从自由教育到通识教育──历史与比较的视角

From Liberal Education to General Education: A Historical and comparative Perspective

本文主要从历史和比较的视角，通过考察自由教育的出现，自由教育的变化，一般教育的出现以及一般教育的传播与影响，分析概括了自由教育、一般教育和通识教育三个基本概念及其课程设置在不同时期和主要国家及地区的表现形式和主要特征。文章认为，在自由教育演变到通识教育的漫长历史过程中，自由教育的对象、目的、课程内容都发生了根本性变化。特别值得强调的是，尽管各国和不同地区在使用同一一般教育概念过程中存在较大差异，随者高等教育入学率的提高以及大学与社会之间联系的不断加强，源于美国的一般教育课程将逐步成为本科教学的核心和主要内容。

This article is mainly concerned with the major forms and characteristics of both ideals and curriculum development of liberal education and general education in different periods and different countries and regions in the historical and comparative perspectives. By discussing the emergence and changes of liberal education， and appearance as well as influences of general education， the article concludes by arguing that first， fundamental changes have taken place in the objective， aims and content of liberal education during the past several hundreds; second， even the same term “general education” is being adopted by individual countries and regions， in reality there exist striking differences in curriculum development at institutional level; third， with massification of higher education and a closer link between universities and society， general education studies will inevitably constitute the increasingly important part in undergraduate education.