Abstract: An examination of humanism theory, one multi-dimensional view, finds the imbalance between instrumental rationality and value rationality in the public-funded policy of normal students in China, which implies the contradiction between the interpretation of “free” and “public-funded”, between “public” and “individual” value orientation, and between “signing” and “canceling” in the rational interpretation of policy. An analysis, from the three dimensions namely policy discourse, policy text and policy benefit, tells that policy cognition is related to formulation procedure that is lack of, that policy objectives are not compatible with the interests of normal school students, and that the advance and retreat mechanism is still absent. In view of this, policy activists should explain and infiltrate the concept of “public-funded” to highlight the social status of teachers, balance public will and individual demands to promote the scientific implementation of policies, build a mechanism for the advancement and retreat to meet the human needs of policies, and create a system of “performance refund” for graduates to avoid the risk of breach of contract, with an expectation that the instrumental rationality and the value rationality tend to be coordinated and unified, thus making the public-funded policy play its due role.

Key words: public-funded education for normal students, humanism, contradiction analysis, policy rational coordination