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| hunger strike protest against national education |
A propaganda in disguise, the "national education" has a clear political mission. Some said, "every country has its own national education, what is wrong with having one in Hong Kong?" First and foremost, "national education" shall not be mistaken as "civic education". The aim of "civic education" is to educate students to become responsible citizens who appreciate, and work to protect the rights of others. And quite the contrary, "national education" at its core glorifies nationalism, justifies the wrong that the party has committed with logic that seems right on the surface or unrelated facts that has no empirical correlations (the country is too vast, and the people are too diverse for effective democratic governance...etc). Proponents of "national education" also defend "national education" by claiming that "national education" introduces students to "alternative thinking" - one that deviates from the universal values of the West and fits into the "Chinese reality". And that again, is bull. The "Chinese reality" is the twisted reality where people are denied the right to speak the bare truth, the inconvenient truth against the party. Our children need to be taught how to differentiate the white from the black, not how to make excuse for the black. Proponents would probably say that people like me are brainwashed by the western ideals. I disagree. The values that I believe in, namely democracy, individual freedom and rule of law are all driven by wants and needs of human kind and that is, to love and respect others. These are universal values and I don't see any room for compromise.
I have had many chances to interact with students from the mainland in the past two years and I have always been extremely cautious in the beginning. They were all top students from the mainland, spoke good English and Japanese and were all extremely nice and eager to make friends. But I always found it shocking when our views on Chinese government's handling in different events differ by great length. From disaster responses to apparent man-made mistakes, most of them did not display any anger nor agitation against the government and they were ready to defend with "facts" (China being a developing country... etc). The only time when they seem to be slightly perturbed, and quick in correcting the rest of the class (though in very good manner) was related to territorial issues in China. The story goes like this, a group in our class made a powerpoint presentation with the map of China at the backgroun and on the map, Taiwan was not included. Immediately after the presentation in the Q&A session, a Peking University student pointed that out bluntly and said in an almost accusing fashion to the presenting group, "If you just want to find a symbol of China you could have used the Panda or something - you should not use the incorrect map of China" ... (the topic of the presentation was actually about Chinese foreign aid policy and so the map has nothing to do with the topic of the presentation) And at that point, I thought to myself, "so that is what it is like to be "educated"."
I don't think that patriotism can be taught just like how you cannot teach someone how to love. So please, just leave our children alone.
Another great post, Onyi! Have you seen the curriculum of the proposed "national education"? Please link me if you do. In your example, how did the class respond to their comment about the map? Brainwashed or not, the Chinese students were always told the Taiwan belongs to China. They made the point about the map to raise consciousness of others and I don't see anything wrong with that. Education should teach children how to think, but not what to think. I'm curious to see if they're open-minded in discussing the issue by considering arguments / history that support Taiwanese independence.
回覆刪除hey Keyna, great to see you here. I think the point is not on the teaching material or curriculum - obviously the HK government is gonna make the whole thing very innocuous but the motive behind it is what needs to be scrutinized.
回覆刪除Check this post out for a quick summary:
http://aukalun.blogspot.hk/2012/08/blog-post_3.html
In my view to point that out as the first question in Q&A, which not even has no direct relation with the presentation itself and the issue of taiwan is of much controversy, is very unwise. (these was even one taiwanese student in the presenting group) to be honest, i tried not to touch upon those topics with mainland students. I always have a fear that they will like to argue and try to convert me.
Yeah, it doesn't sound like they raise the issue at the right time, especially if they interrupt the presentation in doing so. With that said, I do think a conversation with the mainland students will be beneficial. There's nothing wrong that they want to argue or even try to convert you. That's the whole point about exchanging ideas right? We all try to influence each other by sharing our thoughts and prospectives. I think a good-natured debate is beneficial on both sides. Even if you couldn't get anything across, at least you get to practice and sharpen your arguments for the future!
回覆刪除This is off topic. But it'll be very interesting if you can share your thoughts on the animosity between HKers and mainland Chinese. When I was HK, I disliked and despised the mainland Chinese just as strongly as everyone else. But my time in the USA makes me reflect on this prejudice, especially after hearing about the Arizona immigration law. HKers want to keep the mainland Chinese away as far away as possible. But it sounds to me like the Republican here complaining that Mexicans are stealing our jobs. What's the difference here, if any?
回覆刪除interesting comparison that you are drawing here - i have friends from the mainland whom i have no doubt would be great to HK's development if they decide to go there. And then there are people who don't like to follow the rules of HK and I don't see why they want to live there... at the end of the day, i guess it boils down to whether they value HK the way it is and whether they want to contribute to it.
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