Why Study East Asia?

[Anonymous]

I think one of the main reasons Asia should be taught is that it has such an impact on the global economy. East Asia is now the mover and the shaker of the world.

Unfortunately, in the State Standards, exposure to East Asia is rather limited. (At least at the high school level). When I was in high school, there was virtually no exposure because 10th grade history only covered European history. I faced the same situation in college, because the course was not called World History but European history.

What message does this convey from the standpoint of the educators who put together the California curriculum? (6)

More emphasis should be placed on teaching Asia--yet it is difficult because of the regulation of the standards imposed upon us.

[Edit by="hpenrod on Jan 31, 10:11:41 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

The Snapshots from Japan was truly enlightening. I really had no idea just how many varieties of high schools there were in Japan. originally, I believed as most others do, that the students' lives are under a great deal of educational pressure. After seeing the options of different styles of high schools, I no longer see Japan as a country with only one road or failure. It has helped to dissolve part of the stereotype. By seeing that there is diversity in the students and their choice of schooling, my ideas of society are richer and less cartoonish.

[Anonymous]

With over 2 billion in population, its odd that people still tend to think of Asian countries as monolithic cultures. I thought this also until a few years ago, especially about Japan, since it has tried to keep itself a pretty homogenous culture. But, with that many people you are bound to get some different ideas. In some ways China is like the U.S., since its culture was constantly reinvigorated by people from outside its political borders. In our seminar we learned not only that the Mongols changed many things about China, but some of its earlier emperors, like emperor Wen who reunified China again aound 589, also came from tribes outside of China. Of course, this is true of other nations and empires throughout history. In fact, it is a mark and predictor of decline when a civilization closes its borders and its mind to people from other places.

[Anonymous]

I am very late because I cannot keep my dates straight. And... I don't know where to post this information. THE IMPACT OF THIS WORKSHOP.

I learned a great deal about East Asia. I told my students. We started projects. My favorite is our international show. It is happening on April 20th. We focus on as many cultures from our school as possible. Latins are broken into Salvadoreans, Guatemalans, Venezuelans, etc. Asians are Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Japanese (not too often), Korean (special dance this year), Philippines, etc. This is the most fun. UCLA and the Freeman Foundation have opened new doors to understanding some of these cultures. We are exploring together the wealth of information on the web as well as in the books and newspapers.

My Asian students are especially proud to showcase and present information about their culture and they are hoping to make their other teachers aware of these histories. They want to do a cultural fair as well as the show. I think we can organize it by next April.

The students are excited about their project (my lesson plan about manga) and I am excited to see what they will create. Despite the lack of an art teacher at our school, we have some gifted visual artists. One boy in my humanities class knows that I enjoy manga and brings me books all of the time -- I have become a quick reader of comics. With the popularity of anime movies and anime-like films (Kill Bill, Sin City), we may design one of our shows to be a less violent rendition of the myths we have discovered from each culture. The humanities classes can design the set, lighting, costumes -- the dance classes can perform the show. This could be quite fun.

Besides the manga and mythology, I have fallen in love with literature again. I had lapsed into mystery reading for pleasure. This asian studies course has renewed my interest in other literature. I can pass on these poems and short stories to my humanities students. I plan a unit on them in June after the last show and after final tests. It will be a pleasurable, non-tested, non-graded activity.

Thank you for everything.

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