1930年代初 中國敎育界의 ‘敎育의 中國化’ 論爭 -<<中國敎育之改進>>에 대한 敎育界의 反應을 中心으로

Abstract

This article follows the attitudes and positions taken by Chinese educators of the early 1930s in response to the ‘Sinicization of education’ agenda as proposed by the Study Mission for Education in China (‘Study Mission’ henceforth) sent by the League of Nations. While the immediate aim for doing so is to attempt a multi-layered restructuring of the discourse among Chinese educators regarding the Sinicization of education, which had emerged as a hot issue during the early 1930s, the ultimate purpose is to reveal the ideological landscape among educators in the 1930s. Pointing out that education in China was excessively foreignized, the Study Mission recommended that China should establish an independent and autonomous education system, and that this would require authorities to focus on traditional Chinese culture while also referring to the European experience. Contrary to the findings of previous studies, the responses among Chinese educators regarding the ‘Sinicization of education’ proposed by the Study Mission were not simply delineated into arguments for and against. At least three positions were found to have been taken. First, some enthusiastically agreed with the Sinicization agenda of the Study Mission. The second position, from an anti-traditionalist perspective, was critical of Sinicization. The third position, from the perspective of Chinese society, was critically supportive of Sinicization. Such diverse reactions reflected the disparity in the attitudes and positions among intellectuals regarding the nature of the crisis in Chinese education, as well as those regarding traditional culture, educational models, and Chinese society. These responses also represented the views regarding Sinicization held by intellectuals with culturally conservative, liberal, and socialist tendencies.