Reflective Journal 5

Reflective Journal 5: Reflect on education. You may choose reflect on the necessary priorities of education, how far the ideals and realities of education converge, how the problems discussed about education in US and China can be resolved. You should explicitly explain how class discussion on education in US and China have influenced/shaped your views.

Throughout the decades, the priorities of education have stayed the same. To prepare the population for the workforce and to instil the correct moral values amongst students are two of the core priorities of education, and an ideal education system should aim to achieve this.

As discussed in class, in a today’s globalised world, preparation for workforce also means teaching students how to succeed in the global arena, which requires skills like innovation and hard work.

But how far have our education systems achieved these priorities?

A look at the Chinese and US education system makes it painfully obvious that the ideals and realities of education do not converge.

The Chinese education system has its inherent flaws and benefits. For one, it is a fact that the Chinese education system is extremely efficient, drilling into its students all that can be taught through strict curriculums and rote memorisation, and in the process imbuing in them the Confucian value of hard work, with an extremely heavy emphasis on academics. This is reflected in Chinese students’ remarkable results in the PISA tests, achieving top scores in reading and mathematics, while Chinese have been known to be very hard working. While I have prior to class discussion took pride in such achievements and felt that the Chinese education system is perfect, I have begun to realise otherwise. The cost of this method of education system is the loss of morals and creativity. It has been discussed extensively in class about how the rigidity of the Chinese education system stifles creativity and innovation, but another fault of the Chinese education system is that many moral values are gradually lost in the process of Chinese education. Cheating is rampant in Chinese tests, with bribing and underhanded means aplenty in important Chinese exams such as the Gaokao, due to the sheer importance of the Gaokao. Even when the Chinese students grow up, these practices follow them, leading to the bad reputation of the Chinese and societal problems such as corruption.

The US education system too does not quite converge with the ideals of education. The US education system is ideal in that it allows the students freedom of choice in the area in which they want to study in, and allowing the student to cultivate and pursue their interest in the particular area. With this flexible education system, the US aims to produce innovative and creative students in both arts and education. However, the flexibility of the US education system has instead brought about lack of discipline and laziness amongst many American students, as for the US model to be successful, it relies heavily on the students self discipline, which not many people will possess. The result of this is that the education system of the US becomes very inefficient – there are increasing numbers of uneducated in the US, which can be seen from the fact that 7 million Americans are illiterate, 27 million are unable to read well enough to complete a job application and 30 million can't read a simple sentence. In my personal opinion, the American education system is creating a huge education gap – where on the other end of the spectrum are creative talents while on the other hand there are those who fail under such an education system.

The solution to the problems that China and the US face is simply a mixture of both countries’ education system. While China’s education system is too rigid, the US education system is too flexible, and while the Chinese education system is efficient, the US education system is inefficient. A perfect mixture would thus achieve the ideals and priorities of education. I personally believe that Singapore, with both Asian and Western influences in its education is an example of such a mixture. In Singapore’s education system, students have a rigid curriculum to follow, and while standardised testing does take a large percentage of a student’s grade, schools are adopting practices such as taking into consideration projects and discussions for the students grades. This would cultivate creativity amongst students while at the same time, ensures the efficiency of the education system, allow flexibility in the system while at the same time having a fixed structure, ensuring students do not stray off the path of education.

Drawing from my personal experiences in HCI, although examination grades are still an important aspect of our education, it no longer means everything, with various aspects such as oral participation and projects day that provides students with holistic development, inculcating in students moral values while teaching students in arts, academics and physical aspects. In lessons, rote memorisation is slowly being replaced by lively discussions. Although I had previously thought of projects day and such as useless and merely increasing our workload, class discussions on the education systems of US and China have allowed me see the usefulness of such initiatives in our education.

800 words.

Zhang Jin Lin 32

Reflective Journal 4

Reflective Journal 4: Reflect on youth apathy. You may choose reflect on how far you deem yourself to be an apathetic youth by referring to examples from China, the United States and/or Singapore.

Youth nowadays have often been referred to as politically apathetic, which means that the youth are uninterested and do not care about the politics of their country. Political apathy amongst youths ought to be avoided in countries, as it can easily cause problems in both the government and subsequently, the country should political apathy amongst youths be left unchecked. The youths of today will be the future political leaders of the country, and should the youths be politically apathetic there will be no one to lead the country in the next generation.

Political apathy in youths is very apparent in countries such as China. In China, many youths do not want to get involved in politics and information about sensitive political topics such as political detainees are filtered out. For example, in China’s most popular search engine Baidu, searches on sensitive topics such as political detainees Ai Weiwei are totally filtered out. Instead you get results of a female model with a similar name. When the youth are denied access to most forms of political information, naturally youths will become politically apathetic, losing interest in politics altogether. Another factor would be that China practices a one party rule, with the appointment of China’s leaders having almost nothing to do with its citizens, thus causing many Chinese youths to become politically apathetic. Furthermore, the Chinese government has shown clearly that it will resort to any means in order to crush and forms of opposition and threats to its rule. The Tiananmen Incident of 1989 was a perfect example, when China mobilised its army in order to crush mostly peaceful protests for democracy by students and youth activists. With the government showing that it is willing to use deadly force to quell even youths who demand for political change, many youths are put off and choose to remain politically apathetic. In recent years, outspoken political opponents of the Communist Party have all been arrested and shut up, with a prominent example being aforementioned Ai Weiwei. As such, the youths of China know very well that politics is very risky, causing many youths to lose interest in politics. An example of such apathetic youths would be the Me Generation, a generation of materialistic youths in China who are politically apathetic, ignoring politics in their pursuit for material welfare. As the Me Generation of China summarises very well, “There’s nothing we can do about politics, so there’s no point talking about it or getting involved.”

In comparison, youths in USA are less politically apathetic compared to the youths of China. First of all, youths in USA benefit from freedom of speech, and information does not get filtered out like in China. Americans can freely express their views on politics, and as USA practices democracy, with a two party rule, youths have a say in the appointing of their leaders, and have the power to appoint the ruling party through voting. As such, youths in USA have more incentive to actively participate in politics compared to their Chinese counterparts. Furthermore, USA is experiencing an economic downturn compared to the economic boom China is undergoing, and many of the youths believe that political change is necessary, causing many youths to abandon their political apathy and vote in the 2008 presidential elections. As a result, the highest percentage of youth voters turned up for the elections, 58% of youths, since youths were allowed to vote in 1976. From this, it can be seen that youths in USA are getting more and more actively involved in politics.

Personally, I feel that I am rather politically apathetic, like most of my peers in Singapore are. I believe that political apathy amongst youths is caused more by a fast paced lifestyle and a heavy workload. Personally, I have to deal with homework, tests, revision and still have enough time for socialising. This leaves youths like me with little time to concern ourselves with politics, leading to political apathy amongst youths. Another important reason for this is that although Singapore does practice democracy with an election system, the PAP has remained in power for 48 years, and having done an excellent job of governing Singapore, no one expects the PAP to lose power in the near future. In elections, many are not concerned with whether PAP remains in power, but by how many seats they would win. With the overall results of elections obvious before the election even begins, many youths lose interest in politics, choosing to focus on more pressing matters such as studies. I, too, didn't bother staying up late to watch the election results, since the PAP was going to win anyway.

In conclusion, political apathy is present in China, USA and Singapore, though the youths in USA are getting more actively involved in politics. Furthermore, youth apathy is mainly caused by political states of a country, economic advances in countries and a busy and fast paced lifestyle.

800 words.

Reflective Journal 3

Zhang Jin Lin 4P2 32

Reflective Journal 3: Reflect on the changing roles of women. You may choose to consider how the changing roles of women in society made an impact on you by drawing on examples from China, the United States and/or Singapore.

The role of women in society has changed considerably over the years, having a higher standing, treated with higher regard and playing a far more important role in society these days.

Women were once thought to be inferior to men, and as a result women’s role in society was relegated to simply serving the man, who was considered to be biologically superior. As such, in the past women were often more inferior than men. This can be seen from the past Chinese societies, where woman had barely any standing in society, and were treated almost as commodities. Men were allowed to have multiple wives, while the wife/wives would stay at home and take care of the house and the children. Furthermore, women were not allowed in governmental position. They often had no say whatsoever and had to listen to whatever the men dictated. In some cases, the eldest son was even considered to be superior to their mother, while daughters were often unwelcome to the family. The reason for this may be that in the past, menial labour was often required in work such as farming, and as men were biologically stronger than woman, they would have more say, which gradually evolved into men being superior to women. Such practices existed in China for more than five thousand years, and have thus lead to stereotypes even in today’s society, that the women’s jobs include making food for men and taking care of their daily necessities.

However, in today’s society, such stereotypes are gradually falling. Women are gradually taking their place in all forms of society, in economic, society and family, and are having more and more say and power in today’s society.

A perfect example of a woman who possesses an important role in society would be Hillary Clinton. Where men once had all the say in politics, Hillary Clinton had managed to enter herself into the race for president, and garnering huge support amongst the American’s. Although she failed to get elected, she garnered 46% of the total delegate votes in her race against Obama in the Democratic Party Primaries in 2008, a mere 8% off Obama’s 54%. This reflects the American’s acknowledgement of women’s changing role in society, that women should be given a say in politics. She eventually became the secretary of state for America, further emphasising people’s willingness to give women more say and power in politics. In China, women too are gaining more power in the realm of politics, though not as much as in America. An example of a woman in China who has reached the peak of China’s political sphere is Wu Yi, who was the Vice-Premier of China; changing the age old mindset in China that woman can never take charge in politics.

Although the role of politics is still dominated by men, women are slowly but surely earning their position in the realm of politics. The same can also be seen in the realm of economics. More and more women are going to work, instead of staying at home and taking care of the household like in the past. Many families have both the man and the woman working for a double income, in order to support their family in this day and age. As shown in the Bureau of Labour Statistics, both the husband and wife were employed in 47.8% of families in 2010, a huge increase from the 33% of 1976, showing that increasing number of woman who now work to support the family. This changes the stereotype that woman can only stay at home and support the family, proving that women do indeed can do what men do – work and support the family.

However, despite all the success in changing the role of women and dispelling stereotypes of women – such stereotypes are deep rooted and do not go easily. This can be seen from the fact that woman still do not receive equal treatment as men both in the economic and political sphere. Although women are allowed to work nowadays, their salary only remains at 75% of that of men’s, and they often face the risk of losing their jobs when they get pregnant, as their employers view women as useless and only a liability when they are pregnant. Furthermore, in the politics arena, despite breakthroughs that has been made by women such as Hillary Clinton and Wu Yi, women in politics is still a rare sight today, with only 17%, or 535 seats in congress held by women, while in China, with none of the 9 members of China’s Communist Party standing committee, the most powerful decision making body in China, while just 3 out of 27 government ministers are woman.

In conclusion, the CDE lessons on feminism have taught me that the role of women is changing slowly but surely, however, certain deep rooted stereotypes do remain, and women still have an uphill task ahead of them in their battle for equality with men.

800 words.

Reflective Journal 2

Progress in society can be viewed as progress in standard of living and education. Using this as the basis of analysis, it can be seen that China has indeed made huge progress over the years.

Anyone old enough to witness Mao Ze Dong’s China can tell you that the China of today is nothing like it was then. China was a backwards and supposedly communist society, where education was nonexistent after the Cultural Revolution of 1965, and people barely had enough to eat and were starving. However, the China of today is that of economic prosperity, where people worried no longer worried about food and basic necessities. All this came into being, when China, under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping, undergone economic reforms in 1978, and accepted capitalism. After that, China has made huge progress, with its economy expanding rapidly, bringing China into the age of material prosperity. It recently overtaking Japan, becoming the world’s second largest economy, poised to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest economy. This is reflected in China’s society, with many people possessing commodities ranging from branded bags to gaming consoles.

China is even becoming a powerhouse in the field of education. A simple look at the statistics would prove this fact: China has came out tops in numerous academic tests, such as achieving top marks in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) comparative survey, a huge improvement from the dark days of China’s Cultural Revolution. A reason for this improvement is that the Chinese adopt a far stricter education system than what the US provides. While in China, students can get punished for not doing their homework, while failing provides severe consequences, both in school and at home, where angry parents will be awaiting, where they receive harsh scoldings and even beatings. This causes many Chinese students to resort to drilling and memorising, which may get them good results but many feel will restrict their creativity. On the other hand, in the US, homework has largely been considered to be optional, while parents are overly liberal and forgiving, while the curriculum too is liberal and flexible, and you will learn as much as you want to, and learn whatever you're interested in. As such, Chinese students achieve good exam results but have limited creativity and are generally seen as more hard-working, while American students have proven to be more on both extreme sides of the spectrum: either exceptionally bright or dull.

The Chinese today enjoy material and economic prosperity, and education has been increasingly successful, showing that China has indeed made huge progress in society, in the standard of living as compared to just a mere generation ago.

The United States, on the other hand, has been barely progressed. After facing a huge economic depression in 2008 that has sunk the USA into heavy debt, with sky-high rates of unemployment. The US has a national debt of US$15 trillion, while unemployment is hovering at 8.5%. The standard of living in the US has not progressed, and has instead even dropped, with many jobless and unemployed people barely making a living, and many more face bankruptcy, while the average debt of a taxpayer is over US$100,000. Yet, many US university graduates find it hard to get a job in the US because of the high unemployment rate. As such, standard of living in the US would have regressed instead of progress. This caused many to be displeased with US government, causing even the occupation of Wall Street as protests. The US education has also failed to make any progress, with students producing mediocre results in international tests such as the PISA, and results were worse than their previous results, showing an overall decreasing trend. Although the US remains the world’s biggest superpower, with a per capita GDP of US$48,147 far higher than US$8,394, it has not progressed, and has instead, regressed, with its huge national debt, high unemployment rates and relatively unsuccessful education.

The progress in societies can be seen in the youths of US and China today. As seen in one of my CDE lessons, youth of China are more politically apathetic. This can be directly attributed to China’s huge progress in society. The youths of China are mollified by the economic and material benefits that have been brought about by China’s economic boom, the youths see no reason to get themselves involved in politics, and would rather focus themselves on the pursuit of material comfort, such as a car or a bigger house. This can only continue, though if China continues providing the economic benefits, and the people of China are starting to wake up. Many youths are starting to voice their opinions openly, in portals such as micro-blog (China's twitter), and even attempted the Jasmine flower revolution, voicing out their desire for change openly, though the majority of Chinese youths are still relatively apathetic. However, the youth in US are, on the other hand, have been stirred from their apathy, because of the crisis their country is facing, and because of the lack of progress. This is why US had a record high number of young voters when Obama ran for presidency in the year 2008, the most number of young voters, between the age of 18-29, since the US allowed youths to vote in 1976, at 52%, because the youth wanted change, which Obama promised, change so that the US could progress.

However, on the issue of democracy and human rights, China has made no progress in comparison to the US. While the US is considered the most liberal and democratic country in the world, China is considered to be an authoritarian country, with no free elections. While the US allows freedom of expression, allowing protests, such as the occupation of Wall Street, China has proven otherwise. China does not allow any form of protests, and many prominent activists have been arrested, such as artist Ai Weiwei, who was arrested for his anti-government works. However, more and more activists have been emerging, through platforms such as the internet to voice their opinions anonymously, and if this trend continues, China may too progress towards democracy.

In conclusion, China has made more progress than the US in terms of standard of living and education, whiles the US, on the other hand, has instead made more progress than China in terms of democracy and human rights. However, citizens of both countries are starting to see the need for progress, and are beginning to influence their country, and this may just prove to be what it takes to push both countries forwards.

Zhang Jin Lin IPBSP 27