[This space has  been quiet because I've been fact-checking and otherwise researching my Unsucky Gilgamesh chaptersso far (which I hope to publish as a book when finished) and, since school started two weeks ago, writing for my students. The below is one such piece for my History of China students. There's no reason other students [...]

Remember, this is a man with that old-fashioned European humanist faith in the library as a model of good society and spiritual regeneration – a man who once went so far as to declare that “libraries can take the place of God.” –Lee Marshall, “The World According to Eco,” Wired.com I have a hallway for [...]

[A fun little conversation I'm having with Laura in this comment thread includes her question about differences between Chinese literary types and Western ones. It reminded me of this post I wrote last year on Change.org, and planned to cross-post here eventually anyway. I hope you agree that its quotes are lovely things.] ~     ~     [...]

A teacher recently dismissed, I gather, for encouraging critical thinking in her class in (where else?) my native United States writes: I am stunned by the number of “conservatives” who truly appear to loathe teachers. What is up with that? Why the distrust of educators? And all I can say is, “Come teach in Asia. [...]

Democracy – the rule of the people at the heart of the American political ideal — and plutocracy, the rule of the wealthy and the tumor at the heart of America’s political reality: both are looked on as very problematic things  in wisdom traditions both Eastern and Western. A few snapshots will serve: Jesus’ Needle: [...]

They call him “Pretend Awake Brother” in China, I hear. The video is viral there, and gives a whole new meaning to both “Drill and Kill” teaching and “Chinese Water Torture.” Just look at the poor little thing trying to survive his classroom. (h/t ChinaSMACK)

Interesting. James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, shares his experience of being invited to write a preface to the Chinese translation of his book due for publication in the People’s Republic of China. Loewen writes, [O]n behalf of . . . one of the largest [...]

Kids, if your mom sounds like the blond lady, be very, very sad: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Socialism Studies www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party And goodness knows we can’t have our children learn about anything that doesn’t cause global financial meltdowns, global warming, [...]

[S]peaking about his own spiritual development, Confucius said: “At fifteen I set my heart on learning. At thirty I could stand. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the Decree of Heaven. At sixty I was already obedient [to this Decree]. At seventy I could follow the desires of my mind without [...]

Just a quick share: I’m giving my Chinese history / China studies students this “starter kit” of RSS feeds about contemporary China from Asian and Western sources to start them on their self-directed explorations (and small group blog reports) about whatever they want to learn. It’s the cream of my own Google Reader “China” folder, [...]