The Ideological Essence of Tao Xingzhi’s Creative Education

YAN+Liang-shi++[Vietnam]+CHEN+Shi-zi++DENG+Qin-ni

Abstract： Tao Xingzhis creative education is a wonder in the history of Chinese modern education. Its just like a bolt of lightning， breaking through the Chinese traditional education， opening the prelude of Chinese modern creative education. Innovation and creation are included throughout all parts of Tao Xingzhis educational thought and his three main ideas as “l(fā)ife is education”， “society serves as a school” and “teaching， learning and doing are integrated with one another”， becoming the priority of his life education theory system. His ideological essence of thought about creative education is specifically listed as follows. First of all， he established the view of creative education，“l(fā)earning through doing”. In his view， the biggest drawback of traditional Chinese education is doing after learning. This concept suppressed the creativity of Chinese people and hindered them from creating in education for thousands of years even until now. Tao Xingzhi reversed the idea of knowing and doing， and put forward this proposition， claiming that " all knowledge comes from doing， and knowing is the end product of doing". He believed that to develop and cultivate students creativity， we must subvert the traditional relationship between knowledge and practice， starting from doing. Secondly， the beginning of creative education is to use both mind and hand. Creative education is a kind of action education in some ways. However， creative education should not be a simple physical exertion. That is to say， the action required for creative education must be the action taken through your thinking. Tao Xingzhi thought simple and mere labor can't be creative creation. Like peasants in China， for thousands of years they have worked diligently on the land though， they created little in addition to some small improvements. Although many readers read a lot， they can not create." To create， one must use his brain and hands at the same time.Whats more， use your hands while you want to use your head. Using your hands and your brain together is the beginning of creating education.The purpose of creative education is to make your brain and hands both clever. "Doing while giving a priority to thinking" is more conducive to creative education than "thinking while giving a priority to doing". Thirdly， "the spirit of experimenting" is the guarantee for creative education. The spirit of experiment is the origin of all inventions in modern times. Doing experiments requires not only your brain， but also your hands. The experiment should involve setting a hypothesis， selecting methodology， making use of proper facilities and instruments， and participating in the whole process observation. He believed that a scholar， or a student， should have the spirit of trial and error， and not be afraid of failure. Cultivating the spirit of keep trying is an important way to cultivate students' creativity. Fourthly， the five "liberations" provide great freedom for children. The first is to emancipate the minds of the students， encouraging students to think. The second is to emancipate the hands of the students， encouraging students to act.The third is to emancipate the students' mouths， encouraging students to ask. The fourth and fifth liberations are to set no limits to their space and time； Tao Xingzhi's five " liberation" points of view， in a word， is to give full freedom to students. In addition， Tao Xingzhi advocated learning to create in collective creation， like today's constructivism learning， and cooperative learning. Competition and cooperation of the 21st century between coutries and nations， are inseparable from creativity. It can be said that this is an era where creativity or innovation is needed more than ever. Creativity has connections with countries and nations， and also with the growth of individuals. Therefore， Mr Tao's essence of creative education has great significance in modern days.

Key words：Tao Xingzhi； creative education； learning through doing； doing while giving a priority to thinking； thinking while giving a priority to doing； collective creation