[Meghann Seril]

Hi Jonathan! Thank you for sharing your question about party membership. As we were discussing I was thinking about the caste system in India as there are privileges afforded to the upper castes while those in the lower castes are oppressed. I am wondering about the opportunities for non-party members to improve their status. Could this be done through marriage? Or would that be frowned upon?

[Meghann Seril]

I found it interesting that Kim Jong Il felt the need to start from scratch so to speak when establishing his regime. He opted to align with the military leaders and promote younger members to higher positions. I would think that with Kim Il Sung's blessing that he should be the successor that Kim Jong Il would not have felt threatened by the older generation of leadership and might rely on them for a smooth transition. I would also wonder about the perception that the members of the older leadership regime would not be able to shift their allegiance to Kim Jong Il. Was that a reasonable concern? I am also wondering if Kim Jong Il's "on the spot inspections" were akin to Kim Il Sung's "on the spot guidance?" If so, this strategy would be a good way for Kim Jong Il to ingratiate himself to the military members who were the majority of his base in establishing his regime.

[Meghann Seril]

Hi Tom- You bring up an important tactic or strategy of cultivating group think around a specific belief by grouping people as a "unified evil object" or idea rather than seeing individual people. It's scary and disheartening to realize how this tactic is used over and over to create division but I'm hopeful that through our work as teachers when can help students see through that kind of rhetoric.

[Meghann Seril]

What I find most fascinating from the video and texts are the ways in which Kim Il Sung was able to spread his origin story and Juche ideology. The use of songs, paintings, and photographs points to the importance and influence of art in cementing Kim Il Sung's title as the "Great Leader." He is depicted as handsome, brave, and stoic in the different artworks included in the Kwon and Chung article. I noted that many of the songs address him as a father-figure from whom all good things come. As a teacher, I was of course struck by embedded examples of the greatness of North Korea and danger of South Korea and America in the children's stories and math problems. Although only 20% of the math problems are presented in word problem format, the messages about Americans and South Koreans as evil and unfortunate comes through clearly. For me, it brought up a question about what biases may be present in our own math texts and the kinds of messages it could be sending to students as they read between the lines to understand the contexts of the math problems. If someone has no other source of information that those provided by the government it is no wonder that Kim Il Sung was successful in uniting North Korea as a dependent family state.

[Meghann Seril]

Thank you for a very interesting discussion about the roles of women in South Korean society. I had not previously thought about the challenges of reunification of the two Koreas. We discussed some of the supports available to women who can afford it, but I was wondering if you could also share if the government provides any supports, especially for working moms? I am also wondering what the experience is like for women in North Korea. Thank you again for a robust discussion.

[Meghann Seril]

Thank you for giving us the basics about the two Koreas. Something that was surprising was the population number relative to the land area. I imagine that different aspects of life are greatly impacted including housing accommodations and access to green space. One thing that I could discuss with my third graders is the choice of symbols for each flag and what that projects about the values and priorities of each country.

[Meghann Seril]

Hello, I'm Meghann Seril from Los Angeles, CA. I am a third grade teacher at Broadway Elementary in a Mandarin dual language program in Venice. I previously participated in the seminar on East Asia Origins to 1800s. I am looking forward to learning more about the history of Korea and understanding the current context.

[Meghann Seril]

Hi Jessica! I have been wondering at what age is it appropriate to start facilitating these complex and uncomfortable discussions with students? I know that when tricky subjects come up with my third graders I have to think so carefully about how I guide discussion while allowing students to share their truth in a safe space. It's so much to think about when we are already trying to pack a lot into a short day. I have been doing some work on becoming an anti-racist teacher. I hope this resources might be helpful for you and your little ones. https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/RacialEquity.pdf

[Meghann Seril]

Hi Billie! I also wonder about the political will to do something. I think it's an even more complex question to consider given our current situation. I wonder if this move into physical isolation will also mean political isolation with an "each country for themself" attitude. It seems that way listening to some of our politicians. I imagine like with many other movements, the political action will come from constituents making demands of their elected officials. Let's hope any action will not be too late.

[Meghann Seril]

Hi Hilda. You bring up an important point about artifacts from all different cultures around the world that are no longer in their location of origin. I have also heard of artifacts being privately owned and traded. I would think that museums and organizations would have a responsbility to return the property back to the rightful owner. There is so much knowledge to be lost especially from artifacts that have been hidden away in private collections.

[Meghann Seril]

 I really enjoyed this course on the history of East Asia. One of the teaching points that stood out to me was our reflection on larger themes such as the consequences of being open or closed, the benefit and cost of development, and how and by whom history is told. I think these ideas can be discussed with students at different age groups. For my third graders, looking at the pros and cons of development always generates interesting discussion. Something new I want to facilitate for them is the consideration of the authors of the history we consume. Even in third grade I think I can start to build critical thinking skills that will help students consider the motives of the authors and how it may influence our own understandings of historical figures and context. A text like The Good, the Bad, the Ugly by Hurst could be adapted to aid in that discussion.

Teaching in a Mandarin dual language program, I want to be able to include opportunities for students to see examples from East Asia that would integrate with the grade level content. When we learn about traits and heredity in our science unit on animals and plants, I could pair it with a text about Fu Xi, who invented the domestication of animals. A different point of comparison is the development of the city along the Los Angeles River and comparing that with the growth along the Yellow River. In addition, we can analyze the housing styles and materials. We can also compare different kinds of pottery and artwork from China and the Tongva tribe of Los Angeles. This aligns with the standards of identifying and describing artworks from different parts of the world. I found a lot of math connections with many of photographs shared in our discussion of architecture and city planning. As area and perimeter are a new concept in third grade, I would like to bring in real world examples of different layouts for students to consider. We can make connections to geometry when looking at Hakka dwellings.

Today’s symposium on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang really amplified the importance of using our platform as teachers to share different stories and perspectives with our students. We can’t know if we are never exposed, and the dangers and cost of not knowing and not understanding are too high. Many of my students have a Chinese background and I hope to use the information I’ve learned to help them see  themselves reflected in our social studies discussions.

[Meghann Seril]

One point that Dr. Kurban brought up was about how textbooks and school curriculum don't reflect Uyghur history. I think about our own curriculums and how many groups of people are left out of the history books. I am also sad to say that I don't know a lot about my own Filipino heritage, having been raised in the United States from the age of 2. I am really grateful for the opportunity to learn about the situation in Xinjiang. Like Mario, I was not familiar with the history, hearing only recently about the "re-education camps." I think this symposium was a moving way to end our seminar as it reminds me that we have an opportunity in our classrooms to highlight those stories that are not often told. We can go beyond the textbooks to bring in what we've learned about China, Japan, and Korea to give our students a better world view. I look forward to sharing our lesson plans and hope to be able to integrate your ideas in my classroom.

[Meghann Seril]

A text I've used in third grade is "First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg. It's great for the first week of school and has a good surprise ending. We talk about how our own experiences influence the way we interpret the text. The second day we ususally reread the text with fresh eyes and consider any "clues" the author provides to help us understand the text in a new way. Could be a good warm up before tackling a more complex text.

[Meghann Seril]

I know that there have been so many times in my teaching that students have wonderings or questions that I don't feel there is always time to address. I've definitely been using this distance learning time to "go down the rabbit hole" with my kids so to speak and encourage them to research those questions and report back to the class. I think any opportunity we can take to authentically celebrate students' ideas and culture always leads to way more interesting conversation and better student engagement. I hope I can remember this whenever we are back in the classroom.

[Meghann Seril]

I really enjoyed Prof. Yamashita's lectures and am disappointed we didn't get to have an in-person discussion for this topic. One point of interest for me was the discussion of horizontal and vertical cosmology. Having learned the origin stories of China, Korea, and Japan I think this would be another interesting lens through which students could analyze and categorize origin stories. It also prompted me to ask my parents about the Filipino origin story. Although there are different origin stories in different areas of the Philippines, the one my parents know is Malakas at Maganda. In short, there was the sea, sky, and a bird. One day the bird, tired of flying starts a fight between the sea and sky, during which boulders are thrown down, creating the islands of the Philippines. The bird lands on a piece of bamboo and pecks it open revealing Malakas (the first man) and Maganda (the first woman). The sea and the sky have a truce and the first Filipinos are born. Although the sea and sky gods are in the same physical realm as the humans they don't have direct interaction. The bird roams between the gods and humans. So, based on Prof. Yamashita's description I think this is a vertical cosmology. In third grade we discuss fairytales and fables, so I could add these origin stories from different cultures to our discussion. As an extention activity, I could ask my students (probably in groups) to create their own story using a vertical or horizontal cosmology format.

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