Session 2 readings (dube, 3/3 afternoon)

[Stella Castro]

I was really impressed by the readings of this session. I especially liked reading the comics about piety, as it goes to great lengths to show the devotion one has for their parents, especially in the Asian, cultures, where this is the norm. As I had heard, believe and understand the Asian cultures do everything of their parents/s, they listen to their advise, which they inadvertently call it wisdom. They abide by the parents rules and regulations, and simply just OBEY, them. This is a good ideal for the parents, especially back in the day. However, we are now living in the 20^th century and naturally things have changed, with the times. The rules, laws, peoples wishes, hopes, and obedience’s. It is particularly in the Asian homes where this filial piety still exists. I chose to comment on ht comic strips rather than on the articles, because I feel that nowadays no one listens to their parents any more. If they do, it goes in one ear and out the other; it seems as if nowadays, everyone is more interested in themselves, than in helping others especially their very own parents. To me everyone now has an," It’s me or no one else attitude toward/s everyday life situations. So while reading the comics about filial piety, I found it amusing how well the stories were written, the stories credit the right people by their virtue. Even the god’s would acknowledge the characters in the stories because of their good deeds they wanted to do, or just even the thinking about it. For instance the God’s, planting a chunk of gold where a couple plane to bury their son to save the man’s mother, because the man’s mother always fed and gave her Sarandon , the last bite of food, although the grandmothers was wasting away. Or in another story where a young man would let the mosquitoes bite him until the mesquites got their fill of blood, just that his parents could rest peacefully at night without getting bitten by the mosquito seven carrying ones’ own mother to go and look and work as a hired hand, as in yet another story, where the bad men, gave the good and devoted son, some food, rather than hurting and robbing him/them, because he saw the devoutness of the son towards his mother.

What I learned about these readings and how I can apply them to my students is, to teach them to love their family, respect their elders, and to always do the right thing and also to love and respect themselves.

[Jonathan Tam]

The most prominent piece of today’s seminar was the lingering effects of confucius. His proverbs, quotes, and way of life are well known throughout the world and have almost been the face of China. But, what I found to be even more interesting was how confucianism was challenged by a bunch of other valid and well-thought ideologies. I was very much new to some of Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism - but to see how they share elements with each other and debated each other during this time of warring states was the most interesting to see. I’m certainly left with the question of how confucianism made its way out to reach western cultures the most prominently.

[Jonathan Tam]

One of the most resonating anecdotes shared in seminar today was how leaders and warlords of the late Shang used Oracle Bones. The reading provided a lot of context as to how the bones were used for mobilization, childbirth and weather phenomenon. But, Clay added a lot more to the fact that oracle bones were typically Ox scapula and were read by the cracks that appeared on it. The messages that were read in each prediction definitely made me wonder how many did not come to fruition. I can only imagine that oracles that predicted well were heavily used, but that oracles that would predict wrong to be punished.

[Brandon Abraham]

For the Humanities 9 class I'm putting together, I'm going to have students read portions of The Art of War and attempt to apply these lessons to their daily life. With the Common Core's emphasis on nonfiction text and primary sources, I think this will fit well with both the English and History departments, but, also, serve as an introduction to early Chinese writing.

[Brandon Abraham]

I'm also planning on doing a modified version of the activity. I might give them a very, very specific situation and have each four-person group answer in the style of that school of thought so they have an opportunity to practice. Then, as they gain confidence, I would do a Four Corners activity with each corner of the room representing a particular school.

[Stella Castro]

I also found this reading to be quite interesting. I was brought up to think that respect for the elderly is of the utmost importance even if these elderly are not one’s parents.  But it is also just as important to respect one’ parents. I have also known that in the Chinese culture there is much respect and loyalty for one’s parents, but not to the extreme as depicted in the cartoon readings but I found the cartoons readings to be quite amusing. . But now by the readings and the lectures I am beginning to understand just how much this Filial piety is so important in the Chinese culture, (this is also portrayed in the movies). All the devotion, care, obedience and, respect, naturally goes hand in hand for social order and justice, and respecting none’s superiors helps in an orderly civilization. However, prior, I did not know that this devotion to family, this filial piety of the family affects Chinese politics and there philosophies.

I think that my students would be more receptive to learning about filial piety, and devotion, because some of the readings are in a cartoon manner, and the characters are in traditional Chinese dress attire, which I know they will find amusing.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Now that my students are reviewing for the AP Exam, I find it interesting that Mo Zi and Sun-tzu are not a part of the philosophies covered in early China. While reviewing Doaism, Confucianism, and Legalism, I decided to teach students about Mo Zi and Sun Tzu. Many had heard of "The Art of War." Some students were curious about why Mohism is not included. They were especially intrigued when I said Sun Tzu lived around the time and place as Confucius. Discussing College Board curriculum and who decides what we should learn turned into a topic of interest that day. Next year, I think I should include Mo Zi and Sun Tzu in the content, and ask students to decide which 3 philosophies are the most important in Chinese History. From here, we can discuss who writes history and why sourcing is important. 

[Percy Ortiz]

That sounds like a cool idea. I would add that by incorporating parts of the audio version you can change it up a bit and allow students that are auditory learners to benefit from the activity, of course this is just to augment what every reading they are already having. Geography could also be incorporated into the lesson.

[Sandra Soltero-Torres]

     Filial Piety, a practice praised by Confucious and carried to new heights during the Han Dynasty, refers to the family being the fundamental unit of Chinese society.   it was based on the idea that parents looked out for the interests of their children and in turn obedient chidren would take care of their parents in old age.  Servitude towards ones parents and ones ruler was the ideal and this in turn dictated a person's character.  All this pointed towards morality and being loyal to ones superiors.  This tradition of filial piety still holds truth in the sense that sons and daughters are still held to the moral standard that a good son or daughter should always take care of their parents in their elderly age.  Although I am not Chinese, I can relate and draw comparisons to my own Mexican cultural traditions where these family morals and traditions also exist.  In the Mexican culture, it is quite common to have strong family values where we are always expected to take care of one another.  Children are expected to take in and care for their parents in their elderly age.  I believe that these traditions are valuable and set a good example of what family unity should be.  Traditions, such as respecting and taking care of parents in their elderly age, should definitely be traditions that are carried on. 

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

I also found connections between between both cultures regarding the importance of taking care of elders. It's interesting how, despite the quite different culture and history, some values seem universal from country to country. The value of filial piety being one of them. You put it very well when you said it is "quite common to have strong family values where we are always expected to take care of one another." This is a quite important cultural value for both countries and quite a universal one for many other countries regardless of their history, language or culture. 

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Sandra and Juan, you both point out that while filial piety as a value that is held in high esteem in Chinese philosophy, family and government, that it is not uniquely a Chinese value, but a universal one.  This is an important point and one we can stress with our students when discussion filial piety within the context of Chinese history and culture.  It would be easy to stress this value as inherent to a particular culture and so inadvertenly emphasize the differences among cultures.  It would be equally as meaningful to help students see how they can personally connect to the values of a distant place and culture as we endeavor to create understanding and empathy across cultures in our students.  It is through these universal values and experiences that seem to transcend cultural differences that we can help our students make those connections.

[Tanish Fortson]

I always find myself drawn to things that women go through just to live a decent life. Matchmaking is no new thing. It’s been around for centuries. Men in South Korea who necessarily do not make much money but cannot marry up, find themselves in an undesirable situation. The problem that the article highlights is that these marriages are falling apart as quickly as they began. This article follows is a 20 year old Vietnamese woman named Danh.  From what I read, Danh is one of the luckier ones because her husband is actually nice and seems to love her. But some of the other women are not so lucky. They are 19 and 20 year old young women that end up with some 40 something year old men. I cannot imagine being a young impressionable woman marrying a man that I did not know and we didn’t even share the same language. Most women in this situation want to be obedient to their families and the men they marry so they usually don’t protest. 

[Laura Gonzales]

I go two things from the reading the 1st thing is the importance that is placed on tradition and the taking care of the elders. In this case the stories message was to put your parents before anybody else even before yourself. These stories were portrayed as an act of bravery and sacrifice from the child and in the end they were rewarded for putting parents before them.

 

The second thing I thought of was, how much has society changed from those early teachings. I wonder if elder home care facilities exist in China and if they do, is it something that is stigmatized because the son or daughter is unable to take care of the parent. I think it is a good thing that from an early age children are taught that they need to honor and respect their parents I might not agree with getting bit with mosquitos but it is a good sign of respect that should be taught more to our younger generations.

 

[Tanish Fortson]

I have always wondered about customs in other cultures when it comes to elders. Different cultures have different attitudes and practices around aging and death. It seems like in Western culture we don’t celebrate our elderly as much as other cultures do. We seem quick to think of the burden that our aging population causes versus celebrating the aging process. I hate that we focus on youth and “looking young “Aging has become almost a shameful experience and looked at as such a negative thing. My mother has already expressed that she’ll go into a nursing home so my siblings and I will not need to take care of her. 

 

In Korea much of the aging is rooted in the Confucian principle of filial piety, in which the young members of a family have a duty to care for the aging members of the family. In this culture everyone is socialized to respect and show deference to older individuals as well as authority figures. Placing your parents in retirement homes does give one a stigma of being a bad or uncaring child and its considered dishonorable. I did read an article a while back stating that due to the one child policy, nursing homes are beginning to become a more socially acceptable option for elderly care. 

[Tanish Fortson]

If my Father broke the law as a Mohists I would absoultly torn and terrible. The Mohists have a formed a highly structured political organization that preached, the writings of Mozi. Since they emphasize discipline and authority I would be scared for my father. He would suffer the conquences and I’d be left without a father. Like the Confucians, they hired out their services not only for gain, but also in order to realize their own ethical ideals.  Mohists people promotes a philosophy of impartial caring; that is, a person should care equally for all other individuals, regardless of their actual relationship to him or her. There should be no hierarchy. Depending on the severity of his crime, my family and I would stick by his side and vouch for him. I don’t think that under Mohists law they would be wasteful with his life. They would probably put him to work using him as an labors. Master Mo didn’t agree with any form of aggression, especially war between states so it is possible my father would be ok. 

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