Should Confucius Take the Blame? Confucius, Confucianism and Contemporary Education

1. Should Confucius Take the Blame? Confucius, Confucianism and Contemporary Education Abdul Paliwala, Emeritus Professor of Law

2. A typical Taiwan/Warwick Classroom?

3. Forrester, Mottram and Bang Xiang (2006) Chinese education is teacher-centred & driven with both the teacher and text regarded as authoritative sources of knowledge. Teaching is conceptualised as a ‘performance’ entailing the effective utilisation and delivery of state-prescribed texts. The passive transmission and uncritical assimilation of knowledge stems from the authoritarian values of Confucianism on which Chinese education is primarily based. Mechanistic learning by rote is customary (fundamentally owing to the nature of ideographic Chinese characters) as is the memorisation of facts, the ‘regurgitation’ of which is accessed by examination.

4. US Socratic Method in Taiwan? Taiwan Ministry of Education Research Project on the Feasibilities of Employing Socratic Ways of Teaching in Taiwan Law confirmed that the Socratic Method could not be easily transplanted in Taiwan.

5. Was Confucius to Blame? But was he not a great educationist?

6. LUN-YU論語 When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson”.(LUN YU: SU-ER 7) 子曰：「不愤不启，不悱不发。举一隅不以三隅反，则不复也。」《论语•述而第七》 ZiYue: ‘Bu Fen Bu Qi, Bu Fei Bu Fa. JuYiyuBuyiSanyu Fan, ZeBufu Ye.’ Confucius Teaching

7. ‘ Illumination • The way of great learning consists in illuminating innate virtues.’ Opening Statement of Great Learning; 大学 • 大学之道，在明明德。 • DaXueZhi Dao, Zai Ming Ming De.

8. Not empty vessels “(l)earning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous”. (LUN YU: WEI-ZHENG 2) 子曰：「学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆。」《论语‧为政第二》 Zi Yue : ‘Xue Er Bu Si Ze Wang, Si Er Bu XueZeDai.’ "The accomplished scholar is not a utensil."(LUNYU: WEI-ZHENG 2) 子曰：「君子不器。」《论语‧为政第二 》

9. An anti-authoritarian? • A word to guide a person throughout their life? Confucius: Shu(Reciprocity)? Never impose on others what you would not choose for your self. • jǐsuǒbúyùwùshīyúrén • 己所不欲勿失约人

10. Respect each person in their own way • "A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? “(LUN YU: Zi-Han 9) • 子曰：「後生可畏，焉知来者之不如今也？」《论语‧子罕第九》 • ZiYue: ‘HoushengKe Wei, YanzhiLaizhe Buru Jin Ye?’ • Each student has their own knowledge needs: • 因材施教. • Yin Cai Shi Jiao.

11. legalists (法家fajia) Han Dynasty Confucianism = Confucius Thought outside + Legalist Core? = Emphasis on the authority of the ruler to rule and subjects to obey the law.

12. KamLauie (2006) • There is a certain pathetic courage in the many attempts to prove that the thinking of Confucius is scientific in the face of the many translations of modern writers like Jean Piaget. No doubt there are wise men and saints in most cultures, but the attempts by some of the most respected educationists to prove that an ancient sage’s thinking to be modern and scientific and suitable for present day use does seem rather quaint.

13. Socratic Confucian Fan Chi’ih: What is Love? Confucius: To love mankind Fan Chi’ih: What is Wisdom? Confucius: To Know Mankind (Analects XII 22).

14. E-Confucius in Taiwan? • Eye contact and body language instead of interrogative questions. • Students write reflections or questions on e-learning platform individually or in collaboration • Students develop a drama about a specific legal problem they are studying. • Converting the drama into an interactive e-learning platform.

15. Live Drama & eClassroom