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clay dubeIt's pretty obvious where the UCLA Asia Institute is going to come out on this question, but I raise it to stimulate discussion about the perceived benefits of investing in such study and how such study ought to procede. What should be studied? By whom? When? And in what way?
clay dubeIn 2002 the Asian Studies Association of Australia produced a report Maximizing Australia's Asia Knowledge. A copy of the report is attached. The effort to produce the report was driven, in large part, by a fear that hard-won knowledge was not being renewed, that scholars were retiring or leaving Australia and that insufficient numbers of new specialists were not being prepared.
Here's the gist of the report:
"Australia’s capacity to understand its nearest neighbours and largest trading partners
is stagnant or declining at a time when pressures of globalisation impel us to interact
effectively and sensitively with the countries of Asia."
It notes that in 1988 a target of having 20% of undergraduate work involving Asia has not been met. In 2001, just 5% of undergraduate work focused on Asia. China is the most popular Asian subject and Chinese the most popular Asian language, but fewer than 2% of Australian undergrads are studying China or Chinese.
clay dubeMichigan Governor John Engler has been a prominent promoter of increasing and improving teaching about Asia. He created a commission to assess teaching about Asia, highlight model programs, and provide recommendations for improvements.
The report argues that learning about Asia is important for reasons of trade, because more residents of Michigan are of Asian ancestry, and because children will have to live and work in a complex multicultural world.
The report calls for the infusion of Asia throughout the curriculum, especially promoting the study of Asian languages. It sets a target of having 10% of Michigan students studying an Asian language by 2012. Teachers are to have exemplary materials to use with students and will be well-prepared to use them. And the report contends that Michigan must become the national leader in instruction on Asia.
A copy of the 2002 report is attached.
The economic imperative is highlighted in this observation:
"Without future employees with international knowledge, language expertise, and an understanding of foreign affairs, Michigan businesses will be less competitive..."
clay dubeCalifornia has been a leader in mandating instruction on Asia, though it's not clear how much more instruction is actually taking place or how effective that instruction might be. Here's a link to the California history, social studies, and language arts "standards" relating to Asia.
AnonymousIt is interesting that California is the leader in mandating instruction on Asia. I am only one year out of my masters/credential program at the University of La Verne and a third year teacher, and I have never been instructed or even asked to include instruction on Asia in my Language Arts curriculum. As a strong beliver in the importance of including diversity in cultural literature, I have included books like, The Clay Marble, by Minfong Ho, and Red Scarf Girl, written by Ji-Li Jiang. Both of these books present wonderful insight into Asian culture and are well worth exploring. My point in all of this is that it has never been brought to my attention by the state of California that I should include instruction on Asia into my curriculum. I do this on my own. As a matter of fact, I have never even seen the California standards related to Asia until today. You would think that as the leading state in mandating instruction on Asia, California would make this a strong part of the curriculum for teacher education programs.
AnonymousI would also question the impact of the standards being more effective in California than in other places. But can't that be said about any of the content standards that we have to get through? I think in the 7th grade world history standards, study on Asia is very significant. We get a chance to continue what our students have learned in 6th grade regarding China and then bring Japan into the mix. I have opportunities to educate my classes about Asia but in other subjects, I'm not sure how much of anything Asian gets covered. Where else would this be introduced or a continued discussion? Definitely a language arts class or an Asian language studies class. But where are the other opportunities for students to get some of this information?
AnonymousIn regards to the question of whether study of Asian culture and language should be a national priority I must answer, Yes! However, I would like to alter that question somewhat. It seems to me that study of all cultures and languages should be a national priority.
I am still in awe of the fact I was not offered second language instruction until high school. With the high demand for bilingual employees it seems very odd that most native English speakers who do not learn a second language at home will not learn one until they are nearly finished with their public education. Many school districts in Oregon are now offering two-way immersion classes at the Elementary level that are taught in English and Spanish. There are many critics of this program, but I personally think it may be a great start to fostering the love of learning languages.
As far as the study of culture is concerned, I feel that many people take the wrong approach by trying to "slip in" a lesson on one country or another. The study of culture is something that needs to be constant, present at least several times a day, and almost inconspicuous so that it does not appear to be a token lesson on a culture. Culture can be integrated into every subject and when teachers are integrating their curriculum accross subjects this becomes even easier.
I was interested in this course on Asia because I wanted to broaden my knowledge of Asia in order to be more able to find connections to what I already teach. While I have found a few new topics that I may at some point develop lessons around, I think the more important beneift of learning about Asia has been connecting information to my prior knowledge. Like many other people, I had not been exposed to a lot of education about Asia before now. However, this course helped me recognize patterns and universal themes in a more complete way. I attempt to lead my students to recognize universal themes and patterns in every lesson we do, and I now have examples to provide that relate to Asia. This is my way of exposing my students to Asia as well as many other cultures in a constant way that also focuses on what the world has in common.
AnonymousIt is very unfortunate that we a corrupt educational system not only in this State but in the entire country. The eEducation Departments set up educational standards whoch not reflective of the needs of the student polpulation or the communities where the education is imparted. California is the epitome of this state of affairs: we have millions and millions of dollars spent on projects (sprinkler systems, air conditioning, gymnesia, yextbook---ohhhh the textbooks, software, accounting systems which defraud teachers of their hard-earned salaries... etc.. etc..) which have absolutely nothing to do about or are remotely connected with the ioparting of education in the classroom to the individual student or the teacher in the individual classroom... we have classroom with one teacher and 42 students.. with broken student desks, no copy paper, ancient computers and printers, no projectors, salaries of teachers, both domestic and imported from overseas, at the base of $30,000 ... this is despicable... and the the United States of America and California in particular have the guts o say that they value education... we have in the lementary and moddle schools the so-defacto promotion based on chronology... years-of-age and not on abilities acquired to perform well... and then when our students reach high school and we must "TEACH-TO-THE-STANDARDS" we, high school teachers, are blamed for the fact that our students cannot pass the great CAHSEE... the test devised by the geniuses sitting in Sacramento or Washington DC assisted by the gurus sitting in the towers of Babel (the universities!!!!) This is truly pathetic... but the USA will keep on importing teachers, professors and researchers from India, China, Japan, EU, South America... because our population has already become semi-illiterate... and at this rate it become fully illiterate no into the too distant future...
AnonymousWhile I agree that it is important, considering the global economy, to study Asian cultures and language, I don't feel it should be the sole focus of education. America, for better or worse, is a world leader, as such we should be embracing all cultures. Which should be priorities? Well, as I said, Asia is important, but Latin America-due to it's growing population and economy, as well as the middle eastern countries should also be focused on by this nation. We know so little of what drives these cultures, but impose ourselves upon them in such a large way, it is bound to catch up with us if it hasn't already!
AnonymousShould studying Asia, its languages, and cultures be a national priority?
Oh Yes, along languages and cultures from many more countries around the world.
Understanding other ways of living and communicating effectively with other groups can bring better international relationships along piece and opportunities for prosperity and business for more people.
Also students should be offer more opportunities to study abroad with educational programs sponsored by the Federal Educational system. Its true that there are several small colleges and university programs for student exchanges and study abroad, but they are not readily available to all, the information is not passed down with efficacy, the requirements do not match what kids have been prepared to do, and the atmosphere that students have been brought up with is one of fear and not much of tolerance is really encouraged at the school level. So even those who can access the info, could be discouraged to act.
Asia has so many languages and cultural diversity of its own, allowing students to learn from it could also add to job opportunities in teaching. How many minorities are there in China alone? Imagine having a program and each week a presentation from a minority group? How cool if dance classes would include Chinese dances!
There are so many things our kids need to be exposed to. Lets send more of them to travel and learn in action, meeting people, purchasing, interacting, meeting people their age, learning what it is to be a foreigner.
AnonymousHi,
I as an educator would like to respond to this discussion point by saying that I feel that each person should be allowed to follow his or her dream. There is nothing wrong with a person choosing to learn over and beyond the general education curriculum, but to be forced to learn a language or culture that one will not use or be forced to study about a country or people one will never encounter, may not be a good thing. Why?
As a teacher I find it quite challenging to try to engage a student in a subject area he or she is not interested in. Even if a student wishes to learn something about a country they may or may not want to use the energy it takes to learn certain things about that country. An over-all brief introduction of the Asian culture is now becoming very important to the American Society, so I will say that maybe in the near future it will be a good idea to try to convince students to possibly try to involved themselves in some way, such as maybe learning Asian languages, and introducing them to more of the cultural situations that they may find themselves involved in where ever they may be .
I am for one learning as much as they can but when someone is not interested in a subject one either has to find a way to interest them find something that will get their attention, and that may be very difficult. But a good teacher is always looking for a way to teach his or her subject.
AnonymousThanks to whomever revived this thread started by Clay in 2005. This may shake up someone's paradigm but I strongly feel our students need to be introduced to Asia, it's languages and its cultures throughout their education. One reason is that Pacific Rim history (including Latin America) is essential to California history(the 5th largest economy in the world, last I checked). Another reason is that citizens of the United States need to catch up on the history of global issues. And another reason is that Asia has always represented more than half of the planet earth in spatial and population terms, and has been connected to Western civilization since early times. The ultimate goal of our national history framework is to understand the antecedents to our government and culture so that students will be prepared to participate intelligently in that government. Because traditional Western civilization curriculum tends to forget the cultural diffusion that took place between Asia and the rest of the world (even as far back as the Han and Roman empires) one tends to attribute all innovation of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment to be neo-classical and Eurocentric. In my internet search to prepare my lessons for our unit I came across an interesting collection of essays in a book called Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching by By Ainslie Thomas Embree,Carol Gluck, M.E. Sharpe, New York, 1997,ISBN 1563242648. Rhoads Murphey begins an introductory essay with "Our purpose here is to enrich the student's understanding of Western civilization by pointing out its interconnections with Asia through out history."
I think this should always be the history teacher's goal: to bridge the perceived gap between Western and non-Western histories and cultures.
(You can preview many pages by going to http://books.google.com/books?id=VZ1UHX-L8jgC&printsec=copyright&vq=13#PPA7,M1) This would be a great book for future seminars. It comes out of the Columbia project for core curriculum