The arguments on the autonomy of education can be classified into four categories depending on whether they are value judgements or factual descriptions: 1) the “ Normative -Affirmation theory on the autonomy of education," 2) the “ Normative-Negation theory on the autonomy of education， " 3) the "Factual- Possibility theory on the autonomy of education," and 4) the "Factual-Impossibility theory on the autonomy of education." And the problems posed in the arguments on the autonomy of education are different depending on the theoretical perspectives to the society and the state presupposed in the arguments: the pluralist, the managerial, the class, and the wholistic perspective， and on the levels of the arguments: an educational activity level, an educational agent or an individual school level, an educational system level, and a state level. But “ the autonomy of education" means the autonomy of education as a part of the social system in a strict sense. That of educational activities or agents presuppose the autonomy of education as a social institution, and the problem of the autonomy of education is dissoved on the level of the state. Traditionally, education as a social institution has its major function teaching knowledge. Knowledge does not consist of fragmentary propositions， but rather a coherent system of ideas, beliefs, and judgements. Knowledge as a system is what human beings, i.e., rational beings, have achieved through their history of persistent efforts to understand the world rationally. Not only the autonomy of education is desired normatively because knowledge must be inquired freely without external control and constraints, but also its rational nature provides education with the factual ground of autonomy. Education develops rationality by teaching such knowledge and the development of rationality builds, in its turn, the basis of the autonomy of education.