Hacienda La Puente Unified gives up on Chinese funding for Confucius Classroom 哈岗学委会放弃中共资金与教师

圖：例行會議上的哈崗學區教委。左起：Rudy Chavarria，張金生，徐乃星，陳介飛，Anita Perez和學區總監中岡（Barbara Nakaoka）。（攝影：劉菲/大紀元）

陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

陈凯一语：

虽然这一仗以正义的人们的胜利而结束，保卫美国的自由与人类的终极价值不被污染与腐蚀的战争仍在每一个人的身边，在每一分钟进行着。 我希望我们每一个人保持着那个坚定的信念： 正义永远会战胜邪恶 - 因为正义只有一个敌人 - 邪恶； 而邪恶却永远有两个敌人 - 正义与邪恶本身。

Kai Chen's Words:

Although we, the freedom loving folks, have won this battle, the war to safeguard freedom and American values from corruption and degradation continues. It continues every moment in our lives, in everyone's soul. I hope all of us are firm in our faith/belief: Good will always triumph over evil, for good only has one enemy - evil, while evil has two enemies - good and evil itself.

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Hacienda La Puente Unified gives up on Chinese funding for Confucius Classroom

哈岗学委会放弃中共资金与教师

By Maritza Velazquez, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/10/2010 04:54:37 PM PDT

INDUSTRY

- After months of emotional debate that made national headlines, Hacienda La Puente Unified school officials Thursday night announced that they would not accept money from the Chinese government to fund its Chinese language and culture program, although it will still operate a program under the name "Confucius Classroom."

The issue was becoming a distraction, said Superintendent Barbara Nakaoka.

"What I wanted to do is make sure that we are keeping our eye on the ball and our eye should be on the students," she said.

The Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban, would have provided $30,000 a year to fund the program at Cedarlane Middle School. The money would come from China's government and would have funded curriculum and a teacher's aid for one classroom.

Board members voted 4-1 to approve the agreement with the Hanban in January.

A group of area residents were furious at the move, saying that a communist country should not have a hand in educating children in the United States.

Opponents for months aggressively sought to persuade the district to cut ties with with Hanban because of concerns that it would brainwash kids with Communist ideals.

The tone at board meetings has been contentious as audience members often jeered speakers and board members, raising concerns about tolerance and racism.

The district has responded by reading its policy regarding etiquette during public comment and included an additional security guard during the meetings.

The hubbub led to the fight making headlines, and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" featured the issue in June.

Board member Jay Chen said he was disappointed that there was such a big opposition in the community, especially since other districts use the same program.

"We are trying to do the best to serve our students," he said. "Unfortunately we are the only community where this outrage has erupted."

There are nearly 40 Confucius Classroom programs in the United States, according to the Hanban's Web site.

The district will still use textbooks and other materials provided by the organization after a committee screens them, Nakaoka said.

The process will take a month or so, she said.

A Chinese language and culture program was in existence at the Hacienda Heights campus before the agreement, officials said.

Those opposed to the program were happy to hear the news. But they want more attention drawn to the influence China has in the educational community and other parts of American culture.

"This brief battle ended, but the war continues," said Kai Chen, an activist and Los Angeles resident.

Chen said the concerns have nothing to do with race.

"Tolerance does not mean tolerance of evil," he said.

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