Re: [xmca] Fwd: Purposes and processes of education

[yuan lai <laiyuantaiwan@gmail.com>]

I’m no expert on Chinese cultural practices and schools of thought. My
understanding of Daoism, after thinking about it for days, does not add to
what others here have written. I did a few searches and found an article by
Hayhoe and Li, "The Idea of a Normal University in the 21st Century",
currently available at https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/17889

It is about teacher education and has information on higher education in
Chinese history. A few excerpts seem relevant:

"The purpose of education and learning was defined as ‘to let one’s inborn
virtue shine forth, to renew the people, and to rest in the highest good,’
as stated in the Great Learning (Daxue), showing a harmonious integration
between the individual good and the benefit of society (Lee, 2000:10-11).
Education and learning were thus the first priority in any political agenda,
as made explicit in the Theory of Education (Xueji), one part of Liji (the
Book of Rites) in the Five Classics."

"The first imperial institutions of higher learning (taixue) were
established during the Western Han dynasty in 124 BCE, and these continued
as an important part of the imperial government through changing dynasties
up the last dynasty, the Qing. The purpose was to prepare scholar officials
and the selection of teachers and students was thus serious, competitive and
rigid. At first a system of recommendation was used, with teachers for the
taixue, called “scholars of broad learning” (boshi), initially selected by
local officials, then recommended by ministers and finally approved by the
emperor himself. In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE) an examination
system was initiated and used along side of recommendation. This later
developed into the famous civil service examination system (keju zhidu)
which was formally established during the Sui Dynasty in 606 CE. Thereafter
these examinations became the only way in which talented people could become
teachers in the imperial institutions of higher learning or officials
serving in other roles within the government."

"China also had a long history of private higher education, going back to
the 6th century BCE. During the Warring States period (475-221 BCE) private
schools were so widespread, that many states saw them as a key strategy for
attracting talented people for political purposes (Li, 1991a; 1991b). A
striking example is the Jixia Academy, established by Duke Huan in the state
of Qi in the third century BCE. At one time it had a population of more than
ten thousand students and teachers. While it was an imperial higher
institution, it was effectively private and provided space for many
different schools to debate with and learn from each other, without any
intervention from government."

Mike, it seems that the short sections above in Hayhoe and Li would answer
in part your questions on schooling and the government, purpose of
education. If you were looking for information pertaining to the education
of school-age children, I know that Three Character Classic is a primer that
had been used to teach children about numbers, basic knowledge like the
seasons, Chinese history, and Confucian teaching.
http://www.afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=Sanzijing

I guess the primer can be called a nursery rhyme. I believe that young
children were first taught to recite before they got down to learning to
read and write Chinese characters, if there were further opportunity to
proceed. I found this short description which makes reference to
ethnographic data.

www.umich.edu/~aos/2003/aosabstracts2003.pdf<http://www.umich.edu/%7Eaos/2003/aosabstracts2003.pdf>

“Zev Handel, University of Washington

Examples of Text Recitations in the Old Reading Tradition of Xingtian
Township, Wuyishan County, Fujian

In November 2002 I carried out fieldwork on the Northern Min dialect spoken
in the village of Chengcun. Two elderly residents of the village had been
schooled in nearby Xingtian Township during the first half of the last
century, where they learned to recite texts in the local reading
pronunciation. I had the opportunity to record both speakers reciting the
San Zi Jing (“Three Character Classic”) and the Bai Jia Xing (“Book of a
Hundred Surnames”) in this nearly forgotten reading style. Transcription and
analysis of these recitations reveals differences with modern colloquial
pronunciation and provides a glimpse into vanishing linguistic and cultural
traditions.”

Another source has some information on the recitation method.

www.isp.msu.edu/studiesonasia/s3_v1_n1/3_1_1LiYu.pdf

“from the very beginning, reading was based on recognizing characters whose
sounds the learner was already familiar with through repeated listening and
recitation.” It also talks about a reason for the memorization method may be
due to the fact that the classics were written in an old style of the
language, which is quite different from the spoken language.

Would the recitation method, either as an alternative way to receiving
education, or a bridge to learning to read and write, constitute an example
of what you were looking for (deliberate instructional practices that do not
involve reading/writing)?

Yuan
On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 8:35 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> I think this speculation is correct, Tony and lets hope someone can help us
> know:
>
> "I would bet that they have been used over the centuries as media for
> transmitting culture orally, through stories told by illiterate grown-ups
> to
> children who were not being schooled."
>
> Deliberate instruction is clearly not co-incident with literacy and
> schooling (30+ children to one adult, print mediated). Infants are
> deliberately (if not-so-effectively) instructed by parents.
>
> This is a great example of the belief that to study learning and
> development
> one has to study the history of these forms of change at several different
> scales of time and synchronic scale.
>
> Wow.
> mike
>
> parison between Confucian and Qin cultures is important.
> >
> > Confucius was a conservative reacting agains the "Legalists" (fa jia) and
> > others who were more state-oriented, versus Confucius' more traditional
> > orientation to non-State social relations. Qin (Ch'in) was sort of a
> triumph
> > of State consolidation, and in that sense contrary to Confucianism.
> >
> > I guess the Han literati were trying to work out a synthesis of Confucian
> > culture with Imperial statism, although I haven't thought about this
> before.
> >
> > Following on my previous post: As I think about this, I realize that my
> > apartment is littered with children's booklets that I picked up in Taipei
> in
> > 1973. These are picture books with stories told in Chinese characters
> paired
> > with zhuyin fuhao phonetic spelling. These appear to be used as much for
> > learning to read as for transmitting the stories. But the stories are
> > familiar stories about virtuous, courageous, and heroic children, as well
> as
> > Aesop's fables type stuff, and the stories that are succinctly invoked in
> > (often four-syllable) "cheng-yu" (sayings that invoke familiar stories).
> > Although I see these in written form, I would bet that they have been
> used
> > over the centuries as media for transmitting culture orally, through
> stories
> > told by illiterate grown-ups to children who were not being schooled.
> >
> > I'm speculating here. Does anybody here actually know?
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 17 Jan 2010, mike cole wrote:
> >
> >  Dear Colleagues-- I asked my Chinese colleague, huyi, who was visitor at
> >> UCSD, the same questions I asked you.  In note to him I emphasized that
> >> one
> >> question that
> >> particularly interested me is the relation between the onset of formal
> >> schooling and the invention of writing system and the governmental
> >> structure. Here is his reply.
> >>
> >> Thanks very much David and Tony and Huyi for help in trying to puzzle
> this
> >> out.
> >> A lot of think about. I was not emphasizing the exam issue, but that is
> my
> >> shortcoming because sorting "succeeders" from "failures" goes hand  in
> >> glove
> >> with formal education.
> >>
> >> Remembering Martin Luther King.
> >> mike
> >>
> >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >> From: huyi <huyi1910@hotmail.com>
> >> Date: 2010/1/17
> >> Subject: RE: Purposes and processes of education
> >> To: lchcmike@gmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >> Mike,
> >>
> >> The formal education in China, what I meant is to some institutes
> >> educating
> >> people, could be dated from Xiang(âÔ) (BC 2000s) at the period of
> >> Shun(Ë´). The time of schooling to governing is from Qin(ÇØ) Dynasty (BC
> >>
> >> 200s), after Qin Shi Huang unified The Six Nations in China.
> >>
> >> Hu YI.
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >> Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:33:46 -0800
> >> Subject: Re: Purposes and processes of education
> >> From: lchcmike@gmail.com
> >> To: huyi1910@hotmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >> When did formal education begin in China? How was start of schooling
> >> related
> >> to formation of centralized government and literacy? I know what I sent
> >> was
> >> ignorant.
> >> I am ignorant on this topic!!
> >> Your help is very welcome to me.
> >> Thanks Hu Yi!
> >> mike
> >>
> >> 2010/1/17 huyi <huyi1910@hotmail.com>
> >>
> >> Mike,
> >>
> >> Your example didn't express the changes of Wang Anshi's educational
> >> reform for the examation. The blank-filling of verses were only part of
> >> the
> >> test before his innovation. Acatually, in ancient China, the governer
> >> selected the talents for adminstering the government through various
> >> tests,
> >> such as paper-writing, interviews, etc. At that time, education was
> >> strongly related to the purpose of politics. From the time of Confucius
> >> (BC
> >> 551-479), there were some private-schools for educating people how to be
> a
> >> person in the socioty, especially how to act with other persons.
> >>
> >> I don't know what kind of papers you need for this? tell me more to see
> >> what
> >> I can do for your work.
> >>
> >> Hu Yi.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >> Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:04:09 -0800
> >>
> >> Subject: Purposes and processes of education
> >> From: lchcmike@gmail.com
> >> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >> CC: fffranksong@hotmail.com; huyi1910@hotmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >> Can anyone help point me to key resources to understand relation of
> >> schooling practices
> >> to society in ancient China and India?
> >>
> >> Are there any examples of deliberate instructional practices that do not
> >> involve reading/writing?
> >>
> >> David K-- It appears that education in China was closely linked to
> >> governmental exam system, so one can read, for example, " Thirdly, so
> far
> >> as
> >> content was concerned, while the earlier examinations laid much stress
> on
> >> the ancient classical texts, the great reformer Wang Anshi (1021 - 1086)
> >> advocated an innovation which was much more practical. He changed the
> >> blank-filling of verses into composition about the verse, giving free
> >> reign
> >> to the ability of the candidates. However this was opposed by other
> >> grandees
> >> and did not last for long.
> >>
> >> And we know that the system is at least a couple of thousand year older
> >> than
> >> that.
> >>
> >> Sorry if this appears a naive question. There is a lot of expertise in
> the
> >> list and i need to make a quick study as background for some focused on
> >> modern education and psychology.
> >>
> >> thanks to whomever.
> >> mike
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >> ¸ü¶àÈÈÀ±×ÊѶ¾¡ÔÚаæMSNÊ×Ò³£¡ Á¢¿Ì·ÃÎÊ£¡ <http://cn.msn.com/>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >> ËÑË÷±¾Ó¦ÊDzÊÉ«µÄ,¿ìÀ´ÌåÑéÐÂÒ»´úËÑË÷ÒýÇæ-±ØÓ¦,¾«ÃÀͼƬÿÌ컻Ŷ!
> Á¢¼´ÊÔÓã¡
> >> <http://cn.bing.com/?form=CRMADS>
> >>
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> >>
> >>
> > Tony Whitson
> > UD School of Education
> > NEWARK  DE  19716
> >
> > twhitson@udel.edu
> > _______________________________
> >
> > "those who fail to reread
> >  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
> >                  -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
> >
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