session #11 10/23 (dube) china after the cultural revolution

[Aja Koester]

The video clip of Lenora Chu was extremely interesting for me as a teacher, and I appreciated how her book and talk has the potential to resonate with a large majority of people, not just educators. She opens by explaining how her research on China's education system is through many lenses: parenting, education, China's culture. She does a great job of storytelling to get her point across. 

One story that Chu told was of her son's teacher (Teacher Chen) forcing her son to eat eggs. Chu confronted the teacher and the teacher's response was very upfront stating, "yes I did". Chu then goes on to tell how she attempted to explain that in the US we do not force, but rather give choices to children. Teacher Chen poses the question, "Does it work?" and then Chu admits...not always. I loved this, because it was such a real response and I have had this conversation with so many other teachers. I agree with Chu, choice does not always work. As a teacher you are constantly playing a game of balance between allowing choice while maintaining control and authority. How much choice is fair, keeping in mind that a lesson must move forward?

Chu finishes this story with Teacher Chen getting angry that she challenged her authority in front of a child and Chu states, in Chinese culture "teacher knows best." This was great because it reminded me of a conversation I had with two friends, one is from China and the other from Japan. They both agreed that where they grew up, you absolutely would not have questioned a teacher. The teacher knows best, as Chu put it. While watching her talk I was interested in this difference in culture, because in the US often as teachers we are told that students appreciate vulnerability and the admittance that sometimes as people we make mistakes too, or that we do not know the answers to everything.

[clay dube]

Thanks to Nira and Jane for sharing some of their own family's experiences during the Cultural Revolution, including the Mao personality cult and the sending of educated youth to the countryside.

Everyone should note how Nira's mother was not able to try to attend college, simply because of her age. Many Chinese had to cope with arbitrary limits on their dreams and ambitions. This is why I consider the hukou system to be vital in understanding post-1949 China. It's influence is diminished but is still being felt. I posted some links to current developments in Beijing in the session 12 thread. Here's a sample:  https://www.ft.com/content/822e982c-1b40-11e7-bcac-6d03d067f81f     The reporter, Lucy Hornby, will be among our speakers at the April 6 Finding Solutions conference.  I hope you can attend.

[Ann Huynh]

China has always been a country where most of the people occupation are agrarian.  The people are tied to the land and this due to partible inheritance, in which all the heirs laid claim to the land.  This system of inheritance made land reform in China under Mao’s rule problematic.  The land reform ended up causing many to perish and very little land was left to be distributed.  The idea of partible inheritance will give the students an opportunity to see how wealth may be distributed.  This is different from primogeniture, in which the oldest son will inherit everything.  The students will compare the two types of inheritance and see which one they would prefer and why.

[Catalina Silvestre]

 

After listening to Lenora Chu on China's Education System, I must say that I agree with the information she provides.  From my understanding China’s education system has always been one of the leading models for education across the world.  Is not a mystical fact that children who are from China are considered to be more educated than children in the United States of America.  It is also understood that the educational system in China is more structured and strict than that of United States.  I too have read articles about the Chinese education system.   These articles are either extremely heightened in a sense to promote the idea that Chinese education is a better are promoted in a way that is negative in a sense due to their system being so hard and strict.  All in all would seems to drive the Chinese educational system is obedience.  From my understanding, two articles and research, I understand that children are shamed for not performing highly.  Being an educator in the United States, in California, I have had conversations with my students in regards to if they prefer a teacher that is strict. Students often explain then if they had a teacher who was strict structured and organize they feel that they would be more successful. This leads me to question if are teaching strategies and practices in California do not meet the needs of our society where we are free to do, act, and perform while still receiving promotion. 

[Catalina Silvestre]

Ultimately I believe this has been my belief that China has always had confusion because of his multiple systems and because of the multiple conflicts that occur.  The problem lies with the struggle for power between the various groups and parties.  In turn the people who reside in these regions are affected by the mass confusion.  To me I can't understand nor conceptualize having one China with two different systems.  I believe that this would cause confusion as it currently does due to the country being divided.  I believe that what's best is one government system one economic system and one financial affairs system.  I cannot imagine the United States having multiple governmental systems economic systems financial affairs system while another part of the United States simply did something other than what the masses and the rest of the country are doing.  I believe that ultimately wanted system brings people together and help them collaboratively become better.

[Jazmin Luna]

This is a very important point to teach our students.  We can briefly mention, just like the maps, that each country has their own point of view and that people stand up for what they believe is right.  I can mention this in units like People Who Make a Difference and Many Characters, Many Points of View.  In our grade level, we can't go much into details about these wars but they are useful examples. 

[Jazmin Luna]

This video showed how anywhere you go there will always be corruption and scandals.  It's sad to see how government officials and their family members enjoy things by taking away from others.  There will always be lies that journalist uncover by investigating those in power and sometimes even risking their lives.  It's also interesting to see how social media pictures sometimes expose things that people don't want exposed.  This is why privacy is a major issue all over world. One needs to be careful about what one says or posts because it could either shed light on an ugly truth or can be misconstrued.  I always tell my students that as long as they are doing the right thing they have nothing to fear about. 

[Ann Huynh]

 

The protest in Tiananmen Square created outrage.  In America, all everyone was talking about was how the Communist party in China was suppressing the students.  This article, “Why Was Bloodshed Inevitable?” address a different viewpoint and written by the Chinese Government about their version of the events.  The article goes on to speak favorably about the reason why the protest occurred and placed the blame on Wang Dan, the leader.  The significance of the location and its importance became the focal point.  Tiananmen Square is near the capital and where the government “holds important ceremonies and receives state guests.”  Hence, the government could not allow the occupation of this space beyond a certain time.  This is China’ reason for why they enacted Marital Law and why it matters who gets to tell the story.  History cannot be changed, but viewpoints can and this is trying to do just that.  

[Tanish Fortson]

The slogan “Never Lose at the Starting Point” really gets you thinking. As I think about the possible meaning the first one that comes to mind is setting your self of for failure rather than winning. Self-defeat is a tricky concept because it is habitual things that we do everyday that sets up for failure. And the worst thing about it is that we may not even realize that we are doing it. With Bella and her parents I feel like they have a lot of long-term goals for child and no short term goals. They know where they want her to be as an adult and they are working toward that but what about her childhood?

If you read the article Bella’s attitude needs a lot of “adjusting” Her parents put a lot of pressure on her but seem as if they don’t take the time to appreciate the now. For example when Bella masters something was she given praise and celebrated? Was she given a break before moving on to the next task? It seems like nothing is fulfilling to her and to me that is just sad and I think that her parents should be a bit more realistic and not set Bella up to fail as a young adult.

[Tanish Fortson]

Humm, I didn’t know that China had alleged that the United States used chemical weapons against them during the Korean War. This really makes me wonder. Is this true?  According to John William Powell he was put on trial for publishing an article to in 1952 that officials in the United States and Japan were carrying out germ warfare in the Korean War according to n Wiki article. Sedition charges were bought against Powell but were later dismissed due to insufficient evidence.

 

Going back to this picture in which it is displaying many different types of people, I’m just wondering where the propaganda is? I get it in a since because Mao Zedong and other Communist set out to reshape the Chinese society. But is the photo supposed to represent the represent youth rebelling as well against authority figures like in the card I had that represented “Countryside Reeducation?” Is this the same message that Mao who established Red Guard wanted to get rid of the higher educated and leadership positions? I’m thinking it is because still this represents getting rid of the old. 

[Ann Huynh]

Lenora Chus’ reflection and extensive research on the Chinese education system is extremely enlightening.  In the video, Chu went into details why she moved to China, but what is captivating are her insights into the education system in China.  As young as primary schools, kids in China are taught political curriculum and are dressed in soldier outfits.  The teacher knows best and the parents need to respect that.  Unlike in America, if a child is failing, what is the teacher doing to help?  The parent forgot that they played a role in their child’s education too.  She went on about how the rural education is inferior to the major cities education, such as Shanghai and Beijing.  Consequently, the same can be said about the poor cities in California compare to the more affluent areas.  The more affluent areas have parents who have the necessary means to help their struggling student, but the poorer areas do not.  The big takeaway from the talk is that education is important, and China is trying to find ways to reform it so that students who failed the college entrance exam are not lost to the system.  There are other alternatives.  

[Ann Huynh]

Jonathan Woetzel lecture about how “to change a billion people” is quite interesting.  He started by talking about how China is considered a developing country, but based on the demography, it is developed, like other developed countries.  The idea is that the people need to urbanize if they want to get rich and many places in China is doing that.  What ended up happening is that the rural population will be even poorer than it is, but the larger the cities, the more likely it is to increase people’s earning power.  Furthermore, he went on to project that by 2025, China will once again become the focus because of how rapidly it is urbanizing.  This is why it is so important for students to learn about this country because it be a force to be reckon with in the near future.

[Cristina Hernandez]

I think your idea of researching the background, history, ideology, etc, behind the design of a country's flag is a great activity for students and I am planning to use it this upcoming semester.  I begin my unit on China's cultural landscape and my first activity will be researching the flag.  I am looking forward to see what the students infer and what they find out about China in general as a starting point for our discussions.  I am planning to allow them to choose a specific topic they want to learn more about regarding China.  I am sure that some of the most popular will be Film industry, but i wonder if this activity will change their choices.  Thanks

[Nira Sun]

And that definitely is a "life" lesson that worth of elaborating in class as well. Each person has their own point of view and they stand for what they believe is right. When disagreement arises, It is important for us to acutally practice to "be in another people's shoes". My students are high schoolers, so once in a while I will have a tiny cute little disscussion whenever we encounter some topics/incidents that are worth of going into details about. Students try to be mature but sometimes don't really know how to be. They tend to believe that adults can express whatever and however they want. The truth is that "listening and accepting the differences" are the challenging part of being a mature adult.

[Nira Sun]

When SARS broke out in China back in 2003, I was a junior in college. Looking back on those days, a lot of the images were still quite vivid. For our safety and to prevent any possible outbreak, the entire university was on lockdown. It was quite a challenging situation for university due to the mobility of students and staffs. What we were notified was that "If you lived in the dorms, you were not allowed to go back home" which I used to do once in a week. I remembered my Dad stopped by and dropped off fruits and grocery for me. I also had very good friends of mine who got ice cream (even though it was Spring time) for me and we were eating together while sitting on two sides of the fences.

There were so many different versions of rumors going on about how people spred the virus which got everyone so alerted. The internet was not that popular at that time, and definitely no smart phones in 2003 either. All our news resource came from radio stations. Luckly, it didn't last very long before we were released back home.

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