education in small steps and full circles
A
Visit to China
Art Education Conference
and
Lectures in Universities and Schools
August 18, 2007 to September 18, 2007
Conference at Taishan
The purpose of the trip was to present a paper at a conference
called “The International Symposium on Comparative Research on Modern
and Contemporary Chinese and Western Art Education.” The intent of the
conference was to share theories and methods about education in the
field of art and aesthetics. The conference was held at The Center for
Literary Theory and Aesthetics at Shandong University in Taishan,
China. (After the conference I traveled to other parts of China to give
lectures on various issues in the field of education.)
At the conference there were approximately 75 participants. Of these,
three were from the
USA, one from Korea, three from Hong Kong and the rest were from
mainland China. Most were professors in the fields of literature,
philosophy, aesthetics or art education. Others were practicing artists
and authors.
The schedule was intense. There were over 40 papers presented over a
two day period. In most cases this did not allow time for questions.
All the papers submitted in time were bound into a conference manual.
Most of the papers were in Chinese with English abstracts, others were
in English with a translation of the abstract. The presentations used
a mixture of styles: some merely reading their paper, others presenting
a summary in a power point format and others presenting something
totally different because the paper was published in the conference
manual.
Yang Quinhua, presentation at the
conference
Listening to a presentation at the conference.
The presentations in English were translated, into Chinese.
Each of the non-Chinese speakers had a translator who sat beside us.
This created a challenge in active listening but we did out best. The
first day of the conference was full of many interesting presentations
and I created a wonderful new network of friends. At lunch I was asked
to play the flute and it was well received.
My paper was titled “Aesthetic Education, Technology and Globalization
– Can ‘East’ and ‘West’ Learn From Each Other?” In the power point
presentation I stressed that children (and adults) face certain eternal
questions such as “where do I come from” and “where I am going.” It
proposed that these questions are most commonly investigated through
science, religion and art. It posited that if these questions are
actively engaged, people have hope, whereas without such engagement
people fall into despair and that this results in many social problems.
I also presented the TOE model of education which simplifies numerous
complex theories about how and why we learn. In short, the TOE model
states that we all have tendencies and are presented with many
opportunities for educational growth. When these tendencies interact
with an opportunity there is an encounter. The TOE model states that it
is the role of the teacher (and parents) to be sensitive to the
tendencies of students and to create opportunities for growth. The
power point challenged those involved in education to find their own
tendencies and passions and to bring these into the
classroom.
The presentation was well received. I met a
Professor from Hong Kong who expressed how the presentation resonated
with her. She is developing a form of art therapy and is interested in
future collaboration. The paper will be translated and published in a
philosophy journal.
Other
Lectures
Before the conference I was able to give three lectures in Beijing.
After the conference, I flew to Guiyang where I was invited to address
the graduate students in the School of Philosophy at Guizhou Normal
University.
After a Lecture in a "English"
Philosophy Class for graduate students.
(The word “normal” is used to mean that the university
focuses on training teachers.) This presentation also went well. There
were about 150 students in a lecture hall intended to seat 100. It is
gratifying to see how thirsty students are to learn. This lecture was
in the evening and not associated with any class - the turnout was
impressive.
Before and after this presentation there were lectures in classrooms of
both graduate and under graduate students, as well as some in the local
high school. All of these were well received.
A High School in Guiyang
I stayed in Guiyang for two weeks and was able to give eight lectures.
Then I flew to Beijing and presented another five lectures
and a number of formal and informal presentations of stories and music.
With Professor Wang at Renmin University
Professor Peng Feng at Peking University
Beautiful offices of the Research
Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education at Peking University
(In the second picture from the left there is a glass floor with a
water pool with fish in it underneath.)
Publishing Contacts
While in China I made contacts with four publishing houses. In each
case I presented the idea of publishing an anthology of stories with
facing page translations (English and Chinese) accompanied by a CD
containing the stories read in English. Of the four publishers, one has
already informed us that this is out of their normal scope. Two are
undertaking feasibility / market studies and the last one I need to
submit a written proposal to. Professor Peng has offered
to follow up with Peking University Press. He has also indicated that
he knows other publishers if none of the remaining three are
interested.
Empowerment of Educators
I spent a lot of classroom time discussing the theme of “education” as
empowerment. I stressed the opinion that the challenge of education is
to “draw forth” as opposed to “filling up” with knowledge. I
believe that many of the teachers that I worked with were empowered to
consider and implement more of this kind of education.
Yang Quinhua and Steven Fletcher
Evening Lecture at Guizhou Normal
University
Attitudes Toward Learning
One of the most interesting observations was that of the
Chinese people’s love for learning. It is shown by both students and
the public at large. It is interesting to note, that there are very few
college dropouts. Once started, most students graduate. This love of
learning is demonstrated by the following two examples from visits to
Peking University and Tsinghua University.
In the first case I was a guest lecturer in a graduate philosophy
seminar of Professor Peng Feng (pronounced Pung Fung). Before his
class, he gave me a tour of part of the university grounds and told me
something of the history. Apparently this university has a history of
openness in many different ways. One of these ways is that the classes
are open to anyone – not just other students, but literally everyone.
Some people apparently move close to this university in order to be
able to sit in on classes of their choice. Such visitors do not take
examinations or submit papers or receive credit, but they otherwise may
participate fully. His seminar for masters and PhD. candidates was
“limited” to 10 students. We arrived about 15 minutes before class and
there were already an extra 10 students in the back of the class. In
his introduction (this was the first day of this class) he explained
how difficult this class was in an effort to discourage some students.
Before starting we had to move to another classroom because in the end
there were about 45 students present. To me it is a wonderful
reflection on his reputation that 35 students wanted to audit his
class. He of course saw this as a double edged sword. From the
questions I asked, I think this is an extreme case as Professor Peng is
well known in China, but the love of learning and thirst for knowledge
that this demonstrates is phenomenal.
Standing room only!
Professor Peng's graduate philosophy seminar intended for 10 students.
Tsinghua University banners on light post.
She took me on a tour of about a quarter of the very large campus and
then took me to the “Arts Center.” In the beginning I understood this
to be the place where the art faculty teaches, but it is not. The art
center is a place where all students are welcome to come and create or
practice any kind of art. There are art studios, practice rooms
with pianos, a number of band rooms (with instruments), dance studios
and a newly remodeled music appreciation room which was being remodeled
in time for an event to take place the following morning. The
university staff and the contractor would work all night to complete
the necessary work.
When we first entered the building we heard piano music echoing around
the main hall and I was very interested in the music and the musician.
After about 15 minutes we came to the place where a young man was
playing the piano. He was introduced as a very accomplished “painter”
so I assumed he was an art student who also loved the piano. My
assumption was wrong; he was an automobile technology engineering
student, who loved painting, calligraphy and music. I was very touched
by the “discovery” of this man. Soon after, I discovered that this
was not so unusual. In fact the university is very technical in its
orientation and considered the “MIT of China” and that all the other
musicians and artist I saw in the art center on this Sunday were
studying engineering, physics and the like. After more questions I
found out that most of the other universities I had been to have
similar “art centers” that are open to all. After meeting the director
(Han Cheng Zhu) and being deeply touched by his warmth I
gave him a CD (During Thy Days) and he gave me a set of three DVD’s and
two CD’s all made by students of the art center.
Left to right, Professor Zheng
Xiaoyun, Steven
Fletcher and
Professor Han Cheng Zhu (the director of the arts center).
Another example of this love for learning was demonstrated in an
encounter with a young man in a bookstore. I had gone to the bookstore
with a student to buy a copy of a book that is not well know. The book
has both English and Chinese translations on opposite sides of the
page. We asked this young man and he not only knew of the book, but was
able to walk directly to where it was and pull it off the shelf. I was
touched by both his knowledge and something intangible in his manners.
In the ensuing conversation I found out that he reads a new book
everyday.
Rhymes
Towards the goal of creating positive children’s rhymes I recorded
several existing rhymes. Most of these, like their counterparts in
other cultures are “cute and fun” and very rhythmical, but have either
no social value or negative social value.
Recording children's rhymes in a middle school.
Here are samples: Cotton
Picking Song Rabbit
Rhyme Jump Rope
Song
I spoke to several teachers and other educational leaders about the
idea of Micro Steps sponsoring contests to create new children’s
rhymes. The response was positive. Based on this, I recommend
that Chinese be the second language group for these efforts.
Magic Moments
On such trips I often feel that the most significant moments are those
magic moments that are not included in our plans. Some of these took
place in the context of a lecture or immediately after a lecture, but
most of these magic moments took place outside of the classroom.
A few of these encounters will be mentioned here.
After my arrival in Beijing (from San Francisco) I spent most of the
first 3 days recovering from traveling. One afternoon, I went to the
nearby university (Renmin University) and sat in the shade of an arbor.
After sometime I played my flute. After a while I heard some other
music. About 30 feet away there were three women in their 80’s. One was
playing a harmonica and the other two were singing. I took out my
digital recorder and moved closer. After a while the four of us (with
other onlookers) struggled to express our joy at meeting. I
played them the recording, (click
to hear it)
they asked to hear more of the flute and
they had more questions than my ten-word vocabulary could facilitate. A
young student appeared and helped with the translation. As they were
about to go I decided to give them a copy of the CD “Ancient Breeze.”
They were very grateful and then began to walk away. They only got
about 20 feet and they stopped and then returned. When they returned,
one of the ladies gave me her dancing scarf which she then
demonstrated.
Demonstration of the dancing scarf.
Music
Another magic moment took place on the trip arranged by the conference
organizers to climb Taishan mountain. Taishan, along with several
other mountains in China is considered sacred. People make a pilgrimage
to climb it. Because of its relative remoteness there were only a few
foreign tourists there, but many Chinese.
On the stairs up the mountain we met this man who was climbing the
mountain in order to improve a health condition.
A small shop on Taishan Mountain that now plays the
CD titled Ancient Breeze which was created near Yosemite, California.
On the same day we walked past a group
of people all dressed in yellow
tops. After we walked past them they started singing. It was a
beautiful song about friendship. I walked back to where they were
singing just as they finished. I asked them to sing again and recorded
it. Then I played it back for them, gave them a CD and
took some photos. It turns out they were Korean exchange
teachers who were about to return to Korea after six months teaching in
China. The song they sang is very beautiful and is called the
Friendship Song. It is sung in Korean and in Chinese.
Click here to listen. I met
them again a few minutes later in a small temple when I
was playing the flute.
These were just a few of the many magic moments that took place on that
day and during the whole trip. Above and beyond the formal lectures and
other activities, these encounters alone make such a trip worthwhile.
Language Needs:
There is a great need among those Chinese who learn English, to
practice their listening and speaking skills.
In discussions with Yang Quinhua (pronounced Yang Cheng Wha) who was my
primary contact for the trip to China, I came to understand that she
also has goals of assisting education in rural areas. Specifically she
wants to create libraries in small villages and to provide
scholarships.
Yang Quinhua also suggested to me that we organize five to ten native
English speakers to travel to a university such as Guizhou Normal
University
and to provide an immersion in English experience for professors,
students and others who might have interest. The participants would
spend as much
time together as possible and speak only English. Some of this time
could be formal lessons like learning something that one of the
participants has special knowledge of. Other time could be spent in
games and travel to nearby scenic or historical spots.
Micro Steps should consider
publishing materials to assist with this
problem. There are several ideas that we could develop. I plan to put
some of this on the web in the form of instructions of how to download
public domain software that can take any electronic text document and
make the computer “read” it out loud. This will be done through Micro
Steps with the first versions published on the web in the next few
weeks.
I am also considering a web site (or portion of a web site) to allow
discussion on translation of specific words. Some words that could
benefit from such a forum are morality, general education,
regular educator, normal and aesthetics. The root words in Chinese that
are translated as morality and aesthetics have much broader meanings in
Chinese. For example in elementary school there is a book that covers
human attributes, cultural festivals and social skills. The title of
this book translates as “morality” into English. There also seems to be
some overlap with the concept of “general education” as it is used in
higher education in the US and aesthetics education as it is applied in
China. Aesthetics, as applied in China, refers to beauty in
nature, in art, in human behavior and in social organization. The word
“normal” as in normal education or as in a normal university refers to
education for teachers.
Another idea to assist Chinese students to expand their listening and
speaking skills is to publish short stories in English and Chinese
(side by side). This would be accompanied with audio files for
simultaneous listening.
All in all, it was a lovely expereince for me and I hope it was for
those I met. I look forward to future trips.
