The Dalton Plan in Modern China: Rising in Spirit yet Failing to Become a System
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| Title: | The Dalton Plan in Modern China: Rising in Spirit yet Failing to Become a System |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Ying Zhou (ORCID |
| Source: | Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education. 2025 61(4):552-569. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 18 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Elementary Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Foreign Countries, Educational History, Educational Change, Educational Innovation, Criticism, Individualized Instruction, Elementary Secondary Education |
| Geographic Terms: | China |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00309230.2025.2459174 |
| ISSN: | 0030-9230 1477-674X |
| Abstract: | In China, the Dalton Plan came to the attention of educators in 1921 and enjoyed its heyday in both educational discourse and practice from 1922 to 1925. Thereafter its popularity declined significantly while criticism dramatically increased. When examining the causes for this rapid growth and precipitous decline, previous research has taken the progressivity of the Plan for granted, as if this destined it to mirror the wax and wane of the Chinese New Education Movement. Scholars have failed to notice that less progressive educators impelled its rise and that educators taking sides with both pedagogical and administrative progressives contributed much to its fall. This article revisits the trajectory of the Dalton Plan in modern China and offers new insights explaining its rise and fall, by untangling the complex relationships among its advocates and their connections with foreign educational circles. It will be shown (1) that the Dalton Plan was introduced in a spirit of eclecticism rather than as a fixed system, (2) that it was undermined by attacks from both pedagogical and administrative progressives, and (3) that its eclecticism had much to do with both its rise and fall. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1479551 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| Abstract: | In China, the Dalton Plan came to the attention of educators in 1921 and enjoyed its heyday in both educational discourse and practice from 1922 to 1925. Thereafter its popularity declined significantly while criticism dramatically increased. When examining the causes for this rapid growth and precipitous decline, previous research has taken the progressivity of the Plan for granted, as if this destined it to mirror the wax and wane of the Chinese New Education Movement. Scholars have failed to notice that less progressive educators impelled its rise and that educators taking sides with both pedagogical and administrative progressives contributed much to its fall. This article revisits the trajectory of the Dalton Plan in modern China and offers new insights explaining its rise and fall, by untangling the complex relationships among its advocates and their connections with foreign educational circles. It will be shown (1) that the Dalton Plan was introduced in a spirit of eclecticism rather than as a fixed system, (2) that it was undermined by attacks from both pedagogical and administrative progressives, and (3) that its eclecticism had much to do with both its rise and fall. |
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| ISSN: | 0030-9230 1477-674X |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00309230.2025.2459174 |
