Author Archives: CJ

Artworks from famous Chinese Artist Feng Zikai (丰子恺), on the irony and frustration of the traditional Chinese education system

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Feng Zikai (1898-1975) is one of the most gifted political and artistic figures in China in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920s was an era of deep political and social instability, a time when the future and destiny of China was blurry and uncertain.

Feng was a painter, writer, music educator, translator, calligrapher and art theorist. In fact, Feng is considered to be the founder of modern Chinese cartoon art. His essays and cartoons are still popular among the Chinese public today. Feng’s cartoons seek to furnish his viewer with a degree of critical distance. He injects irony into his paintings, so that his viewer will be prompted to take a step back and examine the social issues in China that are subtly embedded in his work.

The cartoons below reflect Feng’s critical perspective on a gamut of issues with the education system in China, which ranges from the elementary school to university level.

You can find more of his works here: https://www.pinterest.com/mymurmuring/feng-zikai/

“

Imagination”

To Feng, the job of an educator is similar to that of a gardener, who trims and prunes his plants so that they can flourish later. Feng draws his viewer’s attention to the cruel ways in which the education system in China stifles students’ minds and their ability to think for themselves. Feng suggests that the system in China is more interested to standardise students, pressuring them to conform to a certain pattern of thinking.

“Somewhat School”

Schools were part of the problem of perpetuating a vicious cycle of capitalism and standardization in learning. In this cartoon, the monkey on top of the pole is the teacher, the administrators are playing a tune, students are watching, and of course someone is collecting money.

“Somewhat Teacher”

Teachers might try to destroy students’ minds with endless drill and repetition. These teachers do not alter or update their pedagogy. Instead, they behave like a gramophone that is used to play the same old tune for years. Feng criticizes the formalist, stubborn teaching style practiced by some educators today, and he encourages them to innovate and improve themselves instead.

“Somewhat Education”

Figuratively speaking, education can be seen as a process of transforming raw materials into beautiful sculptures. In this cartoon, Feng criticises the Chinese education system that aims to kill the unique characteristic of individual, by shaping everyone using a singular template or model.

“Being educated”

This one follows the previous painting, but it is now from the perspective from the students. It does not seem fun for them to be shaped from this one model.

Questions:

Even though Mr. Feng passed away more than forty years ago, the severe problem of Chinese society and our education system persists. We still have not figured out a way to offer students with special talents another way to grow and the society still pushes young people so hard with mandatory college entrance examinations. I would like to ask your thoughts on the cartoons I posted:

  • Do you have thoughts on why China still continues to adopt such a standardised way of assessing its students?
  • How do you compare the current Chinese education system and the one Mr. Feng described in his paintings?
  • Do you see any progress or regression in China?

Korean Horror movie reflecting brutal college entrance examination

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Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9lyjyarCd8

Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFqWC6F0Hps

 

Since last week we have been talked about Korean high school education and the studying abroad trend, I found this horror movie focusing on high school seniors preparing for the college entrance exams. It was published in 2006 by director Kim Eun-Kyung.

Story happens in a boarding high school created especially for students who have failed college entrance exams from previous year. It started with an advertisement by the principle introducing “the perfect school for study only” and close shots are around the campus. Dormitory, study room and dinning hall are newly renovated and look beautiful but lack of vitality. Everything in this high school is highly unified. Girls are dressed in uniforms with certain hairstyles and ruled by exactly same schedule of their daily activities. Girls get up early at the same time, brush their teeth in same room with same pace, do same morning exercises and eats the same breakfast during the same given period of time. Gilrs’ personal properties except textbooks and exercise booklets are collected on the first day they arrived school, because all are considered as disturbances, which could only harm their efforts for the test. We see girls lost their interests, their habits or even friendships during their preparation for test. They are taught that the only concerns should be the grade. It is not right to care about roommates or classmates because they are only competitors not companions in life.

Another storyline made me feel painful is the family of the girls. We see one girl, Kim Ri-Na, had strong desire to leave and was already mentally ill, however, her mother forced her to return and finally pushed her to the edge of her life. Family’s decision has been distorted by the stressful reality of education in Korean society.

“Do you wish to continue to be a loser?” Their mentor, a young cold-blood woman, repeated this sentence more than ten times in the movie. Originally from China, it is not difficult for me to imagine this story happening in the real world. Traditional admission culture and education system in Korea and China made college entrance examination a huge deal and had tremendous pressures and negative psychological effects on teenagers and their families. Failing the test equals to failing your first eighteen years of life. But truly, is it fair to define someone a “loser” based on test score? Is it valid to measure how well one learns in six years based on several pieces of test papers?

What do you think about the college admission requirement and process in Korea? Is a fatal examination enough to evaluate the education outcome? Does the examination well prepare students for higher education? Does it result more harm or more benefit? For broader picture, Do you prefer Korean way or American way of college admission? Why do you think this system has been effective in Korea and China for decades?

This movie is also known as “D-day” when it published in Korea and China. D-day usually refers to June 6,1994, which American army fought to win or die. It makes a lot of sense: A examination for win or die.