Moral and National Education controversy
Moral and national education | |
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Hanyu Pinyin | Déyù jí gōngmín jiàoyù |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Jyutping | Dak1juk6 kap6 gung1man4 gaau3juk6 |
Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the
The subject was controversial for its stance on the Chinese Communist Party and criticism of the United States two-party system.[1]
Background
Moral and civic education was one of the four key tasks in the 2001 curriculum reform undertaken by the Education and Manpower Bureau (superseded by the Education Bureau in 2007), and its framework was revised by the Education Bureau in 2008.
On 13 October 2010, Chief Executive
Curriculum
According to the revised Moral and National Education Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 to Secondary 6) (MNE Guide) published in June 2012, the subject has the following aims:[3]
- Development of moral qualities
- Development of a positive and optimistic attitude
- Self-recognition
- Judging in a caring and reasonable manner
- Recognition of identity
- Practice
Controversy
Necessity
Education Bureau (EB) claims that Moral, Civic and National Education is "an essential element of whole-person education which aims at fostering students' positive values and attitudes through the school curriculum and the provision of diversified learning experiences". It also claims to "enhance" students' commitments and contributions to analyse and judge personal, family, social, national and global issues.[4]
Since 2001, Moral and Civic Education has been accorded as one of the four Key Tasks under the Curriculum Reform to cultivate students' positive values and attitudes (Priority values include "Perseverance", "Respect for Others", "Responsibility", "National Identity" and "Commitment"). It has been suggested "life event" exemplars being used as learning contexts to enable students to realise positive values.
The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU), an organisation formed by different levels of teachers, believes that MNE is unnecessary, as the original civic education curriculum had already contained "national education". Its vice president Cheung Man-kwong claims that introduction of MNE is a political action ordered by the central government of the People's Republic of China.[5]
Partiality of teaching materials
The "China Model National Conditions Teaching Manual", published by the National Education Services Centre under government funding, was found to be biased towards the
Pressure groups and protests
Occupy Tamar | |||
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Date | 30 August – 8 September 2012 | ||
Location | hacking | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
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"Scholarism – The Alliance Against Moral & National Education" (later renamed "
Another prominent pressure group, the National Education Parents' Concern Group (Parents' Concern Group, 國民教育家長關注組) was formed in July 2012. The group issued a petition opposing to MNE, initiated by
In July 2012, the "Civil Alliance Against the National Education" (民間反對國民教育科大聯盟) was formed by 15 organisations, including Scholarism, Parents' Concern Group, PTU,
On 29 July 2012, 30 organisations protested in a march. According to the organisers, over 90000 protestors, including parents and their children, joined in this march.[10]
The occupation of the government headquarters area exceeded the initial three-day duration, and on 3 September 2012 the Civil Alliance Against National Education announced that they would continue their occupation of the government headquarters area indefinitely.
In mid-September 2012,
On September 8, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that he would temporary withdraw introducing the national education course, until the revising of the Moral, Civil and National education guidelines which has caused many concerns to many Hongkongers, has been addressed.[18]
Resistance to the MNE was documented in the 2014 film, Lessons in Dissent.[19]
Current status
As of 2017, the current secretary for education, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, said recently that national education had not been scrapped completely. Teaching on the topic was continuing in the form of different subjects and activities in schools.[20] For example, the inclusion of a new requirement for all schools to provide 39 hours of Basic Law education at the junior secondary level,[21] or plans to make Chinese history a compulsory subject at senior secondary level.[22]
See also
References
- ^ CBCNews. [www.cbc.ca/news/world/hong-kong-fears-pro-china-brainwashing-in-education-1.1296013 Hong Kong fears pro-China brainwashing in education]. The Associated Press. 7 September 2012
- ^ "教局跪低國民教育科推遲". The Sun. 27 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ Moral and National Education Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 to Secondary 6), Education Bureau, 19 June 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012
- ^ "Moral, Civic and National Education". Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ 國民教育爭議事件簿, Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union Retrieved 29 July 2012
- Oriental Daily. 13 July 2012. Archived from the originalon 23 April 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ 基本資料, Scholarism
- ^ "Road closures a flashpoint during tense marches", South China Morning Post, 2 July 2012
- ^ 香港家長聯署反對“國民教育科”課程指引, "VOA Chinese", 22 July 2012
- ^ "9萬人上街反洗腦 BB車撞吳克儉落台". Apple Daily. 29 July 2012.
- ^ "70多名學民思潮成員政總外紮營請願". Yahoo! Hong Kong. 30 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "日曬雨淋 撤科聲更響 主辦方:全日4萬人 警:高峰時8100". Yahoo! Hong Kong. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012.
- ^ 梁子健 (4 September 2012). "反國教大聯盟籌備罷課 香港特首回應:願對話 8000港人「鐵屋吶喊」". Sing Tao USA. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ Shirley Zhao (8 September 2012), "Record-high turnout for anti-national education protests". Time Out
- ^ "團體稱12萬人集會反國教 警方稱3萬6千". RTHK. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "反國教集會大會宣布有十二萬人出席". Commercial Radio Hong Kong. 7 September 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ 攻陷國教網站 黑客匿名:要革命! 16 September 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2013
- ^ "CE shelves national education guidelines after panel report". 8 October 2012.
- ^ “Lessons in dissent”, The Economist, 4 July 2014
- ^ "Is national education set to make a comeback in Hong Kong?". 4 August 2017.
- ^ "Why are Hong Kong teachers so concerned about Basic Law education?". 3 June 2017.
- ^ "Make Chinese history compulsory to end youngsters' identity crisis, says CPPCC delegate Wu". 15 January 2017.
External links
- Media related to Moral and National Education at Wikimedia Commons