Written over two and a half millennia ago, the Xueji (On Teaching and Learning) is one of the oldest and most comprehensive works on educational philosophy and teaching methods, as well as a consideration of the appropriate roles of teachers and students. The Xueji was included in the Liji (On Ritual), one of the Five Classics that became the heart of the educational system during China's imperial era, and it contains the ritual protocols adopted by the Imperial Academy during the Han dynasty. Chinese Philosophy on Teaching and Learning provides a new translation of the Xueji along with essays exploring this work from both Western and Chinese perspectives. Contributors examine the roots of educational thought in classical Chinese philosophy, outline similarities and differences with ideas rooted in classical Greek thought, and explore what the Xueji can offer educators today.
A translation and discussion of the central Confucian text on education, Xueji (On Learning and Teaching), influential in China from the Han dynasty to the present day. Written over two and a half millennia ago, the Xueji (On Teaching and Learning) is one of the oldest and most comprehensive works on educational philosophy and teaching methods as well as a consideration of the appropriate roles of teachers and students. The Xueji was included in the Liji (On Ritual), one of the Five Classics that became the heart of the educational system during Chinas imperial era, and it contains the ritual protocols adopted by the Imperial Academy during the Han dynasty. Chinese Philosophy on Teaching and Learning provides a new translation of the Xueji along with essays exploring this work from both Western and Chinese perspectives. Contributors examine the roots of educational thought in classical Chinese philosophy, outline similarities and differences with ideas rooted in classical Greek thought, and explore what the Xueji can offer educators today. As the world of education awakens to the vitality and importance of Chinas educational traditions, no text could be of greater interest than the XuejiChinas most ancient text on learning and teaching. This translation, with interpretation and discussion from noted philosophers and educators in China and America, will be an invaluable resource for courses in educational foundations, comparative education, and the history of education. Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto
This book breaks the stereotype that links Chinese philosophy solely to Confucianism, instead providing a kaleidoscopic view of Chinese philosophy of education. This book was originally published as a special issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory.
Throughout its history, education in China has played a pivotal role in the nation’s governance, civic society, and the social and cultural lives of its citizens. Today we see a nation grappling with how to modernize and internationalize its education system, while still retaining China’s intellectual traditions and values in the face of growing educational inequalities. This book analyses the historical and contemporary place of education in China and how the past has influenced today’s trends. Recent fundamental educational reforms have been driven by the need for continuing economic development and a highly skilled workforce, at the same time fulfilling the aspirations of its citizens and their desire for the prestige education brings. Moreover, ideological education plays a key role in enlisting citizens to the national cause. Although China has ambitious plans for its education system, several problems remain, including an examination-obsessed system and highly competitive culture, which skew the social fabric and dominate family life and childhoods. This accessible analysis will be a welcome resource for students of comparative education as well as those across the social sciences interested in Chinese society.
Moving back through Dewey, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Rousseau, the lineage of Western music education finds its origins in Plato and Pythagoras. Yet theories not rooted in the ancient Greek tradition are all but absent. A Way of Music Education provides a much-needed intervention, integrating ancient Chinese thought into the canon of music education in a structured, systematized, and philosophical way. The book's three central sources - the Yijing (The Book of Changes), Confucianism, and Daoism - inform author C. Victor Fung's argument: that the human being exists as an entity at the center of an organismic world in which all things and events, including music and music education, are connected. Fung ultimately proposes a new educational philosophy based on three key ideas in Chinese thought: change, balance, and liberation. A unique work, A Way of Music Education offers a universal approach engrained in a specific and ancient cultural tradition.
This book breaks the stereotype that links Chinese philosophy solely to Confucianism, instead providing a kaleidoscopic view of Chinese philosophy of education. The contributors explore a variety of issues, including the journey of modernisation (or Westernisation) of China’s education between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries; Chinese identity and the concept of race in education and history; contemporary interpretations of Confucian pedagogy in relation to twenty-first-century skills; the life story of a teacher in modern China as embodying the spirit of a Confucian pedagogue; the ecological self in education; an original interpretation of postmodern-Daoist symbolism; and the role of translation in producing and transmitting knowledge across cultural and linguistic boundaries. This book was originally published as a special issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory.
The book depicts a unique historical and cultural phenomenon, the philosophy of Chinese moral education, in an attempt to capture the essence of Chinese culture. While tracing the historical journey of this philosophy, the book rearranges and interprets the conceptual frameworks concerning moral education in various Chinese philosophical schools and religions. In so doing, it summarizes the ideas of human relations, man and nature, cosmology, moral virtues, and educational approaches, posing intriguing questions about how they have influenced Chinese characteristics, social norms, and value orientations. In particular, the book brings up discussions on the culture of family and state, the challenges that the philosophy had encountered in early modern and present China, as well as the prospect of regeneration of the philosophy and its significance for our world today. This is the book to read if you want to have a deep understanding about China and its belief and educational system.
New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice; Real Simple Best of the Month; Library Journal Editors’ Pick In the spirit of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Bringing up Bébé, and The Smartest Kids in the World, a hard-hitting exploration of China’s widely acclaimed yet insular education system that raises important questions for the future of American parenting and education When students in Shanghai rose to the top of international rankings in 2009, Americans feared that they were being "out-educated" by the rising super power. An American journalist of Chinese descent raising a young family in Shanghai, Lenora Chu noticed how well-behaved Chinese children were compared to her boisterous toddler. How did the Chinese create their academic super-achievers? Would their little boy benefit from Chinese school? Chu and her husband decided to enroll three-year-old Rainer in China’s state-run public school system. The results were positive—her son quickly settled down, became fluent in Mandarin, and enjoyed his friends—but she also began to notice troubling new behaviors. Wondering what was happening behind closed classroom doors, she embarked on an exploratory journey, interviewing Chinese parents, teachers, and education professors, and following students at all stages of their education. What she discovered is a military-like education system driven by high-stakes testing, with teachers posting rankings in public, using bribes to reward students who comply, and shaming to isolate those who do not. At the same time, she uncovered a years-long desire by government to alleviate its students’ crushing academic burden and make education friendlier for all. The more she learns, the more she wonders: Are Chinese children—and her son—paying too high a price for their obedience and the promise of future academic prowess? Is there a way to appropriate the excellence of the system but dispense with the bad? What, if anything, could Westerners learn from China’s education journey? Chu’s eye-opening investigation challenges our assumptions and asks us to consider the true value and purpose of education.
For the first time, an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how ancient ideas—like the fallacy of the authentic self—can guide you on the path to a good life today. Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? Because it challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. Astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. In other words, The Path “opens the mind” (Huffington Post) and upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. “With its…spirited, convincing vision, revolutionary new insights can be gleaned from this book on how to approach life’s multifarious situations with both heart and head” (Kirkus Reviews). A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available wherever books are sold.
