been an autocratic monarchy for a long time, the emperor and the central government have completely controlled all the powers of the country, but in the development of modern higher education in China, the central government has not always played a decisive role like Russian and Japanese. The initial establishment of Westernization School and University Hall was indeed approved by the central government, but the real development of these new higher education institutions was mainly directly promoted by frontier officials with great power. In fact, in modern China, a large number of new higher education institutions were established one after another, mostly by local governments, located in the central cities of various provinces. Nevertheless, these facts cannot fundamentally change the nature of the "top-down" route adopted by the development of modern higher education in China. This is because, in the development of modern higher education in China, even if the authority of the central government is weakened, no power can replace the central government to carry out the reform and development of higher education nationwide. In fact, in the development of modern higher education in China, every major change is always initiated by the central government. In fact, the new higher education institutions set up by the central government in Beijing (such as Shi Jing Wentong Museum and Shi Jing University Hall) often play an important exemplary role. On the other hand, the reform of higher education initiated by the education department or social institutions and people is often difficult to be accepted by the government and used as a reference for implementing the reform nationwide. That is to say, in the development of modern higher education in China, the decision-making route is often a one-way street, and the "top-down" channel is relatively smooth, while the "bottom-up" channel is closed.

Third, the reflection of China's higher education and the transcendence of reality.

The modernization of higher education in China is a typical "late-comer and exogenous" model, which started late and was induced by external factors. The continuous change of development mode caused by the reference, imitation and integration of western higher education has become a remarkable feature of China's higher education modernization. In just a few decades, China's higher education experienced the upsurge of imitating the West, taking Japan as a teacher, imitating the German system and imitating the United States, and then experienced the process of imitating the Soviet Union in an all-round way after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Tradition and transplantation.

At the initial stage, China's higher education drew lessons from the world's advanced educational systems and concepts, which is very beneficial to the rapid development of China's education. Through this kind of study, it took only one hundred years for China to establish a relatively complete higher education system, which is rare in the world. It is also the transplant outside China's rapid traditional culture that makes China's higher education have many fundamental problems under the surface prosperity. The biggest one is the lack of national characteristics, the lack of internal development momentum and potential. Only by changing the "extroversion" mode to the "introversion" mode, making education rooted in China's profound and long-standing cultural tradition, and selectively drawing on the advanced experience of other countries according to its own actual economic and political development, can China's higher education have its own development track and characteristics, and then become a world-class higher education. A hot topic in the development of higher education today is the internationalization of higher education. There is no denying that internationalization is the inevitable trend of higher education development in China. However, we should be soberly aware that internationalization is "nationalization" in a sense if we do not pay attention to our own national cultural traditions at a stage when the international political and economic development is extremely unbalanced and China is still at a disadvantage. "The more national, the more cosmopolitan", Mr. Lu Xun's epigram profoundly pointed out that if we want to stand on the world, we must have our own characteristics. This is the direction of higher education development in China.

2. The idea of university

From the evolution of modern higher education at home and abroad, it can be clearly seen that the development of western higher education has always put the idea of university in the first place, with great emphasis on power and academic freedom. Although this freedom is relative, it is this relative freedom that has brought about a qualitative leap in western higher education.

Specifically, power and academic freedom refer to university autonomy and academic freedom. University autonomy, usually called academic autonomy in the west, means that universities should decide their own development goals and plans independently and put them into practice. In other words, universities, as social legal institutions, are not controlled or interfered by the government, the church or any other legal institutions. This is an ancient idea of running higher education in western countries, which originated from the guild organization of medieval universities. Brubeck thinks: "Autonomy is one of the oldest traditions of profound knowledge. Whether funded by private donations or state subsidies; Whether its formal approval depends on the papal decree, the royal charter or the national or provincial legislative provisions, the scholars' association will manage its own affairs. " Hutchins also believes that "without university autonomy, higher education will lose its essence". In pre-modern times, because the rulers were busy controlling universities, China's university autonomy was fully realized and proved to be a great success. However, from post-modern to modern, the central government and governments at all levels have turned the guidance to universities into an indirect political control. China society has always had the tradition of combining politics with religion. Looking back on the history of education for a hundred years, the political function of education is still extremely prominent. From 100 years, ten thousand mu of thatched cottage and Shiwu School founded by reformists, to patriotic society and patriotic girls' school founded by revolutionaries in the early 20th century, to Hunan self-study university, Shanghai University, civilian girls' school, peasant movement workshop and anti-Japanese military and political university founded in Yan 'an period, all of them are political education institutions with the purpose of propagating revolutionary ideas and cultivating revolutionary leaders. When the Kuomintang was in power, "party spirit education" was implemented, and our party once determined the educational purpose that "education must be led by the party".

Academic freedom is the most classic and core part of western university ideas. Brubeck thinks: "There is probably no attack that can directly point to the key point of higher education than suppressing academic freedom. We must prevent this threat at all costs. Academic freedom is the fortress of academic circles and can never be abandoned. " When talking about the characteristics of western higher education, western scholars and administrators have chosen academic freedom without exception. We talk about academic freedom every day, but it is not clear what it can better express. I think it is more of an appeal and expectation, and perhaps more of a helplessness. Looking forward to the future, the road to modernization of China's higher education concept is tortuous and long. There is a qualitative difference between "independent running of colleges and universities" and "university autonomy and academic freedom", which leads to the poor adaptability of university systems and ideas in the development of China University, and further affects the further development of China University.

As a superstructure, education is bound to be restricted by social, political and economic conditions and serve economic and political development. However, education is not an appendage of social politics and economy, it has its own development law. For the leading department of education, the independence of education development cannot be ignored, but for higher education itself, the critical function of education should be strengthened. "Through the continuous analysis of social, economic, cultural and political trends, the critical function and forward-looking function should be enhanced and become the center of prediction, early warning and prevention." This is exactly what higher education in China should focus on. In the follow-up process of China's higher education modernization, we sincerely hope that China's higher education concept can return to the track of "university autonomy and academic freedom". Only in this way can we realize the matching between China's university idea and university system; Only when the university concept matches the university system can China University achieve fundamental development and transcend reality.