Huang Yanpei and Chinese vocational education for a hundred years

Guangming Daily reporters Su Yan, Zhang Chunlei, and Liu Have Yue

Looking back at the century-long development process of modern vocational education in China, we must start with Mr. Huang Yanpei. He devoted his life to advocating, researching, experimenting and promoting vocational education, and in the long-term theoretical exploration of vocational education and the practice of vocational education, he formed a relatively complete ideological and theoretical system of modern and contemporary vocational education in China.

As early as 1914, Huang Yanpei, as a journalist, went to Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to investigate the local education situation and the social demand for talents. Subsequently, he went to the United States, Japan, the Philippines and other countries to investigate.

During the inspection, Huang Yanpei deeply felt that the drawbacks of old education in China lie in the separation of education and occupation, and the disconnect between school and society. He aspired to take the rise and fall of the country as his responsibility, devote himself to education, arouse the people, and advocate a new form of education that integrates education and occupation.

After returning from an educational inspection at home and abroad, Huang Yanpei meticulously sorted out and studied the materials he investigated, which provided a strong basis for the principle of talent training. He believes that vocational education is the main content of talent training, and has widely publicized his vocational education ideas and theories, which have been widely endorsed and supported by people of insight in various places.

On May 6, 1917, Huang Yanpei, together with Cai Yuanpei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Xiao and 48 other people, initiated the establishment of the China Vocational Education Society in Shanghai. The China Vocational Education Society has extensively investigated the educational, economic and social conditions at home and abroad, and carried out vocational education practice. On May 15, 1918, on the basis of the China Vocational Education Society, Huang Yanpei and other patriots founded the first "occupation" in modern China, which was named after the word "occupation" in modern China, and was called the "most experimental school" at that time - Zhonghua Vocational School (now Nanjing University of Industry and Technology), thus opening the century-long history of modern vocational school education in China.

From the beginning of its establishment, Zhonghua Vocational School only set up three departments of ironwork, carpentry and buttons, to gradually form three major categories of machinery, civil engineering and commerce, cultivated a large number of practical talents, and made positive contributions to the development of national industry and commerce and the solution of people's livelihood problems.

Patriotism and dedication are the first essence of the goal of talent training in China Vocational School. During the Songhu War of Resistance, teachers and students raised funds, donated funds and materials. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the school moved to Chongqing and trained a large number of young patriots who rushed to the front line of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression after completing their studies. Jiang Zhujun (Sister Jiang), Xu Xiaoxuan, Peng Liren, etc., outstanding alumni of the school, are all revolutionary martyrs who have entered the annals of history.

In 1952, Huang Yanpei became the vice premier of the State Council and concurrently served as the minister of light industry, and under the guidance of the policy of "turning private property into public", the Zhonghua Vocational School was officially handed over to the ministry of light industry. In 1960, the school moved to Nanjing and was renamed Nanjing Mechanical and Electrical School. In 1999, the school was upgraded to a vocational college and renamed Nanjing Industrial Vocational and Technical College. In September 2019, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the school became the first public undergraduate vocational college in China. In June 2020, it was renamed Nanjing University of Technology and Technology.

From the China Vocational Education Society to the China Vocational School, Huang Yanpei has been committed to advocating, researching, experimenting and promoting vocational education, and has formed a relatively complete ideological and theoretical system of modern and contemporary Chinese vocational education in the long-term exploration of vocational education theory and vocational education practice. The ideal of vocational education of "making the unemployed have a job and making the unemployed happy", the school-running concept of "using both hands and brains and using both hands and everything", the education and training policy of "dedicating oneself to the group and taking responsibility first and profiting later", the teaching method of "integrating theory and reality and integrating learning with doing", the moral education standard of "Jin's personality and iron discipline", the teaching principle of "respecting individuality and teaching according to one's aptitude", the professional ethics standard of "seeking truth in reason and seeking truth in everything", and the value orientation of "advancing with the times and striving to innovate" together constitute the essence of Huang Yanpei's vocational education thinking.

In 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in his congratulatory letter to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the China Vocational Education Society that under the new situation, the China Vocational Education Society should base itself on its own characteristics and advantages, and constantly make new and greater contributions to promoting the development of vocational education in China, realizing the goal of "two hundred years" and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

In the past century of China's vocational education, Huang Yanpei, as the founder of the series of ideas for the development of vocational education on the basis of long-term research and practice, still shines with the brilliance and wisdom of ideology, which has played an important enlightening role in the reform and development of vocational education, and can also provide important guidance for the practice of running schools in vocational colleges and universities.

Guangming Daily (07/18/2021)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily