Asian connections to Euro history

[Anonymous]

In my art classroom I give out an assignment once a semester where my students have to look up an artist, find out about their history, and make a replication of the artist's work. Most of the artist resources in our Library are European/Caucasian Males. Names that always come up are Picasso, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Vandermeer, etc. I've found that there are a lot of resources on the web for Asian Art, but what about the specific Asian Artists?

[Anonymous]

I agree with you. I think that we are so egocentric that we forget that there are still serious struggles with the fight for democracy in other parts of the world. I think are students are very complacent with their freedom. If we could motivate them to look at the struggle in other parts of the world maybe they would see how important it is to be an active citizen in ours.

[Anonymous]

Nathan, I agree with you. I see similar things in the classroom where many students seem to take for granted our form of government.

Moreover, I feel that the apathy seen in our students is a reflection of a much larger sentiment found in our society. Since the 1960s there has been a steady decline in voter participation, and the commonly accepted statistic is that today only about 50% of eligible voters actually go out and cast their ballot during presidential elections. Therefore, if the parents are not taking an active role in their government we as educators should not be surprised to see that their kids also have such low interest in our democratic process.

I know that there some of this low turnout has to do with how politicians run their campaigns -negative campaign ads and personal attacks on their opponents seem the norm today.
However, this apathy leaves our government open to being "overtaken" by special interests. Many believe that this has already happened with corporations and specific interest groups like the elderly.

Also, what is interesting to note is that voter non-turnout is always highest among the youngest eligible voters, the 18-25 age group.

To have our young people better appreciate what we have here, perhaps we should have some type of compulsory field trip for high school seniors where to graduate high school they are required to visit a country like Iraq, Libya, East Timor, Sudan, etc. where democracy is at best a glimmer in their citizen's eyes.

[Anonymous]

Nate, Walt, I agree with you to some extent about the virtues of democracy and the possibility for citizen impact on public decisions here in the US. I too sometimes feel that my students are being selfish, irresponsible or immature in their lack of interest in public affairs. However, I believe you are underestimating the serious problems with our government, and the long term impact that those problems have on attitudes.

There are people in the United States who are so convinced that their voice will not change things and will not be heard that they can’t even imagine bothering to raise it.

This is not due to laziness or apathy but sheer frustration and hopelessness. Yes, some who do not get involved are simply absorbed by other interests or some postmodern narcissism, but I believe that for most it goes further and results from an acceptance of their apparent impotence on the political stage.

If you talk to people who don’t vote, you will hear that all politicians are corrupt anyway, my vote won’t matter and there’s nothing we can do to make things better. The frequency and consistency of these complaints is not coincidental. These sentiments are reflective of real flaws in our “democracy”.

Parents teach their children to give up and accept the current social and political order (and for our students that is not a power position). I actually think you got the order reversed Walt – I don’t think the lack of participation by the public at large led to the rise of special interests. I believe the obvious imbalance of power that has always existed (to the benefit of the rich and connected) led to the withdrawal by many from the process.

By the way, I wholeheartedly agree that our way of life is by far preferential to that in the places you refer to as possible field trip destinations. But the advantages are not shared by all in equal measure and for many the reality is unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Found an article in LA Times online today that I think is very relevant to what we’ve been discussing here. The article is titled “Japan may plant a flag in students’ backpacks”. It details efforts to fight the negative effects of a self obsessed youth culture. Sound familiar to anyone?

Here’s the link http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-patriotic1jun01,0,6521784.story?coll=la-headlines-world

It seems that there is a growing concern in Japan that children are not appreciative enough of their culture. Apparently there are plans underway to emphasize patriotism in school in an effort to instill more respect for Japanese traditions. According to the article, a recent poll found two thirds favored the move.

Interestingly, this is also part of a larger effort to counteract the powerful, leftist teacher’s union and take more control of education policy in general.

[Anonymous]

This assignment reminds me of an arts program that I used to teach as a volunteer in my children's schools. We would have wonderful lessons on important artist and then the children would get to create their own artwork utilizing some key aspect of the artist's style or technique. The children loved it and it was important because it was an additional program brought in and paid for by the PTO in elementary school- when they didn't have any other specific art curriculum.

I have to say, I don't remember ever having a lesson on an Asian artist for this program. I only did it myself for 2 years before I moved on to another volunteer position, so maybe I just missed that rotation of the cycle. Howe ver, even just looking at my 2 years I am guessing this is another big gap in the teaching of Asia in the US.

I'm interested to hear if anybody out there has resources for specific Asian artists. I have a feeling if Onunwa hasn't found them they may not be readily available.

[Anonymous]

This is my first week back to world history, 10th grade in Riverside County......the state standards start with Greek and Roman foundations of Democracy (I can understand), but why do they ignore Confucian theories of government in the development of political practices? The curriculum jumps almost 2,000 years to the 1600's in Europe and it's the revolutions for independence. Taking the class on East Asia has helped me to bring in other comparisons as I try to live with Leave No Child Behind and the rules of state standards.
Good Luck,
Cathy Chaparral High School, Temecula

[Anonymous]

My World History class was examining a painting of Socrates' Death as we start the 10th grade unit on foundations to democracy: we saw a distinct similarity to DaVinci's Last Supper. Thanks to your suggestion, I am going to look up paintings of Confucius and other philosophers to bring in E Asia and to broaden their minds about the origins of politics, since the state standards are Euro-centered. How short sighted the US can be in ignoring the thoughts and practices of civilizations older and more experienced than ours. Let us explore.
Cathy Chaparral High, Temecula

[Anonymous]

In China and other countries in Asia, students are indoctrinated or taught about patriotism and duty. In our freer society, what are we taching our children? I sometimes catch myself in class doing things like creating an alarmist attitude and have to back off. Yes, our people are frustrated and a lot of times kids are getting mixed messages from a variety of sources. Teachers, adults, etc. compete for the attention of students and kids don't know what they are supposed to think. It is our job to create a positive atmosphere and let them make their decisions without our influence other than to present possiblities to them. Am I saying that we should indoctrinate our kids? No. I am just saying that we should be enthusiastic about making sure that kids are exposed to different views and to help them to embrace the options as a celebration of American democracy. My guess is that kids would become more patriotic and less apathetic.[Edit by="rspringer on Sep 18, 9:46:29 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

There is a good article in "Educaton About ASIA" in the Spring 2007 about your very topic. The long-standing paradigm that western dominace began in 1500 has recently been questioned based on mounting empirical evidence about the period of 1450 to 1750. The evidence undermines the long standing paradigm that western dominance began in 1500 as commonly assumed. The article suggests instead of focusing on the subject of hegemony that as teachers we give our attention to three other themes: the five impressiive Asian empires; the vibrant Indian Ocean trading network; and the further spread of Islam. This approach seems more intellectually satisfying to me and more authentic to our students. As future diplomats wouldn't we want them rooted in this understanding of politics and geography instead of who is the victor?

[Anonymous]

The post by jcsmyth for 06-22-2007 correctly draws attention to the article in the Spring 2007 issue of Education About Asia (EAA) as a good source of information on Asian connections to European history. In fact the entire issue is devoted to this subject. The article in question is "Rethinking the Rise of European Hegemony: Asia in World History, 1450-1750" by Donald Johnson, a specialist on India and a Professor Emeritus at New York Universiity where he has served as Director of Asian Studies. Other articles in EAA deal with Chinese science, Chinese naval exploration and the question of just how closed a society Tokugawa Japan actually was. For reviews and discussion of these and other EAA articles see the separate EAA thread.

Leigh Clark
Monroe High School

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

There are so many connections between Asia and Europe in history. Europe traded with Asia for centuries using the Silk Road. Europeans saw the trade and cultural potential in Asia and they focussed much of their exploration on finding faster routes to Asia. Even Christopher Columbus was on a quest to find the shortest route to India. For centuries Asia has supplied the world with silk and raw materials while Europe greatly impacted Asia, bringing technology and modern medicine. There are many connections to teach our students.

John Yamazaki

[Author]

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