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AnonymousRicki~
I do agree totally with you. We are only doing an injustice to education by watering down our curriculum. When we meet people from other countries and hear how much they know about US history; we realize what a disservice we are doing to our students by not giving them a global education.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Corinne
AnonymousThat is a great post. But I have more to add to that. It is also important to note that when students learn about only specific cultures, whether or not they are their own, it is possible for that to stick in their minds.
If there are a few black and hispanic leaders for them to learn about, and a ton of white ones... but no asians, that says something to them. Obviously, Asians must be less important. Students will interpret the missing races this way, even though we know this is not the true case.
I think that the fact that Asia was missing from the cirriculum for so long in our public schools makes it so the teachers know less about it. Knowing less about it makes them teach it less thoroughly, if they are brave enough to approach it at all (or willing to do the extra work to learn about it). While students get the idea that it doesn't much matter to them if it doesn't matter to their teachers.
Also, I dislike that multicultural teaching so often revolves around individual leaders. Events in history are also very important, the effects of the events are things that should also be taught to our students. It's not all about MLK Jr. What about the whole civil rights movement? Or all the men and women that risked themselves to follow him? He could not have been so important on his own.
We all need to learn about each other because we all now make up America. We will need info about all cultures to understand politics of the future and to interact appropriately with our co-workers, whether in a small business or in a large multi-country corporation. Not only is America a multicultural place, but the economy has globalized to an extent that people are touched by other cultures everywhere.
AnonymousI think we should teach about East Asia, because it is a major contributor to our history. I never learned anything about Asia when I was taught in the Midwest. It wasn't considered as important as Western Civ. I think I was dealt a major disservice, because I didnt' really understand History in a global sense. Also, if you pay attention to the world economy there are major players now in that area. If we want our students to be competitive in the global market, they need to know and understand what they are up against. We need to help prepare them.
AnonymousEven though there sometimes seems to be too many demands placed upon us as classroom teachers, we need to recognize that our primary responsibilities center around preparing our students to compete in a global society and since Asia is a major part of that society, it is imperative that we figure out ingenius ways in which to teach about east Asia while still meeting other classroom requirements. Also, since our classrooms are made up of students of different backgrounds and cultures, we as teachers need to be aware of cultural influences and differences that can hamper, hinder, or enhance the academic progress of our students. We need to teach our students to value and respect the differences of others, and since there is a rapidly growing Asian population in our country and in our schools, this particular culture too deserves to be included in our curriculum and in our teaching. When one considers the advanced educational level of many Asian students and compares that with the educational crisis that exists here in our own country, it seems that we can learn much from teaching eastAsia in the classroom
AnonymousI don't believe there is one perfect pedagogy, or even master curriculum standards, to teach about any one particular culture or its history.
However, there are the infinite ways to reach our students within the curriculum of the state framework.
While ELL classes and other Humanities related courses do often better use interdisciplinary approaches, we social studies teachers often rely on tried and true lesson plans to teach our subject content. I too have been guilty myself sometimes of relying too much on written text... But in many ways, multimedia has allowed us teachers to bring 'East Asia' closer to our classroom...
Finding and creating short multimedia files should be the new form of research we teachers should be more involved in our daily lives. Just like shareware on computers, there are many public domain files for use in your classroom, such as PowerPoint presentation and QuickTime/Movie clips. I know textbook companies offer samples to use with your class textbooks, yet I never find personal connection to prefabricated material. There should be a sense of discovery and new knowledge for the educator in creating the lesson, not just for the students learning it. While I resisted VCR taping of daily news programs for viewing in the classroom, new DVD-Recorders make it easy to edit and present them to students in short snippets and engaging reality views. While I might take it for granted that many programs and information is at the fingertips of students at home and at school, it may be up to us teachers to draw the lines in connecting the children's world to the rest of the living globe.
In addition, East Asia, similar to Europe, might be ahead in providing translated films and lesson materials. Many purchased DVD's now have both English and another Asian language with English subtitles. This offers more multisensory exposure to the context of Asian languages. I just wish more children's programming and educational programming from Asia would be available translated.
Many Japanese newspapers for example offer English-translated versions of their web-sites. This could be another way to keep up with local/national news of East Asia. At least it may be of interest to some people to see the world events from another's perspective... I know the recent elections in Mexico and South America has led me to find more Spanish-related sites that offer translated articles...
AnonymousHere is an interesting article where regular South Koreans give their reactions to North Korea's missle launch
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5154798.stm
Its interesting the response. By the way, when I want World News I usually go to the BBC and for Asia news they have a very good page right here
AnonymousI recently read an article in Essence magazine about a young African American women who left her comfortable surroundings in New york city to teach with the Peace Corps for two years in a small vllage in Mongolia.She taught seventh grade there. She reports that the village has no running water,two wells, and three general stores that sell mostly candy, cookies,salad in a jar, and vodka. What an odd combination of ingredients I thought as I was reading the article.The article said that each village has at least one bread lady whose home you could go to in order to purchase fresh baked bread. The Peace corps teacher lived in a ger, which is a small house made of muslin, felt, and horse hair. As I was reading the article, I was thinking to myself, " Why would a Black woman want to go to Mongolia and what kind of reception did she receive there?" She remarked about how warm and friendly the people were in this tiny village and how they didn't mind that she was Black. They were always bringing her gifts and having her to twist their hair into dreadlocks. To them she was just the Brown woman who lived in a ger and taught their children. People are simply people wherever they are, and their needs are basically the same --- to be fed, clothed, sheltered, loved, and taught.
AnonymousHaving grown up in the south during the ciil rights movement, I was overtly aware of the atrosities that my own people had undergone, but I was completely oblivious to the plight of other cultures. We need to make our students aware of the Asian culture, and the struggles, trials, and disappointments that they have had to face, especially since immigrating to the United States. I only learned about Japanese internment camps a few years ago when I attended a week long workshop that was sponsered by Multicultural Alliance, a program that was then offered by the University of San Francisco in conjunction with AmeriCorp. Why did I not know about the Internment Camps before? Was it because I lived in the south and this was deemed unimportant to southerners? We live in a global society and it is necessary that everyone is aware of everyone else in order that we may foster acceptance and respect, rather than harbor ignorance, hatred, and resentment.
AnonymousAccordine to Asian American statistics and the U S Census 2000 Statistics/2006 Updates, the Asian population in the United States currently totals 14 millioin with about 50% of Asias living in the West. Asians live in key U S states and metropolitan areas, with 75% of Asians living in just ten states: CA, NY, HI, TX, IL, NJ, WA, FL, VA, and MA. California has the highest amount of Asians, with the highest concentration of them living in LOS Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. There are 73,910 Asians currently living in the Seattle area, the city in which I now reside. In view of these increasing numbers, it is imperative that we teach about east Asia, as well as Asia as a whole, because Asian students are bound to account for a large population of our students. It is highly necessary that we understand the culture and heritage of the students we are teaching so that we may help them to reach their greatest learning potential.
AnonymousApproximately seven years ago, when I taught a 1/2 grade combination classroom in Seattle, a poll was taken within the Seattle Public School District to see which foreign language most needed to be taught in the classroom. The results of this poll showed that the most needed language was Japasese. Thus, a pilot program was instituted whereby teachers of all grade levels were invited to attend a series of workshops to learn Japanese and to return to our respective classrooms and teach it to our students. We received hourly pay for attendance. The workshop was taught by teachers of Japanese heritage. To go along with the lectures, we were given video tapes and books to assist with proper enunciation of words and other teahing skills and techniques. At the time, I taught at the African American Academy and at least 99% of my students were black, but they appreciated learning about another culture. My students greeted me each morning by standing, bowing, and echoing, " Ohaio Sensei Killian" and I would respond in kind. We also learned other greeting as well. We further learned the names of the primary colors and how to count from one to ten in Japanese. My students were thrilled when we learned to play "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Japanese. Even though those students will probably never visit Japan, at least they understand a little bit about Japanese culture and they can share that knowledge with any Japanese person that they chance to meet, cosidering the number of Japanese Americans living in Seattle.
AnonymousI think we should teach about East Asia because there is so much that can be learned. Some students may not be aware of this but Asia has had many influences historically throughout the world. I'm not sure how much time is spent or how much information is covered in history classes but at least it shouldn't be left out.
AnonymousWell I heard something disturbing today. Since I just heard it, I don't know how widespread this is across LAUSD elementaries. Apparently the district feels that soccial studies is embedded enough in the english language arts programs that they are not replacing the old social studies books. These books apparently can't be used any more because they are not standards based. They will eventually be replaced with a booklet. Now in regards to why teach about east asia?...(even though in the elementary there are only a handful of standards that could tie in or relate to east asia). Well I think Elementary teachers need to work it into their cross curicculum even more than before. Middle School and highschool teachers can't afford to skip over it since the amount they will recieve in elementary is even more slim to non. Perhaps we need more teachers sharing accorss the curriculum lessons that incorporate east asia.
As a middle school teacher, many of my students haven't been out of their neighborhhod, or city. perhaps the only exception is going to Mexico. They don't travel, and their parents don't expose them either to other cultures. As teachers perhaps we cqan casually fit east asia into discussions when possible, put up more pictures! Many students don't even know where Japan. China,etc are located and what those countries look like. Give students access to research on the internet. Talk up items from the media, comics, movies, that grab their attention...something they can relate to. In doing so be careful of stereotypes, but exposure is usually good. Especially if they haven't had any. GOOD LUCK!