Research on the Education System and Related Issues of Folk Performance in North China (https://doi.org/10.63386/610946)
Shen Da Hai1,Huhe Qiao1*
1PhD Candidate, Literature Department, Northwest Minzu University
No.1 Northwest New Village, Lanzhou, 730030, China
Email for authors
*Huhe Qiao: johuhint@163.com
FUND: National Social Science Fund Key Project: Chinese Translation, Annotation and Research of Oirat Mongolian Historical Documents (19th-20th Century) 18AMZ006
Abstract: Folk performances are a direct way of expressing folk culture, and various folk cultures are concentrated and fully displayed in folk performances. The traditional folk performance education and inheritance often rely on the teacher apprentice inheritance model of oral and personal education, which has been greatly impacted after the popularization of the modern education system. The article takes the education system of traditional folk performances as an example, first elaborates on the specific situation of the current education system, identifies the problems that exist, and hopes that through a wider range of educational inheritance methods, not only can traditional culture be better inherited and developed, but also provide better career prospects and future for folk artists and handicraftsmen. We have reason to believe that folk education must be a very important supplementary component of school education, with good prospects for cooperation with school education. The cooperation between the two is also very necessary. Only by combining the basic theories of school education with the practice and actions of cultural education and folk education, can it play a greater role in promoting the preservation of folk culture and the inheritance of folk crafts.
Keywords: Folk performance; Folk education; Education system reform
Introduction and Literature Overview
The education in the minds of ordinary Chinese people is often represented by school education, and some people believe that social exercise is more important than school education, but this idea is not the mainstream perception of society. The Chinese government has invested a huge amount of funds in education to build a large-scale education system, which is supported by thousands of schools. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the importance of folk education. Although China has a high gross enrollment rate, there are still children who drop out or drop out of school for various reasons. They often choose folk education to learn their skills and support themselves. This is also a significant supplementary role of folk education for school education.
In traditional education research, scholars often focus their attention on school education, neglecting the important value and significance of family education and educational forms organized by private organizations. This results in a relatively small number of literature on related topics and relatively insufficient results. The author consulted relevant literature and databases and retrieved some literature materials.
From these literature materials, we can understand the current research on folk education and the latest progress in folk education. Firstly, we found that current folk education often focuses on art education. Because in Chinese society, art is often synonymous with elegance, while manual labor is often seen as the bottom of society. So in folk education organizations, art education has become the most common educational theme. Secondly, existing research often focuses on the micro individual level and fails to summarize and summarize macro phenomena. This is because of the following reasons: 1. Large scale field research requires a long investigation cycle. 2. Folk education involves a wide range of subjects and requires the cooperation of scholars from multiple disciplines. 3. The academic community pays little attention and the total amount of research is small.
This article takes the education system of folk performances as an example to briefly introduce the organizational structure, operational logic, and interaction between folk education and school education of the folk education system. It attempts to provide a possible solution and resolution path for the problems faced by the current education system of folk performances.
一、Folk Performance Education System in North China
The folk performances in North China are mainly organized by the people to enrich their daily entertainment and alleviate the fatigue caused by agricultural production. In terms of education and inheritance of folk performances, there are very rich ways and means of education and inheritance in North China, including both government sponsored professional schools and spontaneous folk organization inheritance methods. Below, the article introduces the education system of folk performances in North China from high to low levels of education.
1. Inheritance of Master and Apprentice
Master apprentice inheritance is one of the most common educational methods in the folk education system, and various types of folk education are completed through master apprentice inheritance. Handicrafters and folk artists often recruit apprentices, who assist in their work by the master, thus completing their learning through oral and personal teaching. Although it is the main folk inheritance and learning method, there are many drawbacks to this learning method. Firstly, in the process of inheriting teachers and apprentices, teachers may not necessarily impart all their skills and techniques to students. There is also a saying in China that “teaching apprentices, starving teachers”. After completing their studies and becoming a master, apprentices will form a competitive relationship with their master, which is also an important factor for the master’s unwillingness to impart all skills. Secondly, the learning cycle is too long. The traditional inheritance of teachers and apprentices often requires apprentices to start with assistants, rather than imparting knowledge. Only after a long assessment process can they officially start learning. The learning process is also very long, starting from an assistant and gradually taking over the master’s work, in order to complete the learning and inheritance of skills. This process requires a lot of time, and some apprentices often give up learning midway because they lack patience and cannot persist. Thirdly, there is no fixed teaching system and curriculum standards, and the situation of inheritance is uneven. The process of master apprentice inheritance is often completed by two people, and the knowledge and skills taught are relatively single. For example, when blacksmiths inherit, they only teach some ironmaking skills and do not impart more knowledge about shape design. Such apprentices can only complete some basic iron production work in the end, and there are no more skills to learn and absorb. The above issues have been addressed to some extent in some private schools.
2. Private schools
Folk schools, also known as private schools, are often a complex manifestation of the inheritance of teachers and apprentices. Folk schools, especially folk technical or art schools, are often led by folk artists or craftsmen with outstanding skills or talents, and are taught various skills by different teachers. Compared with traditional folk inheritance methods, the teaching system of folk schools is relatively complete and has a certain degree of scientificity. Due to the existence of a certain curriculum system, the learning process is also relatively shortened, which allows for faster graduation compared to the mode of teacher apprentice inheritance.
3. Private secondary vocational schools
Secondary vocational schools are generally organized by the government to cultivate professional talents for the public. Private secondary vocational schools often have the closest connection between private education and government organized school education. In terms of folk art education, secondary vocational schools often hire folk artists as teachers. As a result, the teacher resources of secondary vocational schools partially overlap with the teaching resources inherited by folk schools and apprentices, which is the combination of folk education and government organizations mentioned earlier. In fact, private secondary vocational schools are often educational institutions that are converted from private schools and have been approved by government departments to carry out teaching activities. Compared to private schools, they are more formal and have a larger scale, with relatively fixed teaching venues and complete qualifications.
4. Secondary vocational schools
There are certain differences between government run secondary vocational schools and private run secondary vocational schools. In terms of teaching staff, there is actually not much difference between private schools and public schools. In terms of scale, generally speaking, public institutions are relatively large in scale. Taking the teaching of folk performances as an example, private secondary vocational schools mainly focus on a certain major or industry, while government run schools often have a relatively complete range of majors. In terms of educational venues and teaching staff, the scale of public schools is generally much larger than that of private schools.
Overall, secondary vocational colleges, whether public or private, provide students with a platform and foundation for upward learning. Compared to the inheritance of apprentices and folk teaching, the graduation certificate of secondary vocational schools provides them with an opportunity to receive higher level education. Students studying in secondary vocational schools can also enter higher education institutions through exams to further their studies. Artists and craftsmen trained by the folk generally enter society directly and make a living through the skills they have learned.
To some extent, secondary vocational schools and vocational high schools have effectively connected the folk education system with the formal education system organized by the government. In conjunction with China’s high gross enrollment rate, they have provided a pathway for the rise of folk artists in social status and other aspects, and also promoted social equality and artistic inheritance.
5. Higher education institutions
Higher education institutions are generally divided into vocational colleges, vocational colleges, and regular undergraduate colleges. Based on the current situation, there are not many ordinary undergraduate colleges that carry out folk performance education. Most of them are special directions under traditional art disciplines such as music, dance, opera, etc., and have not formed separate majors or trained separately.
Higher education institutions generally cultivate theoretical and management talents, but lack practical training, which is also a major problem in China’s higher education. In the thinking of Chinese people, it is generally believed that working in a management position holds a high status. Even students studying in vocational colleges and universities try their best to pass specialized exams and enter undergraduate colleges. This is extremely detrimental to the inheritance of folk performances and the learning of folk skills.
6. Graduate education
Graduate education, as a direct way to cultivate advanced talents, is established to cultivate theoretical talents and academic researchers. In general, it is difficult for folk artists and craftsmen to step from the folk to the stage of graduate education. If you want to receive graduate education, you first need to enter secondary vocational schools or ordinary senior high schools through formal primary and secondary education, and then enter the graduate education stage step by step through higher education institutions, such as passing exams. However, many folk artists who have passed down their apprenticeship and self-taught through folk education institutions often cannot obtain opportunities for advancement through this channel.
Based on the current situation, a small number of students from secondary vocational schools and ordinary high schools have entered the graduate learning stage through higher education through exams and other means, but this number is extremely rare. Of course, for folk performances or the inheritance of folk culture and handicrafts, more participants and practitioners are the most important. Folk performances that are not watched and handicrafts that are not used are destined to only exist in videos and museums, not in our lives. That is to say, folk performances do not actually require such advanced education, and it is sufficient for a few academic researchers to conduct some research on their connotations and cultural heritage. In fact, the market or society does not require a large number of theoretical researchers, but rather skilled folk artists. At this level, it is more appropriate to receive secondary professional education, which not only provides professional education but also has strong practicality and meets the development needs of folk performances.
7. Online education and self-learning
With the continuous rise of new media platforms and short videos, a large amount of educational resources have been exposed more, which greatly changes the methods and objectives of education. Many folk people, especially in the field of folk performances, self-taught through online materials.
In addition to self-learning, online platforms also provide a broad display platform for professional schools and other teaching institutions. Many universities upload their teaching content through online platforms, which is extremely useful for learners. Not only does it greatly enrich the educational resources on the internet, but it also makes it easier for learners to obtain the necessary materials and related materials for learning.
Although online platforms provide a large amount of resources and easier learning paths for education, what cannot be ignored is the numerous problems that exist within them. For example, although short video schools are fast and easy, fragmentation videos are difficult to provide an education system, and knowledge is difficult to link. The relevant issues will be elaborated on in detail below.
二、Logic and Objectives of Folk Performance Education
As mentioned earlier, folk performances are spontaneously organized by the people, and folk performance education not only requires the power of the people, but also requires official recognition for folk performers to have social status and higher economic income. If folk artists can obtain official recognition based on the recognition of the public, they can gain more social resources and a relatively wider audience, which greatly improves their career and economic situation.
三、The Path and Defects of the Current Education System
There are many problems in the current education and inheritance system of folk performances, some of which exist in the education system, while others arise in the logic and operation of education.
1. Education system and path
There is a wide connection between the current private education and the government led education system. As shown in the figure below, after receiving primary and junior high school education, students can choose secondary vocational schools or continue to attend senior high schools, and there are also different options for their subsequent education paths.
2. Defects in Folk Performance Education
(1) Lack of practicality in educational forms
There is a contradiction in the current education and inheritance of folk performances, which is the relative disconnection between education and practice. This contradiction manifests as the mutual exclusion between education and practice. For example, in the process of inheriting folk mentors and apprentices, apprentices can receive relatively more practical opportunities after passing the assessment, but such education lacks systematic and scientific nature. On the contrary, under the school education system, it is difficult for students to leave school and have practical opportunities, but they often receive more systematic education and management, and can be influenced by more cultural aspects. This is a huge contradiction in the current education system. As the saying goes, ‘fish and bear’s paws cannot be eaten at the same time.’ How to adjust this contradiction is also a great challenge that education organizers need to face.
(2) The Impact of New Media on Education
The vigorous development of new media platforms has both benefits and impacts on education. The promotion and promotion role of new media in education has been mentioned earlier, and the following text mainly elaborates on the challenges and problems that exist, mainly reflected in the following aspects.
The first is fragmentation. Driven by economic interests, educators of new media platforms often pursue higher click through rates and completion rates in order to obtain greater profits. Therefore, the systematic editing of teaching videos into fragmented fragments is clearly extremely detrimental to teaching. For example, a graphic design video that clips a ten minute instructional video into three segments can generate three times the playback volume and revenue, and more advertisements can be inserted between videos to generate revenue. This is clearly more advantageous for educators and video platforms. However, as learners, fragmentation videos often lead to tedious switching operations and frequent advertising placement. On the one hand, it will lead to the rising cost of learning time, and the learning experience will be worse, which will also lead many learners to give up learning directly.
Secondly, there are arbitrary charges. The direct purpose of video platforms and video producers uploading videos online is not for public welfare teaching, but to gain profits. So in this situation, various fee items will be derived. For example, some videos may include a series of instructional videos, the first few episodes as free videos to attract viewers, while subsequent videos can only be paid for viewing through membership or other means.
The third is the popularity of the internet. The rapid development of online platforms and the prevalence of pan entertainment have led to the gradual popularity of the current education model, with a large number of teachers breaking the circle and becoming idols for students. Of course, this is not just a current issue, but it has become particularly prominent and acute. If current teachers still adopt the teaching mode of previous teachers, it often leads to a lack of interest in the classroom, and students will leave the classroom in large numbers and shift their attention to other places.
The fourth is entertainment. The impact of new media platforms on traditional education models is not only reflected in the platform, but also has a huge impact on content. The educational content on video platforms often relies on the serious and rigid forms of education in people’s minds, presenting it in a more humorous and humorous way. As mentioned earlier, a large amount of teaching content is not output in the form of knowledge, but is taught in a humorous way. This not only has a huge impact on the originally serious classroom teaching, but also has turned educational venues into entertainment venues. How to grasp the degree of education and entertainment has become the primary problem faced by the education industry under the current impact of new media platforms.
四、Possible solutions and countermeasures
In response to some of the shortcomings in the current process of folk performance education, the author proposes the following solutions and countermeasures.
1. Regarding the education system
The reform of the education system is a major issue that affects the whole body. The current education system is designated by China based on the specific situation of China, drawing on foreign education systems.
2. Regarding education reform
The promotion of education reform not only requires administrative measures from the education regulatory department, but also requires a large number of visits, investigations, and research by scientific researchers.
3. For educational institutions
Educational institutions are the main body of educational activities, and only by building them well can they provide a good material foundation for educational work.
4. For educational platforms
With the widespread expansion of new media channels, educational platforms are also constantly expanding their own
五、Remaining remarks and prospects
Education is not only an important issue of social concern, but also an academic topic of widespread concern in various disciplines.
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