The emphasis on culture in comparative education research can be traced back 100 years. In 1900, M.E. Sadler wrote a paper entitled "To what extent can we learn anything of practical value from the study of foreign education systems?" In his famous speech "How far can we Learn anything of practical value from the study of foreing system of education", he pointed out for the first time the importance of cultural studies to comparative education. One of his famous sayings is "When studying foreign education systems, we should not forget that things outside the school are more important than things inside the school, and they restrict and explain things inside the school." The things outside the school he said mainly refer to the national spirit of a country . He said: “When we advocate the study of foreign education systems, the focus of our attention must not only be focused on tangible buildings or just teachers and students, but we must take to the streets, go deep into private families, and Try to discover the invisible and incomprehensible spiritual force behind any successful education system that sustains the actual school system and explains its actual results. "The national spirit is the core of culture. In other words, only by understanding the cultural traditions of a country can we understand the country's education system.

In the 1920s and 1930s, I.L. Kandel and others adhered to this idea. They created the era of factor analysis and laid an important position for cultural research in comparative education. Kandel advocated describing historical facts and analyzing social and historical background. He also proposed nationalism and nationality as factors that determine the nature of education systems in various countries. N. Hans systematized various external factors that affect education, and advocated that the factors that formed education should be given a historical explanation. He divided the factors that affect the nature of education systems in various countries into three categories: natural factors (race, language, geography and economic factors), religious factors (Roman Archbishop, Anglican Church and Puritans), and secular factors (humanism, socialism , nationalism and democracy). Among the three types of factors, cultural factors occupy a major position.

Edmund King also attached great importance to the historical background of education. His relativist methodology values ??the perspectives of subjects in the guest culture on educational phenomena. To understand their perspectives, one must have a deep understanding of their culture, so cultural studies are essential.

In recent decades, cultural studies have received increasing attention in the field of comparative education. However, looking at previous research, there are still three problems in cultural studies: First, cultural research in comparative education relies only on Western culture as a frame of reference, and uses it as a universal criterion to influence other countries, including the non-Western world. In comparative education research around the world, this approach is unfair and extremely inconsistent with the colorful ethnic cultures in the world today. Second, the understanding of culture is too narrow, and culture is only understood as "national characteristics." In fact, the concept of culture is broader. Third, there is insufficient research on the interactive relationship between culture and education. Often we only talk about the impact of national culture on the education system, and rarely talk about the impact of culture on the concepts of educational subjects (educational policymakers, teachers, parents). There are even fewer studies on the counter-effect of education on culture. Therefore, there is a need for further in-depth study of culture in comparative education.

1. The concept of culture and its characteristics

What is culture and how to understand it? Culture is a concept with broad connotations. It is said that there are more than 200 definitions of culture in academic circles. Some say that culture is a way of life; some say that culture is the sum of the material and spiritual achievements created by human beings. There is some truth to this. I believe that the so-called culture refers to the sum of the methods and material and spiritual achievements created by human beings in production practice and social practice activities. This includes two aspects: the way of human activities (dynamic) and the results achieved by the activities (static). It is generally divided into three levels, namely the material level (including buildings, clothing, utensils, etc.), the institutional level (all systems including the education system), and the ideological level (including ways of thinking and national spirit, etc.). The material level is the easiest to communicate and absorb, and the institutional level is often changed due to political changes. Only the ideological level is highly conservative and solid, and it is not easy to absorb heterogeneous cultures and blend with each other. But with the changes of the times and the exchanges between various ethnic groups, it is always changing. To sum up, culture has the following characteristics:

First, it has national character. Culture is always created by a certain nation of human beings, and the characteristics of a nation are mostly reflected in culture. Therefore cultural tradition and national cultural tradition can be synonymous. Because all nations in the world are in different historical periods, have different environments, and have different understandings of various phenomena in nature and society, they have created their own different cultures. For example, when dealing with nature, Chinese culture attaches greater importance to the harmony between man and nature, while Western culture emphasizes man's conquest and victory over nature. When dealing with society and others, the Chinese advocate moderation and humility, while Westerners advocate competition and struggle. This is from a conceptual perspective.

There are also great differences in physical form. For example, Chinese folk art patterns emphasize symmetry, unity, and harmony; Western nations emphasize differences and diversity. It can be seen that nationality is manifested in various aspects.

Second, it has stability. National cultural traditions often show relative solidification and stability. This stability manifests itself in time as inertia. In other words, cultural traditions develop and change at a relatively slow pace, so it is very difficult to conduct cultural research. It is best to adopt the method of cultural anthropology and live there for a longer period of time. As Sadler once said, we should not only pay attention to the tangible buildings, teachers and students of a country, but also go to the streets and go deep into folk families to discover the invisible spiritual power. This is difficult to do. Even if you do it in one country, you still don’t know much about other countries and it’s still difficult to compare.

Another difficulty is that the researcher himself is the subject of another culture. He already has the tradition of his own national culture, that is, he has the mindset of his own nation. Even if he can go deep into the objective In culture, if one does not overcome one's own thinking patterns, one cannot draw objective scientific conclusions. Therefore, comparative education scholars engaged in cultural studies, especially Western scholars, need to overcome their own cultural biases, establish a multicultural concept, respect the cultures of other countries and ethnic groups, and respect their values.

Cultural research also needs to be combined with historical research. Because cultural traditions are always inherited from history. Without understanding the history of a country, it is impossible to understand how the country's cultural traditions were formed, and it is impossible to understand its cultural essence. Therefore, cultural studies in comparative education are not only cross-cultural studies, but also interdisciplinary studies.

Despite the above difficulties, it is not impossible to carry out cultural studies in comparative education. Because a country's culture always has its own forms of expression. They are often reflected in their philosophical and historical works, literature and art, as well as in their educational policies, educational systems, educational management, etc. By studying their literature, especially the works of famous scholars in the country, we can grasp the essence of their culture. In particular, the internationalization of education in recent decades has promoted personnel exchanges. Many international students go to study in foreign countries and have a deeper understanding of the local culture, which is conducive to the development of cultural research; exchanges and cooperation between scholars from various countries are also conducive to Understanding and understanding of other countries’ cultures; especially if scholars from several countries can cooperate in cultural research, they will achieve better results.

We at the Institute of International and Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University are currently engaged in research titled "Cultural Traditions and Educational Modernization". The purpose is to understand through research what role cultural traditions of various countries play in the process of educational modernization. role and how traditional education transforms into modern education, so as to understand how to carry out educational reform today. Our method is to: select scholars who have experience studying in a certain country or have a deep understanding of the country to study the country's history, philosophy and even literature; study the country's education policy literature; conduct on-site inspections of the country's education, including visits Visit and talk to teachers, students, and academics; then compare with other countries. This research has been carried out for nine years, and the results of the first phase are reflected in the monograph "National Cultural Tradition and Educational Modernization" (published by Beijing Normal University Press, 1998). The book studies the cultural and educational traditions of the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, Japan, and China, and conducts a comparative analysis of Chinese and Western humanistic traditions, Chinese and Japanese views on talents, Chinese and American views on teachers and students, and modern Western views on knowledge. . This research needs to be further in-depth, and the research is still ongoing.

References

[1] Gu Mingyuan. Xue Liyin. Introduction to Comparative Education - Education and National Development[M]. Beijing: People's Education Press, 1996.

[2] Gu Mingyuan. National cultural traditions and educational modernization[M]. Beijing: People's Education Press, 1998.

[3] National Comparative Education Research Association. International education vertical and horizontal—Selected essays on Chinese comparative education[C]. Beijing: People's Education Press, 1994.

[4]Wang Chengxu. History of Comparative Education[M]. Beijing: People's Education Press, 1997.

[5] Xue Liyin. Research on contemporary comparative education methodology - Comparative education as an international educational exchange forum [M]. Beijing: Capital Normal University Press, 1993.