The highest purpose of education is the perfection of morality and character. Who said that?

Traditional school of education refers to the school of education represented by Herbart, a famous German educator and psychologist, at the end of 18 and the beginning of 19. The main educational viewpoint of this school is that the highest purpose of education is the perfection of morality and character. Pedagogy should establish the teleology of ethical education and the methodology of psychological education. Education should cultivate students' interests in many aspects. Develop students' potential in many aspects. Teaching can be carried out in four steps: clarity, association, system and method, which is the so-called "four-stage teaching method". Traditional educators also believe that "discipline is moral education" and that the attitude of moral education should be moderate, and the method is moral behavior training. Traditional educators emphasize the authoritative role of teachers and books, and the teaching stage tends to be mechanized, which limits the initiative and enthusiasm of students to some extent.

Modern educational school refers to the educational school represented by Dewey, a famous American pragmatic educator and thinker. The main educational viewpoints of this educational school are: education is growth, education is life, and education is the transformation of experience. The purpose of education should come from the inside of the educational process, that is, the steps of education should be formulated from the actual situation of students, rather than finding a purpose from the outside to impose on education, that is, the purpose of education is to enable students to continue to grow. Education should start from children's interests, organize learning through activities, and constantly transform their own experience from learning by doing. Educational theory should eliminate the thinking mode of "either one or the other" and organically unify various seemingly contradictory dualism (such as work and game, labor and leisure, general discipline and vocational discipline, science education and humanities education, etc.). Modern educators emphasize the child-centered theory, which is typical.

Traditional educators compare students to "boats" and teachers to "helmsmen", and students must unconditionally obey the teacher's command; Modern educators compare students to the "sun" and teachers to the "earth" revolving around the sun. These two views are contradictory and one-sided.

First of all, the traditional school of education only emphasizes that students are the object of education, ignoring that students are the main body of self-education and development, and they are people with subjective initiative. In the process of education, they are active participants in educational activities, not passive recipients. They may actively accept or passively resist the influence of education. At the same time, in the relationship between teachers and students, the role of teachers has been excessively expanded. In fact, if teachers can't arouse students' initiative and enthusiasm, put them.

Secondly, the modern school of education only emphasizes that students are the main body of self-education and development, ignoring that students are also the object of education. Because of their plasticity, dependence and teacher-led psychological characteristics, their development can not be separated from the promotion and guidance of teachers. At the same time, in the relationship between teachers and students, the leading role of teachers is ignored. In fact, without the education, organization and leadership of teachers, students' potential can not be fully developed, and so can this "grandson".

In a word, these two schools of education have played a positive role in history, but there are also some disadvantages. With the progress of society and the development of education, we should fully realize the essence of these two educational thoughts, examine them from the perspective of dialectical materialism and unify them. In the process of education, we can neither ignore the object status nor the subject status of students, and realize that students are both the object of education. It is also the subject of self-development and education, which unifies students' dual identities, handles the relationship between inheritance and innovation, and scientifically applies educational laws to make education more humanized and promote the development of education.