学校教育中,究竟应该把掌握知识作为智育的主要目的,还是应该把发展学生的智力放在首位?对于这个问题,广大教育工作者并不陌生。然而,你可知道,早在三百多年以前,西方教育史上就围绕着这一问题展开了旷日持久的论战。要追寻这场争论的起源,我们还得回到17世纪英国教育家洛克的教育理论中去。约翰·洛克于1632年出生在一个律师的家庭。他生活的时代是英国资本主义发展的初期,封建专制和宗教势力仍很严重。为了维护新兴资产阶级的利益,洛克提出了一套绅士教育的理论,从而成为西方近代教育史上第一个重要的教育思想家。洛克的教育理论是以他著名的“白板论”为基础的。他认为人的心中没有天赋的原则,如同一块白 In school education, should we master the knowledge as the main purpose of intellectual education, or should we put the development of students’ intelligence first? For this issue, the majority of educators are no strangers. However, you know, as early as 300 years ago, there was a protracted debate on this issue in the history of Western education. To trace the origin of this controversy, we have to go back to the education theory of Locke, a 17th century English educator. John Locke was born in 1632 in the family of a lawyer. The age of his life was the beginning of the development of British capitalism. The feudal autocracy and religious forces were still grave. In order to safeguard the interests of the emerging bourgeoisie, Locke put forward a theory of gentleman’s education and became the first important educational thinker in the history of modern Western education. Locke’s educational theory is based on his famous “whiteboard theory.” He believes that there is no gift in the human mind, as a white