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Dynamics
of culture and the implications
for education in China
Liu Fengshu
Institute for Educational Research, University of Oslo,
Norway
The dynamics of culture requires that culture must be
consciously and constantly reinterpreted and renovated in order to
gain vitality. The paper argues that formal education as the official
site of cultural transmission forms a natural intersection with
culture which functions as its regulating system. Whether, and to what
extent, a culture needs adaptation can often be examined by
scrutinizing the intersection. To this end, the paper attempts to
scrutinize the intersection between education and culture in China by
displaying some of the major themes in the interaction between the
two.
Introduction
Globalisation and its
attendant processes have created what
Castells
(1999) described as “the space of flows”, whereby a virtual culture is
emerging that permeates the economical, political and social lives of
all nations and regions of the world. The push toward
homogenization,
which comes with
globalization and
which promotes a detachment from tradition and threatens the loss of
cultural root, is accompanied by a counter consciousness—an
acknowledgement of the necessity to promote cultural uniqueness (Reed,
2001). The uniqueness, and for that reason, the survival of a culture
in
the powerful global transformation depends on the
vigor
and rigor of adaptation in the process of its transmission because the
dynamics of culture requires that culture must be constantly and
consciously reinterpreted and renovated in order to gain vitality.
This paper argues that
formal education as the official site of cultural transmission forms a
natural intersection with culture which functions as its regulating
system. Whether, and to what extent, a culture is
functioning or
malfunctioning can often be examined by analysing the intersection
between formal education and culture. To this end, the paper presents
a description of the intersection between education and culture in
China by displaying some of the major themes found in the interaction
between the two.
The paper consists of
two main parts. The first part describes the dynamics of culture its
relationship with education as seen through the model of an
intersection between the two. The second part attempts to make a
scrutiny of the intersection between formal education and culture in
China. Finally, concluding remarks will be based on the synthesis of
the two main parts and some lessons are expected to be drawn from the
exposition.
PART ONE
Dynamics of
Culture and the Intersection between Culture and Education
According to
D’Andrade (1984), two major schools have appeared in history
concerning the term “culture”—the behaviourist paradigm and the
cognitive paradigm. The dispute between the two paradigms echoes what
Alexander (1994) named as the initial dichotomy that has governed the
analysis of action and order since scientific consideration of
societies began. The dichotomy consists of the mechanistic conception
of action and the subjective approach to action, which in turn is
reflected in the difference between positivism and the interpretative
social science. The positivist approach holds that human beings
operate on the basis of external causes, with the same cause having
the same effect on everyone. Human behavior
is produced by a mechanism that responds automatically and predictably
to the stimuli of its environment. Consequently, we can and should
learn about people by observing their behavior,
what we see in external reality, instead of what happens in internal,
subjective reality. In contrast, the subjective, interpretative
approach believes that human action is motivated by something inside
the person such as feelings, perception and sensibility. How people
act is a function of how they interpret social reality and they act
according to the subjective order which is a framework internalised in
the mind. Human action acquires meaning among people who share a
meaning system that permits them to interpret it as a socially
relevant sign or action (Neuman, 2000). As a result, the subjective,
interpretative approach holds that we can study social reality only
through understanding people’s ideas.
Accordingly, the
behaviorist paradigm and the cognitive paradigm arrived at strikingly
different conceptualisations of culture. In the former tradition,
which was among the dominating ones before 1955, observable behavior,
rather than mind analysis, was seen as the only fit subject of study.
Culture was seen as patterns of behavior, actions and customs (D’Andrade,
1984). Contrastingly, the cognitive paradigm argues that culture
consists of not behavior, or even patterns
of behavior, but rather of a “shared
organization of ideas” or “learned systems of symbolically encoded
meaning” which is historically transmitted and traditionally inherited
(Geertz, 1973, p. 89). According to Spiro (1984), cultural and
non-cultural propositions differ in two important dimensions. First,
cultural propositions are traditional; they are developed in the
historical experience of social groups, and as a social heritage.
Second, cultural propositions are encoded in collective, rather than
private, signs. Here culture for humans is seen as an
information-holding system with functions similar to those of cellular
DNA which provides individual cells with the information needed for
self-regulation and specialized growth (D’Andrade, 1984).
Many other theorists
in the cognitive tradition have made influential conceptualisations of
culture, thus contributing to the dominance of this paradigm over the
behaviorist paradigm (e.g., see Geertz,
1973; Holland & Quinn, 1987; Keesing, 1976; Spiro 1984; Spindler,
1997; Spradley & McCurdy, 1997). However, in spite of the fact that
the cognitive approach brought about a revolution in the understanding
of culture, this paradigm is not free from evident limitations of its
own. As a result, a conception somewhat combining the two paradigms
can be discerned in many scholars nowadays.
The conflict between
culture as patterns of behaviour, and culture as systems of ideas
seems to have been resolved when many social scientists now agree that
culture is also a form of practice, i.e., what people do as well as
what people think (e.g., see Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner & Cain,
1998; Levinson, 2000). Such a modified understanding of the term is
only natural because behavior and ideas can rarely be isolated from
each other. Likewise, one can always study what ideas lead to what
actions. For example, one can hardly expect someone who has never
heard of Father Christmas to prepare for a stocking and hang it on the
Christmas tree for presents. Similarly, when certain patterns of
behaviour exist, a cultural tendency can be applied. For instance,
frequently found unpunctuality among African students is attributed to
“African time”. When asked, a student from Zambia explained,” We grew
up in a context where people believe we, human beings, should control
time, not to be controlled by time.” Evidently, in studying culture,
both people’s behavior and their ideas provide rich resources and
constitute fascinating realms. Or, in Henze’s (1992) words, “culture
is both internal and external” (p.6).
Another point worth noticing is that
some definitions of culture in both the cognitive and the behaviorist
approaches seem to somewhat convey the notion that culture is fixed
and static once formed. However, just as Rossman, Corbett and
Firestone (1988) contended, culture is not only static, but it is also
dynamic. Therefore, there is another dimension of culture that seems
to deserve more emphasis in the conceptualisation of culture, even if
it is not totally lacking in the above-mentioned paradigms. That is
the dynamic quality of a culture.
To give this quality of culture due
respect, we must address not only the past but also the now of a
culture. In fact, the now is not contradicting the past; rather, the
two are relative to each other because they exist in a constant
continuity. The “now” we are experiencing will become “history” when
viewed by the future generations. For, what is shared knowledge and
common practice today will be passed on to later generations just as
traditional culture was passed on to the contemporary generations.
Therefore, the now shoulders the double task as both the agency to
succeed and the conveyor of culture. It is for this reason that
Boulding (1988) believes that everyone lives in the 200-year present,
the so-called elastic moment, which she explained means that on any
day there is a person living who is 100 years old and there is a baby
that is born who will live for 100 years. In this respect, we all live
in the 200-year present (p.3).
Therefore, it is of great importance to
emphasize the now of a culture because, to a great extent, it can be
said that the very survival of a culture depends on how well it is
transmitted by the contemporary generations. To this end, it is
crucial to bear in mind that the dynamics of a culture demands ongoing
transference within a changing society; “It must be constantly
re-interpreted and modified” (Henze, 1992, p.6). Many scholars agree
that cultural meanings are constantly produced, rather that
statistically and uniformly transmitted (e.g., see Eisenhart, 2000;
Holland, et al., 1998; Wolcott, 1991). A culture gains vitality and,
for that reason, enhances the chance of survival in the powerful
homogenizing processes of globalization only when it is creatively
interpreted and reconstructed in such a way that it best serves the
purpose of a nation to adapt to its environment while retaining some
historical cohesion and continuity.
It is here that education is called to
task, because theories of education largely seek to address questions
of the above-mentioned concern (Levinson, 2000). Or according to Mead
(2000), education has always played an important role in the process
of enculturation. Cultural acquisition and, therefore cultural
transmission, can take place through informal, non-formal and formal
education, as defined by LaBelle (1984). However, it is through formal
education in schools where cultural transmission is undertaken.
Schools have been acknowledged as official sites for the
interpretation and transmission of values and knowledge, as Levinson
(2000) and Reed (2000) both point out. For the purpose of this paper
education refers to formal education.
For the
above-mentioned reasons, it is self-evident that education and culture
are closely interwoven and interdependent. While transmitting culture
and being regulated by it, education always occurs in a specific
cultural context. This means:
What we resolve to do in school only
makes sense when considered in the broader context of what society
intends to accomplish through its educational investment in the young.
How one conceives of education, we have finally come to recognize, is
a function of how one conceives of the culture and its aims, professed
and otherwise. (Bruner, 1996, p. IX).
Thus, there is an evident intersection
between culture and education. It is here that we can see how culture
as a regulating system influences processes of teaching and learning
and how these processes in turn reinforce culture. Such an
intersection is illustrated through the model in Figure1.
There are three areas in this model. A
represents culture, B stands for formal education, and C is the common
area, the intersection between A and B. It is self-evident that the
size and content of the intersection differs from one educational
system to another. Nevertheless, it is presumed to be universally true
that the vitality of a culture and the success of an educational
system largely depend on if this interchange is organized in such a
way that it best enhances the contemporary and future development of
the nation. It is in section C that the interaction between education
and culture is takes place. Educational agencies are supposed to be
constantly reinterpreting and reproducing culture out of the
storehouse of tradition, the A area, and adapt it to the demands of
the development of education, the B area. In this sense, time and
space can render any elements in the cultural system obsolete or
re-recognize its value. It is of great importance to turn the
intersection into a “dynamic interchange” so that it serves as the
organ by means of which both education and culture breathe in order to
survive and develop. For this reason, it is imperative that the
intersection should be consciously and constantly scrutinized to make
sure that it is not malfunctioning.
Time and Space
Figure 1: The Intersection between
Culture and Education
PART TWO
Culture and
Education In China
The following section
of the paper will present a description of the intersection between
education and culture in China (see Figure 2). It can by no means
serve as a panoramic picture of Chinese culture and education, China
being evidently complex in both. However, it is hoped that it will be
able to give a general idea about the major motifs discerned in the
interplaying of the two areas. For this purpose, we shall look at
Chinese education through some of the main threads in the tapestry of
Chinese culture: Chinese moral education, the widespread respect for
learning, the belief in hard work and determination, the examination
system, and the reliance on book knowledge and memorization.
Time and Space
Figure 2: The
Intersection between Education and Culture in China
Moral Education in China
Moral education has always taken a prominent
position in the Chinese educational system. This may be viewed in
light of the phenomenon that Chinese culture is oriented toward
morality (Woo, 1991). To appreciate the world-view and moral ideals of
the Chinese people, Confucianism is the first school to be understood.
Some of the Confucian moral propositions are echoed and reinforced by
Buddhism and Daoism and modified but succeeded by the Communist Party
of China.
Moral education for the Confucian school of
thinkers is both necessary and obtainable. This can be seen in the
logic of the Confucian ideal society as shown in Figure 3:
Figure 3
Figure 3: Logic of the Confucian Ideal Society
Confucianism
came into being as a result of Confucius’ wish to advocate the
“rectification of names”, which he explained as “ Let the ruler be
ruler, the minister minister, the father father, the son son”
(Confucius’ Analects, XIII, 3; Confucius Analects, XII, 11). Born in
551 B.C., Confucius saw the decline of the Zhou Dynasty and lived in a
world of social and cultural decay in the Spring and Autumn period
(722---484 B.C.) and the period of the Warring States (403—221 B.C.).
His recipe for a society racked with social unrest was the restoration
of the practices of a time when he believed all had lived justly and
simply under a benign kingship in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Such a
society is regulated by moral behavior based on benevolence and
propriety. This may serve to explain why as Lee (1991) pointed out,
the individual’s moral and spiritual growth is at the basis of
Confucian thinking on education, a message enshrined in the works of
the Confucian tradition, such as the Four Books and the Five Classics.
The focus on self-cultivation was aptly summarized by Confucius in The
Great Learning, as quoted by Durant (1935):
Things being
investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being
complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere,
their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their
own selves were cultivated. Their own selves being cultivated, their
families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states
were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole
empire was made tranquil and happy.
(pp. 667-8)
Confucian education
thus starts with the cultivation of oneself as the foundation for an
ideal world. Therefore, it is the obligation of the ruler as well as
the ruled to cultivate virtue. For, according to Confucianism, the
ruler rules by appealing to people’s inner virtue rather than by
statute. “The rule of virtue can be compared to the Pole Star which
commands the homage of the multitude of stars without leaving its
place” (Confucius Analects II, 1).
Therefore, personal
moral perfection and the joy experienced from that accomplishment is
considered by Confucianism, and thereby, by the Chinese tradition as a
whole, as the primary purpose and goal of education (Lee, 2000).
The above-mentioned
conviction is reinforced by the Confucian idea that moral perfection
is not only necessary but also obtainable. This is because there is a
common belief among the Confucian thinkers in the potential for
goodness, hence educability, in human nature, as has been pointed out
by numerous authors (e.g., see Cleverley, 1991; Doan, 1991; Lee, 1999;
Lee, 2000; Smith 1991).
Though Confucius did
not elaborate on human nature, his belief that everyone is educable
serves as a sound proof for his recognition of goodness in human
nature. The first sentence in the Three-Character Classics, which is a
summary of Confucius’ thought, states, “Men, one and all, in infancy
are virtuous at heart. Their natures are much the same, the practice
wide apart” (Giles, 1972). Confucius is known for having believed
that there is a sage in everyone.
Two of Confucius’
most distinguished followers, Mencius and Xunzi, held opposing views
on human nature. The former believed that human beings are virtuous
because benevolence and righteousness are inherent in one’s nature;
but since goodness only exists in the state of germs, following and
guarding it from going astray is the sole concern of learning (Mencius,
VI, A, 11). Unlike Mencius, Xunzi argued that human beings are born
evil, but fortunately, virtue can be acquired through human efforts in
learning (Chai, 1965). Interestingly, despite of their contrary
opinions as regards human nature, both appeals to education for moral
perfection. For the former, education is to preserve the goodness one
is born with, whereas for the latter, learning serves to rectify the
evil nature and transform it into virtue.
The belief in the
morally transforming power of learning is not limited to Confucianism.
Rather, it is in this belief that the three main traditional schools
of thought echo each other. While Buddhism and Daoism differ greatly
from Confucianism in their philosophy and practice, they both also
advocate learning for self-perfection. According to Lee (2000),
Lao-tse, the founder of Taoism believed that the main evil that had
befallen society was its quest for materialistic betterment.
Therefore, Daoism calls on humans to forsake physical prowess, to
acquire spiritual strength, and to abandon material wealth in order to
have a harmonious and peaceful relationship with the greatest source
of sustenance—nature. It is well known that Buddhism is much concerned
with conducting goodness, a fact that bespeaks its emphasis on moral
cultivation. Besides, the pursuit of truth in monastic isolation as a
means of enlightenment is a spiritual enjoyment for the Buddhists.
ChuHsi (1130—1200), probably the most influential Confucian thinker of
Neo-Confucianism, owed much to Buddhist influence. He taught that the
pursuit of knowledge was ultimately for personal moral perfection,
rather than for extrinsic rewards (Lee, 1999).
Because of the
influence of the above traditions, education and moral cultivation has
never been separated in China. Instead, they are closely interwoven.
Therefore, as noted by Smith (1991), "the school, be it for children
of age three or for postdoctoral students, is a place where values,
morals and ethical priorities will be learned” (p. 5). This prescribes
the teacher’s role. Just as Stafford (1997) said, "if Chinese
education is expected to be moral, then Chinese teachers are equally
expected to be both transmitters and living examples of this morality.
School children are similarly expected to live up to the upright
example of their teachers, in some way to become them” (p. 61). Han
Yu, one of the most outstanding scholars and educators in the Tang
Dynasty, defined a teacher like this, “ What is a teacher? A teacher
is the one who shows you the way of being human, teaches you knowledge
and enlightens you while you’re confused.” That is why teachers are
honoured with the title “the engineers of the human soul” in China. At
the same time, students are also required to behave as civilized
persons respecting teachers and conforming to other moral standards
prescribed for them.
It is a general
Chinese belief that moral education is important for both the
individual and the society. To traditional Chinese rulers, education
with its moralizing function was seen as an instrument for governing
and ruling. Perhaps the man who most frankly recognized the utility of
moral education concerning social control was Emperor Yongzheng in the
Ching Dynasty who is said to have asked whether ordinary people know
that after human mind and thoughts are rectified and social customs
amended, the one who benefits the most is the ruler himself.
Just as Cleverley
(1991) points out, this pattern of thinking has not been discarded in
China today but has been integrated with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. A
government document by the State Education Commission of the People’s
Republic of China (1993) re-states the aims of education in China is “
…to train builders of the country and successors to the socialist
cause who are developed morally, intellectually and physically.” A
more recent document shows that moral education in China is understood
as covering a very broad category:
Moral education
includes political, ideological, moral and psychological quality
education. The basic task in primary and secondary education is to
foster the students into citizens with ardent love for the motherland,
social ethics, civilized behavior and observation of laws. Besides,
moral education should guide the students to build up the correct
world outlook and value codes about life, constantly enhance their
socialist consciousness so as to lay a solid foundation for them to
become a rising generation having lofty ideals, moral integrity,
knowledge and culture, and disciplines. (China Education and Research
Network, 2000)
This may shed some
light on the term moral-political education given to Chinese moral
education by Price (1992). As he argues, in a sense, one can say that
China’s schools have always been dominated by moral-political
teaching, which occupies a significant place in the school curriculum.
As a percentage of total teaching time for all subjects, politics
occupied 6.7% in 1950; 4.4% in 1954; 7.1% in 1958; 6.2% in 1963; 7.2%
in 1978; and 6.9% in 1981 (Price, 1992, p. 217). While there may have
been a reduction of time for politics in the curriculum in recent
years, we can confidently say that a continuity of the tradition is
evidently present in today’s China.
Widespread Respect for Learning
It is
widely acknowledged that there is a widely diffused respect for
learning in China. It is hardly overstated when Smith (1991) remarked:
So ingrained in the psychology of the
Chinese is the value of education that it is often characterized as
the true religion of the people…In the west, the foundation of
civilization, at least since the early Middle Ages, has been religion;
in China, education has played this part in the people’s moral and
ethical lives and has continuously been the ballast for social
evolution. (p. 9)
Three main factors
seem to have contributed to this circumstance. First, as can be seen
from the preceding part of the paper, the significance of education
stands out in the Confucian tradition. This is because for
Confucianism an individual’s moral development and perfection which is
regarded as the basis of an ideal society can only be achieved through
education. Therefore, the term “learning” pervades the whole
literature of Confucian works. In fact, one of the Four Books is
entitled The Great Learning. In addition, Confucius’ whole life was an
example of ceaseless learning as a result of which he was able to
follow his heart’s desire without worrying about being wrong at the
age of 70 (Confucius Analects, II, 4). The Three Character Classics
begins with an emphasis on the function of education:
To feed the body, not the mind—fathers, on
you the blame!
Instruction without severity, the idle
teacher’s shame.
If a child does not learn, this is not as it
should be.
How, with a youth of idleness, can age
escape the blight?
(Giles, 1972, p. 26)
During the latter
years of the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu, a Confucian philosopher, stated the
view that structured education could make the wise person wiser and
assist in reducing crime, for only the unwise desire the life of
criminality. He greatly emphasized the value of the educational
experience as a purifier of the soul and spirit (Smith, 1991).
The Confucian
influence is far and wide. Just as has been observed by some scholars,
countries with a Confucian tradition such as Japan and Korea have all
manifested a widespread belief that education is of paramount
importance in one’s life (Lee, 1999).
Secondly, the Chinese
love learning because they commonly believe that learning can be a
spiritual enjoyment (Lee, 2000; Yao, 2000). That is, learning has an
intrinsic value like that of music or art and it can purify the soul
and cultivate the character by displaying a world where one is away
from the madding crowds and enters the great spiritual palace of peace
and harmony. Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism all recognize the
personal spiritual satisfaction that flows from the enlightenment and
transcendence as a result of learning.
Referring to the joy
of learning, Confucius once said, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a
constant perseverance and application?” Similarly, a Buddhist might
say, “ Is it not pleasant to learn and get enlightened?” And, a Daoist
might say, “ Is it not pleasant to learn and pursue the Great Way and
enjoy the process of learning?” That’s why teachers in China are
called gardeners who cultivate children with the sunlight and
rainfalls of knowledge.
Thirdly, it is
especially true to the Chinese that education can mean social and
economic mobility. Education promises to pay immensely. The following
has been a common belief all the time in China, as quoted by Cleverly
(1995):
To
enrich your family, no need to buy good land:
Books hold a thousand measures of grain.
For
any easy life, no need to build a mansion:
In
books are found houses of gold.
Going out, be not vexed at absence of followers:
In
books carriages and horses form a crowd.
Marrying, be not vexed by the lack of a good go-between:
In
books there are girls with faces of jade.
A
boy who wants to become a somebody
Devotes himself to the classics, faces the window, and reads.
(p. 18)
And last but not
least, nowadays education becomes more important than ever to the
Chinese people not only because of the aforesaid factors but also
because in many cases it is a prerequisite for employment, hence, the
means of making a living.
Hard Work and Determination
= Success
The enthusiasm for
education found in the Chinese has no doubt been encouraged by the
Confucian idea that everyone is educable and by the fact that numerous
people have succeeded in climbing the social ladder by means of
education. Traditionally, obtaining a higher social status through
education was not only a sweet dream but it was realizable. Since the
Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, with the urgent need to
select the most competent men for public services, the number of
persons who rose from obscurity greatly increased. For example, the
percentage of persons of obscure origin mentioned in historical
records rose from 6% in 722-693 B.C. to 44% in 512-483 B.C. during the
Spring and Autumn period, and from 57% in 463-434 B.C. to 74% in
283-254 B.C. during the Warring States period (Hsu, 1965). In short,
the possibility of upward social mobility through educational success
was evident ever since the above-mentioned time. From this the Chinese
learned an important message. That is, educational success is
obtainable for everyone, nevertheless, hard work and strong will is
the key. Numerous Chinese people have been inspired by the tradition
concerning the belief in effort and strong will necessary for one’s
educational achievement. The following is among the most frequently
quoted by the Chinese intellectuals:
When Heaven is about
to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will exercise his mind
(determination) with suffering, subject his sinews and bones to hard
work, expose his body to hunger, put him to poverty, place obstacles
in the path of his deeds, so as to stimulate his mind, harden his
nature, and improve wherever he is incompetent. (Mencius VIB, 15)
Few Chinese would
deny that “No force can steal the determination of even the humblest
man” (Creel 1951, p.101). Chinese children grow up listening to
countless stories about people who can serve as examples of
determination and hard work. They read about life stories of great
scientists and other successful scholars home and abroad. They are
told that Sun Jing and Su In, both well-known ancient scholars,
tortured themselves in order to keep awake while reading. The former
tied his hair to a beam and the latter kept pricking himself with an
awl. They come to believe that as long as you work hard enough and
long enough, you can even grind a huge iron bar into a tiny needle, as
shown by the famous story about the old grandmother trying to make a
needle out of an iron bar. This shows that hard work and determination
are still deeply cherished qualities in China. Educators and parents
regard them as admirable virtues. Students who are not working hard
are made to feel ashamed of themselves, because it is commonly
believed that one fails academically not because one is slow but
because one is not determined and diligent enough. Perhaps that is why
one can hardly enter a classroom in China without seeing proverbs on
the wall urging one to work hard. As one Chinese proverb states,
“Diligence is the road to knowledge and determination is the boat by
which one navigates on the ocean of learning.”
The
Examination System
The present national
public examination for higher education in China has its prototype in
the Imperial Civil Service Exam System which lasted from the Han
Dynasty (201B.C.—8 AD) to 1905. The Imperial Civil Service Exam by
definition was intended to recruit educated people for government
service. To a great extent it can be said that the exam system
effectively served the feudal emperors in two aspects. That is, it
served simultaneously to recruit loyal civil servants of a standard
type and to guarantee a thorough indoctrination of the Confucian
ideology among the educated class, which was the model for the whole
population. Therefore, killing two birds with one stone was achieved
by means of limiting the syllabus to Confucian classics and by
prescribing the standards of style to be used in the exam answers
(Zhu, 1991). The examination system as such relied heavily on
memorization, recitation, and analysis of the Confucian classics. Exam
success called for an excellent memory, knowledge of the Classics, and
their approved annotations. It is a common understanding that the
conditioning through the imperial exam made it difficult for the
Chinese educated class to respond creatively to the ideas and problems
which followed Western penetration in the 19th century.
Consequently, it was finally accepted early in the 20th
century that the Four Books and the Five Classics proved an
insufficient basis for modern government and so the imperial civil
service exam was abolished in 1905.
The exam system was
extremely competitive. According to historical record, only one or two
in 100 could hope to pass the final palace exam which usually 10,000
or more candidates would attend who had managed to pass all the
preceding exams before they were qualified for the final one (Cleverley,
1991, p. 18). Just because it was highly competitive and hard earned
in addition to the immense benefits the success promised, the national
exam throughout China’s long history has been regarded not only as a
major national event but also, even more, one of the four greatest
episodes in one’s life: Sweet rain after a long drought; Meeting an
old friend in a strange place; The wedding night in the nuptial
chamber; the sight of one’s name on the golden placard (the official
announcement of success in the exam).
In spite of various
complaints against the imperial civil service exam which led to its
abolishment in 1905, the validity of the national public exam did not
perish. The Kuomintang Party passed an Exam Law in 1933 applying to
those seeking government posts after SunYat-sen, the first provisional
president of the Republic of China, publicly praised the exam system
as the oldest and best of its kind in the world. After the Chinese
Communist Party gained power in 1949, exams persisted for entry to
particular educational institutions with testing being introduced
nationally in 1952. Following a break from 1966 to 1976, the Cultural
Revolution period, the exam for entry to tertiary education was
restored in 1977, becoming the educational event of the year (Cleverley,
1991).
The present Chinese
examination system no doubt serves a broader purpose than merely
recruiting educated personnel for civil service as in history. It has
been used as a sifting net to pick out various professionals of the
future. Nevertheless, as a legacy of the Imperial Civil Service Exam,
it clearly mirrors its prototype in a number of ways. For example, as
usual, it is still highly competitive notwithstanding the fact that
there has been a fast increase in higher education in China recently.
The selective nature of the system is reflected by the sharply reduced
entrance rates at higher levels of education. According to the
China Statistical Yearbook (1995), in 1993-94, while net
enrolment of the school-age children in primary schools reached 98%,
86% of primary school graduates entered junior middle schools, 46% of
junior middle school graduates made it to senior middle schools of
various kinds, and only 4.5% of senior middle school graduates were
admitted to regular higher education institutions. This means that
only 1.8% of a given cohort eventually make it to universities.
According to the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook (1995), only 2% of
China’s population aged 25 and over have received postsecondary
education. The Chinese Education Statistical Yearbook (1999) shows
that the gross enrolment ratio of Chinese higher education reached
10.5% in 1999. But, selectivity persists.
Apart from the social
and economic mobility higher education promises, the importance of
passing the national public exam is reinforced by the fact that a
tertiary educational certificate is a precondition for most
employments in urban areas now. These factors combined shed light on
why Chinese education is determined by and centered on an exam. It can
serve as strong evidence to prove that "exams decide the curricula”
(Brock-Utne 2000, p.129). Public exam records are treated as the most
important or even the only indicators of the quality of schools by the
community. Students’ exam scores are the greatest concern to the
students, teachers and parents. According to Gao (1997), in Guangzhou,
there is a reward system for schools, leaders and teachers, as well as
a punishment system depending on how they performed on the exam. In
fact, similar practices are prevalent all over the country. As a
result, in order for the students to do well on the exam, teaching and
learning especially at a senior middle school level is totally aimed
towards passing the exam which will take place three years later.
Teachers are going out of their way to figure out what kind of exam
questions might appear in the coming exam and spend time gathering
examples for students. The students in turn are plunged into the sea
of exercises of a fixed type. Thus, repeatedly doing exercises and
memorizing them takes up almost all of a student’s time. The number of
exam-type items a student must do for physics range from 1000 to 2000
during the last year of secondary schooling (Gao, 1997). However,
physics is merely one of the examined subjects. The pressure of the
exam has rendered thousands of teenagers to mechanical doers of
exercises and deprived them of many other activities. Nearly all
students complain school is mentally boring and physically exhausting.
July, when the yearly national tertiary entry exam takes place, is
named “the dark July” by the students.
Another consequence
is that the exam culture in China has trickled down to the bottom
level of education. The issue concerning the burden on primary and
secondary students has caused heated discussion among educators and
parents in recent years. However, just as Holmes and Mclean (1989)
pointed out, it seems unlikely that the selective Chinese exam system
will be abolished. The retention is virtually sure to mean that the
content of secondary school education will almost certainly be
dominated by exam requirements.
Book
Knowledge and Memorization
There has been a
shared complaint among many scholars in the east as well as in the
west, although there have also been contrasting views (e.g., see
Biggs, 1999), that the products of the Chinese educational system tend
to have a sound command of theoretical knowledge but display a
relatively low empirical capability compared with western students. A
close scrutiny of the Chinese tradition seems to show that the content
and process of learning can be roughly summarized as book knowledge
and memorization. Learning for most Chinese people is equal to reading
books. Memorizing what is written in books is the most secure way to
study. Learning means to accumulation of knowledge and reproduction of
other people’s knowledge; rather than construction of meaning from
experience, as has been observed by some scholars (e.g., Bradley &
Bradley, 1984; Samuelowicz, 1987). Researchers attempting to explore
this have arrived at different conclusions as to the determining
factors. But all seem to have turn to the Chinese culture for
inspiration. Generally speaking, there are four main determinant: the
Chinese language, Confucianism, authoritarianism, and the exam system.
The Confucian school
of thinkers strongly stressed the importance of learning. However, as
King (1992) reasonably points out, the Confucian school only
emphasized what is written in the classics concerning personal moral
perfection, neglecting knowledge relating to production and
professional and technical skills. Although the importance of science
and technology and the importance of developing students’ abilities to
solve practical problems are now widely recognized, the power of
Confucianism still has its impact on science education in China today.
Bountiful evidence shows that emphasis is placed on mastery of a
well-structured body of theoretical knowledge. Therefore, how to build
up such a body of knowledge is still the first consideration of
curriculum developers and teachers. In a sense, the development of
practical skills takes up a mere symbolic place in the curriculum. For
example, in the time scheme for the school physics course in the
national syllabus, the total teaching hours of senior middle school is
340, but there are only 27 hours for student experiments (Gao, 1997).
Science learning has become solely book learning. This is to a great
extent determined by the exam system which mainly tests students on
their book knowledge using fixed types of questions, as mentioned
earlier. The Chinese national public exam for entry into tertiary
education is mainly a paper-and-pen test examining the students’
memorization of textbooks. This is again reminiscent of the
traditional Imperial Civil Service Exam which was based on the Four
Books and the Five Classics and which required heavy memorization in
order to achieve success.
According to cultural
determinism (Spiro, 1984), language as an integral part of a
culture determines to a great extent, the way people think and act.
The relationship between language and ideology is often referred to as
linguistic determinism. As Gadamer (1977) puts it, “language is not
only an object in our hand, it is the reservoir of tradition and the
medium in and through which we exist and perceive our world” (p.29).
Russell (as cited in Smith, 1991) proposed that the use of ideograms
is one of the major features that give the Chinese their distinctive
character. The Chinese language does not have an alphabetical system
whereby letters are put in a certain juxtaposition to form a word. The
characters are pictorial-based rather than sound oriented. The written
Chinese is such that, as Smith (1991) remarked:
Acquiring a strong language base
requires sheer memorization of literally thousands of characters. No
shortcut exists in this process…Consequently, in China the children
who become part of the school system must follow the most fundamental
of all ways to learn the language—memorization. (p.15)
In addition to the
above-mentioned factors, strict adherence to the current book
knowledge only and memorization process may have much to do with the
obedient character which seems common among the Chinese culture. Such
a mental state is to a great extent tempered by the authoritarianism
characteristic of the Chinese government. China has been a centralized
state for thousands of years ever since Qin Shihuang, the First
Emperor in Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 B.C., with some short
interruptions only. Ever from then on the Emperor became the highest
authority that had the right to reward or punish, to kill or to
pardon. As has been indicated earlier in this paper, the hierarchical
structure which characterized such a society was maintained largely
through the exam system which helped to achieve a uniformed ideology,
to which the Chinese have come be accustomed (Pye, 1992). As a
result, the Chinese tend to believe in authorities. Furthermore,
written text tends to be taken as unquestionable truth. This was
reinforced during the reign of Chairman Mao, who believed that the
political ideals of a given society are its educational ideals and its
political mission is its educational mission. And as Whyte (1991)
points out, “In Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, society is conceived of as a
single, well-regulated factory controlled by a plan. There is one
correct way for society to be organized. It is a fundamental
responsibility of rulers to proclaim and enforce that correct way”
(p.260).
Therefore,
paternalism or authoritarianism relies on obedient behavior of the
people for ruling. Obedience, when it comes to learning, translates
itself into a firm belief in book knowledge and memorization.
Conclusions and Implications
Culture as a particular phenomenon has its own law
of development. The first part of the paper deals with how dynamics of
culture is understood.
A brief review of the conceptualisations of culture
in the behaviourist paradigm and the cognitive paradigm shows that
these contrasting approaches both seem to somewhat convey the
notion that culture is fixed and static once formed.
This article follows a third view that holds that culture is not only
static but also dynamic. A culture needs to be consciously and
constantly reinterpreted and modified in order to gain vitality. This
is especially true if a culture is to survive globalization that
threatens to push the world toward cultural homogenisation.
Renovating the existing culture may mean that
cultural transmission involves doing away with malfunctioning
elements, integrating strong points from other cultures, or reviving
or further emphasizing those elements in traditional culture that
serve as energizing forces for educational development. To this end,
it is crucial that various elements of a culture be examined so as to
identify those that may not be functioning in a synergetic direction
with the current purpose of education, for which culture serves as a
regulating system.
As has been demonstrated in Part One, since culture
and formal education are closely interwoven and interdependent, the
intersection between culture and education (as illustrated through
Figure 1) constitutes a realm where various cultural elements can be
scrutinized in order to discern the aspects in need of renovation.
Therefore, the analysis of such an intersection between culture and
education in China is expected to expose both the strength and
weaknesses in the educational system as seen in its cultural context.
The scrutiny of the intersection between culture
and education in China indicates that certain cultural elements
discerned in the educational processes might be malfunctioning and
need renovation. Therefore, while acknowledging the evident strong
points in the Chinese culture, I would like to direct the attention of
policy makers and educators to the following questions.
Can learning still be a spiritual enjoyment under
the great pressure of exam? What does the trade-off imply as regards
the purpose of education? To what extent is learning that relies on
book knowledge and memorization at odds with its current mission to
develop the students as powerful learners who would have the largest
and most flexible capacity to learn (Cheng, 200l)? What inspiration
should we get from the following words by a famous educationalist and
philosopher?
From the standpoint
of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his inability
to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete
and free way within the school itself; while on the other hand, he is
unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. (Dewey,
1990, p. 66)
Is moral education
functioning as it is supposed to be when it is confused with political
ideology indoctrination? What implications do the following facts have
for our moral education, and education in general? Throughout the
1980s and 1990s, juvenile delinquency and youth criminality increased
significantly in China. In 1980, for example, 61.2% of all criminals
were youths and juveniles; by 1989, it had increased to 74.1%
(Epstein, 2000, pp. 83-4). This is a part of a larger trend where
crime increased markedly. According to Epstein, the total crime
committed by 14-to-18-years-old increased from 7% in 1980 to about 20%
in 1989. From 1988 to 1993, 1.2 million cases of cadre corruption were
acknowledged by the Chinese press, with 170,000 cases being reported
for 1993 (Epstein, 2000).
This article’s
conceptualization of culture and the depiction of the intersection
between culture and education should provide some theoretical grounds
for policy formation and practice in China. One potentially promising
response would be to start with the examination system that has to a
great extent rendered learning book knowledge and memorization. The
quality of national educational systems is increasingly being compared
internationally (Carnoy & Rhoten, 2002). This makes it necessary for
policy makers and educators to become aware of the parameters and
standards for testing from a global perspective in order to enhance
the competitiveness of the products of the educational system.
Although there has been much talking about the defects of the existing
exam system, which has even led to some new policies concerning exams
and curriculum, it is obvious that at the classroom level, educational
delivery in most Chinese schools remains largely the same. Book
knowledge and memorization are still playing a great role, largely due
to the nature of the exams and the pressure on teachers and students
related to the ramifications of exam results, as explained in Part
Two. This means that it is also important that supervision and
inspection should follow trans-national and national policies to local
practices. Research should follow up to analyse trends and to provide
empirical grounds for effective solutions. Meanwhile, studies should
be organized on international educational parameters and on how to
integrate national and international aspects in the Chinese culture
that serves as a regulating mechanism for China’s formal education.
Continuing
professional education for teachers should focus more on up-to-date
approaches to teaching. Rather than using exam results as parameters
to assess teaching quality, teachers should be encouraged and rewarded
(for example, by means of material as well as spiritual rewards) for
renovating teaching methods to aim at cultivating students’ practical
ability and flexible capacity to learn.
With regard to moral
education, rather than overemphasizing political indoctrination and
confusing it with moral education, individual self-cultivation, as
advocated by Daoism and Buddhism as well as Confucianism, should be
integrated to a greater extent in moral cultivation. This approach
might function as a corrective to violations of modernity, as Reed
(2001) advocates, as well as a rectification of the failure in moral
education caused by political ideology indoctrination that tends to
engulf the individual’s moral cultivation.
Furthermore, now that
renovating the culture may mean absorbing nutrition from other
cultures, policy makers should consider deliberate efforts or programs
to raise awareness on impacts of global interdependence. For example,
to learn from other cultures, higher educational institutions should
open up for foreign students and arrange for more strategic cultural
exchange between China and other countries. For the same purpose,
global perspectives should be reviewed and adequately incorporated in
the curriculum of both schools and teacher education. Continuing
professional development for policy makers and educators should
include critical comparative analysis of educational policies and
practices in other cultures.
So far, this article
has, based on the understanding of cultural dynamics, attempted to
analyse the intersection between culture and education in China with
the hope to expose both the strength and weaknesses of various
cultural elements interacting with formal education. It has also tried
to make some suggestions for educational policy making and practices
in China. Nevertheless, no simple answer can be found to the problems
that beset any educational system with the challenges and difficulties
presented by a changing culture and situation. After all, it is the
responsibility of educational agencies, as official media of cultural
transmission, to consciously and constantly reinterpret and
reconstruct various cultural elements and adapt them to the
advancement of educational development of a nation. At least one point
is clear that policy makers and educators should bear in mind. That
is, the dynamics of culture dictates that a culture gains vitality
only when it is consciously and constantly reinterpreted and modified
in such a way that it best serves the purpose of a nation to adapt to
its environment while retaining some historical cohesion and
continuity.
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