Individual Self, Sage Discourse, and Parental Authority: Why Do Confucian Students Reject Further Confucian Studies as Their Educational Future (original) (raw)
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International Review of Education, 2011
Contemporary comparative and international studies of higher education have overwhelmingly portrayed the powerful influence of economic and political realities. Cultural dimensions, especially those of traditional ways of thinking, have often been ignored, despite their omnipresence. Adopting the lens of traditional Chinese cultural thinking, this article offers an alternative perspective to look at China's higher education reform and development. It demonstrates how a different historical trajectory of higher education development resulted from the traditional Chinese way of thinking. With its own priorities, such a unique tradition does not coexist easily with the globally dominant European-North American university model. As universities are culturally embedded, it is erroneous to treat them as the same entity in various cultural contexts. This article examines the tensions in the interactions in higher education between the traditional Chinese and the imposed Western modes of thinking. Borrowing a thesis of the structure of culture, it reveals the various extents to which layers of Chinese higher education have achieved differently. It finds that with a strong catch-up mentality, China's contemporary higher education policies are responsive. They are panic-stricken and expedient band-aid remedies, rather than strategies based on systematic understandings of cultural contexts. Accordingly, Chinese universities are uncritical towards the European-American model and its variants. This article warns that without an infusion of traditional education values, universities in China risk losing touch with their cultural contexts in their quest for world-class status.
CONFUCIANISM AND EDUCATION (Special issue of Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2)
Asian studies, 5(2), 2017
Since Immanuel Kant’s seminal essay “What is Enlightenment?”, independent, autonomous and critical thinking has stood at the forefront of any “progressive” (and even any reasonable) theory of education. In today’s neo-liberal and globalized world, the common trend of making everything a marketable commodity has also affected this, notwithstanding the fact that the ability to establish one’s critical and independent judgement remains the very basis of becoming an autonomous individual, and represents a central pillar of democracy. As such, critical thinking has become a product that can be bought, sold or even stolen––just like its traditional breeding ground, namely institutionalized education. It may thus be time to mourn the loss of the critical mind, and so mark the sad end of a certain kind of education, one which gave a key place to the humanities. However, instead of grieving for such losses and memorializing the end of the European subject, who has obviously lost his free will in the whirlwind of the all-embracing market economy, and sadly died in front of the barbed-wire fences defending his homeland from thousands of unarmed, weakened, starving and freezing refugees, we are searching for alternatives. As such, we present in this issue another kind of education. Admittedly, the values Confucian education aimed to foster did not include much absolute independence, but it still laid emphasis on autonomous critical thinking and genuine humaneness. While many believe that Confucianism is incompatible with the critical mind and personal autonomy, this issue aims to show that this wide-spread prejudice is rooted in a lack of knowledge. The most common image of Confucianism is that it was advocating a strict, rigid and hierarchically structured society based on the absolute obedience of those at the subordinate levels of the system, and, analogously, on absolute power of their superiors. However, we would like to present another Picture of Confucian education, one that is more academically justified and closer to the truth. It is important to recall that this model was originally, and especially in the classical Confucian teachings, rooted in the principles of complementarity and reciprocal responsibility. Moreover, while the autocratic model of hierarchy, by which the ruler’s authority was absolute and their responsibility towards their subordinates reduced to a mere formalism or symbolism, has undeniably held sway in Chinese history, we must also bear in mind that Confucianism in its role as the state doctrine represented the interests of the ruling class, and as such was defined by legalistic elements that are not found in original Confucianism. We must not forget that hierarchic structures are also present in Western democratic systems, and most importantly, authority based on experience, knowledge and abilities is not necessarily a negative ideal, or a threat to individual autonomy. The Confucian classics stress the important role of ideational and axiological elements, like rituality, relational ethics, the virtues of humaneness and justice, and the crucial role of education as a basic means of cultivating and thus improving (inborn) humaneness in order to achieve progress and social development. While they also lay stress on the so-called “Six Arts”—ritual, music, archery, chariot-riding, calligraphy, and computation—it is clear that the Confucian classics see morality as the most important subject. Confucian didactic methods are rather remarkable. Like Confucius, a Confucian teacher never lectures at length on a subject. Instead, he or she poses questions, quotes passages from the classical works, or applies fitting analogies, and then waits for the students to find the right answers “independently”––by themselves. According to the Analects, Confucius pointed out that thinking without learning is blind, and learning without thinking dangerous. Besides, he also asserted that attacking the views of others is harmful. This tolerance is based on a notion of moral autonomy, which is typical for the Confucian ideal personality, and implicit in most of the Confucian discourses. As such, promoting education is one of the most important Confucian values, and it is better to educate one’s children than to give them wealth. However, education is not only the wealth of a person, but also that of the cultures and societies he or she lives within. It is the most valuable inheritance we can give future generations. Moreover, in today’s globalized world, in which different traditions can interact and learn from each other, this kind of inheritance can be exchanged, combined, synthesized and thus enriched. Therefore, this special issue wishes to present different approaches to achieving and preserving this, in the West, at least, hidden treasure. It also aims to raise awareness regarding a particular, culturally and historically conditioned model of institutions, didactic structures and axiological priorities, which differs profoundly from traditional Euro-American educational models.
Debatable Chineseness: Diversification of Confucian Classical Education in Contemporary China
China Perspectives, 2018
This article discusses the ongoing debates about classics reading (dujing 读经) in the revitalisation and diversification of Confucian classical education in mainland China. It begins by reviewing two disputes about dujing in modern Chinese history and then turns to the contemporary debate, focusing on how one professional and experienced practitioner expounded on the disparities in practicing classical education. The author summarises three controversial issues—(1) the relationship between the educative principles and methods, (2) historical legitimacy, and (3) the linguistic nature of Chinese language. Based on these, this paper reflects on the current dujing movement by concluding that the diversification of classical education has complicated the authenticity of “Chineseness” and rendered it a debatable public issue.
Editor's Foreword: Confucianism and Education
Since Immanuel Kant's seminal essay " What is Enlightenment? " , independent, autonomous and critical thinking has stood at the forefront of any " progressive " (and even any reasonable) theory of education. In today's neo-liberal and globalized world, the common trend of making everything a marketable commodity has also affected this, notwithstanding the fact that the ability to establish one's critical and independent judgement remains the very basis of becoming an autonomous individual, and represents a central pillar of democracy. As such, critical thinking has become a product that can be bought, sold or even stolen––just like its traditional breeding ground, namely institutionalized education. It may thus be time to mourn the loss of the critical mind, and so mark the sad end of a certain kind of education, one which gave a key place to the humanities. However, instead of grieving for such losses and memorializing the end of the European subject, who has obviously lost his free will in the whirlwind of the all-embracing market economy, and sadly died in front of the barbed-wire fences defending his homeland from thousands of unarmed, weakened, starving and freezing refugees, we are searching for alternatives. As such, we present in this issue another kind of education. Admittedly, the values Confucian education aimed to foster did not include much absolute independence, but it still laid emphasis on autonomous critical thinking and genuine humaneness. While many believe that Confucianism is incompatible with the critical mind and personal autonomy, this issue aims to show that this widespread prejudice is rooted in a lack of knowledge. The most common image of Confucianism is that it was advocating a strict, rigid and hierarchically structured society based on the absolute obedience of those at the subordinate levels of the system, and, analogously, on absolute power of their superiors. However, we would like to present another picture of Confucian education, one that is more academically justified and closer to the truth. It is important to recall that this model was originally, and especially in the classical Confucian teachings, rooted in the principles of complementarity and reciprocal responsibility.
Jiaohua: The Confucian Revival as an Educative Project, China Perspectives, 2007/4, 4-20
This article explores the rediscovery of "Confucianism" in mainland China in the field of education, understood in the broad sense of training dispensed to others and self-cultivation. It begins by examining the general context of the phenomenon and then analyzes how it is currently taking form and becoming institutionalized. On such a basis, it becomes possible to better understand one of its main features-its paradoxical anti-intellectualism. china perspectives 1. The product of a modern science of religions that came into being in Europe during the nineteenth century, "Confucianism" is an occidental concept which only partially overlaps the Chinese notions of rujia and/or rujiao. These notions can also cover meanings that are very different depending on historical context. We therefore put this term in quotation marks, since in a modern context it expresses more of an assertion of identity than an objective reality.
Study as a Road to Self-Cultivation: Understanding the Confucian Concept of Xué 學
Colloquia Manilana, 2022
This paper aims to shed light on the Confucian understanding of study (xué 學) and explains how learning becomes a means for self-cultivation. For Kong Zi, the individual is someone who is capable of perfection and the process of instruction is primarily aimed towards the transformation of the person into a Jun Zi or the Confucian equivalent to a superior man. Although this task is very difficult to attain and takes a lifetime to accomplish, man must be taught about the virtues, including the norms on ritual and social propriety, not only so that he can perfect himself, but also to know and perform his own duties in society. Emphasizing morality above intellectualism, Confucian education entails not just the acquisition of abstract knowledge and information, but also learning one's place in the web of relationships. Because of this essentially social dimension of learning, a conflict may arise about the dynamic relationship of self and state. However, in Confucian thought, individual freedom and societal roles need not necessarily clash. In fact, education for Kong Zi allows space for personal creativity and moral autonomy since it is properly within the social order that the student can actualize his education by putting into practice the virtues and rituals he has learned. In this manner, the categories that define one's role can actually empower and perfect the learner instead of limiting his freedom. By upholding the person's independence, autonomy, and dignity, Confucianism gives expression to true humanism.
Work ( s ) : Neo-Confucian Education : The Formative Stage by
2007
This conference volume addresses the formal and informal aspects of education and schooling for men, women, and children during the Sung dynasties (960-1279). The institutionalization of private academies and schools that stressed a Neo-Confucian curriculum are the focus for elucidating formal education during the Sung. Chu Hsi's educational theories and school activities are the focus for what the editors call "Neo-Confucian education." Informal aspects of education through ritual, community compacts, and public instruction reveal education as a social practice in Sung China that encompassed elite and popular society. Other essays focus on legal education and the role of Buddhism in clerical and popular education from the T'ang through the Sung. The editors present Neo-Confucian education as a liberal and progressive pursuit that went beyond earlier Confucian forms of education, but the degree to which Neo-Confucian educational ideals yielded progressive and liberal educational institutions in imperial China is insufficiently demonstrated. THERE ARE M A N Y OUTSTANDING ESSAYS in this volume, which address the multi-faceted social, intellectual, and institutional dimensions of education in China from the T'ang through the Sung dynasties, roughly 700 to 1300. Unfortunately, the claim the editors make in the introduction (echoed on the bookjacket and in press advertisements) that "[tlhis study provides a much-needed linking of the studies of Neo-Confucianism with those of late imperial Chinese social history" is overstated. Beyond suggesting some long-term continuities between Sung educational practice and late imperial society, few essays in the volume cross the Mongol divide (1250-1350) and delve in much depth into the role of education from 1400 to 1900. Consequently, the editors' conclusion that the papers "address the way Neo-Confucian thought and ethics were adapted to changes in Chinese society, which anticipate many features and problems of society today" is rhetorical, an example of the dubious wedding between contemporary Pacific Rim rhetoric concerning the "Four Little Dragons" (South Ko-* Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage.
Philosophical influences on education in China: different schools of thought on self-cultivation
Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 2018
This essay takes a holistic look at the philosophy of education in China from the antiquity to the present time, with an emphasis on the notion of self-cultivation in different schools of thought. The purpose of the study is to draw out the positive aspects of Chinese philosophy for newer generations to carry forward the cultural heritage for a healthy development of their mind, body, and spirit in the 21st century and beyond. The study is meaningful since the Chinese civilization can be traced back at least 5,000 years, and perhaps even further. Its endurance, intellectual and cultural contributions to the world civilization, and China’s current rise as a world leading political and economic superpower, makes it especially worth examination. The paper is structured around four key themes: the quest for harmony, the pursuit of happiness, the search for health, and the action for healing. The article concludes with a suggestion of an integrated educational philosophy for contemporary Chinese educational practice. The study may have global implications as Confucius Institutes and Classrooms have been established worldwide since 2004 to teach Chinese language and culture. The localization and smooth integration of Chinese philosophy with Western ideologies in these countries is the key to bringing world peace and harmony.