Particular effects of physical education on fostering young peoples excellent moral characters

Introduction

One question confronted by all countries in the world with different nationalities and social systems is the cultivation of young peoples’ ethics and excellent moral character. This is particularly true with China as it enters a new economic and social development stage since the adoption of the reformation and open policy. With the variety of complex social phenomena and spirit culture and the singleton entering the period of their youth, China is faced with a new challenge-how to foster young peoples’ right ethics, value concepts and excellent moral character. This study aims at probing into the role of physical education as an important component of social culture in moral characters fostering and the way to bring it into full play.

Methods and results

The research methods adopted in this study are questionnaire investigation and statistic analyses. The results of the investigation in the experts, gym teachers, students and various entities suggest that: 1. physical culture has been one of the most popular social activities which is associated with young people’s social intercourse and their moral character; 2. without the bitter living conditions in which their predecessors lived, physical training has been the important social practice for young people to temper themselves and foster their moral character; 3. both the experts and the gym teachers agree that the physical education has effects on the following 13 aspects concerning the fostering of young peoples’ excellent moral character: (1) team spirits; ......(5) fair competition;......(10) sense of responsibility;......(12) respect for others; 4. about 70% of the moral character required by the corporations (social requirements) can be fostered via physical education. Based on the theory of the unification of the consciousness and the behavior in the formation of the moral character and the results of the examination into the inter-relationship between the practical characteristics of the moral characters and the three factors related to the fostering process-education, introspection
and tempering through social practice, we revealed the relationship between moral character and practice essence in the physical sports.

Conclusion and suggestion:

Physical sports have special effects on the formation of human characters, the cultivation of a new generation that develop in an all-round way, the fostering of young people’s moral character, individuality and personality, and above all, the development of various essential makings required in the adaptation to the modern society. Thus, based on the characteristics of young people’s physical growth and psychological development and the characteristics of moral character development following the law from abstract to concrete, perceptual to rational and general to specific, we suggest that it is necessary to add the essential contents of the cultivation of moral character from general to specific into the teaching materials, which were made for a long time only following the rules of the physical growth and the acceptability (physical ability from low to high, skill from simple to complex).

References

[1]. Wu Zunmin. (1999). On Modern International Life-time Education. Shanghai, Shanghai Education Press.
[2]. Liu Jingduo. (2003).Journal of Education Research, Volume 2, 36-37.
[3]. Wu Xidong. (2001). Journal of Science of Physical Education, Volume 4, 79-81.