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Inexplicably, some readers found yesterday’s post about
Chinese elementary school education to be slightly offensive. They even
believed that Chinese teachers had engaged in unacceptable child abuse. Of
course, the point of Lenore Chu’s article was that she too had believed the
same thing and had confronted Teacher Chen about her methods.
Today, the Powerline blog offers a picture of education in
the Edina Highlands Elementary School, in the Minneapolis suburbs. The words of
the school principal are well worth quoting in full. As Hinderaker points out,
the school has explicitly rejected the notion of teaching arithmetic and
science and grammar. It now teaches the dogmas of the Church of the Liberal
Pieties.
If you honestly believe that children taught these dogmas
will be able to compete with their peers in Shanghai, please hide your head in
shame.
Here are some excerpts from the principal’s letter to
parents:
4 comments:
They hate children; truly, they do. They also seem hate teaching the classes they are supposed to teach.
Thank you for demonstrating the logical fallacy known as "excluded middle."
Inexplicably, some readers found yesterday’s post about Chinese elementary school education to be slightly offensive. They even believed that Chinese teachers had engaged in unacceptable child abuse.
As one of those inexplicable readers, let me amplify: I'd agree as a parent to a certain level of physical punishment, which would not include force feeding. If that happened, I'd have words with "Teacher Chen". if my kid wound up choking, I'd tear off "Teacher Chen's" head while explaining that "teacher" is a job description, not a title.
Lenore Chu saw it exactly as you did. She went to the school and confronted Teacher Chen. Her article shows how she changed her mind and why she believes that an authoritarian and disciplined approach is better than allowing three year olds to exercise independent judgment.Let's not ignore the fact that Chu did exactly what you would have done.
Thanks for the explanation, Doctor. My biases show, the product of a Jesuit secondary education.
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