Cultural Lecture: Educational System

Chen Laoshi gave the lecture on China’s educational system. She began with an overview of China’s historical precedent for education. Confucius is thought to be the most important figure in the development of China’s intellectual and educational theories. The most important event in the development of the educational system was the implementation of the examination system during the Sui-Tang dynasties.

Confucius, or Kong Zi, had three thousand disciples at the height of his career as a teacher. 72 of these disciples were well versed in his theories and could be trusted to properly spread the theories throughout China. Because of his vast following, Confucius was able to dominate the field before his death. A philosopher, he gave up hopes of a court position early in life because he was never regarded as someone worthy of the court.

His theories on teaching, studying, life were three-fold. First he believed that each human being is born into the world with the exact same potential for learning and intellectual thought. Therefore everyone has the same chance at rising in life through education. In the debate, nature versus nurture, Confucius thoroughly supported nurturing. Secondly, he felt the system of ranking should be abolished. He felt that economic background shouldn’t determine who could and couldn’t receive an education. So long as the student was willing, had the desire to learn, he should be allowed the chance.

Thirdly, an education was useless if the student did not also work on achieving virtue. In this way, he hoped to create not only intellectuals, but also gentlemen on the righteous path.

To realize his dream, Confucius adjusted the Classics, or the grouping of subjects that was at the time the preferred training for an intellectual. He removed shooting and horsemanship from the six subjects, seeing these as being too militaristic. The subjects that replaced these were the Book of Changes, known to Westerners as the I-Ching, and the Spring and Autumn Annals, which were written by Confucius.

The following is a description of each of the six subjects. First there was “Shu” or History. Confucius felt that a student had no precedent for thoughts or opinions. Therefore students must learn the ideas of their predecessors. Only then would they have a foundation for their own ideas. The second subject was “Shi” which was a combination of poetry and music. During Confucius’ time, poetry and singing weren’t separate. Poems were sung and they were considered small parables for life. The third subject was “Li” or Rules. These were guidelines for leading a person toward the righteous path through virtuous behavior. Filial piety is one such guideline from “Li”.

The fourth subject was “Yue” or Music. This subject was intended to breed culture in a gentlemanly manner. The fifth subject, as mentioned earlier, was “Yi” or Changes. Also a book of guidelines, “Yi” helped a student deal with external changes through an ability to shift internally. The concept behind “Yi” is that a person can be in tune with the constantly changing environment so long as that person remains flexible and aware of the constant shifting that cannot be stopped or forced in an opposite direction. The sixth subject was “Chunqiu”, literally “Spring Autumn”. Confucius wrote this book to teach communication skills.

A very brief summary of Confucius’ methodology involved the combination of a student’s learning, thinking and doing. Leaving one aspect out or emphasizing one too much threw the methodology off balance. He developed the system so that it later involved a synthesis of learning, asking questions, thinking, distinguishing between information offered by learning and asking, followed by action. This methodology is similar to Socrates’ system in that elicitation and facilitation were key ingredients for teachers wishing to follow Confucius’ system.

Confucius felt that a teacher should be available to help a student when he fumbled for the correct word and that he should also be present at all times when a student was close to understanding but needed a guide to reach the other side. Confucius also strongly believed in method as dictated by the kind of student. In other words, a good teacher would know each student’s strengths and weaknesses and would approach new lessons based on these, as opposed to offering one method and expecting each student to excel under the same style of teaching.

Above all else, Confucius demanded that a student be self-motivated. Without this, nothing could be done to help the student along. Confucius also demanded that students, disciples, teachers all aspire to self-awareness, or a complete well-roundedness. This was attained through the constant application of six aspects: first one should set a goal and never be idle. Then, one must overcome oneself (laziness, wastefulness, etc) being strict with oneself and tolerant of others. Next a person must use self-motivation to practice things learned from book studies, as with taking knowledge into the field and testing it. Then a person was warned to be moderate, avoid extremes and remain in the middle of any situation. Next a person must be self-critical. Finally a person should make changes whenever they noticed a weakness of character, always working towards gaining righteousness.

The perfect role model in Confucius’ mind never tired of studying and remained a student throughout life, and a teacher never tired of teaching. The model teacher showed students that he, too, was a student and worked hard to show students what kind of energy should be dedicated to study and work. A good teacher also loved and protected students and learned from students.

Aside from having significant influence on the educational system itself, Confucius also influenced the way in which people cultivated the intellectual, virtuous life, the one that all students aspire to, as model citizens and family members.

These are all positive aspects of Confucius’ system. As with everything in life, there are negative aspects as well. Though these were the tenets of Confucius’ doctrine, his primary goal was to serve the ruling class. As such a servant, deep in his heart he did look down on the lower classes. He didn’t know anything about agriculture and deemed it a worthless subject for an intellectual to pursue. As a teacher, he felt that his students should leave behind manual labor after finishing their studies, even though many who came to him had no chances of finding work as officials or members of court and their only option was to return to agriculture.

Confucius was an influential figure for the educational system. An influential event occurred between the Sui and Tang dynasties when the recommendation system was replaced by the examination system. Before this time, officials and members of court were chosen based on nepotistic connections and bribery. Intelligent people of a lower class had little chance of moving up in life. The examination system leveled the playing field.

There were the “Chang ke” or general examination and the “Zhi ke” or specialized examinations, the problems of which were generally issued by the Emperor himself. Specialized examinations were for law, accounting, secretarial work, poetry and literary fields.

In order to advance, a man would take the test at the lowest, county level. If he passed he would proceed to the next level. There were many levels all the way up to court officials. The process could take many years and sometimes there were man who had started the process a decade before they finally received a post, especially if they continued doing well on the examinations.

This system was eradicated during Mao’s tenure because it was seen as unfair and lengthy in its process. However, after Mao the system was reinstated. It became a negative aspect of education because teachers focused, at all levels on the information needed to pass the test only and not on independent thought. Rote memorization became a universal process in education. Also, depending on what society is lacking, the system focuses on filling these societal gaps. If there is a great need for computer technicians then that is what is offered as a degree for students. This system is changing very slowly; there are a handful of colleges that do not require students to choose a major before entering college. The system is being changed so that it emphasizes individual interest more and social need less.

In more remotes areas of the country, the system reached mythic proportions. A person who can manage to pass even the first examination is extremely revered. There is a story of a man who took the test when he was twenty and failed. His father-in-law, a butcher, berated and harassed him. Each year, the man retook the test and failed. With each passing year, his father-in-law would treat him more and more harshly. Finally, when the man was fifty-four, he passed the test. But upon hearing the news, he went crazy and fell into a trance. People in his village went to the butcher and said, “You alone can rouse him. He’s been so afraid of you all these years. You go and wake him up.” The butcher replied that he couldn’t possibly disturb his son-in-law, as he was important now, having succeeded. The people continued to urge the butcher along and finally he walked up to his son-in-law and touched him on the shoulder. The man didn’t move a muscle but the butcher lost the ability to move any of the joints in his hand, it was frozen stiff before him. He lost his ability to cut meat and the family sunk into poverty because no one was working.

Chen Laoshi next spoke of the central government’s approach to education today. The main focus is on increasing the 95% attendance rate to 100%. In China, education through ninth grade is compulsory. In the autonomous regions, among many ethnic minorities, this law is still not completely followed. Also, in the cities, among extremely poor families, the parents will keep children away from school, as there are often fees that the families cannot afford. The government is working on these problems. The three goals for future development are making, at least education through ninth grade, accessible and popular, strengthening vocational education and raising the quality of higher-level education since more and more students are accessing colleges. The government wants to make sure that the colleges are competitive so that students will become functioning members of society afterwards.

Chen Laoshi’s lecture gave the students a taste of the very complex history surrounding China’s educational system, as well as a look at the challenges facing such an entrenched methodology.