Written by Oiwan Lam
The Hong Kong Education Bureau is planning to make patriotic education compulsory for primary and secondary school children.
The objective of the Moral and National Education Curriculum is to build “national harmony, identity and unity among individuals”, help the students to “develop a sense of belonging to the motherland”, “support national sports teams” and “appreciate Chinese culture”. The plan, however, has sparked fears in the society of political brainwashing.
“Brain-washing is a common practice”
As if to self-fulfill the prophecy, the Director of Publicity, Culture and Sports Department at the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong, Hao Tie-chuan, wrote in the Sina micro-blog on May 8, 2011, that “brain-washing” is a common practice in western education systems (Note: today I found the message deleted, here is a copy [zh]):
关于香港ä¸å°å¦çš„德育åŠå›½æ°‘教育,有人说是“æ´—è„‘”,åªè¦çœ‹çœ‹ç¾Žã€æ³•ç‰è¥¿æ–¹å›½å®¶è¿™æ–¹é¢çš„制度,就会看到这ç§å¿…è¦çš„“æ´—è„‘”是一ç§å›½é™…惯例;有人说è¦åŸ¹å…»ä¸ å°å¦ç”Ÿçš„批判æ„识,但国际社会通常åšæ³•æ˜¯åœ¨å¤§å¦åŸ¹å…»æ‰¹åˆ¤æ€ç»´æ„识,而ä¸æ˜¯ä¸å°å¦ï¼›æœ‰äººè¯´å¾·è‚²åŠå›½æ°‘教育ä¸è¦å¬ä¸å¤®æ”¿åºœçš„,但那还å«å›½æ°‘教育å—?
Responses to Hao’s “brain-washing” theory
Hao’s comment has widely been reported in mainstream media, Facebook and other social media platforms from May 9-11 2011 and many netizens visited Hao’s micro-blog to leave comments, only to find out that most of the critical comments had been deleted. Many netizens pointed out that they had been blocked from commenting in Hao’s micro-blog, including myself. Below is a screen capture of my failure to comment on Hao’s “brainwashing remark” on May 11 2011:
Nevertheless, I managed to save some of the comments through Sina search (the more critical ones have been blocked from search by Sina administrator):
石åæ–‡ [zh]:英國教育教導國民愛國,也åŒæ™‚從å°å°±åŸ¹é¤Šå¥¹/他們的批判精神;國民愛國,但ä¸æœƒç›²ç›®ç¶åœ‹ã€‚一個人由å°å¸é–‹å§‹è¢«ã€Œæ´—è…¦ã€æ´—至大å¸ï¼Œè…¦éƒ½æ—©å·²æ®˜å»¢äº†ï¼Œåªæ€•è€¶ç©Œé‡è‡¨å†è¡Œç¥žè¹Ÿï¼Œä¹Ÿä¸èƒ½ä»¤è…¦æ®˜ç”Ÿå‡ºæ‰¹åˆ¤æ€ç¶ã€‚è½ä¸å¤®æ”¿åºœæ˜¯æ„› D 教育,而éžåœ‹æ°‘教育。還望éƒå…ˆç”Ÿé‡æ¸…æ€ç¶å†ç™¼è¨€ï¼Œåˆ¥ç‚ºçˆåŠŸè€Œæš´éœ²äº†è…¦æ®˜çœŸç›¸ã€‚
å¿½æ‚ ç¥žJohnson [zh]:典型的ä¸æ‡‚è£æ‡‚,å‡å¦‚ä½ çœŸçš„æ‡‚é‚„èªªå¾—å‡ºé€™äº›èªªè©±ï¼Œä½ æ›´ç½ªæƒ¡ã€‚è¥¿æ–¹çš„æ˜¯åœ‹æ°‘å…¬æ°‘æ•™è‚²ä¸¦å˜ï¼Œä¹‹æ‰€è¬‚國民教育èªåŒæ„Ÿï¼Œæ˜¯åŸºæ–¼åœ‹å®¶æ·å²æ¦®è¾±èªçŸ¥ï¼Œæ”¿åºœå¥‰è¡Œæ†²æ”¿ä¸»ç¾©ä¸‹æœ‰é™æ”¿åºœåŽŸå‰‡ï¼Œå°æ·å²ä¸ç«‹ï¼Œçš†å› 政府的組æˆæ˜¯äººæ°‘æ„願。至於人之所以為人,是良知的判斷,人如何立足於社會åšäººè™•äº‹ï¼Œå‰‡ç‚ºå…¬æ°‘教育。
音樂逹人å²ä¸¹åˆ© [zh]:ä¸è¯è¾¦å®£å‚³éƒ¨é•·éƒéµå·è¿‘ æ—¥é€éŽå¾®åšç™¼è¡¨ï¼Œæ¯«ä¸æŽ©é£¾åœ°æŒ‡å‡ºé¦™æ¸¯æ”¿åºœæŽ¨å‹•å¾·è‚²åŠåœ‹æ°‘教育科就是è¦å‘å¸ç”Ÿã€Œæ´—è…¦ã€ï¼Œè£½é€ åªè‡£æœæ–¼é»¨çš„公民。「德育åŠåœ‹æ°‘教育如果ä¸è¦è½ä¸å¤®æ”¿åºœçš„,但那 é‚„å«åšåœ‹æ°‘教育嗎?ã€æœ‰é¦™æ¸¯ç«‹æ³•æœƒè°å“¡å½¢å®¹è¨€è«–「赤裸得令人心驚ã€ï¼…å“ˆå“ˆå“ˆå“ˆï¼Œæˆ‘è¦ºå¾—é€™å®£å‚³éƒ¨é•·å¤ å¦ç™½ï¼Œå¾ˆå¯æ„›ï¼
CLPRO [zh]:有木有良知啊ï¼ï¼ï¼ä½ 這ä¸æ˜¯åœ¨é€¼ç˜‹äººæ°‘å—Žï¼Ÿäººæ°‘æ„›åœ‹æ˜¯ç”±å¿ƒè€Œç™¼ï¼Œç”¨å¾—è‘—ä½ é€™æ¨£åšéº¼ï¼Ÿæ³•åœ‹äººæ°‘ä¹‹æ‰€ä»¥æ„›åœ‹çš†å› è‡ªç”±ã€å¹³ç‰ã€åšæ„›ï¼Œç¾Žåœ‹äººæ°‘ä¹‹æ‰€ä»¥æ„›åœ‹æ˜¯å› ç‚ºæ„›è‡ªç”±ã€åŒ…容力高,ä¸åœ‹äººæ°‘之所以ä¸æ„›åœ‹ï¼Œæ˜¯å› 為è…朽的架構ã€å¤±æ•—的教育ã€å®˜åƒšä¸»ç¾©ï¼Œé†’醒å§ï¼ä¸€å€‹çœŸæ£å¼·å¤§çš„國家ä¸éœ€è¦åœ‹æ°‘教育,國民會自然自豪ï¼
How to brain-wash the kids?
So much for Hao’s Freudian slip, what exactly would the curriculum be that is implemented in Hong Kong? Sam Ng has studied the consultation document and explained the brain-washing process [zh]:
在「我為國家隊打氣ã€é€™æ•™æ¡ˆè£¡ï¼Œå†ä¸‰æ±‚åŒå¸å€‘回憶奧é‹é ’奬å°ä¸Šåœ‹æ——å‡èµ·åœ‹æŒé«˜å¥çš„情景,è¦åŒå¸èªªå‡ºè‡ªå·±æ„Ÿå—。然後有一個注æ„äº‹é …ï¼šã€Œæ•™å¸«å¦‚ç™¼ç¾å¸ç”Ÿå°åœ‹å®¶æ°‘æ—感情ä¸å¤ªå¼·çƒˆæ™‚,ä¸è¦æ‰¹è©•ï¼Œä¸¦æŽ¥ç´å…¶è¡¨ç¾ï¼Œä½†ä»è«‹å¸ç”Ÿç‚ºæ¤ä½œè‡ªæˆ‘åçœã€‚ã€å¦‚何åçœå‘¢ï¼Ÿé¢å£æ€éŽï¼Ÿå¯«æ‚”éŽæ›¸ï¼Ÿ
還有一個「我å¸æœƒäº†å”±åœ‹æŒã€çš„教案,一輪è½å”±åœ‹æŒä¹‹å¾Œï¼Œè€å¸«è¦å¸ç”Ÿï¼šã€Œè«‹ä½ 站起來,大è²èªªå‡ºå…¶ä¸å…©å€‹ä¸è¯æ°‘æ—的精神。ã€ç„¶å¾Œï¼šã€Œè«‹å¤§è²èªªå‡ºã€Žæˆ‘為到自己是一個ä¸åœ‹äººè€Œé«˜èˆˆã€ã€ã€‚è¦æ±‚å¸ç”Ÿå¤§è²èªªå‡ºçš„,在這個教案ä¸é‚„有幾次之多。
In the pedagogy of “Cheering for our national team”, students were asked to recollect the scene when the Chinese Olympic team receive an award on the stage with the national anthem as background music. The teacher would ask the students to talk about their feelings. A note in the pedagogy says: “If the teachers notice that students do not have strong feelings about the nation, do not criticize them, accept their performance, but ask them to reflect upon their reaction.” How to reflect? Repent in front of a wall like a Buddhist monk? or write a penitent report?
Another example is the pedagogy of “I learn how to sing the national anthem”. After listening and singing out loud the national anthem, the teacher should ask the student: “Please stand up, speak out loud two of the nation’s guiding spirits.” then: “Please speak out loud: “I feel happy that I am Chinese”. The curriculum keeps demanding students to speak out loud.
Kursk from inmediahk.net also points out [zh] that the devil is in the detail and invites the readers to take a close look at the curriculum. For example, although students do not need to take an examination, they have to go through a series of evaluations:
課程文件æå‡ºäº†ä¸€å€‹å¿…é ˆåš´è‚…è¨Žè«–çš„è©•æ ¸æ–¹æ³•ï¼šè®“å®¶é•·è©•ä¼°å¸ç”Ÿã€å¸ç”Ÿäº’相評估。他們會有一個é‡è¡¨ï¼Œè©•ä¼°å¸ç”Ÿæ˜¯å¦åšåˆ°æŒ‡å®šçš„標準。
As Kursk rightly spells out, it is impossible to evaluate a person’s feeling and emotion, thus the side effect of such evaluation may be mutual policing among school kids:
åŒå„•äº’è©•é‚„å¯èƒ½å¸¶ä¾†å¦ä¸€å€‹å•é¡Œï¼Œå°±æ˜¯å¸ç”Ÿä¹‹é–“互相監視。這個擔憂å¯èƒ½æœ‰é»žæ‹‰é 了,ä¸éŽå…¶å¯¦å¸ç”Ÿäº’ç›¸èˆ‰å ±åœ¨å…§åœ°å¸æ ¡ä¸æ˜¯ä»€éº¼å¥‡æ€ªäº‹ã€‚香港的國民教育課評估表åªè¦åŠ 入更多有關「體諒國家ã€ã€ã€Œç¶è·åœ‹å®¶é ˜åœŸå®Œæ•´ã€ç‰é …目,åŒå¸ä¹‹é–“的互評就å¯è®Šæˆäº’相監ç£äº†ã€‚
A battle with the state educator
It is inevitable that the Chinese government would impose “brain-washing” mechanisms in the Hong Kong education system and mainstream media. At inmediahk.net, Tommyjonk urges citizens to be prepared for the ideological battle [zh] by quoting local intellectual Ma Kokming’s talk about the role of organic intellectuals:
「葛è˜è¥¿èªç‚ºï¼Œè³‡æœ¬ä¸»ç¾©çš„國家體制更扮演著教育家的角色(The State as Educator)。è¦é‡æ–°å•Ÿå‹•ç¤¾æœƒä¸»ç¾©é©å‘½ï¼Œå¿…é ˆæŠ—è¡¡è³‡æœ¬ä¸»ç¾©çš„ä¸»å°Žæ„è˜å½¢æ…‹ï¼Œé€™å€‹ä»»å‹™è½åœ¨æœ‰æ©ŸçŸ¥è˜ä»½å(organic intellectual)身上。葛è˜è¥¿è¨æƒ³çš„有機知è˜ä»½åä¸æ˜¯åœ¨è±¡ç‰™å¡”è£¡é–‰é–€é€ è»Šçš„äººï¼Œè€Œæ˜¯ç·Šå¯†è·Ÿç¤¾æœƒä¸Šçš„æŠ—çˆé‹å‹•ç›¸å‘¼æ‡‰çš„。ã€
事實上,香港教育界內ä»æœ‰ä¸å°‘進æ¥çš„有機知è˜ä»½å(見管治ä¸èƒ½çš„香港)。å‡è‹¥ä¸å¤®åŠç‰¹å€æ”¿åºœçœŸçš„ä¸ç†åå°éŠ³æ„推行德育åŠåœ‹æ°‘教育必修課,我們便需è¦é›†çµæ¥ç•Œå…§å¤–所有進æ¥åŠ›é‡ï¼Œè·Ÿé¾å¤§çš„åœ‹å®¶æ©Ÿå™¨å¤§å¹¹ä¸€å ´ï¼ï¼ï¼
Gramcis believes that the state machine in a capitalist country plays the role of “The State as Educator”. To launch the socialist revolution, we have to resist the capitalist dominating ideology. The mission falls to the hands of organic intellectuals. Gramcis’ organic intellectuals are not academics hiding inside ivory towers, but people who engage in conversations with social movements.
In the education sector, we have quite a number of progressive organic intellectuals. If the central government and SAR government make the moral and national education compulsory in schools, we have to network with all the progressive forces to fight the battle against the state machinery!!!
Originally Published at GlobalVoices: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/05/12/hong-kong-brainwashing-education/
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