According to me, the most interesting issue raised during the 3rd week's lecture was the rift between Western and Eastern cultures, which is acutely palpable in the interactions between members of both societies. I believe that as time goes by, humanity will move towards unification. We can easily observe this phenomenon embodied in the relatively new concept of globalization. Whether one takes a pro- or counter stance against this process, most will agree that better interaction and understanding between races and cultures is not only beneficial, but rather desirable. Several applications of the above that I can incorporate into my teachings and my life are:
1) Learning more about the Thai culture will enable me to understand and help my students better.
2) I will be able re-evaluate my own ideals, thoughts, culture and way-of-life and arrive at a richer synthesis of both my original and learned cultures.
3) I can do my part in this whole process by promoting integration, cooperation and understanding between Eastern and Western cultures as I learn and gain more experience.
In week three, we discussed alot about the differences in western and eastern philosophy. but the part that caught me was the similarities between the two. Both eastern and western philosophy concentrate on the point to develop the youth in all ways possible and help them to respect others beliefs willingly . Keeping the differences in mind we can still apply both thoughts together. As a teacher this tolerance has been developed due to diversity and globalization. There are many ways in which I can apply this in my personal and in my teaching methods.
1. Learn about different cultures that will help me understand my students better.
2. Some students might not be willing to communicate to a stranger or even another student from another area of the world as they have been taught. but as a teacher i would say that, it is my role to educate them about the different cultures and help them to be able to think what they thought was not really the right think to do.
3. From the two above i feel that one way of teaching different cultures can be by telling them different stories from different beliefs and get them to think about the moral of the story and whether the story taught you anything.
Apart from my friends I will reflect on a specific point that one of our friends(Jean) mentioned about. She said that "Education of a child starts in the family, even before the school time." (which I totally agree and find considerable) So being aware of the importance of education in the family, here are my 3 applications;
1.At least once a term, get together with the parents of the students individually and exchange ideas on their child's educational process and try to agree on a parallel attitude to be taken towards their child.
2.Once a month send short notes to the parents about their child's educational and behavioral position and ask for their cooperation if needed.
3.At the beginning of the year, to have a background idea about the student's family environment, get students write a short essay about their families and their relationships with the family members.
Reflecting from week 3 class, the activities group had the most interesting presentation where they got all of us engaged in japanese folk story and then discussed the moral of the story relating it to Eastern philosophy. Another interesting presentation was about tolerance. Where one is taught to learn and respect each other's belief. Parents and teacher's play a very important role in influencing a child's tolerance level in todays diverse society. - In todays multicultural classrooms teacher's are encouraged to teach about different cultures to their students and help them accpet each other's beliefs as they all might have different backgrounds. - It is also very important for a teacher to be open minded and to stick with his/her own beliefs, tolerance of a teacher towards the students sets as a role model for the students to follow in the classroom. - As a teacher, we should always encourage our students to study the visiting country's background whether they plan for further studies or just vacation so that they do not unintentionally offend or misunderstand that country's cultural beliefs.
@Dr. Murat, yes, globalization, will, hopefull, continue to bring us integration and mutual understanding of cultural matters. @Manpreet, yur comment about similarities ties directly to Murat's ideas on globalization, don't you think? @Gaye, lovely ideas for working with parents, why not try one or two and let us know how it goes? @Neet, glad to see ther were some interactive presentations!
In class, we have presentation and discussion in many points between Western and Eastern culture that make me clear and easy to image about culture
Discussion is the best way to understand each other
Teaching style, I like story-telling style,everyone can participate together.It also relax style that all teacher can use with students in your real life.
Presentation is a good to make student alert and pay more attention to the contexts. But i don't like this way,It looks like a formal style and make me nervous.Anyway,I will try my best.
my point was not regarding globalization but the way children are brought up with one point in mind that we should give them all possible knowledge and help them in all ways possible.
Regarding globalization it might be the effect that make it possible but that was not the point i tried to focus on
In terms of how we can convey philosophical ideas to children (students), I think we don’t really have to directly teach these ideas (like giving a lecture about philosophy). Since religious and philosophical ideas strongly influence culture, I think children can learn and adapt to these ideas naturally from every day life. Also, experiencing activities (like art or sport) which are related to culture helps children to understand philosophical ideas. I just want to suggest some ways to effectively convey philosophical ideas through fun activities.
1) Do some traditional or cultural activities with children. (like traditional dancing or sports, etc) In Japanese context, to convey Zen Buddhism philosophical ideas, we can let children experience Japanese calligraphy, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, or archery, etc. These activities emphasize concentration of mind and harmony of people and nature.
2) Read traditional folktales. As our group presented yesterday, these folktales often contain important moral and philosophical ideas.
3) Do some group work in the class, in which students do some research and presentation about different culture and beliefs in the world. Understanding different ways of thinking also helps them to recognize and appreciate their own culture and beliefs.
When: 16/06/2010 We studied about the Easter Philosophy and how it differs from the Western Philosophy. I learned that the Easter Philosophy is more about family while the Western Philosophy is more about individual. Personally, I like all the principals of the East but...well I have lived in Thailand for a number of years and I fail to see they get implemented.
Applications: - I learned about the principals of the Eastern Philosophy and it will surely help me to understand the East better (hopefully) - Since the Eastern Philosophy is more about families, groups etc. than individual I will try to have more group-work activities in my class (There once was a good article on it on ajarnforum.net. I will try to find it and post it here) - People come from different cultures, were taught differently and hence have different points of way. What I should do is to be more open minded and understanding. I should try to understand the students better and also take into consideration the background (culture) they are coming from.
@Koi, no need to be too formal in presenting if that makes you uncomfortable discussion method is fine. @Manpreet I understand that was not your point and was merely trying to help students see the connection between the two ideas, yours and Dr. Murat's. But I don't think I stated that very well. Thanks for your feedback, very good to clarify meaning. @Chie, agreed, indirect methods of teaching these ideas will work much better with younger students. @Marcin (Kempos) agreed that there is often a rather large gap between ideas and practices, in both East and West...
We had a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion on Wednesday night. All the groups put a lot of effort in preparing for the discussion. Obviously there is a clear difference between Eastern and Western cultures, but it doesn’t mean one is better than the other culture. We need to respect the value of each culture. The role of the teacher is very significant part of the eastern philosophy of education. It is a good reminder for me that I’m doing a very important job of educating the future leaders. I need to acquire professional knowledge and skills to be an effective teacher. As many of the classmates had discussed, parents are the first teachers of students. When a student walks into the classroom for the first time, he doesn’t come in with a blank slate; in fact, he comes in with knowledge in his mind and a lot of the knowledge comes from the home. Three things I want to apply into my teaching are 1) I need to ask the parents about the strength and weakness of the students as parents are the first teachers of them. I believe that parents can give me a lot of information which will help with my behavior management system for my class. 2) I will encourage my students to ask questions and think outside of the box rather than just memorizing the facts. 3) I have been doing culture day in my class for 2 years now. The students brought food from their home countries and had their national costumes. We enjoyed learning about the different cultures from different countries. Since all the students are from Asian countries, we never had a chance to learn about the western culture from a western point of view. While we are learning about the richness of the Eastern value, I also want my students to learn about the values western culture. This school year I want to introduce some western culture to my students to get a taste of it and learn to respect the other cultures.
A pleasant evening to all of us! I’m really impressed with yesterday’s group report. Philippines is a part of this Eastern world, and we strongly believe in all of the examples given during the report. Like for one, the “strong family ties”, relatives become best friends, as a family member, you will experience their support, respect, harmony and love. Although, there are some advantages too, like for one, some family members tend to be lazy and there are some who just depend on others for food, shelter and sometimes even their shopping needs. For me, we could somehow share this to our students- the good and the bad side of it all. It’s like a flashback when I was still young, my mother used to tell me some of these things. Anyways, from the history, background, use, tolerance, age appropriateness, etc., all of which are very helpful to us as educators. For me, there is the link between these cultures as to what we are doing in the school. With regards to Education, one finds a great respect and concern about these cultures; I mean both the Western and Eastern culture. Teachers have occupied an important role in the development of thought. The emphasis in Eastern philosophy is on not only knowing but also teaching this knowledge to our students. However, the age appropriateness varies I guess, It also depends on the readiness and understanding of the child regarding his or her culture. Usually, their first teachers are their parents. Sooner or later when they go to school, they acquire some of this culture from their teachers, peer group or classmates. Little by little, they learned about having “self-awareness” and understanding of the multicultural settings in their own classroom, meaning the world behind them, until they reach the age wherein they would be able to understand the real meaning and effects of this culture in their lives. Moreover, as teachers, it would be helpful, if we could also try to look at ourselves when we are with our classmates (Assumption University) and fellow teachers (school where we teach). Understanding each others culture would somehow lead us to a more constructive and productive way of life. Like for example, in my case I have two other fellow teachers working with me in the English Department, one from London (a young guy- nearly one year) and from South Africa (same as my age- nearly 2 years), plus the Thai teachers. I’ve been with this school for almost 3 years now. We really try to work together as one, trying to understand each others culture, not only because of our careers but mainly because of our concern with our students. Also, the Confucianism belief, that when you do something good to other people, you also receive something good in return. Note: In my school, Thai teachers normally visit their students in their homes. They discussed with the parents regarding their standing in class and behavior. Every class has a book and we write our remarks/comments in there. That's the form of our communication with them and their advisers. In the Philippines, we have the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), we also schedule parents for appointment every quarter.
Zarni and Ms. Evan, great reflections: it is very important for us to remember the central role of the teacher in Eastern cultures and traditions, as both of you refer to.
In my point of view for week three,it was very fascinating class because of many conceptions from each group in eastern philosophy.The first of all, I have learned eastern philosophy thoughts-archiving wisdom, maintaining the family structure, establishing the law, providing for social and e comic concerns. Then,I have got the point,Buddhism teaches his disciples or followers that the solution to the problem is within inside not outside,that is very useful for the rest of my life solving some problems. Moreover,role of the teacher in eastern philosophy leads not only the teachers to guide their students along the true path but also ourselves to be in harmony with our society.Even thought these theme are happening in my environment all the time,and in myself, I forgot observing before. Applications:
-seeking first understanding to my neighbors' cultures. -Be alert the particular situation. -In the future, role of teacher in eastern philosophy will be useful for my teaching life exactly.
It had a wonderful for presentation.Each student shared ideas in both Eastern and Western philosophy. After ,I studied both western and eastern .I think I can understand people more in their beliefs and behaviour.As the discussion,I strongly believe in education of child starts in family also because Parents are the child's first teacher so I will point my applications involve with teachers,students and parents.
Applications:
1.To be aware of an effective teacher,as the international school become increasingly diverse.Many teachers face a culture gap.It is important for teacher to understand the background student and their beliefs because student can affect thier relatioship with both teachers and classmates.
2.Parents are the child's first teacher,however,teachers should engage in dialogue with parents. Teachers will get better ideas of their student's background knowledge and how they learn the best in consultation day.
3.To arranged a year of international day,for example, Chinese new year,Christmas,Diwali,and Loy krathong day.Everyone will enjoy learning about different countries and cultures. Parents also get involved in providing an international lunch for students. It's good chance to learn the various from many parts of the world.
heejin said... I learned so many things last time. i am very happy about my culture also I belong to Easten philosopy but I also like Western culture. I would like to apply this to my student.
I have written by a friend through Reflaction... I've been in the last class through Reflaction better understanding can have a discussion.^^
We had a really interesting discussion this week and it triggered my thoughts of how the diversity between different cultures results in the upbringing of each individual. Eastern and Western philosophies are really different especially in their core values but I felt that all of these philosophers’ initial purpose is to educate and prepare the children for the future. I agree with Murat saying that this world is moving towards a direction of globalization through the unification of different culture, therefore employing a combination of applicable viewpoints and values from both Eastern and Western philosophies into our teaching here in this land will be very essential and beneficial. In my opinion, the different philosophies are valuable summary of experiences for different philosophers. Therefore, we respect their findings, embrace their strengths and learn from their mistakes. Western Philosophers emphasized on the effectiveness of a student-centered teaching while Eastern Philosophers highlighted the importance role of a teacher. If we are to combine these two emphases into a classroom teaching, we can see that students are obtaining most out of their interactive and thought provoking learning experiences through an inspiring teacher that is well-prepared, innovative and responsible. Other than that, we can clearly see this combination through the early teaching in a family. Parents allow children to fall and rise up again when they just started to learn how to walk yet parents still stay right beside them to guide and to help. I believed that parents are the first Homeroom Teacher of a child as parents will teach Language Art (talk), Mathematics (Count), Reading (Stories), Physical Education (Walk and Run), Moral (Do and Don’ts) and etc. I just find it so interesting when I think of this and how true it could sound. Then it brings me to think of how all this could be applicable as an adult (not only teachers) as we are teaching not only students in the classroom but every child that we encounter in our life.
1. Be a good example to the child by respecting the diversity and differences in every culture and embracing the beauty of different culture in all ways.
2. Story Telling. Tell the stories or folktale of different countries and the moral teaching behind each story to children as stories are one of the most effective ways to register a concept or principle in children’s mind.
3. As a music teacher, I find interesting as how each country has its own folk song that has beautiful melodies and good lyrics. Songs from different country can also open a child’s view to the different culture of the world. Teaching songs that reflect the culture of a country in all events will interest people from all ages to know more about the particular culture. For example, the theme song for FIFA World Cup 2010 (Wavin’ Flag) – can hear the African folk musical elements throughout the song.
We had a great class last week! Discussing Eastern philosophy remind me not only to dig more deeply into our Eastern Philosophy but also make me to see the beauty of every culture and appriciate them.Eventhough there are some differences between eastern and western Philosophy, all has its own beauty and all are trying to approch to reality. Application: - It make me to learn more about other countries' culture and belief in order to more understand people. - I think, as families are important for easterner, teacher who know(familier with)students'families can find more easier in dealing with students and can find the need of students. - I feel that it seem to be the teachers' responsibility in these day to conveince students to respect others cultures and belief.
Reading and understanding Eastern Philosophy was quite simple. Being Asian, most of the teachings are well known and in most cases practiced. It was also much easier to understand the differences that exist between the East and the West. However, with the age of Globalization one has to accept and understand and apply the best of both philosophies. Eastern Philosophy has many important teachings that we can apply to our lives and those of our students like the following. Application 1. Role of the teacher – If we look into the debate of nature versus nurture, we can see that the role of the teacher is highly important in terms of a child’s nurturing. This simply means we as teachers have a great influence and impact on our students. 2. Karma - The belief of Karma could be true or false but the importance is that it helps us reflect upon ourselves to understand how we would feel or experience in the same situation. This helps lead better lives and become better human beings. 3. Inner Peace – If do not have peace within ourselves we are unable to love, live or be happy. Meditation enables us to remain calm and have control over our thought and problems.
We had a wonderful time on the 3rd week of ED6007 class. On that day each group enthusiastically presented about the eastern philosophy.The way of thinking and believing between western horizon and eastern atmosphere is almost opposite. For instance the western philosophy mainly focuses on student-center in its educational system while the eastern philosophy centers on the role of teacher.However each philosophy has its own unique factor. In the past almost all the countries in the eastern atmosphere practiced teacher-center system in their educational fields but the practice of student-center became popular among some universities and international schools in eastern countries.In my perception we must apply both philosophies in our education to be more beneficial and effective for all our students in their learning regardless of whether it is western or eastern philosophy.
After reading and learning from class, I got a lot of knowledge both similarity and difference between Western and Eastern philosophy. Both idealisms emphasize on moral needs. The different is that Western Philosophy more emphasizes on material concerns, since Eastern philosophy emphasizes on wisdom, maintaining the family structure, etc. Since philosophy and religious are integrated together, especially in Eastern culture, we must know the culture influences in order to teach effectively. - As from class presentation, using folks and parable is one of the best ideas to guide children’s motion, ideas. - Administrators and teachers must understand the culture of state and apply suitable ideas and predict the challenges by observing different both philosophy and religious view. - In multi-culture school, teacher can make activities like exchanging different traditional food, singing, dancing etc. Children will enjoy, and at the same time, they will learn others culture and beliefs.
It's an amazing night. Thank you for all presenters to share ideas.
So, comparison between western and eastern philosophical thoughts I found out eastern philosophical thought more tend to be religious. It's sometimes changed that most Indian and Chinese believe are not philosophy but religious. However, unlike Greek, who tried to separate philosophy from religion.
It’s say to educational philosophy of China that has to mention Confucius. The golden rule of him is one must always treat others just one would want others to treat oneself. I prefer to it. Confucian thoughts always try to teach us how to be a good person and how to give love to all of people whose you concerned. In the other word, if you want obtain respect from the others, you have to learn how to respect the others first.
Application: - to know the students needs and try to learn background of each of them. - love each of them, be sincerely, even though some of them naughty, lazy or make trouble out of noting, only the teacher show the most sincere love, the students can be feel. - to teach the students how to be a good person in the world. the good person it dosen't mean each of them must be the president or scientist in the future. the teacher teach morality more important than knowledge. it's not each of them can be a great person in the world, but at least they can be a good person with good manners and never do anything of illegal. - Attitude. sometimes attitude can be dicide everthing. when we doing something whether success largely decision of your attitude. To education also.Teacher teach the students use the right attitude to do right things and teacher also choose the right attitude to deal with everything.
@Aye Aye, internal focus is always a better place to start since that is what we can affect @Rossakorn, increasing ones own knowledge is a positive way to overcome the culture gap as you point out @Heejin, Ok, try to come up with applications next time please @Jean, excellent, very thorough review, fole songs are a great way to emphasize culture @Moekyaw, true, understanding the role of family is very critical in the East @Resmi, do you think we could teach meditation to students? How and at what age? Let's save this one and discuss in class... @Dennis, I would like to re-visit the teacher centered versus student centered instruction issue, in class, when I return...please raise this for discussion in class... @Ms. Hnin, often overlooked is the need for the administrator to understand the cultural context, and you are right to point this out as critical to success in a school @Eva, as well, what I think helps create the enduring appeal of Confuscious is the pragmatic nature of his writings and thought processes
We learnt a lot about the beliefs and philosophies both from eastern and western through the presentation at the third week. Every religion actually taught how to achieve the knowledge, Enlightenment and eternal life. But most eastern philosophies emphasis on harmony in religion they are teaching the people to respect, tolerance, help each other. Also we learnt that some religious practices are the basic social starts for the children practices starting from the family towards school, later to the whole society. One of our classmates also mentions about the culture that man without culture is like a fish out of water. Therefore we also need to observe and respect each different culture in our learning process in order to understand each other’s. As I believe that religion teaching have the effect on the education in one way, the following are 3 applications; 1- I will practice very short morning devotion or quite time for the children in their own religion groups before the school starts. In our country, most high school practice paying homage to the Buddha image every morning. This may lead the children's paying respect and take serious on their own belief. 2-Story telling is also makes sense and capture the children's mind easily. That's why I will tell stories or parables maybe from the bible or sometimes from the other scriptures. So that the children may also learn other beliefs since they were young, and then they can takes the goods point from the differences and become a better citizen in their life. 3-Arrange a day for the children for example once a year to share their cultures, traditions. Then they can share the differences practically. I can apply this also at my country because we have many difference ethnic groups and it will be very interesting not for the children but for all the teachers also.
Week three reflections and thoughts, In my point of view, week three distinguished western philosophy and eastern philosophy obiviously. Moreover, it made me not only to understand both of philosophies but also to apply them in the education field. In my opinion, western philosophers focused on the outer power and eastern philosophers focused on the inner power.
Applications; 1) Different philosophies help differnts students or teachers or people. 2)By studying these lessons, i could realize that different philosophy, belief and culture have different unmentionable value.
I found out some points after week 3 presentation and it was really good to listen about the different cultures between Eastern and Western.
From my point of view, I think we should combine Eastern and Western philosophy and create a new way to improve Education System.
As I am from Eastern country, our education system based on religion called “Buddhism” and there are some pros and cons because of we only based on Eastern Philosophy.
Application
1. In my opinion, understand the students emotional feelings is important thing. So I will invite the parents when students celebrate activities and having chit-chat with parents can guess how the students feels.
2. As I am Computer teacher, I take the morning class about 15 minutes before other class started and only ask about the 3 or 4 Computer Vocabulary and let them describe the meanings with pictures .
3. No matter how the culture and religion is different, let students participate and celebrate the activities together can make them understand each other better and having a good friendship in the school will improve their learning skills too.
@Akari, the idea of a devotion to start the day according to each child's belief system has much merit. @John Bosco, true, much of the value in philosophy is as not directly evident, or as you put it, unmentionable, another idea I would like to revisit in class. @N Ht Linn, celebrating differing cultural days is a good way to increase mutual understanding for both students and teachers.
It's the second time I attend the class.first time,I couldn't get much information from the class.But this time,everything become better,I have learned how to do presentation,and learn many from other students,I'm very join in the class.
It's the second time I attend the class.first time,I couldn't get much information from the class.But this time,everything become better,I have learned how to do presentation,and learn many from other students,I'm very join in the class.
Week 3 was really interesting in the sense I really got the opportunity to understand the eastern philosophy in other's point of view as well as be a part of the discussion when it came to comparing both western and eastern philosophies. However much the students in the class debate in terms of which philosophy is better, I think that instead of wasting our whole lives comparing, people should focus on building bridges instead of walls. Taking the example of a multicultural classroom, as teachers, we also encourage our students to get along and work with each other. The same applies to the world. I did learn alot from the class and I could apply them to my life in the following ways:
1)Since I would want to teach in an international school, understanding different cultures would make it alot easier for me to understand my students and also help in resolving conflicts among them.
2)Since the religion and philosophy in a child basically starts from home, I think getting parents to actively involve in the education process especially for younger kids is really important, and if I could ever get an opportunity I would think about strategies to involve parents rather that just meet them during Parent-Teacher meetings.
3)I think that everyone doesn't have to believe in others' ideology but it is crucial that they at least respect them. Many people are stereotyped in areas where, due to the violence of a group, they see the whole population as violent people. Media affects perception a lot as well, if you show a child a movie where a group of terrorists who are muslims are attacking a country, then when the child goes back to school, they would think twice about making friends with a muslim in their classroom which is obviously not fair to the latter. Therefore, exposing children to the right information, especially when they are at a critical age of learning is imperative and I would try hard to get this done whenever I need to work it through.
Last week we discussed the Eastern Philosophy. It was interesting to hear people bring out the fundamental differences between this school of thought and the Western school of thought, such as the west being overly materialistic and the east being spiritualistic. However, in our discussion we missed the underlying similarities in the two schools of thought and the transformation of the western philosophy from somewhat spiritualistic to materialistic. The ultimate goal for the both of them, according to me, is attaining a level of self satisfaction. Socrates and/or Plato taught people to live by or attain a certain truth, at which point they shall not want for anything else. Even Abraham Maslow, the most recent philosopher-cum-psychologist and educationist still point at the same thing when he talks about the hierarchy of needs which ends at self esteem (self actualization). This is not different from the eastern school of thought which dwells on the inner-self of a person where one should get to a level of enlightenment.
Applications My students will learn that; 1. The aim of education is the same everywhere; to help people become better persons. 2. It doesn’t matter the culture or background one comes from, we are all one and have the same goal – self satisfaction. 3. We may all have a common purpose but we take different roots to achieve it, and that common purpose may mean different things to different people.
Venus （JIN XIN） 2010. 4.16. We discuss a lot in this lesson and find difference between both philosophy: Eastern philosophy will be considered in four major areas of thought: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern. Eastern philosophy, unlike the West’s more empirical philosophy, stresses intuition, inner peace, tranquility, attitudinal development, and mysticism and had a significant impact on Judaism and Christianity, as well as Middle Eastern in origin. Eastern philosophy stressed the inner rather than the outer world, intuition rather than sense, and mysticism rather than scientific discoveries. Eastern thought has always seemed somewhat mysterious and exotic to Westerners: An abject sense of duty in some cases, an emphasis on a rigid class structure, strong familial ties, and ancestor veneration generally are not found or promoted in Western society. The great stumbling blocks are a lack of understanding between these two cultures, their enormous historical diversity, and their differences in expectations and motivations. The West has greatly influenced the East politically and economically; the East, in turn, has enriched the West philosophically and spiritually. To understand the Eastern position, one must set aside Western biases and Western aims. When they do, Westerners find much to admire and learn from Eastern philosophy.
Applications in teaching: 1. In Eastern philosophy, suffering is to be accepted as a way of life. We need to see suffering as being beneficial to our development if it helps us get wisdom. Change is important because most Eastern philosophy emphasize that one cannot live a good life without thought that brings change. Story telling is good way to let students experience the process from suffering to wisdom development in mind before they really get feet into reality. In China, we have many mystery novels, which are really benefit for students’ AQ （Adversity Quotient）. 2. A great emphasis has been placed on rules of order and rules of right conduct within western family and society. That is why we may see many rules in Chinese and Thai classrooms. There is a Chinese saying: No fragmentation radius of the rules. In this case, when I teach Chinese in Bangkok, I can understand more than western teachers. I do think it is good for students to have some rules, which will help them to make a good habit since childhood. 3. In Eastern philosophy, order, regularity, and patience are generally prized, and the order is proportional and in harmony with the law of nature. Many Chinese students go back China after them going abroad. The family relationship is being put lots of emphasis. When teaching in eastern country, we need pay more attention in dealing with the relationship.
Venus （JIN XIN） 2010. 4.16. We discuss a lot in this lesson and find difference between both philosophy: Eastern philosophy will be considered in four major areas of thought: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern. Eastern philosophy, unlike the West’s more empirical philosophy, stresses intuition, inner peace, tranquility, attitudinal development, and mysticism and had a significant impact on Judaism and Christianity, as well as Middle Eastern in origin. Eastern philosophy stressed the inner rather than the outer world, intuition rather than sense, and mysticism rather than scientific discoveries. Eastern thought has always seemed somewhat mysterious and exotic to Westerners: An abject sense of duty in some cases, an emphasis on a rigid class structure, strong familial ties, and ancestor veneration generally are not found or promoted in Western society. The great stumbling blocks are a lack of understanding between these two cultures, their enormous historical diversity, and their differences in expectations and motivations. The West has greatly influenced the East politically and economically; the East, in turn, has enriched the West philosophically and spiritually. To understand the Eastern position, one must set aside Western biases and Western aims. When they do, Westerners find much to admire and learn from Eastern philosophy.
Applications in teaching: 1. In Eastern philosophy, suffering is to be accepted as a way of life. We need to see suffering as being beneficial to our development if it helps us get wisdom. Change is important because most Eastern philosophy emphasize that one cannot live a good life without thought that brings change. Story telling is good way to let students experience the process from suffering to wisdom development in mind before they really get feet into reality. In China, we have many mystery novels, which are really benefit for students’ AQ （Adversity Quotient）. 2. A great emphasis has been placed on rules of order and rules of right conduct within western family and society. That is why we may see many rules in Chinese and Thai classrooms. There is a Chinese saying: No fragmentation radius of the rules. In this case, when I teach Chinese in Bangkok, I can understand more than western teachers. I do think it is good for students to have some rules, which will help them to make a good habit since childhood. 3. In Eastern philosophy, order, regularity, and patience are generally prized, and the order is proportional and in harmony with the law of nature. Many Chinese students go back China after them going abroad. The family relationship is being put lots of emphasis. When teaching in eastern country, we need pay more attention in dealing with the relationship.
Week three class was very interesting . We had lots of discussion about western and eastern culture, philosophy, which gave me chance to know more about the eastern culture. Eastern philosophy is more about a religion .In this part we talked about the religion like Hinduism, buddisium, Indian thought etc, .All these religions tells about the moral and values. In Hinduism there are various texts like Mahabharata Ramayana Vedas and Upanishad, they all talked about the knowledge, moral and values. Ramayana and Mahabharata itself holds the all the moral value in it. It teaches about to hold on values, love parents brothers and people around .It talked about the right and wrong, it is a history that talks about a culture of love and respect in a child. Buddhism is also a moral /philosophy religion based upon a teaching of Siddhartha Gautama. He taught everyone how to live happy and peaceful life. Buddhism is about looking and thinking about our own lives and it shows us how to understand ourselves and how to cope with our daily problems As I am interesting to teach in elementary level I think we should teaches all about the morals and values in the early years of the schools .The best way to tell a child how to live is to show him or her what is valued. Applications 1.Children learn by watching people around them, they absorb behavior patterns from the teacher and older students .We should teach them a moral education from the early years of the school. 2.We should teach about the different culture also and have to arrange the events regarding to the diversity .For example celebrating the international day in which children can know about the different countries culture, food and even the songs and custom. Telling children the different countries folk stories also help them to understand the culture. 3. Parents are the first teacher of their child. We should involve the parents in these types of events .We can also arrange the parents’ teacher meeting or talk programme about the morals value and cultures.
@Zhangya, glad to see your understanding is increasing, please try to put some applications in with your reflections from now on. @Laxshmi and @David, I agree that building bridges and finding commonality is often much more productive than focusing exclusivley on differences. @Xinjin (Venus) please raise adversity quotient for discussion in class, very valid concept. @Anjana, excellent overview of ideas!
In the third week ,we discussed a lot about “eastern thought and philosophy of education “. Every group’s presentation was very well ,even there are some opinion conflict in discuss process, because thought conflict Will produce results –let us understanding different cultures ,different knowledge more and more.; Expand thought; As a teacher ,we need to apply to instruction : 1,open mind , adopt students' different ideas. 2, Encourage students to think actively. Not just copycat . 3, Guiding students how to get new viewpoints from thought conflict .
Buddhism thought is important thought in the Eastern thought and philosophy ,I read something about Buddhism .understanding something like Buddhism themes are practice your heart , do good deeds and so on . • In the Buddhism ,they think there are four sufferings :birth ,old age ,sickness ,death . These sufferings were caused by desire . • Lives are recycle in Buddhism ,they believe that :good deeds lead to rebirth as a good and wise person ,evil deeds lead to rebirth as a poor and sickly person. So , peoples need to practice your heart ,tolerance any difficult in this world .
May be theses themes are not all right ,but Budda Sakyamuni’s education methods we can use for reference .for example : 1 posing appropriate questions before beginning a discussion . 2 used similes ,parables ,fables and verses 3 gave students attention to the conduct and training of his disciples, correcting their weaknesses through patience and advice .
summing up the above, as a teacher ,attention that Internal stimulation more important outside Internal ; appropriate instruction methods will get good results .
After reading most comments on week three, how everyone mention that they have enjoyed the discussion in class. I wished that I could be there. I also found the reading to be very interesting. After reading the western and the Eastern philosophies, I realized how beautiful different cultures upholds and how awesome it is if it could unify. I think it’s very beneficial to a third culture student whose upbringing between the two cultures experiences. They would have a well-balanced life. Eastern cultures hold a strong family bonding even after they died. On the other hand, Western cultures encourage the intellectual of the mind to be more important than anything else. Applications: 1. I want my students to understand, respect, and appreciate the differences in cultures by having students do presentations on their cultures in class. I think this is a great value lesson to show the uniqueness of each person. 2. Display and read multicultural theme books and celebrate different holidays of students’ culture. 3. Have my students share different ways to show their reverence to God and share a prayer in their own language. One year my students have suggested this: say a “Hail Mary prayer” in their languages. I have 12 students from different nationalities have volunteered at a prayer service. It is so beautiful to hear them and everyone was so appreciated.
41 comments:
According to me, the most interesting issue raised during the 3rd week's lecture was the rift between Western and Eastern cultures, which is acutely palpable in the interactions between members of both societies. I believe that as time goes by, humanity will move towards unification. We can easily observe this phenomenon embodied in the relatively new concept of globalization. Whether one takes a pro- or counter stance against this process, most will agree that better interaction and understanding between races and cultures is not only beneficial, but rather desirable.
Several applications of the above that I can incorporate into my teachings and my life are:
1) Learning more about the Thai culture will enable me to understand and help my students better.
2) I will be able re-evaluate my own ideals, thoughts, culture and way-of-life and arrive at a richer synthesis of both my original and learned cultures.
3) I can do my part in this whole process by promoting integration, cooperation and understanding between Eastern and Western cultures as I learn and gain more experience.
In week three, we discussed alot about the differences in western and eastern philosophy. but the part that caught me was the similarities between the two. Both eastern and western philosophy concentrate on the point to develop the youth in all ways possible and help them to respect others beliefs willingly . Keeping the differences in mind we can still apply both thoughts together. As a teacher this tolerance has been developed due to diversity and globalization. There are many ways in which I can apply this in my personal and in my teaching methods.
1. Learn about different cultures that will help me understand my students better.
2. Some students might not be willing to communicate to a stranger or even another student from another area of the world as they have been taught. but as a teacher i would say that, it is my role to educate them about the different cultures and help them to be able to think what they thought was not really the right think to do.
3. From the two above i feel that one way of teaching different cultures can be by telling them different stories from different beliefs and get them to think about the moral of the story and whether the story taught you anything.
Manpreet
Apart from my friends I will reflect on a specific point that one of our friends(Jean) mentioned about.
She said that "Education of a child starts in the family, even before the school time." (which I totally agree and find considerable)
So being aware of the importance of education in the family, here are my 3 applications;
1.At least once a term, get together with the parents of the students individually and exchange ideas on their child's educational process and try to agree on a parallel attitude to be taken towards their child.
2.Once a month send short notes to the parents about their child's educational and behavioral position and ask for their cooperation if needed.
3.At the beginning of the year, to have a background idea about the student's family environment, get students write a short essay about their families and their relationships with the family members.
V.Gaye Sadic
Reflecting from week 3 class, the activities group had the most interesting presentation where they got all of us engaged in japanese folk story and then discussed the moral of the story relating it to Eastern philosophy.
Another interesting presentation was about tolerance. Where one is taught to learn and respect each other's belief. Parents and teacher's play a very important role in influencing a child's tolerance level in todays diverse society.
- In todays multicultural classrooms teacher's are encouraged to teach about different cultures to their students and help them accpet each other's beliefs as they all might have different backgrounds.
- It is also very important for a teacher to be open minded and to stick with his/her own beliefs, tolerance of a teacher towards the students sets as a role model for the students to follow in the classroom.
- As a teacher, we should always encourage our students to study the visiting country's background whether they plan for further studies or just vacation so that they do not unintentionally offend or misunderstand that country's cultural beliefs.
Navnita Charucharoen
@Dr. Murat, yes, globalization, will, hopefull, continue to bring us integration and mutual understanding of cultural matters.
@Manpreet, yur comment about similarities ties directly to Murat's ideas on globalization, don't you think?
@Gaye, lovely ideas for working with parents, why not try one or two and let us know how it goes?
@Neet, glad to see ther were some interactive presentations!
In class, we have presentation and discussion in many points between Western and Eastern culture that make me clear and easy to image about culture
Discussion is the best way to understand each other
Teaching style, I like story-telling style,everyone can participate together.It also relax style that all teacher can use with students in your real life.
Presentation is a good to make student alert and pay more attention to the contexts.
But i don't like this way,It looks like a formal style and make me nervous.Anyway,I will try my best.
my point was not regarding globalization but the way children are brought up with one point in mind that we should give them all possible knowledge and help them in all ways possible.
Regarding globalization it might be the effect that make it possible but that was not the point i tried to focus on
Thanks
In terms of how we can convey philosophical ideas to children (students), I think we don’t really have to directly teach these ideas (like giving a lecture about philosophy). Since religious and philosophical ideas strongly influence culture, I think children can learn and adapt to these ideas naturally from every day life. Also, experiencing activities (like art or sport) which are related to culture helps children to understand philosophical ideas. I just want to suggest some ways to effectively convey philosophical ideas through fun activities.
1) Do some traditional or cultural activities with children. (like traditional dancing or sports, etc) In Japanese context, to convey Zen Buddhism philosophical ideas, we can let children experience Japanese calligraphy, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, or archery, etc. These activities emphasize concentration of mind and harmony of people and nature.
2) Read traditional folktales. As our group presented yesterday, these folktales often contain important moral and philosophical ideas.
3) Do some group work in the class, in which students do some research and presentation about different culture and beliefs in the world. Understanding different ways of thinking also helps them to recognize and appreciate their own culture and beliefs.
Thanks!
Chie Katsuda
When: 16/06/2010
We studied about the Easter Philosophy and how it differs from the Western Philosophy.
I learned that the Easter Philosophy is more about family while the Western Philosophy is more about individual.
Personally, I like all the principals of the East but...well I have lived in Thailand for a number of years and I fail to see they get implemented.
Applications:
- I learned about the principals of the Eastern Philosophy and it will surely help me to understand the East better (hopefully)
- Since the Eastern Philosophy is more about families, groups etc. than individual I will try to have more group-work activities in my class (There once was a good article on it on ajarnforum.net. I will try to find it and post it here)
- People come from different cultures, were taught differently and hence have different points of way. What I should do is to be more open minded and understanding. I should try to understand the students better and also take into consideration the background (culture) they are coming from.
@Koi, no need to be too formal in presenting if that makes you uncomfortable discussion method is fine.
@Manpreet I understand that was not your point and was merely trying to help students see the connection between the two ideas, yours and Dr. Murat's. But I don't think I stated that very well. Thanks for your feedback, very good to clarify meaning.
@Chie, agreed, indirect methods of teaching these ideas will work much better with younger students.
@Marcin (Kempos) agreed that there is often a rather large gap between ideas and practices, in both East and West...
We had a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion on Wednesday night. All the groups put a lot of effort in preparing for the discussion. Obviously there is a clear difference between Eastern and Western cultures, but it doesn’t mean one is better than the other culture. We need to respect the value of each culture.
The role of the teacher is very significant part of the eastern philosophy of education. It is a good reminder for me that I’m doing a very important job of educating the future leaders. I need to acquire professional knowledge and skills to be an effective teacher. As many of the classmates had discussed, parents are the first teachers of students. When a student walks into the classroom for the first time, he doesn’t come in with a blank slate; in fact, he comes in with knowledge in his mind and a lot of the knowledge comes from the home. Three things I want to apply into my teaching are
1) I need to ask the parents about the strength and weakness of the students as parents are the first teachers of them. I believe that parents can give me a lot of information which will help with my behavior management system for my class.
2) I will encourage my students to ask questions and think outside of the box rather than just memorizing the facts.
3) I have been doing culture day in my class for 2 years now. The students brought food from their home countries and had their national costumes. We enjoyed learning about the different cultures from different countries. Since all the students are from Asian countries, we never had a chance to learn about the western culture from a western point of view. While we are learning about the richness of the Eastern value, I also want my students to learn about the values western culture. This school year I want to introduce some western culture to my students to get a taste of it and learn to respect the other cultures.
Zarni Lwin
A pleasant evening to all of us! I’m really impressed with yesterday’s group report. Philippines is a part of this Eastern world, and we strongly believe in all of the examples given during the report. Like for one, the “strong family ties”, relatives become best friends, as a family member, you will experience their support, respect, harmony and love. Although, there are some advantages too, like for one, some family members tend to be lazy and there are some who just depend on others for food, shelter and sometimes even their shopping needs. For me, we could somehow share this to our students- the good and the bad side of it all. It’s like a flashback when I was still young, my mother used to tell me some of these things. Anyways, from the history, background, use, tolerance, age appropriateness, etc., all of which are very helpful to us as educators. For me, there is the link between these cultures as to what we are doing in the school. With regards to Education, one finds a great respect and concern about these cultures; I mean both the Western and Eastern culture. Teachers have occupied an important role in the development of thought. The emphasis in Eastern philosophy is on not only knowing but also teaching this knowledge to our students. However, the age appropriateness varies I guess, It also depends on the readiness and understanding of the child regarding his or her culture. Usually, their first teachers are their parents. Sooner or later when they go to school, they acquire some of this culture from their teachers, peer group or classmates. Little by little, they learned about having “self-awareness” and understanding of the multicultural settings in their own classroom, meaning the world behind them, until they reach the age wherein they would be able to understand the real meaning and effects of this culture in their lives. Moreover, as teachers, it would be helpful, if we could also try to look at ourselves when we are with our classmates (Assumption University) and fellow teachers (school where we teach). Understanding each others culture would somehow lead us to a more constructive and productive way of life. Like for example, in my case I have two other fellow teachers working with me in the English Department, one from London (a young guy- nearly one year) and from South Africa (same as my age- nearly 2 years), plus the Thai teachers. I’ve been with this school for almost 3 years now. We really try to work together as one, trying to understand each others culture, not only because of our careers but mainly because of our concern with our students. Also, the Confucianism belief, that when you do something good to other people, you also receive something good in return.
Note: In my school, Thai teachers normally visit their students in their homes. They discussed with the parents regarding their standing in class and behavior. Every class has a book and we write our remarks/comments in there. That's the form of our communication with them and their advisers. In the Philippines, we have the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), we also schedule parents for appointment every quarter.
Evangeline A. Concepcion
Zarni and Ms. Evan, great reflections: it is very important for us to remember the central role of the teacher in Eastern cultures and traditions, as both of you refer to.
In my point of view for week three,it was very fascinating class because of many conceptions from each group in eastern philosophy.The first of all, I have learned eastern philosophy thoughts-archiving wisdom, maintaining the family structure, establishing the law, providing for social and e comic concerns. Then,I have got the point,Buddhism teaches his disciples or followers that the solution to the problem is within inside not outside,that is very useful for the rest of my life solving some problems. Moreover,role of the teacher in eastern philosophy leads not only the teachers to guide their students along the true path but also ourselves to be in harmony with our society.Even thought these theme are happening in my environment all the time,and in myself, I forgot observing before.
Applications:
-seeking first understanding to my neighbors' cultures.
-Be alert the particular situation.
-In the future, role of teacher in eastern philosophy will be useful for my teaching life exactly.
AYE AYE KHAINE
It had a wonderful for presentation.Each student shared ideas in both Eastern and Western philosophy. After ,I studied both western and eastern .I think I can understand people more in their beliefs and behaviour.As the discussion,I strongly believe in education of child starts in family also because Parents are the child's first teacher so I will point my applications involve with teachers,students and parents.
Applications:
1.To be aware of an effective teacher,as the international school become increasingly diverse.Many teachers face a culture gap.It is important for teacher to understand the background student and their beliefs because student can affect thier relatioship with both teachers and classmates.
2.Parents are the child's first teacher,however,teachers should engage in dialogue with parents. Teachers will get better ideas of their student's background knowledge and how they learn the best in consultation day.
3.To arranged a year of international day,for example, Chinese new year,Christmas,Diwali,and Loy krathong day.Everyone will enjoy learning about different countries and cultures. Parents also get involved in providing an international lunch for students. It's good chance to learn the various from many parts of the world.
Thank you, Mr.Andy !
Ms.Rossakorn
heejin said...
I learned so many things last time.
i am very happy about my culture also I belong to Easten philosopy but I also like Western culture.
I would like to apply this to my student.
I have written by a friend through Reflaction...
I've been in the last class through Reflaction better understanding can have a discussion.^^
We had a really interesting discussion this week and it triggered my thoughts of how the diversity between different cultures results in the upbringing of each individual. Eastern and Western philosophies are really different especially in their core values but I felt that all of these philosophers’ initial purpose is to educate and prepare the children for the future. I agree with Murat saying that this world is moving towards a direction of globalization through the unification of different culture, therefore employing a combination of applicable viewpoints and values from both Eastern and Western philosophies into our teaching here in this land will be very essential and beneficial. In my opinion, the different philosophies are valuable summary of experiences for different philosophers. Therefore, we respect their findings, embrace their strengths and learn from their mistakes. Western Philosophers emphasized on the effectiveness of a student-centered teaching while Eastern Philosophers highlighted the importance role of a teacher. If we are to combine these two emphases into a classroom teaching, we can see that students are obtaining most out of their interactive and thought provoking learning experiences through an inspiring teacher that is well-prepared, innovative and responsible. Other than that, we can clearly see this combination through the early teaching in a family. Parents allow children to fall and rise up again when they just started to learn how to walk yet parents still stay right beside them to guide and to help. I believed that parents are the first Homeroom Teacher of a child as parents will teach Language Art (talk), Mathematics (Count), Reading (Stories), Physical Education (Walk and Run), Moral (Do and Don’ts) and etc. I just find it so interesting when I think of this and how true it could sound. Then it brings me to think of how all this could be applicable as an adult (not only teachers) as we are teaching not only students in the classroom but every child that we encounter in our life.
1. Be a good example to the child by respecting the diversity and differences in every culture and embracing the beauty of different culture in all ways.
2. Story Telling. Tell the stories or folktale of different countries and the moral teaching behind each story to children as stories are one of the most effective ways to register a concept or principle in children’s mind.
3. As a music teacher, I find interesting as how each country has its own folk song that has beautiful melodies and good lyrics. Songs from different country can also open a child’s view to the different culture of the world. Teaching songs that reflect the culture of a country in all events will interest people from all ages to know more about the particular culture. For example, the theme song for FIFA World Cup 2010 (Wavin’ Flag) – can hear the African folk musical elements throughout the song.
We had a great class last week! Discussing Eastern philosophy remind me not only to dig more deeply into our Eastern Philosophy but also make me to see the beauty of every culture and appriciate them.Eventhough there are some differences between eastern and western Philosophy, all has its own beauty and all are trying to approch to reality.
Application:
- It make me to learn more about other countries' culture and belief in order to more understand people.
- I think, as families are important for easterner, teacher who know(familier with)students'families can find more easier in dealing with students and can find the need of students.
- I feel that it seem to be the teachers' responsibility in these day to conveince students to respect others cultures and belief.
Reflection # 3
Reading and understanding Eastern Philosophy was quite simple. Being Asian, most of the teachings are well known and in most cases practiced. It was also much easier to understand the differences that exist between the East and the West. However, with the age of Globalization one has to accept and understand and apply the best of both philosophies. Eastern Philosophy has many important teachings that we can apply to our lives and those of our students like the following.
Application
1. Role of the teacher – If we look into the debate of nature versus nurture, we can see that the role of the teacher is highly important in terms of a child’s nurturing. This simply means we as teachers have a great influence and impact on our students.
2. Karma - The belief of Karma could be true or false but the importance is that it helps us reflect upon ourselves to understand how we would feel or experience in the same situation. This helps lead better lives and become better human beings.
3. Inner Peace – If do not have peace within ourselves we are unable to love, live or be happy. Meditation enables us to remain calm and have control over our thought and problems.
We had a wonderful time on the 3rd week of ED6007 class. On that day each group enthusiastically presented about the eastern philosophy.The way of thinking and believing between western horizon and eastern atmosphere is almost opposite. For instance the western philosophy mainly focuses on student-center in its educational system while the eastern philosophy centers on the role of teacher.However each philosophy has its own unique factor. In the past almost all the countries in the eastern atmosphere practiced teacher-center system in their educational fields but the practice of student-center became popular among some universities and international schools in eastern countries.In my perception we must apply both philosophies in our education to be more beneficial and effective for all our students in their learning regardless of whether it is western or eastern philosophy.
After reading and learning from class, I got a lot of knowledge both similarity and difference between Western and Eastern philosophy. Both idealisms emphasize on moral needs. The different is that Western Philosophy more emphasizes on material concerns, since Eastern philosophy emphasizes on wisdom, maintaining the family structure, etc. Since philosophy and religious are integrated together, especially in Eastern culture, we must know the culture influences in order to teach effectively.
- As from class presentation, using folks and parable is one of the best ideas to guide children’s motion, ideas.
- Administrators and teachers must understand the culture of state and apply suitable ideas and predict the challenges by observing different both philosophy and religious view.
- In multi-culture school, teacher can make activities like exchanging different traditional food, singing, dancing etc. Children will enjoy, and at the same time, they will learn others culture and beliefs.
It's an amazing night. Thank you for all presenters to share ideas.
So, comparison between western and eastern philosophical thoughts I found out eastern philosophical thought more tend to be religious. It's sometimes changed that most Indian and Chinese believe are not philosophy but religious. However, unlike Greek, who tried to separate philosophy from religion.
It’s say to educational philosophy of China that has to mention Confucius. The golden rule of him is one must always treat others just one would want others to treat oneself. I prefer to it. Confucian thoughts always try to teach us how to be a good person and how to give love to all of people whose you concerned. In the other word, if you want obtain respect from the others, you have to learn how to respect the others first.
Application:
- to know the students needs and try to learn background of each of them.
- love each of them, be sincerely, even though some of them naughty, lazy or make trouble out of noting, only the teacher show the most sincere love, the students can be feel.
- to teach the students how to be a good person in the world. the good person it dosen't mean each of them must be the president or scientist in the future. the teacher teach morality more important than knowledge. it's not each of them can be a great person in the world, but at least they can be a good person with good manners and never do anything of illegal.
- Attitude. sometimes attitude can be dicide everthing. when we doing something whether success largely decision of your attitude. To education also.Teacher teach the students use the right attitude to do right things and teacher also choose the right attitude to deal with everything.
Eva
@Aye Aye, internal focus is always a better place to start since that is what we can affect
@Rossakorn, increasing ones own knowledge is a positive way to overcome the culture gap as you point out
@Heejin, Ok, try to come up with applications next time please
@Jean, excellent, very thorough review, fole songs are a great way to emphasize culture
@Moekyaw, true, understanding the role of family is very critical in the East
@Resmi, do you think we could teach meditation to students? How and at what age? Let's save this one and discuss in class...
@Dennis, I would like to re-visit the teacher centered versus student centered instruction issue, in class, when I return...please raise this for discussion in class...
@Ms. Hnin, often overlooked is the need for the administrator to understand the cultural context, and you are right to point this out as critical to success in a school
@Eva, as well, what I think helps create the enduring appeal of Confuscious is the pragmatic nature of his writings and thought processes
We learnt a lot about the beliefs and philosophies both from eastern and western through the presentation at the third week. Every religion actually taught how to achieve the knowledge, Enlightenment and eternal life. But most eastern philosophies emphasis on harmony in religion they are teaching the people to respect, tolerance, help each other. Also we learnt that some religious practices are the basic social starts for the children practices starting from the family towards school, later to the whole society. One of our classmates also mentions about the culture that man without culture is like a fish out of water. Therefore we also need to observe and respect each different culture in our learning process in order to understand each other’s. As I believe that religion teaching have the effect on the education in one way, the following are 3 applications;
1- I will practice very short morning devotion or quite time for the children in their own religion groups before the school starts. In our country, most high school practice paying homage to the Buddha image every morning. This may lead the children's paying respect and take serious on their own belief.
2-Story telling is also makes sense and capture the children's mind easily. That's why I will tell stories or parables maybe from the bible or sometimes from the other scriptures. So that the children may also learn other beliefs since they were young, and then they can takes the goods point from the differences and become a better citizen in their life.
3-Arrange a day for the children for example once a year to share their cultures, traditions. Then they can share the differences practically. I can apply this also at my country because we have many difference ethnic groups and it will be very interesting not for the children but for all the teachers also.
Week three reflections and thoughts,
In my point of view, week three distinguished western philosophy and eastern philosophy obiviously. Moreover, it made me not only to understand both of philosophies but also to apply them in the education field. In my opinion, western philosophers focused on the outer power and eastern philosophers focused on the inner power.
Applications;
1) Different philosophies help differnts students or teachers or people.
2)By studying these lessons, i could realize that different philosophy, belief and culture have different unmentionable value.
I found out some points after week 3 presentation and it was really good to listen about the different cultures between Eastern and Western.
From my point of view, I think we should combine Eastern and Western philosophy and create a new way to improve Education System.
As I am from Eastern country, our education system based on religion called “Buddhism” and there are some pros and cons because of we only based on Eastern Philosophy.
Application
1. In my opinion, understand the students emotional feelings is important thing. So I will invite the parents when students celebrate activities and having chit-chat with parents can guess how the students feels.
2. As I am Computer teacher, I take the morning class about 15 minutes before other class started and only ask about the 3 or 4 Computer Vocabulary and let them describe the meanings with pictures .
3. No matter how the culture and religion is different, let students participate and celebrate the activities together can make them understand each other better and having a good friendship in the school will improve their learning skills too.
Thanks,
N.Ht Linn
@Akari, the idea of a devotion to start the day according to each child's belief system has much merit.
@John Bosco, true, much of the value in philosophy is as not directly evident, or as you put it, unmentionable, another idea I would like to revisit in class.
@N Ht Linn, celebrating differing cultural days is a good way to increase mutual understanding for both students and teachers.
It's the second time I attend the class.first time,I couldn't get much information from the class.But this time,everything become better,I have learned how to do presentation,and learn many from other students,I'm very join in the class.
It's the second time I attend the class.first time,I couldn't get much information from the class.But this time,everything become better,I have learned how to do presentation,and learn many from other students,I'm very join in the class.
Week 3 was really interesting in the sense I really got the opportunity to understand the eastern philosophy in other's point of view as well as be a part of the discussion when it came to comparing both western and eastern philosophies. However much the students in the class debate in terms of which philosophy is better, I think that instead of wasting our whole lives comparing, people should focus on building bridges instead of walls. Taking the example of a multicultural classroom, as teachers, we also encourage our students to get along and work with each other. The same applies to the world. I did learn alot from the class and I could apply them to my life in the following ways:
1)Since I would want to teach in an international school, understanding different cultures would make it alot easier for me to understand my students and also help in resolving conflicts among them.
2)Since the religion and philosophy in a child basically starts from home, I think getting parents to actively involve in the education process especially for younger kids is really important, and if I could ever get an opportunity I would think about strategies to involve parents rather that just meet them during Parent-Teacher meetings.
3)I think that everyone doesn't have to believe in others' ideology but it is crucial that they at least respect them. Many people are stereotyped in areas where, due to the violence of a group, they see the whole population as violent people. Media affects perception a lot as well, if you show a child a movie where a group of terrorists who are muslims are attacking a country, then when the child goes back to school, they would think twice about making friends with a muslim in their classroom which is obviously not fair to the latter. Therefore, exposing children to the right information, especially when they are at a critical age of learning is imperative and I would try hard to get this done whenever I need to work it through.
Laxshmi S.
David: Reflection #1
Last week we discussed the Eastern Philosophy. It was interesting to hear people bring out the fundamental differences between this school of thought and the Western school of thought, such as the west being overly materialistic and the east being spiritualistic.
However, in our discussion we missed the underlying similarities in the two schools of thought and the transformation of the western philosophy from somewhat spiritualistic to materialistic.
The ultimate goal for the both of them, according to me, is attaining a level of self satisfaction. Socrates and/or Plato taught people to live by or attain a certain truth, at which point they shall not want for anything else. Even Abraham Maslow, the most recent philosopher-cum-psychologist and educationist still point at the same thing when he talks about the hierarchy of needs which ends at self esteem (self actualization). This is not different from the eastern school of thought which dwells on the inner-self of a person where one should get to a level of enlightenment.
Applications
My students will learn that;
1. The aim of education is the same everywhere; to help people become better persons.
2. It doesn’t matter the culture or background one comes from, we are all one and have the same goal – self satisfaction.
3. We may all have a common purpose but we take different roots to achieve it, and that common purpose may mean different things to different people.
Venus （JIN XIN） 2010. 4.16.
We discuss a lot in this lesson and find difference between both philosophy:
Eastern philosophy will be considered in four major areas of thought: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern. Eastern philosophy, unlike the West’s more empirical philosophy, stresses intuition, inner peace, tranquility, attitudinal development, and mysticism and had a significant impact on Judaism and Christianity, as well as Middle Eastern in origin.
Eastern philosophy stressed the inner rather than the outer world, intuition rather than sense, and mysticism rather than scientific discoveries.
Eastern thought has always seemed somewhat mysterious and exotic to Westerners: An abject sense of duty in some cases, an emphasis on a rigid class structure, strong familial ties, and ancestor veneration generally are not found or promoted in Western society.
The great stumbling blocks are a lack of understanding between these two cultures, their enormous historical diversity, and their differences in expectations and motivations. The West has greatly influenced the East politically and economically; the East, in turn, has enriched the West philosophically and spiritually. To understand the Eastern position, one must set aside Western biases and Western aims. When they do, Westerners find much to admire and learn from Eastern philosophy.
Applications in teaching:
1. In Eastern philosophy, suffering is to be accepted as a way of life. We need to see suffering as being beneficial to our development if it helps us get wisdom. Change is important because most Eastern philosophy emphasize that one cannot live a good life without thought that brings change.
Story telling is good way to let students experience the process from suffering to wisdom development in mind before they really get feet into reality. In China, we have many mystery novels, which are really benefit for students’ AQ （Adversity Quotient）.
2. A great emphasis has been placed on rules of order and rules of right conduct within western family and society.
That is why we may see many rules in Chinese and Thai classrooms. There is a Chinese saying: No fragmentation radius of the rules. In this case, when I teach Chinese in Bangkok, I can understand more than western teachers. I do think it is good for students to have some rules, which will help them to make a good habit since childhood.
3. In Eastern philosophy, order, regularity, and patience are generally prized, and the order is proportional and in harmony with the law of nature.
Many Chinese students go back China after them going abroad. The family relationship is being put lots of emphasis. When teaching in eastern country, we need pay more attention in dealing with the relationship.
Venus （JIN XIN） 2010. 4.16.
We discuss a lot in this lesson and find difference between both philosophy:
Eastern philosophy will be considered in four major areas of thought: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Middle Eastern. Eastern philosophy, unlike the West’s more empirical philosophy, stresses intuition, inner peace, tranquility, attitudinal development, and mysticism and had a significant impact on Judaism and Christianity, as well as Middle Eastern in origin.
Eastern philosophy stressed the inner rather than the outer world, intuition rather than sense, and mysticism rather than scientific discoveries.
Eastern thought has always seemed somewhat mysterious and exotic to Westerners: An abject sense of duty in some cases, an emphasis on a rigid class structure, strong familial ties, and ancestor veneration generally are not found or promoted in Western society.
The great stumbling blocks are a lack of understanding between these two cultures, their enormous historical diversity, and their differences in expectations and motivations. The West has greatly influenced the East politically and economically; the East, in turn, has enriched the West philosophically and spiritually. To understand the Eastern position, one must set aside Western biases and Western aims. When they do, Westerners find much to admire and learn from Eastern philosophy.
Applications in teaching:
1. In Eastern philosophy, suffering is to be accepted as a way of life. We need to see suffering as being beneficial to our development if it helps us get wisdom. Change is important because most Eastern philosophy emphasize that one cannot live a good life without thought that brings change.
Story telling is good way to let students experience the process from suffering to wisdom development in mind before they really get feet into reality. In China, we have many mystery novels, which are really benefit for students’ AQ （Adversity Quotient）.
2. A great emphasis has been placed on rules of order and rules of right conduct within western family and society.
That is why we may see many rules in Chinese and Thai classrooms. There is a Chinese saying: No fragmentation radius of the rules. In this case, when I teach Chinese in Bangkok, I can understand more than western teachers. I do think it is good for students to have some rules, which will help them to make a good habit since childhood.
3. In Eastern philosophy, order, regularity, and patience are generally prized, and the order is proportional and in harmony with the law of nature.
Many Chinese students go back China after them going abroad. The family relationship is being put lots of emphasis. When teaching in eastern country, we need pay more attention in dealing with the relationship.
Week three class was very interesting . We had lots of discussion about western and eastern culture, philosophy, which gave me chance to know more about the eastern culture. Eastern philosophy is more about a religion .In this part we talked about the religion like Hinduism, buddisium, Indian thought etc, .All these religions tells about the moral and values. In Hinduism there are various texts like Mahabharata Ramayana Vedas and Upanishad, they all talked about the knowledge, moral and values. Ramayana and Mahabharata itself holds the all the moral value in it. It teaches about to hold on values, love parents brothers and people around .It talked about the right and wrong, it is a history that talks about a culture of love and respect in a child. Buddhism is also a moral /philosophy religion based upon a teaching of Siddhartha Gautama. He taught everyone how to live happy and peaceful life. Buddhism is about looking and thinking about our own lives and it shows us how to understand ourselves and how to cope with our daily problems As I am interesting to teach in elementary level I think we should teaches all about the morals and values in the early years of the schools .The best way to tell a child how to live is to show him or her what is valued.
Applications
1.Children learn by watching people around them, they absorb behavior patterns from the teacher and older students .We should teach them a moral education from the early years of the school.
2.We should teach about the different culture also and have to arrange the events regarding to the diversity .For example celebrating the international day in which children can know about the different countries culture, food and even the songs and custom. Telling children the different countries folk stories also help them to understand the culture.
3. Parents are the first teacher of their child. We should involve the parents in these types of events .We can also arrange the parents’ teacher meeting or talk programme about the morals value and cultures.
Anjana
@Zhangya, glad to see your understanding is increasing, please try to put some applications in with your reflections from now on. @Laxshmi and @David, I agree that building bridges and finding commonality is often much more productive than focusing exclusivley on differences. @Xinjin (Venus) please raise adversity quotient for discussion in class, very valid concept. @Anjana, excellent overview of ideas!
In the third week ,we discussed a lot about “eastern thought and philosophy of education “.
Every group’s presentation was very well ,even there are some opinion conflict in discuss process,
because thought conflict Will produce results –let us understanding
different cultures ,different knowledge more and more.; Expand thought;
As a teacher ,we need to apply to instruction :
1,open mind , adopt students' different ideas.
2, Encourage students to think actively. Not just copycat .
3, Guiding students how to get new viewpoints from thought conflict .
Buddhism thought is important thought in the Eastern thought and philosophy ,I read something about Buddhism .understanding something like Buddhism themes are practice your heart , do good deeds and so on .
• In the Buddhism ,they think there are four sufferings :birth ,old age ,sickness ,death . These sufferings were caused by desire .
• Lives are recycle in Buddhism ,they believe that :good deeds lead to rebirth as a good and wise person ,evil deeds lead to rebirth as a poor and sickly person.
So , peoples need to practice your heart ,tolerance any difficult in this world .
May be theses themes are not all right ,but Budda Sakyamuni’s education methods we can use for reference .for example :
1 posing appropriate questions before beginning a discussion .
2 used similes ,parables ,fables and verses
3 gave students attention to the conduct and training of his disciples, correcting their weaknesses through patience and advice .
summing up the above, as a teacher ,attention that Internal stimulation more important outside Internal ; appropriate instruction methods will get good results .
@Cui Mei, ok, next time just put it all in a single entry, as that makes things easier to follow, thanks.
After reading most comments on week three, how everyone mention that they have enjoyed the discussion in class. I wished that I could be there. I also found the reading to be very interesting. After reading the western and the Eastern philosophies, I realized how beautiful different cultures upholds and how awesome it is if it could unify. I think it’s very beneficial to a third culture student whose upbringing between the two cultures experiences. They would have a well-balanced life. Eastern cultures hold a strong family bonding even after they died. On the other hand, Western cultures encourage the intellectual of the mind to be more important than anything else.
Applications:
1. I want my students to understand, respect, and appreciate the differences in cultures by having students do presentations on their cultures in class. I think this is a great value lesson to show the uniqueness of each person.
2. Display and read multicultural theme books and celebrate different holidays of students’ culture.
3. Have my students share different ways to show their reverence to God and share a prayer in their own language. One year my students have suggested this: say a “Hail Mary prayer” in their languages. I have 12 students from different nationalities have volunteered at a prayer service. It is so beautiful to hear them and everyone was so appreciated.
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