Session #2 - March 2 (afternoon), Clay Dube

[Ricardo Reyes]

The thick reading and instructor led dialogue left me feeling complete wonderment. The following night I watched non-stop the movie, Confucius, the 2009 life story of Confucius directed by Mei Hu and starring Yun-Fat Chow, a recognizable actor. This biographical drama film blended the complex politics and war as Confucius as a political rising star was promoted from mayor to Minister for Law in his home state of Lu. His mixture of philosophy, respectfulness, and adroit handling of sophistry posed by clever competitors and opponents facilitated his rise to the level of worship by his supporters and even the emperor. That is, until one day the Emperor brings dishonor to Confucius by denying him a traditional holiday feast and presented a parted (broken in two) jade amulet. Confucius embarks dejectedly into a wondering journey of survival which grows as his followers surround him thereby forming a roving academy as they seek shelter, security from threats, and the eternal search for truth and wisdom. For more than fourteen years of devotion to his teachings, he is welcomed back into his homeland which has been all but demolished through rivalries and chaos. He establishes his academy and only requests he be allowed to teach. The observance of his 2,560 birthday was commemorated one year later with the release of this film in 2010. 

My personal reaction is that my world was bereft of his greatness and profound influence on the world since his passing. I always considered him to have  been an itinerant philosopher whose sayings are more apropos for fortune cookies than at the very core of human history and thinking. I have opened up a pure admiration for learning much more about Confucius and his philosophies. 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Legalism will prevail.  Human nature is basically selfish.  Therefore people can be manipulated by a set of rewards and punishments.  The best tactic of control is fear.  Laws should be very clear to all and they should be strictly enforced.  People should focus on farming and agriculture.  This will bring prosperity and in turn establish the resources needed for a strong military.  A strong military, in turn, will give a stronghold and allow for holding on to power.  All competing systems of thought will be exterminated. Legalists will exterminate Confucians, Mohists, and Daoists. In class, students will have a debate about which philosophy is the best one and why. 

[Linda Gonzales Diaz]

Teaching 6th grade ancient civilizations, I have a couple of chapters on Asia but it is limited to Chinese settlement and development of dynasties.  We also briefly touch on Chinese philosophies. So brief is this chapter that it is limited to only 3 philosophies: Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism.  They completely omit Mohism. I must admit that reading this week's texts  was the first time I had heard of the philosophy of Mohism. I can't help but wonder why this textbook decided not to include this philosophy. I find that this particular philosophy has many parallels to the Restorative Justice practices we use currently at our school and in my classroom.  After reading the text and participating in the debate about these four philosophies, I plan to also incorporate Mohism as one of the major philosophies of China. I can also help them see the similarities between then and now and how even ancient philosophies are still relevant today. 

In addition to diving deeper into Chinese history, I will also include other regions that take many influences from China (Japan, Korea).

[clay dube]

Ricardo, delighted to hear that you were so immersed in the film. I'm glad you posted your response to it here, but please also be sure to post your review in the "Film Festival" forum. https://china.usc.edu/k12/forums/forums/film-festival

[Ricardo Reyes]

Your suggestion to post my review in the "Film Festival" forum has been accomplished. Glad to share.

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I love this lesson idea!  I would borrow it and teach it to my ninth graders.  I enjoyed reading the article in the link!  It is very interesting and I agree with the arguments Howard Gardner presents advocating philosophy courses on college campuses.  Incidentally, Howard Gardner, the author of the article and a developmental psychologist, developed the Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1986. Although this theory was met with much criticism at the beginning, it is widely used today in education.  It allows a teacher to reach all or a bigger number of students while employing different teaching modalities and strategies.  Since I teach at a bilingual school I use many different strategies and methods to reach all students, those who are fluent in the second language as well as those new to my class.

I would create a lesson for the ninth grade asking the same four big questions from above.  After a mini lesson about Chinese philosophy and a class discussion, students would work in small group to formulate their own life philosophy incorporating elements taught by the Chinese philosophers.  This would be very exciting to teach!

[Salbador Gonzalez]

During this session, it was interesting to learn about the many chinese philosophies that have affected and helped the world today. Lots of Confucian quotes are always used to keep the peace in human beings nowadays as well as show wisdom. I feel as I have practiced lots of the Confucian philosophy as many people have in regards to respecting everybody, especially your elders, and having the "ideal family" in mind at all times. 

When learning about the Mohists, I could compare them to being like the US government as we are also into being specialists in military defense, even though Mohists weren't in favor of war like the US government shows to be. Mohists were similar to Confucians in respecting their elders, but Mohists wanted sons and daughters to respect their elders as they would their own fathers and mothers. 

What I learned about the Daoists, is that they didn't favored progress. They wanted people to be happy with what they had. We all should be, but it seemed as if they didn't want people to have dreams to do more with what they had. "Find content with what you are and what you have." We all should have some Daoists in us as we sometimes forget how priviledged we are in the US compared to the rest of the world in regards to resources. As Dao de Jing stressed, "ambition and greed are the sources of human grief."

Nowadays, I see legalists as the police force ensuring order in the US. Although there probably aren't as harsh punishments/ consequences as back when the legalists began, I see the police for as the legalists of the present era. 

 

I see that nowadays society has a lot of these chinese philosophies intertwined and evolving as we speak. I wonder how much of these philosophies we use without knowing so. These philosophies have been around longer than many countries and wouldn't be surprised to find out in the future the connection between the present governments and cultures using part of each of these chinese philosophies. 

[Dennis O'Connell]

The article about Shang dynasty oracle bones reminded me of a book by the title "Oracle Bones" by Peter Hessler.  I highly recommend his first book, "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze", which chronicles his time as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in China and how he saw the people getting ready for the Three Gorges Dam and how it would dramatically affect their lives.  His second book, "Oracle Bones", shuttles between ancient history and modern changes in China and is a good read!  I just found out he completed the trilogy with a third book, "Country Driving".  Having not read it, I can't comment, but I have just ordered it so I can read it!  

[Ricardo Reyes]

The thick reading Chinese Philosophy is chock full of so many pearl drops. In reviewing this reading I came across my flourescent highlighting from Xun Zi (298-235 B.C.E.) on page 27. His section categorized, On Human Nature, contains a timeless observation (10) (On education) "Not having heard it is not as good as having heard it; having heard it is not as good as having seen it: having seen it is not as good as understanding it: understanding it is not as good as doing it. The ultimate objective of learning is to put in actual practice the lessons one has learned."  Is this profound or what? Nuts and bolts education, is what I learned in business school. Applied knowledge seems to leave lasting impressions even when mistakes occur and form learning stages when overcome. This reading will be purposeful in postings for the upcoming year. His (7) is lengthy and should be given another solid look. What would this world be without teachers? According to Xun Zi, the world would be full of thieves, murderers, the disorderly, and the eccentrics. For my economics class, I will post and rely on (3) "While people's likes and dislikes are the same, there are not sufficient goods to satisfy everybody, and hence there will inevitably be strife."  Economics is the study of resources, scarcity, and decision-making, plus much more. Strife is fundamental to international political economics with the struggles over sufficient goods and resources, likes/dislikes, and trade wars. 

 

[Amy Chen]

I agree that a debate between students would be an effective lesson on Chinese philosophy. I enjoyed the way Clay had our class divided into different schools of thought and then argue which one is the best. I had my students participate ina similar activity, instead of a debate they taught a lesson as one of the schools of though.

[Salbador Gonzalez]

Great questions to have students to reflect on. I  will use the same questions but not relate them to life, but rather have them research and reflect on sport philosophies from different sports in different countries as each country has their own style of play based on their strengths. I would create a handout for them to fill out in order to give them the opportunity to express their philosophy in regards to playing an specific sport or game. 

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