Thursday, May 20, 2010

Problems and Issues in the Introduction and Teaching 孔子课堂教材中发现的重大谬误与毒素

Problems and Issues in the Introduction and Teaching

-Poisonous Material Provided by Chinese Government for Confucius Classroom-

孔子课堂教材中发现的重大谬误与毒素


By Kai Chen 陈凯 www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

5/21/2010 Email: 1c

“Confusing what is good or evil with what is different only reveals our own moral and intellectual corruption.” – Kai Chen

“混淆善恶(是非、真假、对错)与不同只能暴露我们自身的灵魂与理性的腐败。” -- 陈凯


With the consent of Hacienda La Puente School District, I roughly reviewed the material provided by the Chinese communist government for the Confucius Classroom to be opened in the fall of 2010. As I have expected and predicted, the communist propaganda, poisonous cultural elements, deceptions and lies are everywhere to be found in the material. I will now enumerate just a few below. Further inspection of the material and elimination of the problematic and poisonous elements is a must if the school district board is to be truly responsible for the mental and spiritual health of our children.

1. As I encountered a map of PRC (People’s Republic of China), with its borders including Taiwan, Tibet and other disputed territory, I immediately run into the problem with legitimacy and recognition. ROC (Republic of China – Taiwan) has its own map with its own borders that is much different from PRC’s. Communist China is recognized by UN and most countries in the world but without any legitimacy - a criminal enterprise by the muzzles of guns, deception, violence/threat of violence against its own citizens with a long list of anti-humanity atrocities (80 million innocent lives perished under the reigns of terror since 1949). Republic of China (Taiwan) is not recognized by UN and most countries in the world, but it is legitimate democratic country with a government by the consent of the governed. How will a teacher, being funded by the communist regime in China, adequately address and educate the students about the truth and morality with regard of this issue – recognition and legitimacy? Will a teacher mention Dalai Lama’s position on Tibet?

2. As I encountered the photo of Tiananmen Gate and Tiananmen Square, I wonder how the teacher (imported and funded by the communist regime) will explain the communist slogans on the Tiananmen Gate and Mao's (the biggest mass murderer in human history) portrait and corpse displayed there. Will the teacher mention Tiananmen Massacre in 1989?! Where is the “Tank Man” who has disappeared since 1989?

3. As I saw China’s five-starred flag, I wonder what the teacher will tell the students what it means: a symbol of bloodshed, violence, unconditioned submission and subjugation of the individual to the state will, a society centered around power and government, a state that enslaves human freedom and spirit.

4. Deception: In many instances, the Chinese and English expressions of the same concept/term are entirely different, even opposite. For example, in English, “Hanban” is supposed to be an NGO (non-governmental organization). But in Chinese, it clearly establishes that “Hanban” is just another government branch. Another example: Quite a few books are produced by the Communist Youth League with cooperation of the Chinese Consulates General overseas. The Chinese language clearly states such a fact. But this fact is never mentioned in English.

5. When I encountered the book “Art of War”, I wonder whether students this age should learn about intrigues, deception, and manipulation of the opponents’ emotions just to win.

6. When I saw the Confucius’ quotations, I wonder whether our children should adopt the fake morals such as “Of everything in the world, harmony is the most important”. What about Truth, Justice, Liberty and Human Dignity – the fundamental American values?

7. Some examples/stories/fables in the books for our parents and teachers to think about: (Poisons such as these are everywhere in the material.)

a. “If you are meek as a person, you will be trampled upon. If you are meek as a horse, you will be exploited and ridden by men.” 人善被人欺,马善被人骑。 (Doesn’t this diametrically oppose the Christian value “the meek shall inherit the earth”? Clearly a worship of power is established in such an expression.)

b. “If the hare is caught, the hound will be cooked and eaten.” 兔死狗烹。 (Should our kids learn not to finish what they started for fear of losing favors of those who employ them? A culture of “Use and being Used” is thus established.)

c. “Using suicide as a means to threaten/blackmail in order to achieve the end.” 宁为玉碎,不为瓦全。 (Should our kids learn the art of manipulation of human emotions by threatening suicide? What is difference of such a mentality from the Islamic suicide bombers? )

d. Definition of “morality” in the Chinese Dictionary I flipped through is a communist definition: A set of principles by which to behave according to one’s social and economic classes.

e. When a book talks about tourist sight in Beijing, it mentions ruins of Yuanmingyuan (It was looted and burnt down by the allied expedition). But it never mentions why allied forces from the West entered Beijing around the end of 19th century. It covers up the atrocities by the Boxers’ Rebellion to kill all foreigners and missionaries in China. Remember the “50 Days of Siege in Beijing”? Will the teacher, imported and funded by the communist regime, tell the students about the truth?!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kai,

I just looked this over and the problem I see is that it no longer becomes a language course it is a political/history class.Why should our American children be exposed to such acts of violence? This is not the class parents signed theirs kids up for.

Terri

Victor said...

Kai,

If one tries hard to find something, one will find it. However, that does not mean the overall message emitted is received as the way you believe that they will be received. This world is made up of Yin and Yang. Evil hides in Justice, Justice resides in Evil. Even the Police in America, a symbolically representative of justice, has corrupted officers. Like-wise, there are some munificent gang leaders. Does this mean we should praise gangs and set them as our role models while degrading the police? No. The police departments do more good than bad. The gangs do more harm than good. Do you see the comparison? Just because you spotted something in the Confucius Classroom's materials such as the idiom 宁为玉碎,不为瓦全 does not mean the whole entire curriculum is harmful. Based on your picture, I can see that there are more than 100 pages within that book and each two pages contain around 3 idioms. So what about the other 297 idioms?

Please understand that injustice can be found everywhere. Even at our American Public Schools. If I was to see the schools America has and the materials given in those schools, with your eyes, then I will find plenty of racial discrimination, deceptions, hidden truths,biased documentation of history, etc.....If this is the case you are presenting, then all of our children should not go to school at all.

2. Photo of Tiananmen Square: The *teacher* of the Confucius Classroom at Cedarlane is not one imported and funded by China. Furthermore, do you believe it is wise to let children know about the Tiananmen Square massacre so early? If so, why not show them the truth behind the Waco Massacre, Tlatelolco Massacre, and the nuclear bombings of Japan in WW2??

Regarding your comment about their "communist" definition on morality, I find it funny how the definition in the Chinese dictionary is a concise restatement of the definition provided by www.thefreedictionary.com
:"The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct."
The standards of right or good conduct can be controversially debated. Even now, there has not been a clear definition of "right" or "virtuous". The definition most people have is completely related on how they were raised and what their social/economic was. If the society one was in favor of littering, then that person would believe that littering is "right", "good", and is the normal way of life. Do you see the connection between these two definitions?

Clearly, your understanding of Confucius teachings are not deep enough. Liberty, Justice, Human Dignity, and Truth are all wonderful things, but they also are the cause for most wars and violence. Harmony, however, means not only peace literally but peace of the mind... That means there would not be any anger,troubles, nor sadness. Only the wise would understand that truth, justice, human dignity, and liberty are all unnecessary once you gain harmony and happiness. Think about it. What do we want more if we had to choose: Happiness or Human Dignity, Happiness or Liberty, Happiness or the Truth, Happiness or Justice. Justice, Liberty, Human Dignity, and the Truth might be ways to gain happiness. But if we can get everlasting happiness without these complications, why shouldn't we?

****
I was going to reply on your response to all the communist evidence in the materials. But while writing this, I came to the realization that no matter what I wrote, you would never be convinced because your goal isn't the safety or education of the future generations in America. Your goals are purely driven by hatred of China because of your background.
- Victor

Victor said...

Kai,

If one tries hard to find something, one will find it. However, that does not mean the overall message emitted is received as the way you believe that they will be received. This world is made up of Yin and Yang. Evil hides in Justice, Justice resides in Evil. Even the Police in America, a symbolically representative of justice, has corrupted officers. Like-wise, there are some munificent gang leaders. Does this mean we should praise gangs and set them as our role models while degrading the police? No. The police departments do more good than bad. The gangs do more harm than good. Do you see the comparison? Just because you spotted something in the Confucius Classroom's materials such as the idiom 宁为玉碎,不为瓦全 does not mean the whole entire curriculum is harmful. Based on your picture, I can see that there are more than 100 pages within that book and each two pages contain around 3 idioms. So what about the other 297 idioms?

Please understand that injustice can be found everywhere. Even at our American Public Schools. If I was to see the schools America has and the materials given in those schools, with your eyes, then I will find plenty of racial discrimination, deceptions, hidden truths,biased documentation of history, etc.....If this is the case you are presenting, then all of our children should not go to school at all.

2. Photo of Tiananmen Square: The *teacher* of the Confucius Classroom at Cedarlane is not one imported and funded by China. Furthermore, do you believe it is wise to let children know about the Tiananmen Square massacre so early? If so, why not show them the truth behind the Waco Massacre, Tlatelolco Massacre, and the nuclear bombings of Japan in WW2??

Regarding your comment about their "communist" definition on morality, I find it funny how the definition in the Chinese dictionary is a concise restatement of the definition provided by www.thefreedictionary.com
:"The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct."
The standards of right or good conduct can be controversially debated. Even now, there has not been a clear definition of "right" or "virtuous". The definition most people have is completely related on how they were raised and what their social/economic was. If the society one was in favor of littering, then that person would believe that littering is "right", "good", and is the normal way of life. Do you see the connection between these two definitions?

Victor said...

Clearly, your understanding of Confucius teachings are not deep enough. Liberty, Justice, Human Dignity, and Truth are all wonderful things, but they also are the cause for most wars and violence. Harmony, however, means not only peace literally but peace of the mind... That means there would not be any anger,troubles, nor sadness. Only the wise would understand that truth, justice, human dignity, and liberty are all unnecessary once you gain harmony and happiness. Think about it. What do we want more if we had to choose: Happiness or Human Dignity, Happiness or Liberty, Happiness or the Truth, Happiness or Justice. Justice, Liberty, Human Dignity, and the Truth might be ways to gain happiness. But if we can get everlasting happiness without these complications, why shouldn't we?

****
I was going to reply on your response to all the communist evidence in the materials. But while writing this, I came to the realization that no matter what I wrote, you would never be convinced because your goal isn't the safety or education of the future generations in America. Your goals are purely driven by hatred of China because of your background.
- Victor

Victor said...

2. Photo of Tiananmen Square: The *teacher* of the Confucius Classroom at Cedarlane is not one imported and funded by China. Furthermore, do you believe it is wise to let children know about the Tiananmen Square massacre so early? If so, why not show them the truth behind the Waco Massacre, Tlatelolco Massacre, and the nuclear bombings of Japan in WW2??

Regarding your comment about their "communist" definition on morality, I find it funny how the definition in the Chinese dictionary is a concise restatement of the definition provided by www.thefreedictionary.com
:"The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct."
The standards of right or good conduct can be controversially debated. Even now, there has not been a clear definition of "right" or "virtuous". The definition most people have is completely related on how they were raised and what their social/economic was. If the society one was in favor of littering, then that person would believe that littering is "right", "good", and is the normal way of life. Do you see the connection between these two definitions?

Victor said...

Kai,

If one tries hard to find something, one will find it. However, that does not mean the overall message emitted is received as the way you believe that they will be received. This world is made up of Yin and Yang. Evil hides in Justice, Justice resides in Evil. Even the Police in America, a symbolically representative of justice, has corrupted officers. Like-wise, there are some munificent gang leaders. Does this mean we should praise gangs and set them as our role models while degrading the police? No. The police departments do more good than bad. The gangs do more harm than good. Do you see the comparison? Just because you spotted something in the Confucius Classroom's materials such as the idiom 宁为玉碎,不为瓦全 does not mean the whole entire curriculum is harmful. Based on your picture, I can see that there are more than 100 pages within that book and each two pages contain around 3 idioms. So what about the other 297 idioms?

Please understand that injustice can be found everywhere. Even at our American Public Schools. If I was to see the schools America has and the materials given in those schools, with your eyes, then I will find plenty of racial discrimination, deceptions, hidden truths,biased documentation of history, etc.....If this is the case you are presenting, then all of our children should not go to school at all.

Kai Chen 陈凯 said...

Victor:

Your mere comparison, Not contrast, between US and China shows me what I have perceived through this issue is correct. What does Confucianism do to mankind, beside making those who speak Chinese the slaves, subjects and tools of despotism? If you can show me otherwise, my assessment of Confucian culture is right on the money. The mere mention of US being nothing special but only another country shows me that you seem to think US history is also despotic and nothing different from the Chinese one. Such distortion of reality makes me think whether your premise is somehow pathologically founded on your collective mindset, ie. race, culture, nationality, skin color, social classes, etc...

So there is no point of contention between you and me on this issue, for you think China is not an abnormal or tyrannical or murderous against humanity. If there is no point of connection or contention in our premises, any discussion or debate is pointless and meaningless. Best. Kai Chen