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AnonymousIn other countries are people this lazy about trying to pronounce "un-Americanized" names?
This is not only a sign of laziness, but it is also a shining example of disrespect for differences among cultures. In doing so we are not celebrating, we (Americans as a whole) are denouncing cultures that are not American.
How does this affect our students and how they view the importance of their culture and heritage outside of their homes or families?
jemila
AnonymousAll the fear about the Tri-lateralists and One-worlders seems to have become pointless, we HAVE a global economy, so we deal with it or fall by the wayside. The Jobs are migrating and we need to adapt. We either become partners with other countries or we go to war with them. I am thinking the partnership route is the way to go. Nukes are messy!
AnonymousAs a teacher in east Los Angeles, I can easily name one good reason for studying about Asia- to break down prevalent stereotypes. I teach at a middle school with a population distribution of students as follows: Latinos (97 %) Asians (2 %) Other (less than 1 %). I constantly see a perpetuation of false Asian stereotypes among my Latino students. There is a lack of cultural understanding between my Latino students and their fellow Asian classmates. Many of my Latino students are familiar only with, what I term, the "surface culture" of Asia. That is, they are familiar with Asian food, movies, cartoons, etc. However, most lack deep understanding of Asian "deep culture" which would include things like Asian philosophy, history, religion, holidays, etc.
I recently attended the first meeting held by the Asian Student Union. An overwhelming majority of Latino students attended this meeting. It wasn't long before I clearly became aware that many Latino students love Asian pop culture. They blew me away with their vast knowledge & exposure to the pop culture of Anime. Yet, so many still fail to distinguish the diversity within the Asian community and fail to understand Asian philosophy, history, etc.
Thus, I think for educators who have students who continue to perpetuate Asian stereotypes or who are stuck in the realm of Asian pop-culture, studying about East Asia would prove beneficial in dispelling myths/ stereotypes and empowering our students to look more deeply at the "Others" culture.
AnonymousI worry about the scare-mongering about China that we see in papers and magazines. Both Time and Newsweek recently ran articles about the military build-up in China and made them seem such a threat to the rest of the world. Which of course the U.S. is not! They discussed the prospect of China being a (or the) Super Power in a few decades. They didn't even go into their economic advancements. My point is, I think it is important for the students to understand something about these cultures and their history so they have more information for the future. Lets not do this through fear of the unknown. Of course, if the U.S. receives any more credit from the Bank of China we will all be talking Chinese fairly soon anyway!!!!
Karen Llewellyn
AnonymousThis is an excellent question especially to a high school teacher. When I taught world history in the past there has always been a sense of guilt. Not because I was not following the standards but because I spent the majority of my time concentrating on European history. I believe my students received an extremely skewed vision of the world. Asia has been such an important part to the development of world history and we cheat our students when we chose not to include it in our curriculm. The history is rich and interesting and it will help to give students a new respect for other parts of the world. However, when I say other parts I do not mean it in a general sense Asia is an important puzzle in world history and it will be useful for our students to have a good grasp of their history and culture for future success.
Sherie[Edit by="sstephens on Oct 6, 5:49:58 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousYour reasoning could be extended to European, African, Middle Eastern and many other countries including the USA. So why pick the most populated country in the world for exclusion? At the moment we can even consider it the most important country in the world. We won't be wrong if we call it the new super power. Can we afford to get this new super power off our plate? I dare you!
AnonymousWe have a prominent East Asian population. Their numbers and percentage of the student body have remained relatively steady since my kids attended Uni in the 80's. They are more affleuent than the Korean students that I had at Manual Arts. And the name changing is much more common. It is difficult, in fact, to get students to tell me their given names. It is also interesting to me (both sad and disturbing) that those East Asian students who have become more involved in student activities tend to be the Ryan Wong's and Jennifer Hongs' rather than Bo Mi Kim or Ho-Sang Lee. There seem to be some very unsettling causal connections on both sides of that circumstance.
AnonymousAncient Asia is a major civilization of the world and any prominent ancient civilization should be included in curriculum that is to be called Ancient World Civilizations. It may seem like a pretty basic idea, but I believe that an inclusive study of the world is better than an elitist attitude.
AnonymousTwice last year I went to Korea and taught English for three weeks during my break. I had to pay my way over, but I stayed in a dorm seeting with one other person in the same room, all food was covered (usually pretty good) and was paid aproximately $2,500-2,700 for it. The hours were from 8:30-5:30, with an hour and a half off for lunch. We also went on a morning trip on Saturday's and had the rest of the afternoon and all day Sunday off. The people I worked for were great and they offer it in January and late July-early August. the group said they would hire anyone I suggested, so if you're interested in learning more, send me an email at [email protected]
Rob
AnonymousI just got this from our school. It seems that LAUSD is offering to teachers / administrators an opportunity to learn a foreign language.
The link is
Learn a foreign language
It is Canonese, Korean, or Spanish. If there is enough interest, possibly Vietnamese.
And you can earn a couple of salary points.
AnonymousToday in the Finanical Times (11/25/05) the headline story told of a new law proposed by the inspector general of the US to block foreign students and employees from having access to certain technology and r + d. the academic community is upset about it having lost enrollments numbers due to post-9/11 legislation. Other scientists cite scholars like Enrico Fermi who were foreign researchers during their discoveries and the US losing its leading position due to the lack of minds coming to the US to do their work.
The underlying theme of the article was another Red Scare. The implication made by Bush's cronies is not whether or not the 150, 000 Chinese students in the US were spies or not; the question was how many of them were already spying.
The US and the Bush admin continue to say the most divisive and hypocritical statements of any "regime" I've known. For this to come out immediately after a diplomatic trip to China and the failure of US intelligence in Iraq is laughable and disgusting.
Another reason to teach East Asian Studies to our students is to prevent or combat this kind of jingoistic thinking from them.
dan
AnonymousI was just reading an article posted on the UCLA Asia Institutue homepage about this seminar. If you have a chance you should read it. Of course, it mentiones the enthusiasm and talents of Clay! Anyway, the article starts off by mentioning that too few teachers are prepared to teach about Asia even though it is mandated by the state. It is so true. I was mentioning to Clay last week that even though I have a degree in history I did not have to take one history class on Asian studies. In fact, I was not required to take any African or Latin America classes either (even though I did). It just seems to me that it would make sense that to get history degrees we should be rounded in our world knowledge. I understand that it is not possible to study each period in each country but one class on Asia/Africa/Latin America might be a start. Wish I had taken that Asian class now......although this seminar more than makes up for it.
Karen
AnonymousRecently, in the Wall Street Journal, there was an article about my old high school. The jist of the article was white flight. boring, right? Well, my high school when I started in 1986 was about 12% Asian and when i graduated in 1990 was 40% Asian. There was a huge influx of Taiwanese mostly and South Asians, too. The white flight is now due to the school being too competitive and difficult for whites to succeed (trans. it's the Asians' fault). Boo hoo.
The reason I'm posting this on this particular thread is because of the continued hate of Asians in California. Can Asians ever do anything right in the eyes of the white American public? If they come to work crap jobs, they screw it up for the low wage earning "Americans" because they work too hard for too little money. If they try to participate in the global economy by buying Unocal, they are just communist cheaters threatening our security. If they study too hard, they fill up the public universitites (somehow unfairly). this is they same crap that the Ivy Leagues did to the Jews back at the turn of the last century. Why bother? tolerance and fair play.
dan
AnonymousI have already responded to this provocative statement probably, but something churns away in my stomach when I read such a statement that might very well be someone's honest response. With the "No Child Left Behind" legacy, which prompted district mandates for empty, meaningless "performance assignments," (tests, and more), teachers barely find time to engage in in-depth learning with their students at all. Once upon a time I did so much more with my students, i.e., poetry, Great Books discussions, creative writing. Now that the intrusive district "tests" are mandated, that time has been usurped basically teaching to tests that are at best very mediocre. (Four double tests a year plus the CAT6!) Many teachers feel the way I do. I can circumvent this madness somewhat by combining my program of intense reading (AR and otherwise) and the traditional, rote-type learning that these "tests" demand. Since I have a strong reading program and almost half my students are Asian, I can easily incorporate much of what I've learned in this class, especially through the literature and poetry, which to me is a great way to learn history anyway. Now, for more time. . .
AnonymousFurthermore, aren't we a nation of ethnicities? Isn't the definition of "American" a contradiction if we adhere only to one static paradigm of what it is to be an American? Greatness comes from the sum of its parts. How fortunate America is to house so many diverse cultures! Obviously, if we are to become (emphasis on "become") an educated society, it is essential that we learn about our cultures, and more than just paying tribute to festivals and celebrations. Becoming multi-lingual would be a great start. Where are those Japanese, Korean and Chinese classes in school?