Day 21 – Another lesson of IS.

IS Lesson at 9AM. The night before this IS lesson, we were told to be punctual, no slippers and BEHAVE yourselves during lesson! Because…. We are taught by the Dean (something like principal) of this Foreign Language School.

Traditional Thoughts.

History of China.

Lesson today was on Confucianism. Another extremely informative yet ‘keeping awake’ session. The slides were so wordy, Mr Dean was teaching in English so he had to pause -> think through -> form sentences -> say it out.

So the whole pace of the lesson was somewhat slower than usual. He was trying to teach us the whole history of Confucianism within 3 hours… besides teaching us on Confucianism, he actually discussed with us about a feudalism or democratic society.

As a citizen of China himself and a Dean, he actually said something which made me think through for quite awhile. He said that China and Singapore students are very different in terms of the freedom of speech and the impact students’ feedback has to the school. And he thinks the China way of teaching and learning is not good. More would be discussed under my reflection section =)


After lesson, some went to the city to shop while I headed back to the hostel to do some work.

Reflections:

Talking about how the dean actually voiced his opinions on the teaching and learning method of China made me wonder if is he not able to change the mindset and direction of the school or because he thinks that it is impossible to change it. For the very first time, I actually hear negative comments coming out from the well known proud China citizen. China Chinese citizen are well known for how proud they are about their own country. China uses a one way communication while Singapore utilizes a 2 way approach. Be it in government - citizens’ relationship or narrowing down the scope to teacher - students’ relationship. Since the kingdom eras till now, the mindset of feudalism has not really been eliminated. I believe it has already been etched in the minds of China citizens from generation to generation. It would be an extremely challenging task which can only be done by the leader of China.

xanier!