Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks: Children’s Life and Moral Learning (Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China) [1st ed. 2021] 9789811619366, 9789811619373, 9811619360

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Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China Series Editors: Yunhuo Cui · Lee Shulman

Desheng Gao Le Zhang Yan Tang

Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks Children’s Life and Moral Learning

Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China Series Editors Yunhuo Cui, Institute of Curriculum, East China Normal University, Shanghai, Shanghai, China Lee Shulman, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

This book series addresses the increasing scholarly and international-policy interest in how Chinese education has changed through several major curriculum reforms and how it has supported economic development. The basic education system in China is one of the largest in the world and has transformed itself from a top-down Soviet model of instruction to a decentralized curriculum-centered mode. Covering reform processes, continuous characteristics of curriculum changes as well as governing experiences in China, it will contribute local insights, professional wisdom and scholarly knowledge to the fields of curriculum studies and school changes. While it is rooted in the Chinese context, the book series also addresses broad international interests and scholarly communication. This book series will build on the accumulated research led by the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction (ICI) at East China Normal University, the avantgarde of curriculum reforms based in Shanghai and impacting the nation’s reform policies and professional practices. The mission of the ICI is to disseminate the knowledge and wisdom generated from Chinese education around the globe. With a scope ranging from the macro-level to micro-level of Chinese schools, this books series offers various theoretical perspectives and focuses on insiders’ experiences of curriculum reforms and school innovations in China. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to, curriculum policy, curriculum reform, teaching and learning, teacher learning and development, school improvement and innovation, and school leadership. With local and international researchers specializing in curriculum and school studies in China, this series will add to the impact of Springer’s book series on curriculum studies and Chinese education.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15932

Desheng Gao · Le Zhang · Yan Tang

Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks Children’s Life and Moral Learning

Desheng Gao Institute of Curriculum and Instruction East China Normal University Shanghai, China

Le Zhang Institute of Moral Education Nanjing Normal University Nanjing, China

Yan Tang Institute of Moral Education Nanjing Normal University Nanjing, China

ISSN 2523-7322 ISSN 2523-7330 (electronic) Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China ISBN 978-981-16-1936-6 ISBN 978-981-16-1937-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1937-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

In memory of Professor Jie Lu

Preface

It has been 20 years since China’s reform of its moral education curriculum in 2001. Although significant experience has been accumulated over the last 20 years, it has been evident that developing a moral education curriculum is an enormous challenge, both practically and theoretically. Primarily, we are faced with a fundamental question: What is the value of moral education curriculum in the schooling? To answer this question, contemporary moral education requires consideration. Specifically, the relationship between teaching and moral education must be examined. From the perspective of modernity, today’s schools are expected to serve as an effective educational tool for basic moral education. Through the efforts of these thinkers, such as J. A. Comenius, J .F. Herbart, D. É. Durkheim, and J. Dewey, people think that the modern school is an institution with the function of moral education gradually. These thinkers were aware that the moral education function is inseparable from educational instruction. In other words, they believed that moral education should be introduced indirectly, as part of the modern teaching process. For example, Herbart highlighted the value of moral education within the humanities; Durkheim emphasized moral education within the natural sciences; and Dewey propounded that the value of moral education lies within reflecting on modern life and accordingly adapting moral education to students’ psychological development. However, there seems to be a logical loophole in the way moral education has been promoted thus far. As morality can be attained and instructed, as stated by scholarship, can it be directly taught through formal timetabled moral education curriculums? Instead of envisaging direct moral instruction, these thinkers proposed an indirect approach that involved the teaching of other disciplines to indirectly achieve the goals of moral education. This raises the question as to why modern education scholars sought to incorporate moral education within taught courses of various disciplines did not propose a moral education course for direct moral instruction. Durkheim and Dewey’s response to this concern was that direct moral instruction has limited influence when it is inadequately contextualized. However, we hold a different stance to that of Durkheim and Dewey. Does direct moral instruction only convey the ideas about morality? Furthermore, are “ideas about morality” as worthless as Dewey determined? Is it real that direct moral instruction cannot develop vii

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students’ “moral ideas”? We suspect that such conclusions regarding direct moral instruction may be emphasizing the worst possible outcome of it. However, it would be misguided to assume that direct moral instruction cannot achieve the desired goals of moral education. Such a negation reveals that throughout the history of the development of moral education curriculum, theories regarding direct moral instruction have been overlooked by influential thinkers. As such, direct moral instruction has not been adequately explored. Moreover, its potential contributory value has not been addressed, and the best teaching scenarios for direct moral instruction have also been neglected. Therefore, the first fundamental challenge that arose during the development of a moral education curriculum was to identify the value of direct moral instruction. We maintained an open and prudent attitude when approaching this problem. Basic research was thus conducted to address questions such as how, if at all, direct moral instruction would benefit moral education; what the relationship between direct moral instruction and other moral education methods is in schools; and how the function of modern schools as moral education institutions could be best performed if direct moral instruction does not work. Furthermore, we were inclined to believe that life-oriented moral education curriculum does have moral significance. Therefore, the second challenge we faced was to construct a moral education curriculum that could meet that purpose. We believed that the ideal curriculum should differ from the previously implemented direct moral instruction courses in terms of its purpose, curriculum structure and content, and teaching methods. The curriculum is not meant to train scholars and intellectuals that are specialized in the field of morality and ethics, but rather to help students live a moral life. Hence, the curriculum should be structured according to the logic of students’ lives rather than the logic of normative ethics. Its content should be designed around the students’ lives rather than centered on moral theory. Lastly, instead of being interrogative, reason-based, and indoctrinated, it should be more activity-focused. Thus, the goal of this curriculum was to help students achieve comprehensive moral development from a behavioral, rational, emotional perspective through a variety of learning activities. The third challenge was how to implement the life-oriented curriculum within corresponding classroom. This required, at the very least, the reconstruction of the concepts of textbooks, instruction, and the role of teacher. Resultantly, developing life-oriented textbooks became the next challenge. Based on this background, Professor Lu Jie and her team compiled a new set of national curriculum standards for moral education under the leadership of the Ministry of Education. These were “Pinde yu Shenghuo” (Moral Character and Life) and “Pinde yu Shehui” (Moral Character and Society). These national standards served as the foundation upon which Professor Lu and her team developed corresponding textbooks. During the compilation process, the complexities of developing a set of moral education textbooks that connected to students’ lives gradually emerged. The first obstacle was to disrupt the conventional philosophy of compiling moral education textbooks. Since they were meant to be based on students’ lives, the mentality of

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conventional textbooks would not be suitable. An innovative approach was required to uncover a path to connect moral education textbooks to the students. By clarifying the value of narrative ethics and rational ethics and organizing and processing students’ life events, a new approach to compilation moral education textbooks— different from traditional disciplinary logic—was discovered. This approach organized students’ life experience into a sensible paradigm and aimed to naturally guide students toward existing human experience. Thus, the textbooks served as the bridge that connected students’ individual experiences and the moral experience of human society. In addition, other practical compiling methods and skills were developed during this process. Thus, the life-oriented textbooks did not aim to highlight how teachers “teach,” but rather how students “learn.” Since the textbooks were compiled with the goal of stimulating student learning, which is a veritable learning-oriented textbook. Nevertheless, the guidance of teachers in the classroom is required for the information embedded in the textbooks to be absorbed by the students. For that reason, constructing the teachers’ teaching concepts and redefining their perceived teaching roles in a manner that would facilitate student learning were other challenges that needed to be overcome in both theory and practice. In addition, the life-oriented moral curriculum is essentially a comprehensive course, but it is also an integrated course in a sense. Therefore, other educational content should also be included in order to effectively promote students’ moral development. Therefore, in this book, law-related education and traditional cultural education were frequently introduced to demonstrate the methods and strategies used to integrate other educational contents into the life-oriented curriculum, so that the corresponding subjects were able to be truly connected to students’ lives. The above content constituted the main body of this book, which comprehensively reflects the developmental process of the moral education curriculum in China recently. Chapter 1 introduces the basic concepts and background of reform pertaining to developing a moral education curriculum in China (written by Desheng Gao and Le Zhang). Chapter 2 presents the philosophy of compiling the textbooks that gradually formed during the developmental process (written by Desheng Gao and Yan Tang). Chapter 3 explores how the life-oriented textbooks centered around learning to reconstruct the concepts that textbook, instruction, and the role of teachers in moral curriculum (written by Desheng Gao, Le Zhang, and Yan Tang). Chapter 4 reviews our exploration of and innovation in the integration of moral, legal, and Chinese traditional cultural education in moral education textbooks–––Morality and Law (written by Le Zhang). The 20 years of exploration into the moral education curriculum has brought about many theoretical and practical changes. Many challenges and problems had to be overcome, and some theoretical and practical achievements were resultantly attained. The pursuit of the value and significance of an effective moral education curriculum is a worthy one, because moral education undertakes the historical mission of providing moral literacy to the population, which serves as the cornerstone of civilization. The responsibilities of moral education researchers lie in the exploration and development of a moral education curriculum that will facilitate the realization of the historical

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mission of cultivating morals in a modern way. Therefore, given this background of modernity, this venture was an unprecedented exploration into moral education, launched by China as a statement of its modernity, which increased the potential of moral education existing in the modern school system. This exploration has been an arduous one. Although there are many problems that remain unresolved, the 20-year process of discovery has allowed us to form a consensus and helped us realize that overcoming the challenges of moral education in modern schools would be contingent on the rapid enhancement of our academic research and practice capacity. The entire education and research community requires mobilization to ensure more in-depth research and consideration regarding each moral education issue, so as to resolve the problems we encountered. In addition, practitioners are required to participate in the joint exploration and construction of a moral education curriculum. Their participation significantly contributes to textbook compiling, course implementation, and the determination of the curriculum’s effectiveness. We expect this book to effectively introduce our English readers to the main shifts in moral education in China and share our experiences and achievements with them. In addition, we hope that it will serve as a bridge to facilitate exchange and cooperation with our English-speaking academic peers in the development of corresponding courses and the exploration and construction of an innovative and modern form of moral education. Shanghai, China Nanjing, China Nanjing, China

Desheng Gao Le Zhang Yan Tang

Acknowledgments

We wish to express our deepest gratitude to Professor Jie Lu who passed away on December 25, 2020. It was Professor Lu’s pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of moral education that have inspired and guided our research on the issues covered in this book. We deeply cherish the memory of Professor Lu and dedicate this book to her. We are also very grateful to the moral education researchers, teaching researchers, and frontline teachers who have undertaken this journey with us on the research and development of the moral education curriculum. It is only with their cooperation that implementing the new concepts of this moral education curriculum was made possible, and the new moral education textbooks could be developed. Their theoretical insights, practical wisdom, and practical experiences have laid the foundation for creating a new moral education classroom. We are especially grateful to Professor Yunhuo Cui and Professor Shuangye Chen of the Institute of Curriculum & Instruction, East China Normal University, for their tremendous support and assistance. We would also like to thank the Research Institute of Moral Education of Nanjing Normal University for its unwavering support. Finally, we would like to thank the journals Curriculum, Teaching Material, and Method, Journal of the Chinese Society of Education, and Global Education for permitting us to reuse the contents of our previous publications in this book.

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Contents

1 Moral Education Curriculum Reform in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Theoretical Background, Current Problems, and Preliminary Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Direct Moral Instruction: Theoretical Predicaments and Existing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 Returning to Children’s Lives: Resolving Predicaments in Moral Education Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 Preliminary Exploration of China’s Moral Education Reform (2001–2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.4 Problems to Be Resolved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 The Breakthroughs in Compiling the Primary Textbook, Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 The Background of Textbook Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 The Guiding Principles of the Textbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Main Features of the Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.4 Table of Contents for Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Exploring the Pathways to Connect to Children’s Lives in Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Changes in Narrative Thinking in Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Balance Between the System and Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Using Life Events as Base Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Conclusion: The Significance of Changing the Narrative Notions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 How Morality and Law Handles Children’s Experiences . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Moral Education Textbooks and Isolating Children’s Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 The Various Attempts to Incorporate Children’s Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Conclusions: “The Textbooks that Engage Children” . . . . . .

1 1 1 4 7 9 12 12 14 17 21 24 25 26 26 30 34 35 35 38 50

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2.3 A Poetic Approach to Writing Life-Oriented Moral Education Textbooks, Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Reforming the Writing Method: From “Copying” to “Imitating” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 Challenges of Writing Life-Oriented Moral Education Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 Innovating Writing Methods in Morality and Law: Three Imitation Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51 52 54 55 65

3 Learning-Centered Moral Education in Textbooks and Teaching Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 3.1 Constructing Morality and Law with Learning Activities . . . . . . . . . 67 3.1.1 The Theoretical Positioning of the Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 3.1.2 Constructing Morality and Law with Learning Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.1.3 Breakthroughs Attained by Emphasis on Learning Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 3.2 Construction of Children’s Life: New Teaching Methods Highlighted by the Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3.2.1 Theoretical Reflection on the Relationship Between Textbooks and Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3.2.2 Textual Strategies for Ensuring a New Textbook-Guided Teaching Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 3.2.3 How Teachers Can Implement the New Teaching Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 3.3 Reconstructing Teacher’s Identities Based on Learning-Centered Moral Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 3.3.1 Investigating the Identity of Moral Education Teachers . . . . 92 3.3.2 The Identity Crisis of Primary School Moral Education Teachers in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 3.3.3 Rebuilding Teachers’ Identity as Learners Through the Moral Education Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4 Life-Oriented Legal Education and Education of Traditional Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Integration of Moral and Legal Education and Limitations . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Whether or Not to Integrate: Issues to Be Addressed Following a Change in Course Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 A Basis for the Integration of Moral and Legal Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.3 Limitations of the Integration of Moral and Legal Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Chinese Traditional Cultural Education (CTCE): Exploration from Children’s Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4.2.1 Why Are Children’s Perspectives Necessary in CTCE . . . . . 4.2.2 What Types of Children’s Perspectives should be Incorporated in CTCE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Positioning the Child and Approaching Traditional Culture Education in Morality and Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 1

Moral Education Curriculum Reform in China

In 2001, China implemented its 8th basic education curriculum reform. The reform also entailed the inclusion of moral education in primary schools, including the design of Moral Character and Life for students from grade one to grade two and Moral Character and Society for students from grade three to grade six. In addition, the fundamental principle of “returning the cultivation of moral character to life” was determined. The first section of this chapter outlines the background, theoretical basis, practical exploration, and future challenges of the reform. In 2012, the Ministry of Education entrusted Professor Jie Lu from Nanjing Normal University to compile the next set of textbooks for the courses Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society, which were based on revised curriculum standards and renamed Morality and Law in 2016. The second section of this chapter discusses the background, guiding principles, main features, and general framework of the textbooks.

1.1 Theoretical Background, Current Problems, and Preliminary Exploration 1.1.1 Direct Moral Instruction: Theoretical Predicaments and Existing Problems 1.1.1.1

The Theoretical Predicaments of Direct Moral Instruction

Dewey was well known for his argument that direct moral instruction was useful only in forming “ideas about morality,” as opposed to “moral ideas.” His assertion, which has influenced the design of moral education curriculums over the past century—particularly in Western countries—suggested that “it may be laid down as fundamental that the influence of direct moral instruction, even at its very best, is comparatively small in amount and slight in influence.” While “moral ideas” are © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Gao et al., Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks, Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1937-3_1

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ideas that “take effect in conduct and improve it, [to] make it better than it otherwise would be,” which is achieved throughout one’s entire school life (Dewey, 1994, pp. 143–144). Durkheim had a similar viewpoint. He claimed the following: When one compresses the whole of morality into a few lessons on morality as prescribed in the curriculum–lessons that recur periodically, at more or less short intervals during the week, it is hard to become every enthusiastic for a task that, because of its intermittent character, scarcely appears adequate for leaving on the child any deep or durable mark, without which he cannot acquire anything of the moral culture. (Durkheim, 2001, p. 23)

Despite the above claims, viewpoints vary across nations in terms of the use of dedicated moral education courses. In general, Eastern countries tend to have dedicated moral education courses, while Western countries commonly reject the idea. However, this has changed in recent years. Direct moral instruction has begun to be rejected in some Eastern countries, while it has begun to be implemented in some Western countries.1 Nevertheless, no existing moral education course has adequately addressed the predicaments that were underscored by Dewey and Durkheim. A common side effect of implementing courses for specialized moral learning is the over-emphasis on academic knowledge, which results in the impartment of moral knowledge (also known as “essential moral concepts”). Moral knowledge is composed of generalizations, abstractions, and summaries of life experiences. Although it originates from life, it is rendered abstract through the use of metaphors and symbols due to the way in which it is conceptualized. However, the meanings of moral knowledge do not lie in abstraction, but rather in the dynamic and rich moral significance represented by moral concepts. As such, moral education courses that focus on moral knowledge often neglect this fundamental basis by considering the instruction of abstract concepts to be their goal, rather than the real historical anecdotes from where these concepts originated and which determined their context of use. Consequently, instead of the richness of life experience and practical wisdom, students are often presented with dry words, outdated abstract notions, and knowledge from within “disciplinary silos.” Many scholars may not agree with this viewpoint and may consider such a perspective to be unfair. It is commonly accepted that in the past, moral education curriculums have achieved great success in cultivating moral character, and such results should not be overlooked. Thus, we recognize the important role that previous moral education courses have played in the development of children’s moral values over the past few decades. However, these achievements do not imply that the issues raised by Dewey and Durkheim have been resolved.

1 Such

as the moral education courses designed by John Wilson and Peter McPhail from the UK and Fred Newmann from the United States, respectively. The design of these courses follows ideal models by attaching importance to the integration of knowledge and other aspects of moral education. However, in practice, they often have a tendency to become knowledge and cognitionoriented courses.

1.1 Theoretical Background, Current Problems, and Preliminary Exploration

1.1.1.2

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The Existing Problems of the Moral Education Curriculum in Chinese Schools

The moral education curriculum is a vital component of the moral education system in Chinese schools. The curriculum has featured prominently for decades and facilitated the implementation of moral education in primary schools. Moral education was mainly expressed through formalized classes (i.e., the Ideology and Morality2 curriculum) and activities organized by the Young Pioneers of China, and reinforced through teachers, school management, and other school subjects. The moral education curriculum was endowed with the important status of being the main channel of moral education and accomplished a great deal. However, the previous curriculum— which was originally formed following the end of the Cultural Revolution—failed to achieve its expected results overall. The main problems with the curriculum are summarized in the following section. Overly politicized: The curriculum was first designed shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution and was strongly ideological. During the curriculum implementation after the “Reform and Opening Up” policy (economic reform) in 1978– 2001, the curriculum underwent several updates and resultantly became less political. However, certain concepts remained at the core of the curriculum. For instance, “love for the people, love for the motherland, love for the Communist Party, love for labor, love for science, love for socialism, diligent study, and love for the collective; caring for public property and observing rules; being polite and civil, honest and humble, brave and active, and hard-working; and living a plain lifestyle” remain embedded in the curriculum (Curriculum and Teaching Materials Research Institute, 2001, p. 77). Although some of the content also contained moral education (including honesty, responsibility, diligence and thrift, politeness, and willingness to help others), they were overshadowed by the contents of political education. More seriously, however, these obscured contents of moral education were often conveyed in the same manner as political education. Although it is undeniable that political education exists in all countries, it is not a suitable replacement for moral education. Ignoring the difference between political and moral education is a mistake in any circumstance and risks sacrificing the basic moral qualities of the public. Detached from children’s lives: The value orientations of the previous moral education curriculum reflected top-down national and social requirements, which rarely accounted for the requirements of children’s personal moral and social development. In addition, the mechanisms of moral learning were not included in the development and design of curriculum standards, which were based on social and national expectations. Thus, the moral education textbooks were developed as an 2 The

“Teaching Plan for the Compulsory Full-Time Education of Primary and Junior Middle Schools” promulgated in 1986 stipulates that primary schools shall uniformly offer “ideological morality” courses, “to carry out social civic education and social knowledge education centered on loving the country, loving the people, loving work, loving science, and loving socialism, thereby cultivating good ideological morality and behavioral habits from an early age.” After the moral education reform in 2001, the Moral Character and Life (grades 1–2) and Moral Character and Society (grades 3–6) courses were introduced to replace the Ideological Morality course.

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illustration of commonly desired virtues and were organized to contain stories of great men in history and corresponding morals for each story. Although such morals were not inappropriate, they were isolated and distinct from life’s experiences and the common scenarios in which they should be applied, which caused them to be disconnected from children’s understanding of life. Consequently, the morals were often too abstract and rigid for children to understand. Monological teaching and rote memorization: The instruction of Ideology and Morality underwent several detailed transformations, and various forms of activities were included. However, the course emphasized lectures and memorization. As lectures are essentially equivalent to simply reading the texts and stories, the teachers were unable to experience the pleasure of creative interaction. In such a context, students were disinterested in the morals and stories presented within the textbooks. They instead took to memorizing the morals and knowledge they were expected to know due to the pressure they perceived from their teachers and impending examinations. Rote memorization learning is often perceived as “torture” for the children, and in that sense, was an unethical act in itself. Moreover, knowledge and morals obtained through frustrating memorization experiences had a negligible connection to the students’ lives, served as a poor guide in daily life, and did not resonate with them. Consequently, students were often unable to internalize the knowledge and morals that were taught.

1.1.2 Returning to Children’s Lives: Resolving Predicaments in Moral Education Curriculum To address the abovementioned problems in the moral education curriculum, the concept “returning to life” has been introduced, which has repositioned the values and constructed a new theory for the moral education curriculum.

1.1.2.1

Reconstructing the Connection Between Teaching and Children’s Lives

In order to substantiate the necessity of a moral education curriculum, two issues should be addressed: (1) a connection must be established between moral education and other school courses and educational activities, and (2) a link must be developed between moral education and children’s life experiences. Durkheim (2001) believed that “Moral education cannot be so rigidly confined to the classroom hour: it is not a matter of such and such a moment; it is implicated in every moment” (p. 123). In that sense, moral education should be integrated into all aspects of school life. However, this does not deny the significance of a dedicated curriculum. If a dedicated curriculum is aligned with other courses and activities rather than being taught in isolation, there is no reason for it to not influence children’s overall moral

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development. We argue this because, in terms of the above education scholarship, the role played by other school subjects and activities, as well as school life as a whole, is implicit. These factors demonstrate potential, yet are rarely fully realized. However, the role played by a dedicated curriculum is explicit, reflective, and fully developed. Although moral education should be designed based on school life, the complete incorporation of school life into moral education requires a reflective channel. If a moral education curriculum incorporates salient and representative moral issues from school life into its structure and allows for reflection in its discussion of these issues, its existence is invaluable. However, school life is merely one part of children’s lives. Despite being a main component of their lives, it is a unique, peer-concentrated, and institutionalized life experience. Therefore, it is an unnatural environment and does not adequately represent the entirety of children’s existence. As the above modern educational thinkers expounded, moral character is formed through experiences in every aspect of life. Thus, school life should not be the only representation of experiences that are used to cultivate moral character. A moral education curriculum that neglects other aspects of a child’s social experiences is likely to be deficient in its effectiveness and influence. Simultaneously, school life is not distinct from life outside of school. Rather, these dual lives are interconnected and interactive. In order to reduce the disconnect with children’s experiences, the curriculum should expand its boundaries to incorporate both children’s social experiences and their school lives. This would provide them with opportunities and guidance to reflect on and organize their experiences as a whole. As argued, a moral education curriculum should reflect all aspects of a child’s life and be focused on issues that are encountered by children both within and outside school. In addition, such a focus should cover moral education, life guidance, and scientific knowledge, rather than be ideologically rigid. While it is clear that the events and problems that children encounter can be considered both moral issues (or morally related) and non-moral issues (or not morally related), most instances tend to be a combination of both, and clear categorical distinctions are, therefore, improper. Thus, a holistic approach—where life events are presented realistically—is required to achieve educational goals. Further, it is clear that moral education curriculum is unable to cover all aspects of children’s lives, as no single course can exhaustively address the life of a child within its limited text and instructional duration. However, clear examples of life events can be incorporated to engage children and encourage the organization, reflection, and exploration of their lives. These examples should be designed to reflect the general scope of a child’s dual lives and be relevant enough to encourage the arrangement and consideration of their past and present lives within the dedicated time and space of the classroom, so as to effectively plan their future.

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Shifting the Value Orientation of the Curriculum: Cultivating Moral Character

In the past, moral education courses in primary schools have trended toward the value orientation of training specialists and scholars in ethics. Clearly, the focus of such a value orientation is not the development of children’s moral character; instead, morals are considered to be courses. The courses designed for children were organized around abstract moral concepts, often initiating contemplation with questions such as “what is honesty?” “why should we be honest?” and “how can we become honest people?” Such an approach rather bizarrely treats children as ethics scholars specialized in honesty. Emotion education is another clear example of this phenomenon, which included modes of inquiry such as “what are emotions?” “what are the personal and social conditions of emotional change?” “what is the function of emotions?” and “what are methods to regulate emotions?” Similarly, it is not facetious to argue that such an approach considers children as budding emotional psychologists, as opposed to facilitating their emotional development. The academic value orientation reflects a theory-based attitude to education, but morals are practical attitudes and represent tangible situations. On that account, a shift in value orientation is essentially a shift from an attitude of studying morals and morality as a theory to an attitude of practicing moral conduct. Such a shift requires the moral education curriculum and its instruction to regard morals to be constitutive elements of experience, rather than objects that are distinct from our everyday lives. Moral education should be a guide for our children to become moral individuals. This can only be achieved by designing educational courses on morality to be relatable, which involves accumulating, organizing, and examining life experiences.

1.1.2.3

Constructing the Logic of the Curriculum: From the Child’s Logic

A shift in value orientation implies a profound change in the curriculum, which would affect the internal logic of the curriculum’s design. A value orientation aimed at training researchers in ethics abides by the logic of ethical frameworks and social science, which results in an overwhelming emphasis on abstract and specialized knowledge. A value orientation aimed at cultivating moral behavior should instead follow the logic of personal experience. It should remove the restrictions of disciplinary boundaries and allow students to form associations with their lives, which will encourage them to develop their moral character. However, this “logic of life” is quite an ambiguous concept. The present authors believe that the logic of life is inextricably integrated within life itself and that following such natural logic implies the necessity to shape knowledge around the characteristics of life’s experiences. This is demonstrated through the following five contentions. First, life is constructed by practice. Life must be experienced for it to have meaning; therefore, abstract thinking activities are unable to generate immersive connections to one’s life. Simply put, living is not a mere physical endeavor but a

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manifestation of a person’s experiences as a whole—where cognitive and emotional investments are crucial. Second, in this sense, “life” refers only to human experience and thus, cannot be separated from people. Therefore, any activity that does not involve people diverges radically from any connection to life. Third, life is intersubjective. Individuals do not exist in isolation, and having others in our lives is a fundamental part of existence. In addition, communication with others is a natural requirement and component of personal development. Fourth, life is holistic. The wholeness of life refers not only to the divisions of life’s domain, such as those between the natural and human sciences or between our daily routines and nonroutine behavior, but also to the integrity and indivisibility of the elements that constitute life. Morals are constitutive elements of life and are inseparable from other elements of life. The forced severance of life’s elements only results in the disruption of our understanding of both experience and morality. Finally, life necessitates the construction of meaning. It is inseparable from our daily routines, yet absent without meaning. The process of living is thus a process of sense-making. Or, put in another way, it is a process of re-examining and re-creating life according to the philosophical concept of “possible life.” The moral education curriculum was thus designed to follow the “logic of life” by demonstrating the characteristics elucidated above. It aimed to reflect the reality of experience in its entirety and create a bridge between moral knowledge and children’s lives.

1.1.3 Preliminary Exploration of China’s Moral Education Reform (2001–2011) 1.1.3.1

Exploring the National Curriculum Standards

Under the context of the comprehensive reform of the basic education curriculum in 2001, Professor Jie Lu et al. were entrusted by the Department of Basic Education of China’s Ministry of Education to preside over and participate in the formulation of the updated National Curriculum Standards (Experimental Versions) for the primary school courses titled Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society. The team began with a preliminary exploration, which provided valuable insights into ensuring a connection between moral education and children’s lives. The curriculum standards for Moral Character and Life were designed using a framework that comprised four value dimensions: a healthy and safe life, a happy and active life, a responsible and caring life, and a creative and innovative life. The objectives and content of the standards were developed accordingly (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2002). The curriculum standards for Moral Character and Society were developed using a framework comprised of six themes that represented the gradual expansion of children’s life domains, such as “I am growing,” “my family and I,” “my school and I,” “my hometown (community),” “I am Chinese,” and

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“entering the global community.” Similarly, the objectives and content of the standards were defined correspondingly (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2002). The highlights of the new standards included the following: an emphasis on moral character through children’s experiences (the “return to life” approach); a focus on the realities of life; a shift toward the active guidance of children’s moral development; advocacy for autonomous and exploratory learning; and the demonstration of the complementarity between the development of emotions, attitudes, behaviors and personal habits, and the growth of knowledge and skills.3 These five aspects serve as a summary of the innovations in the research and development of the new moral education curriculum and can be further summarized as the fundamental effort to return the curriculum to children’s lives. Instead of organizing the curriculum based on moral knowledge like abstract moral concepts, the new standards arrange the objectives and content of the curriculum in accordance with real-life experiences. Furthermore, based on the four dimensions (or four values) of the standards, the inclass materials of the textbooks for Moral Character and Life were extracted from the life events of children, thereby enabling them to learn about morality in the process of living a healthy, safe, positive, happy, stimulating, and creative life. The content and materials of the textbooks for Moral Character and Society were selected based on the expanding scope of the life events of growing children, so as to further reinforce the curriculum’s focus on life experiences.

1.1.3.2

Exploring the Philosophy of Compiling the Moral Education Textbooks4

As already mentioned, moral education textbooks of the past were heavily laden with specialized disciplinary knowledge that was shaped around the systematic logic of moral codes. Although textbooks constructed in this manner had a strong logical system, they were only marginally related to children’s lives, and the textbooks’ representation of the world tended to be disconnected from the world in which we live. This was sought to be overcome in the new textbooks, which sought to recreate a child’s worldview by embodying it creatively through “life events.” Prior to determining the themes for the units and texts, the problems that children commonly encounter were first identified. This involved examining their social lives and their experiences during the moral development process and taking into account their ways of thinking and feeling, points of confusion, and needs at every developmental stage. Instead of mechanically illustrating the curriculum standards, the team creatively examined children’s life experiences to generate the topics and cases 3 This was Professor Lu’s summary of the curriculum standards in her report to the central authorities. 4 After

2001, in accordance with the “one standard, multiple versions” principle, various versions of textbooks were published in accordance with the new curriculum standards. Each version had its own strengths and creative interpretation of the standards. However, due to the incomprehensive understanding of all the versions published, the present authors only analyzed the versions that they had devised as the representative examples for the summary of the compiled philosophy.

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related to the problems that children frequently face (the “return to life” approach). The topics and cases identified were subsequently manifested as life events and were selected based on the following criteria: (1) those that facilitate the learning process, (2) those that occur to ordinary children, (3) those that emerge within daily life, (4) those that are relevant to today’s modern world, and (5) those that may be encountered by children at primary school (Lu, 2002). From this collection of ideas, the editing team subsequently extracted the life events that would best reflect children’s logic. Such a logical orientation was based around the belief that children’s real lives, rather than concepts and knowledge systems, were the true embodiment of children’s lives. Thus, all aspects and elements of children’s lives must be addressed, and the children should be able to relate to the life events in the way that they seem as the protagonist in the life event. The selected cases should thus be representative, educational, and meaningful to children’s lives and experiences. The eventual aim was to create cases and topics that stimulate children to organize, reflect on, and explore their life experiences, in order to effectively pursue a better future life. Such cases must, therefore, be significant to both their current and future lives.

1.1.4 Problems to Be Resolved Given that the new curriculum was based on a novel approach to curriculum standards and textbook development, many problems emerged that should be addressed further.

1.1.4.1

Handling the Relationship Between Common Sense and Social Science

While developing the curriculum standards, the current team proposed the application of the fundamental principle of the scattered distribution of knowledge, which is usually used in the management of social science knowledge (such as history and geography). Specifically, instead of designing the curriculum according to the logical frameworks associated with the isolated discipline (such as those from history and geography), the knowledge was scattered throughout various aspects of children’s experiences. The goal was to ensure a connection to life rather than to emphasize the systematicity and comprehensiveness of knowledge. The proposed principle facilitated a sound and innovative approach to handling social science knowledge. However, the principle lacked thorough execution and implementation when designing the curriculum standards. The reason for this divergence was that the team was uncertain about the specific aspects of the social sciences that students should prioritize or would be able to master. Therefore, in order to ensure that the incorporation of concepts remained responsibly aligned with the goals, the knowledge that was thought to be conclusively relevant was retained in the standards. In addition, as each discipline has its disciplinary logical framework, which, in turn, ensures its

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scientific nature, the removal of such frameworks may provoke criticism from practitioners. This uncertainty in the development of the standards caused subsequent difficulties in the compilation of the textbooks. Thus, a paradox emerged: shaping the content according to disciplinary logic may contradict children’s logic, while following children’s logic may lead to criticism in terms of the scientific-ness of the textbooks.

1.1.4.2

Adhering to and Reflecting the Logic of Life

Although the four dimensions of the curriculum standards were innovative in the development of Moral Character and Life, these dimensions are inseparable from holistic life in reality. Therefore, further exploration is required in order to achieve a more holistic approach. In addition, more research is also needed on how to seamlessly integrate the specific contents of the four dimensions in the curriculum standards with the characteristics of life and to remove traces of their presentation as “a bag of virtues.” In the curriculum standards for Moral Character and Society, the gradual growth of experience was used as the logical framework to organize the content, which was a novel attempt. However, whether it was the optimal method for embedding children’s logic into moral education requires further examination. Moreover, many problems require addressing when applying this method, such as the rate of development and the relationship between the gradual and sudden growth of experiences and children’s awareness of the implicit domains. The field investigations revealed that children were more familiar with larger than smaller domains. To take the concept of “hometown” as an example, the children have grown up in this domain, yet they appeared to be less aware of the concept and less likely to reflect on its related experiences. However, unexpectedly, the children were found to possess substantial knowledge regarding other areas of their lives that were more distant. Furthermore, the pursuit to incorporate children’s logical frameworks through life events also encountered difficulties. Some content standards, especially knowledgebased content, were unnatural when presented as life events. Some versions of the textbook were organized according to areas of life and achieved good results overall. However, the growth of life’s boundaries may not necessarily follow a designed path and leaps in growth should thus be considered. In addition, the government requires that all developed textbooks should have a three-level structure. Therefore, almost all versions of the textbook consisted of units and categorized similar topics into one unit. Consequently, the textbooks were structured as knowledge “blocks.” This was inconsistent with real life—where all happenings are interconnected.

1.1.4.3

Handling the “Empty Shell” Tendency of Children’s Lives

The field investigations revealed that the examined children had limited life experiences. Specifically, the majority of their experiences were related to school and

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family life. Most of their experiences related to their family life appeared to emphasize learning experiences. Their communication with other individuals (including other children of a similar age) beyond the educational context was finite. One likely reason for this phenomenon is the exam-oriented education system, which limits children’s life activities primarily to prolonged periods of studying. Consequently, the child—who would otherwise have a diverse range of childhood experiences— turns into an “empty shell.” Another reason could be the increasing complexity of human relationships and the growing distrust in modern society, which has resulted in parents being less willing to allow their children to interact with other children. Such social realities were a major challenge during the design of the curriculum and textbooks. In order to ensure that the examples resonated with children and encouraged their active participation in the learning process, the “empty shell” phenomenon necessitated consideration during the design of the textbooks. However, in order to minimize the negative impact of the “empty shell” tendency, the restricted lifestyles of children should be ultimately changed, and they should be encouraged to live a “real” life. However, such shifts in lifestyles were beyond the scope of the textbook and could not be addressed.

1.1.4.4

Handling the Enormous Difference Between Rural and Urban Life

Another unavoidable issue that arose was the tremendous disparity in life experiences between rural and urban children. Despite the team’s considerable effort, this problem was not satisfactorily resolved. It is fair to say that the curriculum standards and textbooks were designed primarily based on the lives of urban children. It has been frequently suggested that designing the curriculum with such a bias is reasonable, due to the notion that “the life of urban children today is the life of rural children tomorrow.” However, this claim only somewhat reflects contemporary reality and is not completely persuasive. From the perspective of sustainable development, whether China’s natural resources can support the urbanization of the entire population is still questionable. The experiences of developed countries have confirmed that the differences between rural and urban life still remain. Such differences lead to objective difficulties in curriculum/textbook design, whereas the urban background of the curriculum development team posed subjective difficulties. Given that the team members were all from large cities, there was a clear bias toward urban perspectives, which was an unavoidable limitation in the curriculum design.

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1.2 The Breakthroughs in Compiling the Primary Textbook, Morality and Law 1.2.1 The Background of Textbook Compilation In order to further reinforce patriotism, collectivism, socialism, and the remarkable cultural and revolutionary traditions of the Chinese nation, as well as to improve the textbooks of moral education, Chinese language, and history in primary and secondary schools, the Ministry of Education launched a project to recompile the above three compulsory education courses’ textbooks on May 10, 2012.5 Professor Jie Lu of Nanjing Normal University was selected as the chief editor of the primary school textbooks for Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society, and Professor Desheng Gao of East China Normal University (former director of the Institute of Moral Education of Nanjing Normal University) served as the executive editor. Both textbooks were officially renamed Morality and Law before them published. In addition, the editing team comprised several researchers who specialized in moral education, teaching and research staff from all levels, as well as front-line teachers. The textbook was compiled under the background described below.

1.2.1.1

Inheriting and Enriching the New Concept Implemented in the Previous Moral Education Curriculum Reform

By 2012, it had been ten years since the implementation of the foremost primary school moral education curriculum reform. During those ten years, achievements had been made in both theoretical research and practical exploration. Particularly, the overall appearance of the teaching changed greatly, and children began to enjoy taking the course. Nevertheless, new problems also emerged. Therefore, on the tenyear anniversary of the reform, it had become clear that it was necessary to improve the implemented ideas so as to facilitate the continued development of the curriculum. Based on such considerations, the textbooks inherited new concepts—which had been identified in the previous reform period—that were in line with the educational guidelines and children’s development. These inherited concepts included “respecting the subjectivity of students,” “focusing on the life experiences of students,” and “returning the cultivation of moral character to children’s lives.” In 5 Prior to the basic education curriculum reform of 2001, all school textbooks were developed by the

People’s Education Press. Following the reform, the government proposed a “one standard, multiple versions” principle. The development of new textbooks for moral education, Chinese language, and history began in 2012. The initial goal was to develop a set of demonstration textbooks as a reference for other versions. However, since the fall semester of 2017, the textbooks that were developed became the official and only set of textbooks used for the first year students of primary (moral education and Chinese language) and secondary (moral education, Chinese language, and history) schools throughout the country. Since the fall semester of 2019, they became the only official textbooks for all students of the corresponding grades nationwide.

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addition, the textbooks also addressed the problems encountered and lessons learned in the previous reform. Specifically, following the implementation of the reform, it was considered imperative to connect the textbooks to children’s lives. However, such a shift of focus led to concern among teachers regarding how the course was to be taught.6 Hence, the newly developed textbooks not only focused on incorporating the experience of children, but they were also designed in a manner that facilitated the teaching process.

1.2.1.2

Changes to the Lives of Primary School Children in China

Through the initial reform that was launched in 2002, it was determined that the fundamental principles of moral education should be driven by the “return to life” approach, and it was recognized that only a moral education curriculum based on children’s experiences could effectively facilitate the development of their moral character. As of 2012, the textbooks that were developed based on this principle had been in use for ten years. During this ten-year period, primary school children underwent significant changes, particularly due to the proliferation of the Internet. Therefore, the content of the textbooks needed to be adjusted accordingly to better reflect and serve children’s life experiences.

1.2.1.3

Changes in the National Textbook Compilation Guidelines

According to the requirements of the Ministry of Education, from the fall semester of 2017, only nationally developed textbooks were to be used for the first grade of compulsory education system’s moral education, Chinese language, and history courses (the moral education and Chinese language courses start at the first grade of primary school and history begins during the first grade of secondary school). By the fall semester of 2019, all three subjects were to use nationally developed textbooks for all grades. The state made this decision due to the special nature of the three subjects. Specifically, textbooks developed in China are conducive to the reinforcement of the core values of socialism and the unique traditional culture of Chinese nation. Therefore, all edited resources should ensure quality. However, this 6 Moral education curriculum in Chinese primary schools is usually delivered by teachers from other

subjects rather than teachers dedicated to moral education. Therefore, the majority of teachers do not have the professional knowledge required for the course. In addition, since moral knowledge is not included in major exams, moral education is not emphasized by teachers in the exam-oriented education system, and teachers are generally unwilling to invest much of their time into preparing for the courses. For that reason, many teachers expected that the new textbooks should facilitate the teaching process by including corresponding techniques and ensuring the comprehensiveness of the course’s design so as to reduce their lesson preparation. Furthermore, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the courses, teachers are expected to have adequate knowledge about the students and their strengths and weaknesses. However, this expectation is unrealistic, particularly due to the under-prioritization of moral education in the existing system and the lack of dedicated teachers. Therefore, the textbooks incorporated instructional design to facilitate the teaching process.

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requirement contradicted the “one standard, multiple versions” principle proposed in 2001 and readopted the “one standard, one version” principle. On April 8, 2016, the Ministry of Education stipulated that, starting from the fall semester of 2016, Moral Character and Life, Moral Character and Society and Ideology and Morality in primary and secondary compulsory education were to be renamed Morality and Law, in order to reflect the efforts to transform state governance to governance by the rule of law. During this transformation, law-related education played a vital role. Changing the name of the curriculum highlighted the significance of law-related education. Although some law-related knowledge was originally included in Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society, the proportion was increased in the new set of textbooks. In addition to integrating more law-related knowledge into each grade, the textbook for the first semester of grade six was dedicated specifically to law-related education. Moreover, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, and the National Office for Law Popularization jointly promulgated “The Guidelines for the Education of the Rule of Law Among Adolescents” as a basis for developing the law-related education content to be included in the new textbooks.

1.2.2 The Guiding Principles of the Textbook The goal of the editing team was to develop a set of Chinese-style textbooks that fully incorporated the achievements of the previous reform, met the needs of children’s mental and moral development, facilitated the formation of basic civil qualities, and reflected the nation’s sociocultural legacy. To achieve these goals, the following guiding principles were developed.

1.2.2.1

Educational Goal: To Cultivate Children with a Desirable Moral Character

More than 40 years after its economic reform,7 China reached a new turning point in its development—characterized by a gradual shift from focusing on material development to exploring social development. Hence, the question of what kind of people should be cultivated emerged as the primary challenge for education. This issue was fundamental to the development of textbooks. Childhood is an initiation phase for moral development, and moral education in primary schools serves as the basis for the construction of cultural-ethical cultivation. In the textbooks, the mainstream values of society were prioritized as the direction of moral education. In addition, a child-oriented approach was adopted in that children’s perspectives and development stages were considered in order to ensure a match of style and language. Based on 7 China

reform.

implemented the economic reform in 1978. As of 2019, 41 years have passed since the

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the aforementioned considerations, a key educational goal of textbooks was to foster a favorable moral character within children.

1.2.2.2

Fundamental Task: The Comprehensive Development of the Ethical Qualities of Children

The “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” is an extensive and comprehensive historical task that involves the development of material and cultural-ethical civilization and the overall evolution of society. More than 40 years after the economic reform, China has accomplished unprecedented economic development. However, there remains a huge gap between the nation’s civic literacy and economic achievements. Cultural-ethical development is required to ensure the nation’s compatibility with economic development and lay the foundation for the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Childhood is a critical stage in the transformation of humans, in both a biological and a sociological sense. Accordingly, the comprehensive cultivation of basic civility is a fundamental duty of primary school education and also should be practiced during the teaching and learning activities of all compulsory education courses. The Morality and Law course undertakes the unique duty of imparting everyday moral character common sense, skills, and norms to students. Having a desirable moral character is a core component of civility. Without it, the development of other civil qualities will likely lose their fundamental value orientations. In addition, a desirable moral character and other civil qualities are integrated as a whole, and they both serve as the premise for each other’s complementary development. Thus, the development of moral character requires the support of other civil qualities, and the cultivation of moral character should not be considered an isolated process (especially in childhood). The textbooks were thus designed to integrate the development of moral character within the basic civility education system, so as to facilitate the overall development of students.

1.2.2.3

Textbook Content: Life Events with Educational Significance as Building Blocks

Morality is generally approached from epistemological, axiological, and ontological perspectives. Past moral education has favored approaching the topic from an epistemological perspective—objectifying, externalizing, and conceptualizing morality— which resulted in the separation of moral education from life. Morals are defined values that one pursues in life rather than retaining as mere knowledge. A human is not an abstract construct; their essence of being is a collection of life experiences. For that reason, how one lives (or how they choose their way of life) is an important question. Morality is thus intrinsic to human life; it reveals one’s way of life and the purpose and the quality of their life.

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The focus on children’s lives is more than a teaching strategy or method. Similarly, expressing that morality originates from life, or that it should “return to life,” was only the starting point of the curriculum, not its final goal. The purpose and fundamental role of moral education are to guide children toward the good life and to construct the good life. Based on this foundation, the textbooks were compiled in a manner that embedded morals within life, thereby enabling children to learn and understand morals in specific life scenarios—not through abstract moral concepts and theoretical systems. The team endeavored to utilize moral, educational, and appreciable life events as building blocks, which included the narratives and problems of the lives of both children and adults. Additionally, both traditional and modern historical stories from home and abroad were also utilized. The selected events were educational, contextually appropriate, interesting, and representative of the times. The advantages of such an approach are the following. First, using life events rather than abstract moral concepts facilitated the connection of moral education to life experiences. Second, the selected life events were rich in moral and educational significance. They conveyed core values that children were expected to develop. Third, the events were carefully scrutinized to ensure that they represented common moral dilemmas that children encountered at corresponding ages and were universally applicable. Finally, the selected events were adequately refined rather than directly lifted from real life, in order to stimulate reflection and motivate children to construct their life experiences.

1.2.2.4

Textbook Positioning: An “Interlocutor” that Engages in Dialogue and Accompanies Children’s Growth

Major misconceptions about the function of textbooks include thinking of them as carriers of learning content, the object of learning, or a fixed template that should be rigidly followed and unquestionably respected. Due to such misconceptions, textbooks often become unidirectional instruction tools and quickly forge an estranged reality for the learners. Textbooks designed in such a way have generally excluded learner participation by rendering their content uninteresting and isolated. Therefore, in order for textbooks (especially moral education textbooks) to exert their complete potential and educational function, they should be designed in a way that facilitates a dialogue with the learners. Consequently, the following principles were followed while developing the textbooks. First, although each unit and lesson had clear educational goals and requirements, they were implicit and embedded in the topics that children find engaging and were capable of discussing. The topics served as invitations that attracted learners’ attention and attempted to induce dialogue and dynamic interactions. Thus, the conventional top-down instruction pattern was subverted, and learners were able to engage in the learning process openly. Second, the textbooks sought to avoid being perceived as existentially estranged, and thus, steered clear of impersonal pronouns such as “it,” “they,” or “them.”

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Instead, the textbooks were designed to directly address the students through personal pronouns such as “I” and “me” in order to establish a mutual relationship with the learners. To achieve this effect, the textbook’s language and writing style were constructed to resemble that of someone of a similar age and a similar way of thinking (a peer). Thus, the metaphorical peer and the learners are able to utilize the platform of the textbook to explore problems and their answers. Third, the relationship between the textbooks and learners is democratic and equal. The role of the textbooks is to grow with the learners, exchange ideas with them, and guide their study, rather than to simply impart instructions.

1.2.3 Main Features of the Textbooks Textbook compilation is a complicated process that involves tackling contradictions and managing the relationships between multiple aspects and dimensions. The special features and compilation logic of the textbooks were formed during this process.

1.2.3.1

Incorporating the Systematic Requirements of the Textbooks into Children’s Logic of Life

Curriculums and textbooks, as a manifestation of the will and educational intent of the state, have a systematic “centripetal force.” On the other hand, an unsystematic “centrifugal force” is associated with children’s experiences—which are diverse, complex, and dynamic. A common error in textbook compilation is to use irrelevant systemizations that overwhelm and submerge students’ personal experiences. To prevent such a mistake, the newly designed textbooks supported the position of children by embedding systematic requirements into their life logic. The design ideas were based on children’s life and followed their pattern of constant transformation and development. First, a student is a whole person, and her/his life is holistic. This holism contains multiple factors of life, such as multiple living spaces (family, school, and community) and life roles (family member, student, citizen, and cultural and historical constructor), as well as the conflicts between these roles (observer of norms/pursuer of freedom, and rule follower/ rule maker). Second, children are continually experiencing physical and mental growth. So, the boundaries of their lives’ domains, the diversity of their life’s activities, and the complexity of their problems are also expanding. The textbooks were thus designed from varied angles and at various stages in accordance with a multi-dimensional and multi-level structure that aims to consistently expand and progress in the manner that life does. The themes of the units and typical life events in each textbook were extracted according to the dominant factor(s) at each stage and the degree of development at that stage. Thus, the themes of each textbook are interrelated and form a

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coherent themed domain. The subsequent learning objectives for each domain were thus determined according to the associated themes. For example, one of the most important life events for children in the first semester of grade one is the commencement of their school life. Actively adapting (both behaviorally and mentally) to this new development is an important step in this phase of life. Therefore, the theme for the grade one textbooks was determined to be “school life.” Many new events occur during this new period: schoolbags become an important symbol and partner, school bells become the invisible administrative hand, classrooms become the dominant physical space, and life activities become divided into those occurring within and outside the class, respectively. With this new life gradually unfolding, typical events are presented to guide children toward exploring and understanding the new reality that they inhabit. This is done to enable them to gradually develop a sense of familiarity, encourage them to communicate and interact with others they meet, and facilitate their growth in such a unique interactive environment.

1.2.3.2

Promoting Children’s Self-Directed Moral Development as a Key Focus

People are expected to continually improve themselves through practice and make autonomous choices between various alternatives to achieve a better life. Having a comprehensive and abundant network of relationships in addition to diverse experiences and journeys often allows for a wider set of alternatives, which increase the likelihood of achieving moral autonomy. Therefore, in order to initiate children’s self-directed moral decision-making behavior, several activities were developed and incorporated into the textbooks by the present authors to guide students’ autonomous thought of moral issues, their identification of moral views that suit their overall moral framework, their self-governance of moral judgments, and their ability to make autonomous moral decisions. The absence of such activities has been a weakness of past textbooks. Therefore, in this set of textbooks, we wished to integrate an adequate range of corresponding activities to support these skills. Although it is important to promote children’s self-directed moral development, moral impartation cannot be excluded absolutely. As moral autonomy is formed through the accumulation of historical, social, and cultural events and past experiences and narratives (including those of oneself and others), molded through human interaction, rather than in isolation. For that reason, the textbooks also included narratives, experiences, and lessons from society, such as the tales related to historical figures, historical and cultural events, and various customs, habits, and traditions— in addition to moral concepts and rules that are easily understood by children. Such a mode of instruction has a distinct significance in childhood, as it progressively expands children’s horizons of understanding with respect to what constitutes a moral life and facilitates access to events beyond the limits of personal, direct, and real-life experience. This allows for life and moral issues to be viewed from several perspectives, which, in turn, promotes the ability to make decisions independently.

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The editing team invested considerable effort to ensure a balance between the two types of content. Following the presentation of moral narratives, experiences, events, or concepts and rules, the textbooks then specify that some time should be allotted for students to reflect, analyze, discuss, and question the provided information. In addition, the editing team was aware that the autonomous learning activities should not be designed as activities for abstract and rational logic or as pure thinking exercises, since moral judgments are made based on substantive life experiences and values rather than abstract concepts. Therefore, the activities were designed to resemble children’s life experiences.

1.2.3.3

Combining Personal Feelings, Rational Thought, and Behavioral Guidance

The overall design of the textbooks was based on children’s life experiences, which are a comprehensive concept that cover personal feelings, rational thought, and physical sensation. However, such comprehensiveness is difficult to observe, as feelings, thoughts, and sensation are fragmented spontaneous experiences. Thus, the role of the textbooks and teachers is to help children clarify and consciously recognize the ambiguities and uncertainties of such experiences. Activities that guide children to review their feelings of an event with the purpose of highlighting their emotional experiences steer them to discover the meaning of emotions and transform spontaneous emotional experiences into rational and conscious reflection. Consequently, this practice motivates future moral conduct. For example, children tend to feel anxious and uneasy when their mothers are ill. The textbook was designed to elucidate to the children that such feelings are generated out of love and concern and that mothers similarly worry when their children are unwell due to their tight, blood-bound relationship with each other. Consequently, children’s emotions and understanding of life experiences are better supported. Moreover, the textbooks include sections that help children to (autonomously and rationally) express their feelings through actions such as writing letters and making artwork, so that their feelings are transformed into (moral) behaviors that can be used to effectively communicate their feelings. This example illustrated how the textbooks helped children understand the meaning of life deeply basing on their life experiences, feelings, and the possibility of rational development. In addition, it also illustrated how the textbooks transform their understanding through action, use their actions to reinterpret their emotional and life experiences, and ultimately improve their future selves. On that account, the textbooks have considerable practical significance for children’s future lives because their design has transformed moral education into a holistic process that addresses personal emotions, stimulates rational thinking, and encourages moral conduct.

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1 Moral Education Curriculum Reform in China

Textbooks as Teaching and Learning Materials

Textbooks are means to promote dialogue between teachers and students within the classroom. They do so by forming a connection between the teachers and the life and experiences of the children. Thus, textbooks serve a critical function as teaching materials. Correspondingly, this set of textbooks aims to provide a list of life-oriented topics and cases that will support teaching activities by enabling teachers to spark discussion with students (such as exploring what is right or wrong and good or bad) and encouraging children to share their experiences. However, textbooks are also means for children to enter the educational environment, guided by traditional cultural education, and initiate open dialogue through the guidance of the characters in the textbooks. Hence, textbooks also serve as learning materials that assist children’s autonomous learning. In order to fully exert their function as learning materials, this set of textbooks included life events that the children could easily relate to and understand. Thus, they are more likely to approach and interpret the textbook using their experiences and establish a channel for communication and dialogue with the young characters from the textbooks. In addition, the following efforts were made to reinforce the textbooks’ role as learning materials. First, the textbooks created a child-friendly environment. For example, the reading comprehension of first-year students is limited; however, they are able to understand images and symbols well. Therefore, the grade one textbook—particularly its first half—utilizes more illustrations and less writing to facilitate discernment. In addition, popular children’s songs, nursery rhymes, and riddles were included to create a familiar and positive learning environment. The textbooks for each year were designed to suit the developmental stages of the corresponding age range in terms of content, language difficulty, and language expressions, so that children may be more eager to utilize them and learn from them. This set of concepts were encapsulated in the motto proposed by the editing team: “get close to children, and then connect with the children!!” Second, the textbooks designed several activities to encourage participation, which guided the children or the learner to feel and think the experiences and emotions which the children or protagonist in textbook had. For example, the alluring anecdotes, touching stories, and exciting events in the textbooks which the children or protagonist had were all designed to resonate directly with the personal experiences of the learner. The inquiry and discussion sections served as invitations from the textbook to the learner, so that the learner becomes more immersed in the designed scenarios and more engaged in solving problems with the textbook character. Thus, as the main body of the discussion and communication, the learner and the protagonist in textbook blend together—generating an immersive learning experience as a result.

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1.2.3.5

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Including Cultural Diversity While Maintaining Unity

China is a multi-ethnic state, with 56 ethnic groups. Furthermore, many ethnic groups have their languages (oral and written), beliefs, lifestyles, behavioral standards, and sub-cultural systems. China is also a state with highly imbalanced regional development. A tremendous disparity in economic development can be observed between the eastern coastal regions and the northwestern regions, and between urban and rural areas. Consequently, even though two regions may have equally prominent ethnic populations, their lives may be significantly disparate. This also affected the design of the textbook, which had to account for cultural diversity and the variety of lives in a range of environments. Specifically, the cases were selected to cover themes that applied to children from various regions with consideration of the differences between urban and rural areas, and between Han Chinese and minority ethnic groups. Additionally, the textbooks were designed to contain open questions, inquiry sections, and exploratory activities that allowed children from various sub-cultural and social backgrounds to expand on the examples with their experiences. In addition to including cultural diversity, the textbooks also actively advocated for a mainstream culture and ideology by highlighting the unity of Chinese traditional culture and endeavoring to achieve a harmonious balance between diversity and unity.

1.2.4 Table of Contents for Morality and Law

First Semester, Year 1 Unit 1: I am now a Primary School Student 1. First Day in School 2. Hold Hands, Be Friends! 3. I Know You Now! 4. On the Way to School Unit 2: What a Happy School Life! 5. Our School 6. The School Rules 7. The 10-Minute Breaks 8. Class Begins Unit 3: Safety and Health at Home 9. How Fun! 10. It’s Dinner Time 11. Don’t Hurt Yourself 12. Sleep Early and Get Up Early Unit 4: Although It’s Cold, There’s still Warmth 13. Beautiful Winter 14. Have a Healthy Winter 15. Happy Chinese New Year 16. New Year Gifts

Second Semester, Year 1 Unit 1: My Good Habits 1. We Love to be Clean and Tidy! 2. We are Feeling Alive! 3. I Don’t Procrastinate! 4. Don’t be a “Little Careless” Unit 2: Nature and I 5. Gentle Wind 6. Beautiful Flowers and Grass 7. Lovely Animals 8. Thank You, Nature! Unit 3: I Love My Family 9. My Family and I 10. Family Love 11. Let Me Clean Up My Things 12. Do Some Housework Unit 4: We Are Together 13. I Want to Play with You 14. Please Help Me 15. Sharing is Great! 16. Let’s Do it Together! (continued)

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(continued) First Semester, Year 2 Unit 1: Our Holidays and Vacations 1. Plan the Holidays Well 2. Arrange the Weekend Wisely 3. Celebrating National Day! 4. Reuniting during the Mid-Autumn Festival Unit 2: Our Group 5. I Love My Class 6. An Organized Classroom Life 7. I am the Cleaner for the Day 8. Let’s Decorate Our Classroom! Unit 3: In Public Places 9. These Belong to the Public 10. We Don’t Litter 11. Let’s Queue! 12. Speak Quietly! Unit 4: The Place We Live 13. I Love the Waters and Mountains in my Hometown 14. My Hometown Nourishes Me! 15. My Kind and Considerate Hometown People 16. The Changes in my Hometown

Second Semester, Year 2 Unit 1: Let Me Try! 1. Challenge the “First” 2. Learn to Be a “Happy Bird” 3. Be a “Cheerful Person” 4. Try to Plant a Seed Unit 2: Let’s Play 5. I Often Play Healthy Games 6. I Know How to Play Traditional Games 7. We Have New Ways to Play 8. Play Safely Unit 3: Little “Green” Guard 9. The Story of the Water Drop 10. Fresh Air is Precious 11. I am a Piece of Paper 12. My Little Environmental Partner Unit 4: I Will Work Hard! 13. I Can Do This! 14. There’s a Way to Learn! 15. Never Give Up! 16. Give Yourself a Treat

First Semester, Year 3 Unit 1: Happy Learning 1. Growth Comes with Learning 2. I Learn, and I am Happy! 3. Be the Master of Learning Unit 2: Our School 4. Let’s Talk About Our School! 5. Let’s Approach Our Teacher! 6. Let’s Make Our School Better! Unit 3: Safety Guards My Growth 7. Life is the Most Precious Thing 8. Keep Safety in Mind 9. remember “110”a Unit 4: Home, the Sweetest Place 10. Parents Love Me 11. Mom and Dad, I love you! 12. Family Memories

Second Semester, Year 3 Unit 1: My Classmates 1. I am Unique 2. We are Different 3. I am Honest 4. We Are Together Unit 2: The Place I Grew Up 5. My Home is Here 6. Our Good Neighbors 7. Come to My Hometown Unit 3: Our Public Life 8. Everyone’s “Friend”! 9. Life Always has Rules 10. The Carrier of Love Unit 4: Transportation and Communication Methods 11. We are Connected through Transportation 12. A Critical Reflection on Transportation Development 13. Thousands of Kilometers Under One “Line” (continued)

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(continued) First Semester, Year 4 Unit 1: Grow with the Group 1. Our Group is Four Years Old Now! 2. We Make Our Own Group Rules 3. Our Group and Their Group Unit 2: Share your Parents’ Strain 4. I Don’t Make my Parents Worried 5. I Can Do it! 6. How I give Back and Support my Family Unit 3: Information Kaleidoscope 7. Watch TV in a Healthy Way 8. The New World on the Internet 9. Understanding what Advertisements are Unit 4: Making Life more “Green” 10. Environmental Pollution: What We Know 11. The Tricks to Turn Waste into Treasure 12. A Low-Carbon Life Every Day

Second Semester, Year 4 Unit 1: Companions and Interaction 1. Our Good Friends 2. I Keep my Word 3. When There are Conflicts Unit 2: Be a Clever Consumer 4. What I Need to Know About Shopping 5. Buying Sensibly 6. Avoiding Waste Unit 3: Where Does a Good Life Come From? 7. Where Our Food and Clothing Come From 8. Where do These Things Come From? 9. We can’t live without them Unit 4: The Culture of my Hometown: I Care about it! 10. Our Local Customs 11. The Many Types of Folk Art 12. Joy and Worries about my Hometown

First Semester, Year 5 Unit 1: New Problems Come as I Grow 1. Making my Own Choices about After-School Activities 2. Learning to Communicate with Others 3. Tobacco and Alcohol are Harmful; Drugs are More Dangerous! Unit 2: We are the Masters of the Group 4. Electing the Group Committee 5. Solving Group Issues Fairly Unit 3: Our Homeland, Our Home 6. Our Sacred homeland 7. The Chinese Nation is One Family Unit 4: The Honor of our Ancestors and Culture 8. The Beauty of The Written Word: Our National Treasure 9. Ancient Science and Technology: the Splendor of our Nation 10. Our Virtues Throughout Ancient and Modern

Second Semester, Year 5 Unit 1: Our Family 1. Understanding One Another 2. Making Our Family Better 3. I’m Proud of Our Family’s Culture Unit 2: Life in Public Relies on Everyone 4. Our Public Life 5. Keeping Public Order 6. I Join in and I Contribute Unit 3: The Centennial Dream: Rejuvenation and Revival of the Chinese Nation 7. I Refuse to be Humiliated! I Fight Bravely! 8. Overthrowing the Monarchy and the National Awakening 9. China has the Communist Party Now 10. Victory Against the Japanese and the People’s Liberation War 11. Standing Tall in the East of the World 12. From Getting Wealthier to Getting Stronger (continued)

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(continued) First Semester, Year 6 Unit 1: Our Guardians 1. Experiencing Law 2. The Constitution as the Fundamental Law Unit 2: We are Citizens 3. What Does Being a Citizen Mean? 4. Basic Rights and Duties of Citizens Unit 3: Our State Institutions 5. What are State Institutions 6. People’s Congress Serves the People 7. Power is Restricted and Monitored Unit 4: The Law Protects Our Healthy Growth 8. We are Under Special Protection 9. Know the Law and Abide by the Law

a The

Second Semester, Year 6 Unit 1: Improve Yourself and Grow Healthily 1. Learn to Respect 2. Learn to Tolerate 3. Learn to Reflect Unit 2: Caring for the Earth is our Shared Responsibility 4. The Earth, Our Home 5. Responding to Natural Disasters Unit 3: Diverse Civilizations and Vibrant Lives 6. Exploring Ancient Civilizations 7. Diverse Cultures, Diverse Charm Unit 4: Making the World a Better Place 8. Technological Development Benefits Mankind 9. The Ever-Important International Organizations 10. We Love Peace

emergency services number for the police in China

References Curriculum and Teaching Materials Research Institute. (Ed.). (2001). 20 Shiji Zhongguo Zhongxiaoxue Kecheng Biaozhun · Jiaoxue Dagang Huibian: Sixiang Zhengzhi Juan [20th century Chinese primary and secondary school curriculum standards syllabus compilation: Ideology and politics]. People’s Education Press. Dewey, J. (1994). The school and society: Schools of tomorrow (pp. 143–144) (X.-L. Zhao, Trans.). People’s Education Press. Durkheim, É. (2001). Moral education (p. 123) (G.-J. Chen, Trans.). Shanghai People’s Press. Lu, J. (Ed.). (2002). “Pinde yu Shehui” Jiaoshi Yongshu (San Nianji Shangce) [“Moral character and society” teacher’s handbook (1st Semester of Year 3)] (pp. 2–4). Jiangsu Education Publishing House & China Maps Press. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2002). Quanri Zhi Yiwu Jiaoyu “Pinde yu Shenghuo” Kecheng Biaozhun [Curriculum standards for moral character and life in full-time compulsory education] (pp. 7–10). Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2002). Quanri Zhi Yiwu Jiaoyu “Pinde yu Shehui” Kecheng Biaozhun [Curriculum standards for moral character and society in full-time compulsory education] (pp. 7–16). Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press.

Chapter 2

Exploring the Pathways to Connect to Children’s Lives in Morality and Law

Following the curriculum reform in 2001, the manner in which the new set of textbooks should be compiled was reconsidered. Determining an approach that could meet the new curricular goals and implement the new curricular concepts became a major challenge for the researchers, textbook writers, and practitioners involved. The core struggle was ensuring that the textbooks systematically reflected the national and social requirements for moral development and the depth and dynamic nature of children’s realities, to facilitate moral growth. At the heart of this challenge was to bridge a number of existing gaps, including that between the extrinsic requirements of state and society and the patterns of children’s moral development, between the logic of knowledge and the logic of life, between the systematicity of textbooks and the diversity of children’s lives, as well as between the collective moral experiences of humanity and the children’s personal life experiences. To bridge these gaps, it is necessary to discover a path that will allow the textbooks to connect with the children’s lives. Owing to the above reasons, the approach to writing the new textbooks focused on opening a pathway that connects the teaching materials to children’s life experiences. Specifically, the ethical foundation underlying the theory of textbook compilation is revised based on the advantages presented by narrative and rational ethics (theory). Further, children’s experiences were constructed to bridge moral learning (content), and the classical poetics and innovative textbook compilation strategies are adopted to ensure that the lessons are aligned succinctly with children’s lives (methodology). These efforts facilitate the construction of the pathway that helps overcome the challenges of writing life-oriented textbooks. Additionally, it allowed moral education to connect to children’s lives and resultantly assist their moral growth.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Gao et al., Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks, Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1937-3_2

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2.1 Changes in Narrative Thinking in Morality and Law The specialization and “curriculumization” trend of moral education has led to the emergence of direct moral instruction courses. However, the course design and teaching methods of such courses have placed the effectiveness of moral education in doubt. The 2001 curriculum reform aimed to overcome the over-conceptualization of moral knowledge and the disconnection between moral education and children’s lives by constructing a curriculum based on life experiences that would endow direct moral instruction with the features of indirect moral education. This would ensure that moral courses were appropriately modernized to facilitate children’s life improvement. Consequently, writing the textbooks in a manner that would effectively achieve the aforementioned goal became the predominant challenge for all the scholars and practitioners involved. In this regard, the new textbooks adopted narrative and rational ethics as their theoretical foundation and consolidated life events as their inputs. This enabled the textbooks to remain comprehensive and systematic, serve as both teaching and learning materials, and fully reflect the diverse and dynamic nature of children’s lives and meet the needs of children’s moral growth.

2.1.1 Balance Between the System and Narration 2.1.1.1

Rational Ethics and Narrative Ethics

Moral education, and any related curriculum, must be founded upon an ethical stance. In general, ethical frameworks can be divided into rational and narrative ethics. Rational ethics reveal and systematize the general rules of ethics through philosophical and rational analysis. This contrasts the real ethics that exist in daily life, which are manifested within society in the interactions and communication between people. Rational ethics are instead abstract ethical notions that emerge from the myriad forms of ethics in life that are explored conceptually and systematically. On the other hand, narrative ethics “tell life stories from personal experience and raise questions about the feelings of life through the narrative of personal experience, so as to construct specific moral awareness and ethical demands” (Liu, 1999, p. 4). Instead of isolating ethical problems from life experiences, narrative ethics present fragments of life experiences that contain ethical problems as narratives. If rational ethics are concerned with the general rules of ethics (abstract), narrative ethics could be said to be concerned with the detailed life experiences of ethics (concrete). Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Rational ethics are universal yet are normally distinct from life experiences. Thus, they produce a speculative and distant set of theories, which are less accessible to the general public and more of a challenge to understand due to the need to have prior foundational knowledge. However, narrative ethics are better able to engage and captivate the reader through

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their dynamism and specificity, which facilitates the creation of a set of theories that are more related to life. However, the moral concepts tend to be fragmented and one-sided rather than systematic and thorough, which obstructs the extraction of universalizable morals. In theory, the disadvantages of both approaches can be overcome by combining their advantages. Specifically, the conceptual system of rational ethics can be designed with a narrative structure so that it becomes a “grand narrative,” while events used in narrative ethics can be organized in a way that embeds a conceptual system. However, these efforts to integrate the two ethical approaches can only have a limited effect. Regardless of how clear the narrative structure is, rational ethics remain theoretical and abstract and resultantly often lack the vivacity and vividness of real-life narratives. Similarly, narrative ethics remain fragmented and ambiguous—extraneous to how narratives are organized in a conceptual system—and lack the conceptual accuracy and systematic rigor of the rational approach. The conflict between the two approaches to ethics has a long history. Plato argued that the struggle between philosophy and poetry, which represented the main form of narrative ethics at the time, was critical to the survival of both cities and states: “For the contest is great, my dear Glaucon,” I said, “greater than it seems—this contest that concerns becoming good or bad—so we mustn’t be tempted by honor or money or any ruling office or, for that matter, poetry, into thinking that it’s worthwhile to neglect justice and the rest of virtue.” (The Republic of Plato, Allan Bloom trans. Basic Books, p. 291)

Prior to Plato, narratives such as the Homeric epics were the sources of ideology for the ancient Greeks. Generations of Greeks constructed their value and moral orientation from such narrative works. It can be said that the narrative works represented by the Homeric epics represented a belief system and were considered to be the authoritative “textbooks” for ancient Greek narrative ethics. However, Plato criticizes poetry by arguing that poets are ignorant of truth and that poetry is an inferior imitation of reality (he considered poetry as a sensory illusion and a language of imagination and illusion that is built on concrete reality). He propounds that poetry possesses the ability to corrupt man’s soul and cause him to lose himself in emotion. From the standpoint of rational ethics, Plato’s criticisms of poetry can be considered extreme but not irrational. Poets are not rational thinkers; instead of expressing themselves in terms of concrete concepts and theoretical systems, they tend to utilize impersonations of life experiences to influence readers. To have knowledge is to have a dependable conceptual system, and in that sense, poets do indeed appear ignorant. Poetry appeals to one’s senses and emotions rather than reason. Poetry, as an illustration of life, is a melting pot of both good and evil, with Homer’s epics describing intrigues even among the gods. Rather than helping the soul to nurture an order among reason, desire, and passion, it leaves the soul open to the domination of desire. This is thus the reason why poetry holds the potential to corrupt man. As a science or academic discipline, it is most suitable for ethics to don a rational form. This is because a science or a discipline is in itself rational. It is abstracted, conceptualized, and systematized, and these features are vital to its existence. Although a narrative may allow for the expression of ethics in some form, it retains other multi-dimensional and multi-directional roles that are far beyond

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ethics. In fact, many works that are considered part of the narrative ethics domain were created as literature or art, as opposed to an expression of ethics. Furthermore, although the dominant position of rationality in the development of ethics is unquestionable, it should also be noted that the rational form of ethics has made such impactful contributions to the accumulation of knowledge and the development of ethical thoughts. Narrative ethics—due to their characteristics—were “dislodged” and forced to withdraw from the “stage” of ethics. Thus, narrative ethics almost solely exist in literary and artistic forms. Despite the advantages of rational ethics and their dominant position in ethics overall, their effectiveness as an educational tool is significantly inferior in comparison with narrative ethics. This fact highlights and exposes rational ethics’ disadvantages. As already discussed, rational ethics are usually presented as moral norms and truths and are built on accuracy and profundity. However, in the same manner, rational ethics are too autocratic and coercive for the general public. They dismiss the basic spiritual need of autonomy, which necessitates an independent exploration of life rather than the provision of ready-made maxims. Therefore, rational ethics are often rejected and can rarely be directly applied to basic courses in moral education. Even if one could overcome the resentment generated toward enforced ethical norms and managed to engage in learning, one would only achieve a limited, rational understanding of the concepts rather than an emotional connection, which prevents the internalization of these moral concepts. Furthermore, rational ethics are founded upon a conceptual system, which demands foundational knowledge. This requirement may seem natural to scholars and practitioners, but it is a barrier for the layperson, who lacks the foundational knowledge that is necessary to understand the corresponding concepts and theories. This barrier tends to stop most learners at “the entrance,” despite the fact that rational ethics play a major role in education. However, rational ethics’ weaknesses are the strengths of narrative ethics for several distinct reasons. First, narrative ethics fit the manners in which humankind exists. Humans live a narrative existence, wherein narratives are used as an important means for humans to understand the world and themselves. Without such narratives, we would be unable to formulate even the most primitive idea of the world or ourselves. We transform the world into narratives to eliminate its strangeness and fear and facilitate a deeper understanding of it. Understanding oneself also involves translating one’s experiences into narratives so that these fragmented experiences unite as a whole. This is also the process through which our identities are formed. Second, narrative ethics are not manifested as absolute truths but rather represent the choices and experiences of the corresponding individual. In this sense, the narrative serves as a companion, which allows for diverse interpretations and respects our desire for autonomy. Third, narratives are more likely to leave a memorable impression than a system of concepts, which consequently has a more significant influence on the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious of the student (Berger, 2000, p. 11). Narratives affect people by being deeply resonant. When we find a narrative to be relatable, we are more likely to empathize with its characters, which resultantly leads to a deeper unconscious influence.

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The Use of “Hybrid” Ethics

The notion of “returning the cultivation of moral character to children’s lives” is a new orientation for the moral education curriculum that was clearly specified in the curriculum standards. The standards are systematic and structured national educational guidelines that are published by the government. Defining the curriculum standards (including selecting the curriculum design and specific teaching methods) is in itself a rational process, which requires both theoretical and systematic components. The curriculum standards for Pinde yu Shenghuo (Moral Character and Life) and Pinde yu Shehui (Moral Character and Society) favored the above approach. The theory, methodology, and structure of the standards followed a natural logic, which was integrated into their philosophy, objectives, content, and implementation and evaluation methods. However, these standards resultantly lacked the ability to engage students. However, this lack of engagement did not hinder the development of the curriculum, as one could argue that life-based moral education is a theory in itself and that the corresponding curriculum standards are the interpretation of the theory. Thus, the rational stance of the new curriculum standards was given leeway to present the ethical concepts and principles of the curriculum in a systematic and rational manner. However, the development of the textbooks requires a different approach to the underlying logic. Textbooks are embodiments of the educational intentions of society and the state. Although systematicity is a requirement of the textbooks, they are also expected to sustain a human connection—which is neither theoretical nor systematic. In fact, to a certain extent, this connection is anti-theoretical and anti-systematic. Textbooks must, therefore, be positioned between the theoretical system and life. However, if textbooks are mere extensions of the curriculum standards and serve as a direct representation of the systematic logic of the standards, they are merely playing the role of an annotation manual or an extended edition of the standards. Thus, they are devoid of any connection to the students’ lives. This was observed in some of the versions of the textbooks, which became mere extensions of the system of moral concepts that contained examples from students’ life events. Thus, in both curriculum standards and the textbooks, it is far from easy to achieve the reorientation of the moral education curriculum. The textbooks developed by the present authors adopted a hybrid approach that combined both rational and narrative ethics so that both approaches met midway. Each lesson is based around a life event, and narrative is used as the primary composition method. However, clearly distinctive and logical cues are embedded within and between the narratives so that the textbooks as a whole are logical, rational, and systematic. Furthermore, although each textbook appears to have its narrative theme, the full set is arranged systematically to achieve a clear logical structure. As a component of the systematic whole, each textbook is an amalgamation of rational and narrative structures with a narrative front. The way in which the hybrid structure operates maximizes the strengths and overcomes the weaknesses of both ethical stances. Rational ethics’ clear conceptual

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systematization—which is bound by ineffectiveness when applied to basic education—is applied through an intermediate approach that ensures that the textbooks avoid over-conceptualization but retain a sense of systematicity. Consequently, this allows the textbooks to attain educational goals while retaining disciplinary logic, knowledge, and theoretical depth. Avoiding over-conceptualization implies minimizing abstraction and indifference and preventing alienation and rejection from learners. The moral education textbooks are positioned between narrative and rationality, the aim of which is to ensure that moral education is able to incorporate narratives, but also can detach itself from narratives. On the one hand, the blending of narratives allows the textbook to serve as a “companion” to the children and achieve a spiritual resonance with their souls. It thus subtly achieves educational goals without interfering with children’s autonomous growth. On the other hand, the detachment from narratives is to avoid its fragmentation and ambiguity. Thus, the systematicity of rational ethics is used to link up the narratives into a whole, which avoids the danger of deviating from the educational intentions contained within the individual narratives.

2.1.2 Using Life Events as Base Content Based on the design and educational role of narrative ethics, a new strategy to organize the textbooks—which used life events—was adopted. Life events refer to events that occur within a certain period of time. When expressed narratively, it is rare that a life event does not contain one or more subjects (or protagonists), which can be a person, animal, or an object. If the protagonist is not a person, it is often anthropomorphized so that it resembles one. The second key set of components to a life event narrative includes how the protagonists act and express themselves, without which an event narrative is incomplete. It should be noted that sometimes the way in which the protagonists express themselves or act may not necessarily be initiated by their accord. Rather, they could be acting upon the will of others. For example, if we were to construct a narrative in which a student was praised by the teacher for helping others, the student is the subject, and the act of being praised is the action, albeit a passive action. However, dialogue and action as singular phenomena construct rudimentary narrative events that are disassociated from the shifts and consequences that constitute more complex narratives. Clearly, not all of life’s events have moral significance or are related to morality. Therefore, the life events that are included in the textbooks must be selected based on their moral implications. Moral implication does not signify that the events directly represent moral issues. Thus, some of the events selected may not superficially appear to have moral relevance. For example, on the fifth page of the textbook for the first semester of grade three, an image is presented with the title “Parents are also Learning.” Although it may appear to have little irrelevance with morality, it suggests that learning is a lifelong process and that even parents must continue to learn. Broadly speaking, this counts as moral education. There are many such examples

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in the textbooks. One reason why such narratives are utilized is that the goal of the curriculum is to guide children toward moral conduct through life-based examples rather than direct instruction. Another reason pertains to the broad definition of morality in the curriculum. Instead of a narrow interpretation, the curriculum employs a wider demarcation of morality, which includes positive life attitudes and values. It was common for textbooks in the past to also convey moral knowledge by telling stories. However, the stories were generally related to historically important figures, especially politicians. Although the present editing team does not reject such stories, we believe that this type of stories should be conveyed in a way that relates directly to the children’s lives and should not be the dominant content of the textbooks. In the process of compiling the textbook, we focus on life events that are centered on children, alongside other life events. An immediate goal of textbooks is to guide children toward living a good life, and clearly using life events where children of a similar age are the protagonists will better fulfill this guiding role. The intention behind choosing such child-centric life events for the textbook is not to tell stories about others but rather to guide the children back to their own living situations using these life events, which can help them to recollect and reflect on the happy memories and difficult times they have encountered on their journey in life. To the children using the textbooks, although the protagonists in the life events are “them,” but in reality they are also “ourselves.” Naturally, the textbook is not limited to the current lives of the children, but also guides them to transcend life in the here and now, in order to experience and understand the broader human culture. The textbook also incorporates the life events of different subjects from the past, present, at home, and abroad, according to the needs of the educational topic. All the life experiences were selected for the narratives in accordance with the following specific and strict screening criteria. The first criterion was relevance. The life event was required to be representative of the general experiences and common problems related to children’s growth so that the learner can comprehend its relevance to their lives. The second criterion was moral significance. The event needed to have a direct or indirect moral education value (which can manifest as either positive guidance or negative warnings). The final criterion was cultural significance. Events that were not directly relevant to children’s lives were required to be classic events that are rich in cultural connotations. All the events were not precise representations of real life but rather events that were inspired by real life and adapted to fit the context. The mechanism by which life events fulfill their function in moral education is one of companionship, dialogue, and guidance, rather than indoctrination or behavioral conditioning. We all experience a range of “growing pains” throughout childhood. The events selected were intended to reflect such pains and difficulties through the experiences of the protagonists in the narratives. This indirectly demonstrates to the learners that the challenges and difficulties that they face are typical occurrences during the course of growth. By learning that the protagonists face similar challenges due to similar underlying issues, a “bond” may be developed, wherein the protagonist is considered to be a “companion” in the child’s growth. This allows for the opportunity for the children to be inspired by the protagonists’ attitudes

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toward the problem and their problem-solving behavior. Moreover, textbook activities were designed to manifest this connection into a feedback loop by providing suggestions and recommendations regarding the protagonists’ actions in the discussion sections. In addition to learning from the experience of the protagonists, such a design allows the children to develop their problem-solving skills by attempting to resolve the protagonists’ dilemmas. This feedback loop serves as a dialogue that allows the protagonists to present situational problems—which stimulate reasoning and reflection—and enables learners to listen to the protagonists’ stories, share their experiences, and ask questions accordingly. This “dialogue” serves as a mechanism to both educate and guide children toward educational goals. Education not only serves to guide children towards living a good life in the present, it should also lead them to transcend their current lives and move toward the broader realm of human culture. Previously, it has been common for textbooks to teach cultural knowledge and experiences in a monotonous and unidirectional manner by overemphasizing cultural theories and concepts, which is a mistake. Given that such knowledge and experiences are absent from children’s lives, such emphasis distances the protagonists and makes the knowledge unrelatable. Consequently, children find it difficult to link such knowledge with their current lives. Life events, on the other hand, are an effective means to resolve the problem. Although the life events in the textbooks may be from people from another time or place, the basic emotions and thinking skills conveyed in the events can be considered consistent throughout all human history. Thus, they can be easily narrativized and connected to children’s life experiences and thoughts. In A Natural History of Love, Ackerman (2008) argued that if an ancient Egyptian woman were resurrected in the modern world and exposed to highways, large shopping centers, and airport terminals, she would likely feel intimidated and overwhelmed. However, if she were to observe a couple kissing, she would smile due to her familiarity with and understanding of the emotional connection they share. Similarly, although the modern child does not completely understand the exotic historical and cultural backgrounds described in the events, they should be able to comprehend the emotions of the protagonists, which should make the narratives more attractive, despite the specific contextual elements being removed from modern life. For example, to demonstrate the differences between the way ancient and modern people communicate, a story titled “The Messenger at Fan Yang” was included, which was inspired by a true historical event from the Tang Dynasty. Following the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in Fan Yang, a local officer intended to warn Emperor Xuanzong of the danger he faced. However, the emperor resided in his palace in Chang An, approximately 1,500 km away from the officer. At the time, messages had to be delivered in person. However, despite the best efforts of the messenger, who ceaselessly rode as fast as he could (traditionally described as “riding like a shooting star”), it still took six days before the message could be delivered to the emperor. By this point, the ideal time to stop the uprising had passed. The slow mode of communication depicted in the story serves as a contrast to highlight the ultrafast speed of modern communication. As the textbooks included both learning and teaching materials, the design should also facilitate the implementation of teaching activities. The prior teaching strategy of

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using the “moral + story + expected behaviors” structure benefitted neither learning nor teaching. Thus, the new textbooks ensured that the selection of the narratives was conducive to organizing teaching activities. This was done in several ways. First, the narratives were presented in various forms. The titles for each unit, text, and section were chosen carefully to provide an indication of the type of narrative included. For example, “My Classmates” implies that the theme of the narratives included in the unit is associated with relationships and interactions between classmates. The other ways in which the selected life events were presented include contextbased scenarios that are typically experienced by children, activities that stimulate thinking and participation (by creating something or presenting a show), and pieces of literature that inspire reflection regarding life’s challenges and moral dilemmas. Second, each textbook was organized so that the narratives align with children’s increasing maturity. For example, the textbook for the second semester of grade three includes the following: “My Classmates,” “The Place I Grew Up,” “Our Public Life,” and “Transportation and Communication Methods.” The units correspond to third grade students’ life events. Third, the types of life events used in the narratives are diverse. The textbooks used existing life experiences—from both ancient history and modern times—and also positive and negative experiences, in order to mimic the realities of life. The positive events thus aimed to motivate children, while the negative events intended to make them more conscious of potential consequences. It is the inclusion of the difficulties that makes the narratives in the textbooks distinct from others that present aesthetically pleasing stories. It is the role of textbooks as teaching materials to facilitate the improvement of children through education. This involves presenting both positive and negative experiences to prepare them for the challenges that they will encounter. It can also be argued that positive experiences are manifested through understanding one’s choices and rejecting those that lead to negative outcomes. Thus, the nature of the events dictates that both the good and bad in life must be presented as examples to learn from. In addition, to enrich the value of the narratives, they were presented from various perspectives—which included those of both children and adults—and were from both ancient history and modern times. Furthermore, while many of the events were based on true stories, others were fabricated to fit the context while remaining logically consistent with the perspectives that were intended to be conveyed. Finally, it should be noted that the life events presented serve several functions. Although narratives naturally function as an ontological expression of life events, in the textbooks, they must be designed to trigger memories of personal experiences (consciously or unconsciously), inspire thinking and reflection, provide a setting or introduction for teaching activities and examples of solutions to problems, convey the value of cultures, and reinforce the moral theme of the lesson. The narratives also provide an opportunity to communicate issues (such as undesirable behaviors) that may otherwise lead to conflict among children and are not usually suited to be discussed in class. Due to a limitation in word count, the other roles narratives served in the textbooks were not included. In summary, we believe that life events are not static narratives that are merely incidental to education. Instead, they serve a dynamic

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set of integrated functions that consequently promote teaching, participation, and the effectiveness of moral education.

2.1.3 Conclusion: The Significance of Changing the Narrative Notions The shift in emphasis of the textbook from a purely speculative rational approach to a narrative form of logic involves more than simply reorganizing the structure and adapting the materials; it requires a complete shift in educational attitudes and philosophy. As previously discussed, the logic behind the rational approach is to present rhetoric that persuades (or even compels) children to accept that the textbooks contain truth and should be understood and believed. However, narrative logic does not impose such ready-made and conclusive rhetoric but instead presents stories that are related to children’s personal growth experiences and stimulate reflection. Even the strongest logical rationale applied to education implies an attitude that emphasizes preaching. Well-designed textbooks may reduce the overtness of such rhetoric with subtlety, while less intelligently designed textbooks may use strong campaigning to force the acceptance of their knowledge and concepts. However, in both cases, the assumption remains that learning is an external force that compels children to accept knowledge as a hardened reality. In that sense, while the language in the textbooks may appear to be reasoning with the students, they are instead treating the students as opponents that need to be conquered. However, a narrative-based logic takes an inclusive and encouraging approach to education. Thus, education no longer exists as a force external to the children, but instead is integrated into their growth narrative. Education thus becomes a tool that encourages children to uncover their narratives in life and inspires them to learn through experience. In that sense, the narrative logic embedded in the textbooks presents a “golden bridge” that joins children’s personal experiences with the narratives of the curriculum and textbooks. This overcomes one of the most classic, inherent problems of dedicated moral education courses: the separation of knowledge from children’s experiences. Textbooks that only concentrate on the rational approach further exacerbate this error. The shift from rationality to narrativity allows children’s experiences to be incorporated within the textbooks while simultaneously maintaining a rational, appropriate, and genuine approach that transforms the textbooks from an abstract conceptual manual into a story about the children’s lives. Furthermore, such an approach revisits the roots of moral education that existed well before the emergence of formalized educational institutions, wherein stories were the primary pedagogic tool. Despite the prominence of rationality in education, schools remain dependent on narratives as a natural approach to moral education. The courses and textbooks of natural science curriculum are often organized according to the system of scientific knowledge and the methods of scientific inquiry. While scientific thinking and methods of scientific education should not be rejected

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in either general school education or specific moral education, society is not nature in the same way that ethics and morality are not natural sciences. Thus, if the methods of learning natural knowledge systems are applied to the learning of morality, then we will be going against the principles of moral education. In this sense, the shift in educational philosophy was an attempt to align moral education with its own nature. However, an overemphasis on narrative form should also be avoided just as the importance of propositional thinking and ethical theory should not be ignored. Finally, it should be noted that writing the textbooks for Morality and Law was also a political task. Although the editing team attempted to meet political expectations in an academic manner, the task has an inherent approach that limits how it can be accomplished. Despite the best efforts of the editing team, the narrative approach must still be accepted and recognized by the corresponding authorities to become institutionalized. This political boundary served as a limitation, despite the achievements that have been attained. Although the proposed design and narrative approach of some of the textbooks were accepted, others were not, and hence, they retained their previous design philosophy. Thus, it has been made apparent that curriculum and textbook reforms are a long-term undertaking. The accomplishments in writing this set of textbooks were informed by 20 years of exploration. We expect that the moral education reform will continue to develop and not regress.

2.2 How Morality and Law Handles Children’s Experiences The biggest challenge in developing a curriculum and textbooks for a dedicated moral education course lies in the manner of interaction between the curriculum, textbooks, and children’s lives. Children’s lives comprise their experiences and the results of their interactions with the environment. Any distance between dedicated curriculums/textbooks and children’s lives can be said to be deviation from children’s experience-based perspectives. This distance, if not properly addressed, results in the superficial instruction of a moral concept that does not influence inherent thought or behavior (Dewey, 1994). The moral concept was not constructed with children’s experience in mind, which results in the absence of the vital connection that stimulates participation and interaction during the learning process.

2.2.1 Moral Education Textbooks and Isolating Children’s Experiences Decades of effort have been invested into developing a child-centered curriculum prior to the curriculum reform. However, the focus of effort was often the presentation of the textbooks, such as making the content livelier and more appealing by using child-friendly language and including stories and illustrations. Although these

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changes resulted in notable improvements, the results were often superficial because the rigid and tedious concept-based instruction was retained. The main disadvantages of direct moral instruction were not addressed, and the textbooks remained heavily focused on moral concepts with a reasoning-based structure while excluding children’s experiences. This was observed in numerous ways. Social moral expectations, such as being honest and trustworthy, abiding by filial piety and respecting elders, ensuring solidarity with classmates, caring for public property, observing public order, and having love for the collective and the motherland, were consistently maintained as core components of the previous textbooks. In addition to being part of the unit and lesson titles, they formed the introduction to the relevant content. The textbooks were designed to ensure that the social moral requirements and teaching methods were clear and that facts were well-reasoned and supported by corresponding dialectic and evidence. For example, when teaching filial piety, the textbooks followed the rational logical course by first asking “What is filial piety?” “Why should we care about filial piety?” and “How does filial piety define how we should behave?” In order to ensure the effectiveness of the embedded rhetoric, well-known narratives that were related to the impact of filial piety on historical figures were included, in addition to examples of how other children and adolescents have implemented the concept. These examples of other individuals (adults and adolescents) conveyed their experiences as a condensed summary of the human experience to emphasize the value of the related moral concept. However, such narratives did not originate from the children, which presents the potential for detachment and alienation from the concept due to the absence of a perceived connection to the children’s experiences. As the moral education courses increased in comprehensiveness, the textbooks also began to include mental health, law, and the diverse range of China’s social and national conditions, in addition to the standard social moral expectations. However, the content of these subjects was generally more structured than the moral elements. Their reasoning was based around “what,” “why,” and “how,” and they had a relatively negligible association with children’s personal experiences. On that account, although past moral education textbooks incorporated a wide range of knowledge and information, they remained distanced from children’s lives and experiences. The children’s perceptions and understanding of their self-concept, peers and other people, their communities, their country, and the world as a whole were not present in the textbooks, which resultantly created an alienating barrier through conceptual, theoretical, and systematic design. In that sense, the textbooks served as doors that separated the children’s worlds from the more serious, formal, and theoretical world of the moral concept that was imposed by society and the state. This is not to say that the content in the moral education textbooks was not important or useful. Nevertheless, the key challenge in textbook design is how to connect the above learning requirements and learning content with the children’s life experiences. Giorgio Agamben (2011) equated children’s experiences to a staircase leading toward a corresponding room of knowledge. Thus, excluding children’s experiences from school education and textbooks is similar to burning down that staircase.

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The exclusion of children’s experiences in moral education textbooks and its importance can be observed from the perspectives of morality and education. From a moral perspective, the textbooks are designed to be an essential tool to facilitate children’s moral development. Thus, excluding children’s experiences—which are a key part of that process—is morally flawed. As the textbooks are developed for children, their needs should be considered, which is a function of their experiences and interactions with their peers and family members—where their foundational understanding of society and the state is formed. These experiences are a crucial factor of growth and an equally crucial component in the development of a child’s personality. Without an adequate understanding of their experiences, there is no real way to understand or meet a child’s needs. Therefore, although including educational goals in the textbooks is an essential requirement because it binds moral education, excluding children’s experiences and disregarding their needs leads to a contradictory result. Moral requirements are thus imposed upon the children rather than presented to them in a manner that they can engage with effectively. Thus, selecting educational themes and content according to the requirements of adults and designing textbooks according to adult reasoning convey a bias toward the adult perspective and assume that the adult perspective is superior to that of the child. From an educational perspective, the moral education curriculum aims to deliver moral knowledge, yet morality is knowledge based on experience. As Dewey (2015a) claimed, experience-based knowledge is the only knowledge of social, political, and moral affairs. In that sense, treating morality with an objective positivist stance is in itself a distortion of morality. Therefore, any textbooks and presuppositions in teaching that contradict the constructionist nature of morality are flawed and ineffective. Furthermore, developing a child’s moral character is a process based on the child’s experiences, albeit with guidance from adults. If one was to use the analogy of guidance being the “sunshine and rain” of a child’s moral growth, the child’s experiences serve as the “root,” without which the “plant” of moral character is unlikely to grow healthily, and the essence of the “sunshine and rain” becomes disconnected from the medium in which they operate. It can also be argued that a child’s development is dependent on education and guidance and that instruction from the textbooks and teachings is a fundamental part of this education. However, “guidance is not external imposition. It is freeing the life-process for its own most adequate fulfillment” (Dewey, 1994, p. 124). Therefore, to guide children’s ideological and moral development, textbooks need to integrate children’s personal experiences to form meaningful and effective guidance. Additionally, due to the implied irrelevance of children’s experiences, the associated concept, rhetoric, and systematic focus of the textbooks are likely to make children feel as though they are being forced to accept the knowledge by an unfamiliar and oppressive force. This point was further reiterated by Agamben, who believed the following: when humankind is deprived of effective experience and becomes subjected to the imposition of a form of experience as controlled and manipulated as a laboratory maze for rats–in other words, when the only possible experience is horror or lies–then the rejection of experience can provisionally embody a legitimate defense. (Agamben, 2011, p. 5)

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Therefore, given that the moral education textbooks of the past only imparted the expected viewpoints and excluded the students’ experiences and perspectives, the likely path is that students would develop a defense mechanism that resists the knowledge and resents the textbooks that force such knowledge upon them. As children’s experiences are so vital to moral education and the consequences of excluding them are so grave, why then do curriculum developers, textbook writers, and policy makers still utilize the “burning down the staircase” methodology? To answer this question, we should clarify that the philosophical and natural orientation of moral education textbooks is formed under the combined influence of various factors. First, contemporary school education originated in the West, which was heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks. Ancient Greek philosophy propounded that knowledge and experience were opposing concepts. It is in this context that the contempt for experience first emerged. Second, experience and life coexist as a whole, and this relation is ontological in nature, but contemporary schools are epistemological in nature, which involves the objectification of the world and emphasizing the knowledge about the objective world. In that sense, an objective orientation contradicts the value of experience. Third, although moral education emphasizes scientific inquiry and know-how, it is forced to maintain the objective logic of physical science. Thus, the separation of moral education and children’s experiences is related closely to the epistemological orientation of the textbooks. In the objective orientation, textbooks are condensed summaries of scientific discoveries from various physical disciplines. Similarly, moral education is viewed as a scientific orientation, and the textbooks are considered carriers of moral knowledge. Fourth, indoctrination requires targeting toward a specific market. Moral education textbooks are the targeting apparatus of indoctrination, and in that sense, they serve as an authoritative source of moral knowledge. Finally, the exam-oriented education system presents the expectation that curriculums and textbooks need to be developed in a way in which knowledge is structured in a well-organized and easily identifiable manner, to facilitate students’ preparation for exams. This further systematizes the structure and generates an orientation devoid of experiences.

2.2.2 The Various Attempts to Incorporate Children’s Experiences Despite the unfavorable environmental factors mentioned above, the problem of moral education being isolated from children requires a solution. If a solution is not found, the textbooks will not only fail to serve their purpose but also may harm children’s perceptions of morality and moral education. It would be distressing and shameful if the efforts and educational resources invested in developing the textbooks only led to harm rather than being of value. The inherent problems of modern schools, such as the objectivist orientation, preoccupation with positivist knowledge, and over-systematization of moral education—where textbooks serve as “carriers”

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of moral knowledge—cannot be resolved overnight. However, the moral education community should not wait until the problems are resolved before acting. The goal of revising the textbooks was to actively pursue change. The hope was that small changes would contribute to the overall reform of the education system. In addition, as a late developer, China usually refers to the experience of developed countries when informing practice. This is also common in the field of education. However, in terms of moral education courses and textbooks, China and Western countries have taken a different path. Hence, there are no ready-made solutions which can be referred to. For example, the United States and many European countries do not have dedicated moral education courses but use social education courses that employ social inquiry to teach morality. Such methods are not without issues. The main presupposition of such an approach is that moral education lies in all aspects of education. However, due to the objectivist and utility-focused orientation, moral education, as an independent education course, has been systematically eliminated. Thus, resolving the inherent disadvantages of dedicated moral education curriculums and textbooks and establishing a corresponding educational foundation are beneficial to the world as a whole, particularly for the world’s moral development. China’s new curriculum reform provides a rare opportunity to reform and explore moral education curriculums and textbooks. The core philosophy of “returning the cultivation of moral character to children’s lives,” which was proposed during the development of Pinde yu Shenghuo (Moral Character and Life) and Pinde yu Shehui (Moral Character and Society), created a novel, life-oriented pathway for the implementation of moral education that was based on establishing a deeper connection with children. Thus, during the development of the textbooks for Morality and Law, the editing team launched a series of explorations to further extend and expand this educational philosophy.

2.2.2.1

Using an Experience to Trigger Children’s Experiences

Dewey stated that “experience” is a unified process of “doings” and “undergoings.” Acting upon the environment is defined as “doing,” while the response of the environment to the action and our awareness of such a response are defined as “undergoing.” In the same sense, experience serves as a connection between “doings” and “undergoings” (Liu, 2013). In Chinese, the term for “experience” (经验, jingyan) comprises two characters that represent the two stages of an experience: “经(jing),” which means “experience,” and “验(yan),” which refers to the feelings, reactions, and awareness that are triggered by the “jing.” Thus, jing corresponds to “doing” and yan corresponds to “undergoings.” Thus, we act through “jing” on our environment, by seeing, thinking, and doing, yet a considerable proportion of our actions do not have an associated yan (undergoing). To act through various means while not necessarily experiencing yan is a notion that is consistent with the endless cycle of experience, which serves as a manifestation of a unique existence that is intricately entangled with society rather than an objective existence. Although a considerable part of human experience is not

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consciously recognized, the significance of experiences should not be ignored. The passively acquired, inert, and dormant knowledge and skills inherent in experience are often roused and applied as required at an appropriate time. From a learning perspective, the implicit subconscious processing of experiencing “jing” is a vital learning. It is distinct from conscious learning processes primarily because the person is not aware of it occurring. Learning is thus usually seen as a conscious process, yet the significance of subconscious learning should not be ignored. Distinctly, learning from experience engages the subconscious mind and facilitates deep learning, which conscious learning may not do, in which case, the implicit experiences become the foundation upon which conscious learning develops. Owing to the subconsciously accumulated knowledges and skills, the implicitly accumulated conscious lessons may be delivered in a manner that aids acquisition. Thus, implicit experiences are the basis of conscious learning, and the subconsciously acquired knowledge and skills can be triggered to become a resource that supports conscious learning, in which it may play an explicit role in knowledge acquisition. Thus, children’s experiences (jingyan) involve “doing” while simultaneously engaging with “jing.” Children, being inherently active and willing to try new things, are likely to not be aware of the occurrence of yan (“undergoing”). Instead of conscious interruption and reflection on their experiences, children view the world in a continuous and endless state, consequently forming a flow of experience. As such, “jing” also encompasses “observation” and “consideration.” In this way, children’s implicit experiences play a significant role in their lives. Nevertheless, education remains predominantly a conscious activity. Therefore, it becomes necessary to incorporate the implicit experiences into conscious education to facilitate learning in the education system. Scholars and practitioners have explored numerous ways to engage the implicit experiences and apply them to conscious learning. A simple approach is to condense the continuous flow of experiences into a single experience that has a beginning and an end so that it can be used as the objective focus of thought and can be transformed into a concept that represents an expression or notion (Turner et al., 1986). Unlike implicit experience—which is characterized as having fluidity and a collective state of being—the experience, as a singular concept, is an objective individual entity, which is extracted from the continuous flow of experiences so that it can be observed. For it to be extracted, the experience requires a definitive beginning and an end, which corresponds with the fact that an event is observed once it has already taken place. Thus, it is an experience from the past, and any significance associated with it does not lie in the event itself, nor the present, but other future experiences. Thus, the experience is one that is expressed with a describable subject or presented in another auxiliary form. Therefore, the challenge is to transform children’s implicit experiences into a singular experience. The new textbooks, developed by the present authors, employed life events as base components. As they occur within a finite period of time—thereby having a beginning and an end—they are considered a collection of individual experiences. For example, when communicating the idea of understanding one’s parents, the textbooks used the following life event: “In order to help me lose weight, my dad

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Fig. 2.1 Understanding our parents

walks to school with me every day, but I am so tired!” (Fig. 2.1). This is an extracted experience that is removed from the flow of experiences that children encounter when they are with their fathers. Due to the explicit presentation of the event in the textbook, the flow of experiences of being with their parents—which children are rarely aware of—is triggered to become an object of reflection, review, and understanding. Thus, the implicit experiences become a series of explicit experiences. Figure 2.1 In order to help me lose weight, my dad walks to school with me every day, but I am so tired! As mentioned earlier, although implicit experiences are of great significance, specific measures are required to make them explicit, before they can be transferred to the conscious level to play an active role in development. As implicit experiences are inherently indescribable, they cannot be used directly in textbooks. To overcome this limitation, in the new textbooks, life events were presented as individual experiences to trigger conscious reflection on implicit experiences. The included life events are morally significant because they follow an ethical narrative and were selected based on educational significance (Gao, 2017). However, the ability to convey morals is only one of the many functions of these life events. By arousing, activating, and extracting implicit experiences from the temporal flow of experiences, the life events are able to promote yan, which makes the experience whole. Consequently, experiences from the past, present, and future become intertwined, where the past experiences serve as a reference for the children’s present and future lives. In this sense, the textbook is not a theoretical system detached from children’s experiences but an integral component of growth that brings forward their experience as an individual entity to facilitate an educational bond.

2.2.2.2

Reconstructing Experiences Through Expression

The notion of eliciting and triggering implicit experiences is just the first of two integral steps. The next vital component is to narratively communicate or express the triggered experience. The relationship between experience and expression is

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complex. First, not all experiences can be expressed. In fact, experiences can be subdivided into expressible experiences and inexpressible experiences. From this perspective, experience is clearly greater in scope than expression. Many experiences exist only in tacit form, where they are unable to be converted explicitly into words or taught through action. Although this implies that one cannot force the expression of inexpressible experiences, it is not to say that inexpressible experiences cannot be highlighted. Once the inexpressible experiences have been triggered and brought forward to the conscious mind and their significance has been processed, they are subsequently used as the foundation for future experiences. The new textbooks implemented this by incorporating varied narratives from profound and enjoyable literature and corresponding thought exercises, which were selected to help students to recognize and value inexpressible experiences. These summoned experiences were subsequently required to be expressed, which necessitated effort and motive. Humans are social animals and thus have a predisposition to share experiences. The premise is that sharing is a process of expression. Only when the tacit experience is expressed in explicit form can it be known, understood, and further shared by others. In addition, people also have the tendency to reflect on and organize their experiences, and expression is the process of organizing that tacit experience into an explicit form. Furthermore, once the expressible experience has been expressed, it is reconstructed through re-expression. To express their singular experience, the children must distinguish the experience from their flow of experiences, which involves objectifying the tacit experience so that it has a beginning and an end. This process of conversion is, in essence, the organization and construction of the experience. This is a cycle of arousing a tacit experience, triggering it, converting it into an explicit form through expression, and subsequently communicating it to others. It should also be pointed out that explicit expression and tacit experience have a mutually facilitating relationship of co-construction. The explicit form of the expression is defined by the tacit nature of the experience, and the tacit experience forms the content of expression. Without the tacit base of experience and the inherent processes of conversion, there is no foundation for human expression. Equally so, when using children’s life events as a collection of singular experiences, one is undergoing a process of selection and organization of their general mass of experiences. In addition to triggering the learners’ personal experience, the selected narratives exemplify how the experiences may be expressed. Thus, they serve a secondary role as a guide for the method of expression, which can only function if the children are engaged with the narrative. To motivate and inspire children to undergo the process of expression, the textbooks included several reflective activities, such as contemplative questions that followed each story, which encourage children to express their experiences. For example, the story “How Wang Dong Overcame the Challenges of Riding a Bike” was followed with questions about learners’ experiences, such as “How did Wang Dong’s story inspire you?” and “Have you had any had to overcome any difficulties? Share that experience with your classmates” (Fig. 2.2). The questions serve as a bridge to transition from others’ experiences to the

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Fig. 2.2 The joy of overcoming the learning difficulties

learners’ experiences, where the former serves as the foundation for the expression of the latter. Translation of the characters in this Fig. 2.2, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows: [Wang:] Ouch! [Wang:] It’s too difficult! I don’t want to do it anymore. [Father?]: It’s okay, take your time. [Wang:] Finally! I got it! [Kid in yellow shirt:] How did Wang Dong’s story inspire you? Have you had any had to overcome any difficulties? Share that experience with your classmates. Another method adopted in the textbooks is to provide “blank pages” for the children to express their experiences. Past textbooks were generally full of content in their layout. However, the new textbooks reserved space on almost every page to encourage students to fill in the blanks by expressing their related experiences. The third main method used to support the expression of experiences involved combining the expression of one’s experiences with the interpretations and perceptions of the experience of others. While expressing one’s experiences is an organizational procedure that involves processing, the evaluation of others’ experiences requires comprehension and thus, entails re-converting the experience from explicit form back into a tacit experience. Another method used was to design the narratives

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in a manner in which the style and mode of expression are diversified. Similar to life, the dominant mode of expression used was verbal expression. Thus, textbook activities were designed with a heavy emphasis on the oral expression of experiences, which also facilitates in-class communication and interaction. However, experiences can also be expressed through images, which were used variably in the textbooks. Further, experiences can be expressed through action. This can be manifested by asking children to demonstrate actions and behaviors, and it serves as an intuitive mode of expression for children. For the experiences that are more contextually or situationally complex, the children are encouraged to express them both verbally and through actions. In addition to the act of sharing, expression gives experience new meaning, as can be seen in several ways. First, expression involves the organization and processing of experience, which is a reconstructive and reinforcing operation. In that sense, the process of expression is also one of experience accumulation, where the expression of experience lays the foundation for the accumulation of new experiences. If the implicit experience has latent significance to growth and development, the expression of the experience bears powerful significance. The expression of the experience defines the implicit experience and objectifies it, so that it can be processed and commanded by the conscious mind to serve as a preparatory force for acquiring subsequent experiences. Second, expression enhances one’s understanding and knowledge about oneself. Children acquire a range of experience-based skills in life, often without being aware of how the skill was acquired. Expressing the experience allows them to reflect on how they attained the knowledge and skills that they have, as well as those that they do not have or comprehend. Third, unexpressed experiences remain personal, while expressed experiences transform into interpersonal experiences, resultantly acquiring the ability to stimulate dialogue and encourage mutual understanding through sharing. The ability to understand and share others’ expressed experiences lays the foundation for children to develop social awareness, which is transformed into tacit social experience. Thus, although curriculums and textbooks should not ignore children’s experience, there is no reason to limit the narratives to children’s experiences only. Sociocultural and historical experiences can also significantly expand children’s social awareness. Thus, the ability to understand and reexperience others’ experiences draws together children’s personal experiences, social experiences, and historical experiences, consequently allowing children to prepare a base for their future experiences.

2.2.2.3

Encouraging Participation in the “Leap of Experience”

In a broad sense, participation can be regarded as a type of experience, or perhaps as a special form of experience. First, as previously mentioned, “experiencing” is the act of “doing” or of “seeing and hearing,” but in “participation,” experience can only be gained through “doing” something in person, and not through “seeing” or “hearing.” With that said, although experiences obtained through seeing and hearing do not require personal participation, the experiences are the foundation of participation.

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The experiences we acquire from others lay a framework for participation, which allows personal experiences to be acquired more easily. Second, experience can also be tacitly acquired, while participation is a conscious action that is accompanied by emotion. This demonstrates that experiences can be acquired without conscious awareness of the acquisitional process, while participation requires awareness of the experiences that are being engaged. Third, positive experiences that guide our behavior are often considered antonyms to the negative experiences that serve as life lessons. Thus, these educational experiences are consciously acquired. Positive experiences are often rationally processed and revered just as much as knowledge, therefore becoming semi-knowledge of sorts. On the other hand, the experiences acquired through participation in social activities are given emotional significance, which accumulatively contribute to a more meaningful life. Keeping this in mind, acquiring experience through participation entails two processes: the initial in-person doing and the subsequent mental and emotional development triggered by the action. Thus, participation-based experiences are a way to leapfrog the natural process of acquiring, isolating, and processing experiences. This process may be manifested in one of two ways. The first involves the reinforcement of the indirect tacit experiences acquired from seeing and hearing through the direct experience acquired from participation, which instantly transforms the indirect into direct and the implicit into explicit. The second is to extract meaning from the emotions embedded in the experience, which shifts a general sensory experience to emotional sense-making and sublimation. Both paths rely on subjective engagement to transform the experience into one that can be internalized by a child. Based on the premise of the nature of experience and the relationship between indirect experience and that obtained through participation, sections of the textbooks were carefully designed to facilitate the conversion of indirect experiences into direct ones. The core element of acquiring experience through in-person participation was incorporated through the “Activity Zone” that encourages “doing it in person.” Thus, the “Activity Zone” became an important category of activities, which included both in-class (such as individual, group, and class activities) and extracurricular and social learning activities (Gao, 2018). All the activities required personal participation from the children. The “in-person” activities, when successful, should stimulate reflection and trigger emotional responses. To effectively achieve such an outcome, a “transition step” was incorporated both before and after the activity section to ensure that the desired experience is acquired. This involved a large variety of methods. One method was scenario setting, which required the children to participate in the activities while being cognizant of certain questions. For example, to convey that children may inadvertently cause their parents trouble, the following scenario was set prior to the activity: “Our parents have a lot of things on their hands. We love our parents and want to help them by sharing some of their tasks. Although most of these things are beyond what we can do, we can help by controlling ourselves and not causing so much trouble!” The children are then asked to participate in the corresponding activity (Fig. 2.3). The second method involved extracting a singular experience from the “flow of experiences” so that they can further reflect on the experience and

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Fig. 2.3 Making less trouble for parents

substantiate the implications and feelings that they experienced through activities that present similar situations. The third frequently used method was to explicitly list the objectives and expected outcomes of the activities so that the children can participate in the activities with a clear goal in mind. For example, “If you were an online game designer, what technical measures would you devise to avoid the adverse effects of online games on young people? Feel free to use your imagination and express your ideas either in words or drawings” (Fig. 2.4). Translation of the characters in this Fig. 2.3, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows: In school: [Boy:] If I make sure that I have all that’s needed for school, I won’t need to trouble my parents by coming back with the things I forgot. At home: [Girl:] I shouldn’t eat so much ice cream, otherwise, I will get a tummy ache, and my family will worry about me.

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Fig. 2.4 How to overcome online games addiction

When playing [Boy in blue:] Xiao Liang, don’t go yet! Stay and play a bit more! [Boy in green:] I can’t! It’s late, and my family will be worried! [Boy in yellow:] Do you have any similar experiences? How do you think we could manage this ourselves? The translation of the characters in this Fig. 2.4, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows: Sometimes, it’s difficult to control ourselves being tempted by online games. In that sense, technological solutions are needed to prevent us from playing too much. Online game designer: If you were an online game designer, what technical measures would you devise to avoid the adverse effects of online games on young people? Feel free to use your imagination and express your ideas either in either words or drawings. 1. 2. 3.

The game automatically logs you out after more than 1 h of playing. Points accumulated through playing the game will be deducted from your account if the interval played is less than 1 day apart. …

The transition steps that follow the activities are mostly suggestive, such as hints that ask the students to reflect on the activity process, consider the influence of the activity on themselves, review the problems uncovered by the activity, assess the

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results and lessons learned, and place themselves in the position of the narrative’s protagonist. The transitions aimed to help children recognize the details of their experiences while simultaneously extracting meaning and emotional responses from them.

2.2.2.4

Converging Personal Experience and Social Culture

Ultimately, the purpose of incorporating learners’ experiences into education (including moral education curriculums and textbooks) is not to please the learners but to provide them with a foundation upon which the necessary experiences can be accumulated. Understanding the experiences of others is an essential part of children’s growth. We would even argue that personal experiences cannot exist in isolation from others’ experiences. This is due to several reasons. First, experience is cultural. Experiences are acquired and expressed through interaction with others in a given sociocultural setting. In addition, language is inseparable from the sociocultural background of experiences. Thus, language is in itself a sociocultural entity. Second, although experience is personal, the responses received, the way in which the experience resonates with others, and confirmation that the experience has been understood are important in determining and expanding the meaning of a given experience. Children’s growth is a process that requires continuous feedback. The children’s responses and actions—which are based on how the experience resonates with their experiences—form the basis that permits them to thrive. Third, the sharing of experiences among peers is a necessary condition for the accumulation of personal experiences. Feedback from peers is as important as feedback from adults and may be more effective in terms of its inherent ability to accumulate experience as it provides children with a sense of belonging. Peer interaction allows children to be aware that their experiences have been recognized and elevated to a group experience by their peers. Simultaneously, peer-based group experiences are more likely to resonate with one’s personal experiences. Thus, the group experience has the power to stimulate and nurture personal experience. Although children’s experiences grow over time, it is certainly as futile to expect a child to evolve a universe out of his own mere mind as it is for a philosopher to attempt that task (Dewey, 1902, p. 18). The role of education is to stimulate and nurture children’s growth and help them accumulate experience. Additionally, education is expected to introduce children to social culture in order to ensure their integration through personal experience. In that sense, education is the convergence of personal experience and social culture. Education enriches personal experience, reduces personal limitations, and promotes personal experience at a sociocultural level. Social culture, on the other hand, is consolidated through personal experience, where it blossoms. Hence, a moral education textbook design that consists solely of experiences and excludes sociocultural influences does not benefit children’s development or the nation’s sociocultural inheritance and advancement. Thus, the main dilemma was not whether social culture should be included in the textbooks, but how it could be

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combined with the personal experiences of children organically and effectively. One of the problems of past textbooks was that sociocultural knowledge was presented in an overly systematized manner, with no attempt to connect that knowledge to the children’s personal experiences, which resultantly created a rift between the two. Dewey, long aware of this danger, highlighted that the disciplines of natural science and teaching are starkly in contrast to one another. Natural science is built upon knowledge and truth, while teaching emphasizes the internalization of the historical achievements of man within any given stage of sociocultural development, so that they may be combined with children’s personal experiences. The main issue with past textbooks lies in that the two disciplines are indiscernible. The consequence of natural scientific disciplines being applied to teaching is that the embedded knowledge and skills remain distanced from children’s understanding and experiences (Dewey, 1994). Tragically, although this problem was initially presented by Dewey over 100 years ago, it still remains unresolved. Thus, our textbook compilation was characterized by an awareness for the continuity of experience, and we strived to shape the textbook into a “bridge of continuity” between the children’s experiences and the “experiences of others.” This positioning of experience as a “bridge of continuity” represents a break from the past, where textbooks were isolated from experiences, and instead endeavors to forge a bridge between the experiences of children and others using textbooks. The first strategy adopted was the inclusion of the sharing of experiences. In addition to the “Activity Zone,” the textbooks also included the “Communication Zone,” where children are encouraged to exchange experiences, viewpoints, and ideas. Although viewpoints and ideas are not technically experiences, they are formed through experience. Correspondingly, when two students encounter a similar problem, the solution to the problem for both students is likely to be different because the solutions are based on different experiences. By sharing their experiences, the students are likely to be inspired by the contrasting perspectives that are shared by their peers. For example, one notable “Communication Zone” topic was as follows: “Playing is an important way of learning. Share what you have learned from playing.” The activity encourages children to share their experiences of playing. Although the learners have different experiences, the basis of their experiences tends to be common because they are similarly aged. Such commonalities are the foundation of exchange because they facilitate mutual understanding and recognition among peers. Additionally, the differences in the experiences can inspire mutual learning, which enriches their personal experiences. In summary, the experiences embedded within the narratives in the textbooks were positioned between learners’ personal experiences and the shared experiences of their peers. Through the internalization of experiences, the learner’s personal experiences were extended to become a peer experience, while their peers’ experiences became embedded within the learners’ personal experience. Peer experience thus plays a pivotal role in the continuation of experience by bridging learners’ personal experiences with sociocultural experiences. Furthermore, although it is undeniable that all textbooks have a cultural value orientation and that educational goals are based on such an orientation, the projected

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goals should not be forced on to children directly. Instead, they should be indirectly introduced by utilizing children’s experiences. This was conveyed in the new textbooks through the incorporation of the experiences of peers, which allowed sociocultural experiences to be converted into experiences that could be comprehended by children while simultaneously extending their personal experiences to the social and cultural level. Therefore, social and cultural values can be directly linked to children’s experiences without an intermediary. Sociocultural values reflect the human spirit and include humans’ emotional experiences. Despite their relative immaturity, children are able to appreciate the embedded beauty of culture. Thus, narratives from both ancient and modern times that had both local and foreign adult protagonists were included in the new textbooks. Although these life events did not originate from children’s experiences, they were selected because they contained the virtues and emotions that children could relate to. The themed activities titled “Story House” and “Enjoy Reading” were designed specifically with this concept in mind. “Story House” is based on narration. Although the stories are about others, the values of virtue contained therein are written in a way that resonates with children. On the other hand, “Enjoy Reading” is based on emotional response, which leads children to empathize with others to facilitate their emotional development by means of the famous and beautiful literary works.

2.2.3 Conclusions: “The Textbooks that Engage Children” Michael Polanyi provided insight into the role experience plays in education. He stated the following: This assimilation of great systems of articulate lore by novices of various grades is made possible only by a previous act of affiliation, by which the novice accepts apprenticeship to a community which cultivates this lore, appreciates its values and strives to act by its standards. (Polanyi, 2000, p. 319)

In this context, the learners are the “novices,” and the textbooks are the “great system” of adult experience. According to Polanyi, for the learners to “assimilate” the educational goals of the textbooks, there must be “a previous act of affiliation.” This implies the need for the textbooks to be designed in a way that engages the children so that they become both supporters and constructors of the textbooks—committed to the co-construction of meaning. Therefore, the overarching challenge pertains to the measures applied to engage learners. As discussed above, if the textbooks are considered to be oppositional to the children during the learning process, they are more likely to be avoided and resented by the learners. In order to engage the learners, the content of the textbook should actively approach the learners’ mindsets. Dewey supported this argument by claiming that the effectiveness of a teacher is dependent on them being considered to

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be part of the same group as their students. This is achieved by engaging the students with experiences, not approaching them autocratically as an outsider. When education is based upon experience and educative experience is seen to be a social process, this situation changes radically. The teacher loses the position of an external boss or dictator but takes on that of leader of group activities. (Dewey, 2015b, p. 55)

The same concept also applies to textbooks. If textbooks do not engage children, they are likely to be seen as an outsider who is giving orders. In such a case, regardless of how intensely the children’s respect is demanded, the textbook’s authority is less likely to be recognized than when the children are engaged. If the latter is accomplished, the textbooks become part of the group, and the information therein guides rather than commanding the learners. Thus, the idea of incorporating children’s experiences into the new textbooks was an attempt to engage children. Their stories were utilized to enhance their involvement and help them reflect, express themselves, reconstruct their past experiences, learn from others’ experiences, and accumulate new experiences. The strategy of active engagement was our attempt to develop a “Chinese approach” to resolving the problem of the absence of an integrated link between moral education textbooks and children’s experiences.

2.3 A Poetic Approach to Writing Life-Oriented Moral Education Textbooks, Morality and Law Exploring methods to disseminate moral experience and wisdom in a modern way remains an ongoing task for contemporary moral education, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Although dedicated moral education courses have historically been deemed ineffective by moral education scholars such as Durkheim and Dewey, they may yet be the only choice in the modern era for secular countries such as China. After entering the new century, China’s moral education curriculum entered a new stage of exploration in both theory and practice. The reform of primary school textbooks provided moral education researchers an opportunity to intervene in moral education practices and uncover an intermediate path between direct and indirect moral education that would be suitable for China’s unique context (Gao, 2017). This intermediate path of “direct indirect” moral education was developed in accordance with the concept of “returning the cultivation of moral character to children’s lives.” The first set of the “life-oriented” textbooks—which were developed at the turn of the new century—introduced a new orientation and philosophy for moral education textbooks and demonstrated the possibility of designing a set of textbooks that aimed at children’s lives. These attempts and the experience accumulated through this process provided directional and operational guidance for future textbooks. In addition, the application of these textbooks to in-class teaching revealed the problems and deficiencies in the textbooks’ design, which consequently facilitated future improvement.

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However, as more effort is invested in writing the new set of moral education textbooks, the difficulties and challenges in achieving this goal are beginning to emerge. The main challenge concerns the way in which the textbooks—which contain static content—should be designed to resemble the dynamic lives of children. The difficulties in resolving this challenge are reflected in every stage of the writing process. However, advancements are made by maintaining an active and positive drive to find solutions, which are then applied to the new textbooks for Morality and Law. This section introduces how the editing team designed a writing strategy that involves a “poetic approach” and outlines the overall writing process.

2.3.1 Reforming the Writing Method: From “Copying” to “Imitating” 2.3.1.1

Comenius’ “Orbis Pictus (the Visible World in Pictures)”: Reproduction of Life

Explorations into teaching materials that appeal to the lives of the learners have been a preoccupation throughout the history of modern school textbooks. The first textbook specifically written for children was John Amos Comenius’ Orbis Pictus (The Visible World in Pictures), which used pictures, nomenclatures, and descriptions to introduce objects, events, and actions of mankind. The subsequent success of Orbis Pictus demonstrated that a life-oriented approach can be applied to educational materials. Using illustrations, the book presented both the visible and invisible aspects of human life,1 which included the natural world and daily, social, and moral life (Comenius, 2009). In that sense, the book was almost a miniature encyclopedia for children. Peter Menck (2001) highlighted that Orbis Pictus is essentially “the symbolic representation of reality: texts, pictures, and all kinds of things refer to reality; they symbolize everyday life, the social practice of humankind” (p. 272). Using pictures and descriptions, Comenius managed to reproduce human world within the confines of a textbook through a groundbreaking approach to both the type of content and the way it was presented. Reflecting on Comenius’ method in the compilation of Orbis Pictus is highly informative for our compilation of moral education textbooks based on the concept of “returning to life.” Comenius structured the textbook with categories of “highresolution snapshots” of society to present a scaled-down version of human world. According to Comenius (2009), furnishing “young wits” with such “true, full, clear, 1 The invisible side of human life can be said to exist in the illustrations that were attached to classical

western moral stories. For example, for the introduction to “moral philosophy” an illustration of Hercules was presented, who was standing at a crossroad between vice and virtue and attempting to decide which path to take. Another example was the concept of “justice,” which was explained using an illustration of the goddess Themis, who was blindfolded and holding a pair of scales and a sword.

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and solid” teaching was conducive to “expelling rudeness.” However, such optimism concealed the unspoken preconditions and hidden difficulties in writing and designing such materials. Firstly, Comenius’ reproduction approach to compilation is almost equivalent to the writer boasting that he has complete knowledge and all truths related to his subject matter, that is, the entire realm of human life. Therefore, he is able to present the “truth” of life with great certainty to the children through his text. However, is it possible that the writer possesses complete knowledge and absolute truth about life? Secondly, this approach implies that by merely viewing the lifeworld depicted in the textbooks, children will be able to correctly perceive and understand the human lifeworld, and hence learn how to live their lives. However, the question remains, are students truly able to perceive and understand human life by learning about it in textbooks? Thirdly, Comenius’ method of compiling textbooks depicts the human lifeworld by naming things and describing their functions. Such an approach presents the world in the third person and hence regards the life as the object of study and research. Children who read such textbooks are akin to bystanders of the human lifeworld, watching the world perform from a transcendent viewpoint. This “bystander” viewpoint will no doubt increase the children’s life knowledge, but will such life knowledge truly help them to live their lives? It is as though we are asking if increasing a student’s knowledge on swimming will truly help them swim. The reflections above on Comenius’ methods can help us to clarify what approach of textbook compilation we should adopt in order to truly return to children’s lives, and help them live a good life.

2.3.1.2

Breakthrough in Writing: Imitating Children’s Lives

The aforementioned challenges are unavoidable during the process of writing a textbook. To determine a writing method that fits the requirements for textbook writing and also the characteristics of children’s life, certain boundaries of conventional textbook writing should be removed. By adopting a classical poetic approach, the editing team was able to unfold a pathway that combined the dynamic nature of children’s lives with the static nature of images and texts. Based on the concept of “imitation” in poetic narrative, the textbooks were designed to imitate children’s lives. Distinct from the definition of imitation in modern psychology, which posits imitation as a reproduction of a similar act, this conceptualization extends from poetics. For Aristotle, poetics can be regarded as “imitations” and its nature is “to make.” In Poetics, Aristotle (2002) probes the full meaning of poetics: “first to make or do and secondarily to make poetry.” The nature of poetics is the action or activity of imitation, which has three aspects: namely, the medium, the objects, and the manner or mode of imitation. To make poetry is to imitate the essential, archetypal speeches and actions selected from the whole life of a human being in order to explore the possibility of life, purify emotions, and gain insights into how to live. Considering this understanding of mimesis, creating moral education textbooks is also a poetic action.

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In Poetics, Aristotle (1994) propounded that “the objects of imitation are men in action” and that imitation is the creation of “what may happen—what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity” to present “things as they ought to be.” On that account, a poetic approach involves the imitation of children’s activities, thinking, and feelings in real life. Rather than imitating existing experiences and practical scenarios, the textbooks should instead create a world that children should have and can achieve. In other words, moral education teachings that are aimed at life should present the possibilities of life. Thus, the next challenge naturally concerns how poetics can be applied to imitate children’s lives.

2.3.2 Challenges of Writing Life-Oriented Moral Education Textbooks Writing a set of life-oriented moral education textbooks is a challenging task due to the fundamental contradiction between the static nature of the textbooks and the dynamic nature of children’s lives. Reflecting the dynamism of life through static design and ensuring that such a design suits the characteristics of children’s lives and also the requirements of textbooks were the main focus of the editing team.

2.3.2.1

Challenge 1: Adapting to the Qualities of Children

Children’s lives are characterized as being “eventless,” “continuous,” “dynamic,” and “inward.” In this context, “eventless” does not imply that nothing happens in children’s lives but rather that children do not perceive the occurrences in life as being individual events. In their view, the events that occur in life are interrelated and overlapping. This part of the discussion about the “eventless” of children’s life draws on Fang Huirong’s research results. See for details, Fang (2003). Therefore, it is difficult to define the boundaries between events or extract an event from the seemingly disorganized and mutually inclusive occurrences. Thus, children perceive life as being eventless. The eventless nature of life makes it difficult for children to find specific reflection objects. Thus, they believe that there is nothing to reflect upon. In addition, limited by their linguistic abilities, children tend to find it difficult to describe life. Hence, they often believe that there is nothing to say about life. Therefore, designing the textbooks in a way that helps children organize, reflect, and talk about life events is an integral part of the first design challenge. Furthermore, children’s lives are continuous and dynamic. A textbook can only capture snapshots of moments and fragments of life. It cannot encompass life’s continuous and dynamic nature. Occurrences in life are not stationary. An occurrence originates from other occurrences and subsequently triggers the emergence of other occurrences. Imitating such a steady stream of dynamic occurrences is another aspect of this challenge. Finally, children’s lives are characterized by an invisible inwardness, defined by man’s nature as an inward being (Taylor, 2001). Thus, despite their age, children have

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their inner world, and their lives include both explicit activities—words and actions— and implicit activities—feelings, thoughts, and emotions. These internal processes resemble a “black box,” and it is a laborious challenge to interpret these processes into explicit symbols such as words or pictures. Understanding the functioning of a child’s inner life is yet another aspect of the aforementioned challenge. Collectively, these characteristics must be considered during the writing process.

2.3.2.2

Challenge 2: Adapting to the Textbook Style

Another challenge originated from the characteristics of textbooks in themselves. Rooted in the word “text,” “textbook” originally means “something woven,” which implies a specific form and structure. Therefore, textbooks are texts with a specific structure, which is often manifested as units, lessons, and narratives. If writing a textbook is likened to the process of tailoring, the textbook’s style is the cutting (selecting) and designing of the fabric (content) so that the style meets the expected requirements. However, this process raises some key questions. Specifically, are there selection criteria that allow easy selection and categorization of the materials? If so, how can we ensure that such selection is not a mechanized process? More importantly, would such an approach end up objectifying the learning context, ultimately alienating children and making the content irrelevant? As textbooks that portray children as passive observers cannot truly meet the goal of “returning the cultivation of moral character to children’s lives,” ensuring that the output simultaneously meets the needs of children and effective textbook writing is the second challenge. Thus, the limitations of existing textbook writing methods should be addressed, and a creative and fresh approach should be explored.

2.3.3 Innovating Writing Methods in Morality and Law: Three Imitation Strategies Three imitation strategies were applied while writing the textbook to resolve the aforementioned problems: using children’s life events as a raw input, building textual mechanisms that reveal the “whole picture,” and designing learning activities that engage children.

2.3.3.1

Using Children’s Life Events as a Raw Input

As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, children perceive life as being eventless and find it difficult to reflect on and describe life, while poetic imitation requires the imitation of “man in action.” In that sense, imitation refers to the emulation of selected meaningful and instructional action or intention that is representative of human life (Davis, 2012). Thus, adopting a poetic imitation approach entails the imitation of educational and meaningful actions from the seemingly disorganized and

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indistinguishable events within children’s lives. The imitation process is in essence a process of construction, and the construction components (raw inputs) are children’s life events. Specifically, three types of life events were included in the new textbooks: temporal, spatial, and content-based events. These life events were defined by their clear temporal and spatial position, as well as by specific content that can help children develop a sense of the event while presenting the open possibilities of life.

Temporal Events The construction of temporal life events implies the use of natural and social timescales (Elias, 2006). In either case, the goal was to help children develop a sense of time so that they can learn how to arrange their life activities and events accordingly and order and organize their daily lives. In the textbooks designed for the younger students, natural time (seasons) is used as an indicator to arrange events. For example, the textbook of the first semester of grade 1 included the lesson “Have a Healthy Winter,” which focuses on events that are related to winter, such as winter sports and games, warm clothing, ways of keeping warm, and preventing and treating common winter diseases, so as to enable children to develop a winter routine through an informed understanding of winter conditions. Other seasons are introduced in a similar fashion to provide younger children with a natural timescale that is both complete and has associated events. Modern society is largely dependent on social time, which tends to be more detailed and precise in comparison with the extensiveness and fuzziness of natural time. The lesson “The 10-Minute Breaks” was designed to imitate how children spend their 10-minute breaks at school. The 10-minute breaks are small yet vital components of school life, and each child has their preferred way of utilizing these breaks. Some students prefer to play games and socialize with peers, while others prefer to review what they learned during the previous class. Visiting the bathroom and drinking water are activities that are also meant to be completed during breaks. In addition, the students are usually asked to use the break time to prepare for the next class (such as previewing the lesson material and preparing necessary stationery). Thus, many activities are expected to be completed during the seemingly short 10minute break. The lesson aims to guide children to better organize their 10-minute break and ensure that all necessary activities can be completed (Fig. 2.5). The lesson “The School Rules” introduces the school bell as a signifier of time at school and helps children build a connection between the different sounds and school activities, in order to facilitate their adaptation to the institutionalized schedule. Translation of this Fig. 2.5, from top to bottom, left to right is as follows: What else should we do during the break?

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Fig. 2.5 What else should we do during the break?

Spatial Events In this context, space refers to not only a specific area or location but also a community of practice for children to develop corresponding experience (Bourdieu, 2003). The spatial events were selected to reflect children’s thoughts, words, and intentions in a controlled environment to help them distinguish between the various ways in which they are expected to talk and behave in different social contexts. The main framework of the textbooks for older students was constructed based on the idea of expanding the living spaces from their immediate family to the school, community, nation, and

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world. The following paragraphs introduce the process used to develop the spatial events, demonstrated within the school and public environments. School is the first institutionalized space that children encounter when they leave their most familiar life domain—the home. When first entering school, children generally find it difficult to adapt. Therefore, the corresponding units were designed to help students familiarize themselves with the rules and norms of school life. The selected events incorporated a human perspective to the functional school building blocks, in order to build emotional connection and introduce the expected behaviors and interpersonal communication skills needed, which helps the children understand their position in the school system. Learning is the first and the most representative activity of the school environment. Children should thus be trained with the necessary skills to maximize learning efficiency, which was consequently the focus of the related units. In this instance, instead of emphasizing academic performance, the lessons aimed to help children establish an attitude of comprehensively absorbing lessons from life. For example, the textbook for grade 3 included the lesson, “I Learn, and I am Happy,” which focused on learning mentalities, pathways, experiences, attitudes, methods, and activities to foster positive learning perspectives and attitudes. Further, it aimed to train them to be the master of their learning experience by reinforcing and exploring a sense of confidence based on the notion that “everyone can learn well.” Public areas are another environment that spatial events covered. It aimed to guide children toward establishing a sense of public awareness, public concept, and appropriate public behaviors. Specifically, the textbook introduced the use of public facilities, caring for public environment, and observing public norms and rules so as to enable children to form a sense of public space, become more aware and respectful of public rules, and observe the order and regulations that define the appropriate behavior for the context.

Content-Based Life Events The “eventless” nature of children’s lives is often mistaken by adults as being plain and trivial. Thus, some textbook writers prefer to use more “significant” events, such as heroic behaviors of other children and impactful affairs of the adult world, to replace the “ordinary” events of children’s lives. However, as such narratives are unique and often incidental encounters, despite their glamor, they lack the paradigmatic significance and sense of relatedness to children’s lives. Hence, approaches that impose the scripts of others or the envisioned narratives of adults onto children are not recommended. Thus, the textbooks developed concentrated primarily on the daily events that surround every child’s life, such as eating, dressing, living, playing, and commuting. Additionally, other activities and interpersonal communication in social contexts, such as at home, school, and in their community, were also explored. These events may appear trivial and ordinary, but they are presented in a way that can stimulate children to discover and explore the singularities, distinctive features, and

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Fig. 2.6 Meet our friends

surprising facts of ordinary life, which teaches them to appreciate what surrounds them. A detailed outline of the method is described below. First, it is important to define the seemingly ordinary objects, behaviors, and occurrences to encourage children to discover the significance of life’s details and the beauty of a shared connection with others. For example, a behavior expressing care contains a unique art form conveying care; each purchase contains a lesson on how to make purchase decisions, and each toy is the collaborative effort involving physical labor and other manufacturing processes, such as design, production, transportation, and sales. The second method involves the design of events from an anthropomorphic perspective. This approach aims to provide children with a contrasting perspective and the opportunity to experience the “lives” of the objects, to help them develop a sense of care and awareness of their environment and the lesser consequential parts of life. Examples of this method include considering the experience of how a plastic bag drifts on water, the life cycle of food waste, and our friends: “bench” and “trash-bin” (Fig. 2.6). The anthropomorphic approach to serious moral issues facilitates children’s understanding of the issues and enhances their awareness of the significance of the issues present in our everyday life. Further, it imparts values to the children, raises their awareness of the harm certain human behaviors may cause to the environment, and teaches them how to approach these problems more effectively. Translation of this Fig. 2.6, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows:

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Fig. 2.7 To be grateful for their work

Meet Our Friends There are many friends that are silently providing their services and helping to us in our communities, villages, streets, and parks… Do you know them? Whenever you want to take a break, or when walking in the park, I open my arms and welcome you to take a rest on my lap! When you want to throw away what’s in your hand, I happily tell you to “give it to me and keep the street clean!” The third method uses questions and hypothetical scenarios to stimulate interest and curiosity, so that they can discover new knowledge and observe new phenomena in the world around them. Examples of such questions include, “why is our village called ‘Wang’s Village’?” (exploring the history behind certain phenomena) and “why do couples give ‘red eggs (happy eggs)’ to friends and relatives when a baby is born?” (discovering the origin of customs and traditions). Examples of the hypothetical scenarios used include “Little Ding-Dong’s trip to a country with no public amenities” (learning to understand and appreciate the value of public amenities) and “a day without advertising” (being skeptical and cautious about the information presented in advertisements). The fourth method uses hands-on practice to facilitate the realization of how different lives feel. Examples of this method include pretending to be a chef and shaking a wok for a few minutes or being a courier and delivering a package to a designated person within a limited timeframe (Fig. 2.7). These examples allow

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Fig. 2.8 Problems brought by the development of transport

children to realize that everyday jobs are not as easy as they look. In addition, children are encouraged to use their senses to recognize problems, such as the impact of traffic on the environment (Fig. 2.8). Thus, rather than simply being told of the problems, their sensory awareness is stimulated. The translation of this Fig. 2.7, from top to bottom is as follows: Practical Activity Let’s feel what it’s like to work in different professions!

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Chefs make us delicious food. Their job involves holding the wok, stirring and flipping the food. This seemingly easy action needs to be repeated at least a thousand times per day! Let’s try to do it for just 2 minutes! The mailperson delivers mail and packages to us every day. Their job involves contacting the receiver, delivering the item, and asking for the receivers’ signature to confirm. Let’s deliver 2 packages to 2 different receivers on campus and ask for their signatures! This has to be done within 10 minutes! Translation of this Fig. 2.8, from top to bottom is as follows: Problems Brought by the Development of Transport The rapid development of transport has made our lives increasingly convenient. But it also brings us problems that require our attention. Listen! What does the continuous honking make you feel? Would you prefer it more if it was non-stop bird song? Smell! What do you smell at a junction with heavy traffic? What’s the difference between that smell and the smell in the parks and fields? Count! How many parking lots are there in your community? What could that space be used for if it were not used to park cars? Think! How do you feel when the bus you take is caught in a traffic jam? The temporal, spatial, and content-based life events included in the textbooks also aimed to assist children in learning to construct their life events by forming personal narratives with events that are worth remembering, reflecting on, and sharing with others. This strategy converged the scattered events in children’s lives into units, lessons, and lesson sections. They shifted the structure of the textbooks from a knowledge-based to a life event-based framework, consequently fulfilling social and educational needs and orienting the textbooks toward a focus on life.

2.3.3.2

Building Textual Mechanisms that Reveal the “Whole Picture”

Children’s lives are characterized by gradual development, which is facilitated by both ordinary and unique life events. Reflecting on and capturing the entire scope of such life fragments is not an easy task. However, instead of attempting to ensnare a net of fragmented actions, poetic simulation is able to frame action as a complete structure (Davis, 2012, p. 3). This unified structure includes both the cause and effect of action, thereby stimulating insight from the rectitude of the action. A major challenge of this technique is framing the action in a way that shows the complete structure of the action. In this regard, certain textual mechanisms (the embedded timing, scenes, texts, physical actions, and special events of the action) must be incorporated to reveal the “whole picture.” For example, when introducing dishonest behavior, in addition to showing how the child lied and how they were condemned for doing so, the narrative also included the mental processes, thoughts, and feelings of the child, as well as the behavioral consequences of telling a lie. Thus, the “whole picture” (cause and effect) of the

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lie-telling behavior was revealed. This level of insight is rarely observable in real life. Thus, the textual mechanisms within the narrative stimulate self-reflection. The lesson, “I am Honest” (second semester of grade 3), tells the story of Xiao Wen boasting to his classmates about having “beautiful” goldfish at home (Fig. 2.9). In reality, since they had insufficient background information or the opportunity to directly verify Xiao Wen’s assertion, the classmates would have been unlikely to determine if he lied about having a goldfish. This would have made the event less

Fig. 2.9 Please help him

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educational. In order to make the event instructional and educational, the story was designed with the plot where a classmate suggested that they go meet this “amazing” goldfish. The use of this narrative element facilitates the introduction of motives and the consequences of telling lies. It also highlights Xiao Wen’s introspection and the lessons he learned from the experience. In addition to showing undesirable behaviors, the holistic presentation of actions allows children to explore the motives and consequences of certain conduct and reflect upon their behavior. By attaining such a comprehensive understanding of the motives and consequences of misconduct, the children are able to transform their behavior. Translation of this Fig. 2.9, from top to bottom, left to right is as follows: Please Help Him! Sometimes we can’t help telling lies. But why? Let’s help this student figure out the reason! [Boy in blue stripes:] I have several beautiful goldfish at home! [Girl in yellow dress:] Let’s go to your place after school to take a look! Xiao Wen is a very enthusiastic person. One day, his classmates were all talking about the pets they have at home. Xiao Wen didn’t have goldfish at home, but … Xiao Wen regretted what he had said. He told the lie so that he didn’t “lose face” in front of his classmates. Now he feels embarrassed. And, although he has since promised not to tell any more lies, his classmates refuse to believe him or play with him since he told that lie. Xiao Wen is really upset. Can you help him solve the problem? 1. 2. 3.

Why did Xiao Wen say that he has goldfish at home? What do you imagine happened after the girl suggested that they go to his place to look? What do you think his classmates thought of him after this incident? What have you learned from this story?

2.3.3.3

Designing Learning Activities that Engages Children

As “inward” beings, children need to feel a deep sense of connection with the textbooks before they are able to gain an understanding of their mental processes—which enables them to develop a positive mindset. Several learning activities were designed to assist this goal. First, the textbooks included activities that recognized the existence of children’s inner world. For example, in the lesson “I am Unique” (second semester of grade 3), the concept of “secret” was introduced as a means to reveal this inner world. In addition to physical activities, the textbooks also encouraged the children to think and reflect upon their inner realities. A reading corner is one such example that was designed to guide children to think and feel in a quiet environment. While designing the activities, considerable effort was invested into ensuring that a sense of respect was maintained for the children’s inner world. Self-reflection was the most common approach to such a process. For example, when introducing the concept of the “secret” inner-self, children were only asked to reflect on their secret world, not

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to share it with others. There were also activities that asked children to consider if they had ever damaged public property or failed to keep a promise. However, they were not required to reveal such misconduct to the class. In addition to revealing the existence of an inner world, the activities also aimed to guide children to establish a positive orientation toward their inner world. This involves guiding children to reflect on and arrange their thoughts in order to better understand their mental processes, which is a crucial component of bringing poetic imitation to children’s lives. The lesson “Learn to Reflect” (second semester of grade 6) was designed to introduce the concept of reflection and to help children consciously reflect on their words and intentions by replaying the memories of certain events in their minds.2 In addition, similar reflective activities were introduced to reinforce the effectiveness of other topics (such as when introducing honesty, trustworthiness, bullying, and intolerance), so as to help build awareness of the mental states of all parties involved. The aforementioned strategies helped resolve the predicaments faced in writing moral education textbooks and established a more intimate connection between the textbooks and children’s lives. Although several studies, surveys, and interviews were conducted during the early stages of textbook writing, the completed work still contained certain limitations and problems. Additionally, the editing team regularly encountered challenges and difficulties during the seven-year writing process. Nevertheless, the strategy of poetic imitation can be applied outside of the current context and can contribute to the development of future textbooks in China.

References Ackerman, D. (2008). A natural history of love (M. Zhang, Trans.). Huacheng Publishing House. Agamben, G. (2011). Infanzia e storia: Distruzione dell’esperienza e origine della storia [Infancy and history: The destruction of experience] (X. Yin, Trans.). Henan University Press. Aristotle. (1994). Complete works of Aristotle (Vol. 9) (L. T. Miao, et al., Trans.). China Renmin University Press. Aristotle. (2002). Aristotle on poetics (S. Benardete & M. Davis, Trans.). St. Augustine’s Press. Berger, A. A. (2000). Narratives in popular culture, media, and everyday life (Y. Yao, Trans.). Nanjing University Press. Bourdieu, P. (2003). The logic of practice (Z. H. Jiang, Trans.). Yilin Press. Comenius, J. A. (2009). Orbis Pictus [Visible world in pictures]. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Orbis Pictus. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28299.htm. Accessed 20 September 2017. Davis, M. (2012). The poetry of philosophy: On Aristotle’s poetics (M. Z. Chen, Trans.). Huaxia Publishing Co., Ltd. Dewey, J. (1902). The child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Dewey, J. (1994). The school and society & schools of tomorrow (X. L. Zhao, Trans.). People’s Education Press. Dewey, J. (2015a). The collected works of John Dewey The Later Works of John Dewey (Vol. 11) (Z. F. Zhu, Trans.). East China Normal University Press.

2 This

view was proposed by Professor Lu Jie in a discussion about the compilation of this lesson.

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Dewey, J. (2015b). The collected works of John Dewey The Later Works of John Dewey (Vol. 13). (P. Feng et al., Trans.). East China Normal University Press. Elias, N. (2006). On civilization, power, and knowledge: Selected writings (J. L. Liu, Trans.). Nanjing University Press. Fang, H. R. (2003). The “eventless state” and “reality” in the living world: Memories on the social life of Xicun peasants during land reform. Chinese Sociology (2), 282–371. Gao, D. S. (2017). Narrative ethics and life events: An attempt to solve the dilemma of moral education textbook. Global Education, 46(8), 56–66. Gao, D. S. (2018). Yi Xuexi Huodong wei Hexin Goujian Xiaoxue “Daode yu Fazhi” Jiaocai [Constructing the primary school textbooks for “morality and rule of law”: Learning activities]. Journal of the Chinese Society of Education (1), 1–8. Liu, F. T. (2013). Duwei de Jingyan Gainian Chongshi [A reinterpretation of Dewey’s concept of experience]. Jianghai Academic Journal (1), 14–22. Liu, X. F. (1999). Chenzhong de Roushen: Xiandaixing Lunli de Xushi Weidu [The heavy body: The narrative texture of modern ethics]. Shanghai People’s Press. Menck, P. (2001). The formation of conscience: A lost topic of Didaktik. Curriculum Studies, 33(3), 261–275. Plato. (2002). The Republic (B. H. Guo et al., Trans.). Commercial Press (Original work published ca. 376 BCE). Polanyi, M. (2000). Personal knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy (Z. M. Xu, Trans.). Guizhou People’s Publishing House. Taylor, C. (2001). Sources of the self: The making of modern identity (Z. Han et al., Trans.). Yilin Press. Turner, V. W., Bruner, E. M., & Geertz, C. (1986). The anthropology of experience. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Chapter 3

Learning-Centered Moral Education in Textbooks and Teaching Practices

The new moral education curriculum emphasizes the concept of “moral learning,” which is not only embodied in the new moral education textbook, Morality and Law, but also in the guidance offered to the teaching approach and teacher’s outlook in the new curriculum. This chapter presents the way in which learner-centered moral education was incorporated in the new textbooks, teaching materials, and teaching practices. The first section introduces how the textbooks were designed to facilitate moral learning. In the second section, we explore how the new moral education textbooks themselves are used to guide teachers in conducting teaching activities centered on the students’ moral learning. Finally, the third section discusses the possibility of redeveloping the identity of moral educators in accordance with learning-centered moral education.

3.1 Constructing Morality and Law with Learning Activities 3.1.1 The Theoretical Positioning of the Textbooks Due to their specific attributes, the moral education textbooks written for primary schools (Morality and Law) serve multiple important purposes, the fulfillment of which relies on clear and accurate theoretical positioning.

3.1.1.1

Textbooks should Conform to Educational Logic

Institutional education relies on educational media to fulfill educational goals. Textbooks are a crucial medium for both learning and teaching, the absence of which is likely to negatively affect the effectiveness of learning and teaching activities. In that respect, textbooks should address two questions: (1) What are we learning and teaching? and (2) How should we learn and teach it? The first question entails content © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Gao et al., Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks, Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1937-3_3

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selection, which is performed by determining the validity and scientific quality of the content. The second question involves selecting the method of both teaching and learning, which are evaluated in accordance with their appropriateness for the context. Past editions of the textbooks have tended to focus solely on content selection, while overlooking the learning and teaching methods. Thus, teachers and students were forced to blindly seek corresponding methods. In that sense, the textbooks were only “half-finished.” An important endeavor in the context of the new curriculum reform is to develop textbooks that are “complete.” Given that the textbooks for Morality and Law should consider moral education goals, content selection is paramount. However, in past editions, writers and editors appeared to insufficiently engage with the goals and instead worked under the assumption that the textbooks are appropriately designed as long as their content is accurate. It may not be easy to admit to such a misunderstanding, but the subconscious influences of such a mindset are present throughout the textbook. The origins of such influences are clear. Morality and Law is a comprehensive curriculum, and the content included in the textbooks covers a range of disciplines. Experts of each discipline stand by their specialist perspectives and require the content to be designed in accordance with their disciplinary logic. Many such experts believe that the structure of the textbooks is built around an academical logic of the discipline itself, with the texts holding the expert’s views and illustrations and other materials that serve as supporting evidence. However, such approaches are distortions of the original educational goals, which result in misleading outcomes rather than educational accomplishments. The content of Morality and Law must, unquestionably, be accurate and scientific. However, in the special field of textbook compilation, whether the content is accurate and scientific or not is not only depend on the content itself, but also on the compatibility that the content is suitable for students. If the content is beyond students’ understanding, regardless of how accurate or valid it may be, it would be seen as inaccurate and unscientific from the perspective of the teaching and learning process. Nonetheless, even the suitability of content selection mentioned above merely lays the groundwork for textbook compilation. The textbooks should not only be contextually appropriate and defined within the limits of the students’ comprehension but also stimulate their desire to learn and explore and simultaneously guide the learning process. While content-centered designs may present the corresponding knowledge in accordance with disciplinary standards, they may not be appropriate for the unique contexts of moral education. This is because content-centered designs are usually bound by the disciplinary structure of their own knowledge system, where each concept is thoroughly presented and elucidated. Although such an approach covers all necessary information, it disregards the variance in the cognitive development and learning capacity of students across age groups, who view and understand topics differently. Typically, knowledge should be introduced progressively in a manner

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that complements the cognitive maturity of the learner. For example, a contentcentered approach may define the concept of “honesty” based on an ethical formulation, without differentiating the content as per the age of the learner. As a result, the learners lack the opportunity to increasingly integrate honesty into their moral character as they progress through each grade. In this sense, both content and methodology are complementary yet equally vital factors in the successful development of a functional textbook. However, teaching methods conform more to educational logic and facilitate learning and teaching, while content follows a disciplinary logic. Thus, we can argue that although verifying the accuracy and scientific quality of content is a minimum requirement for all textbooks, ensuring the effectiveness of its teaching and learning methods should be an obligation for a textbook of a higher standard.

3.1.1.2

Textbooks are Essentially Learning Materials

Improving the effectiveness of learning and teaching is a core concept of textbooks, and the competence of textbooks should be evaluated accordingly. However, there remain questions concerning the relationship between learning and teaching, particularly whether textbooks should emphasize one of the two orientations or whether they should always be equally combined. A teaching orientation implies that the content is structured in a manner that is most convenient for teachers and the teaching process, often at the expense of the learning process. For example, a common structure for moral education textbooks has been the “moral + story” approach, which served as a ready-made teaching model. This essentially involves presenting a moral and a supporting story. Although such a design facilitates the teaching process, it does not encourage the students to participate or explore the concept, nor does it verify or define their degree of understanding of the topic. Thus, a change in approach is needed to position textbooks as learning materials rather than solely teaching materials. As learning materials, textbooks guide learning and encourage exploration. The content would therefore need to be designed in a manner that includes the experiences of the learner, while encouraging the organization, communication, and application of the acquired knowledge and skills to facilitate understanding. As learning materials, textbooks should organize content in a way that helps students to determine a suitable learning method. When engaged in this fashion, children are naturally motivated to explore topics owing to their own interest in the knowledge being imparted. However, as children are undergoing radical shifts in cognitive development, they require guidance during this exploration process. Concurrently, as learning materials, textbooks should facilitate independent exploration, allow emotional input, promote cognitive understanding, and stimulate their self-expression and communication of understanding. This new emphasis naturally raises the concern that teachers may encounter difficulties when attempting to teach the content, which would hinder the teaching process. However, such concerns can be resolved by redefining teaching. If teaching

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is interpreted as a process that delivers instruction and indoctrination, then a learningoriented approach is an obstacle. However, when teaching is interpreted as a process that supports, assists, coordinates, and guides learning activities, textbooks become learning materials that serve as a pathway to effective teaching.

3.1.1.3

Textbooks are Essentially the Learning of Morals

Morality and Law is a comprehensive curriculum with moral education as its core. However, whether morals can actually be taught is an unresolved question that has plagued moral education for thousands of years. Socrates held a skeptical attitude toward sophists who claimed to be able to teach virtue. However, despite his strong criticisms of the teachability of virtue, he was eventually accused of poisoning the minds of the youth due to his influence in educating virtue. Although it appears to be a contradiction to doubt others’ ability to teach virtue while simultaneously teaching virtue, Socrates’ teaching style contrasted the Sophist approach, because he utilized a teaching method that reminded, stimulated, and facilitated introspection, self-reflection, and self-understanding in his students, which helped them to learn about morality by themselves. In fact, he famously described his work as an “art of midwifery,” allowing him to facilitate the birth of truth (Plato, The Theaetetus). Despite the temporal and geographic distance between them, Confucius and Socrates shared a similar approach to moral education. Confucius’s instructional mentality was informed by the following philosophy: “I enlighten only the enthusiastic; I guide only the fervent” (Confucius, The Analects: Shu’er) Thus, this can also be interpreted as an approach that focused on stimulating interest and assisting the learning process. The differences between the two philosophers lie in the specific methods they adopted. Socrates preferred dialogue, refutation, and stimulation as instructional tools, whereas Confucius preferred to enlighten his students through guidance and by being an example to them. Observing these philosophers helps us understand that the relationship between the teaching and learning of morals can be analyzed from multiple dimensions. Primarily, if morals cannot be taught, they can still be learned. Humankind is defined by morals, and thus it can be stated that humans are moral beings that have moral potential and the ability to learn morals. Second, as a growing discipline, moral education must prioritize the learning of morals over the teaching of moral knowledge. A sole emphasis on teaching and teachers’ needs results in the learners’ needs and the educational goal of learners acquiring moral behaviors being overlooked, which renders such an approach to be unqualified and unethical. Third, if morals can be taught, the manner in which they are taught should be highlighted. Moral education is a necessary foundation for students’ absorption of moral behaviors. The youth have the need, the potential, and the internal motivation to learn moral behaviors. Concurrently, as society has advanced, the collective experiences of mankind have burgeoned, which allows today’s youth to learn from historical experiences. Furthermore, growth is a process that entails a struggle between various forces and temptation; hence, appropriate support and guidance from older generations are needed to

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prevent the youth from pursuing destructive life paths. Finally, the purpose of moral education is to cultivate the students’ ability to engage in independent moral learning, to the point where they no longer require the assistance of their teachers, and hence moral education can be withdrawn. In fact, moral education should be withdrawn as soon as possible. Moral education can thus be essentially summarized as the process of guiding, assisting, and supporting the learning of moral character. Therefore, moral education curriculums and textbooks should be positioned in a manner that permits them to play the role of a facilitator. Autonomous learning is relatively unlikely if textbooks are positioned as superior to students’ own perspectives and are designed in a way that forcefully imparts knowledge. Well-designed textbooks should be constructed with reference to the moral dilemmas encountered by the learners and should include topics and concepts that engage them, stimulate their desire for learning and exploration, and guide their learning and exploration of the core themes. In addition, the accumulated experiences of mankind should be a reference, as they provide a wealth of autonomous learning opportunities to choose from.

3.1.2 Constructing Morality and Law with Learning Activities In order to ensure that sufficient learning activities were adequately incorporated into Morality and Law, it was decided that they should be embedded within the content, while the teaching instruction should be more implicit and integrated into the activities.

3.1.2.1

Module Structure: Problem Domains in Learning Activities

Modules in Morality and Law are usually structured in accordance with educational themes. However, such a macro-structure reflects a content-focused priority and implies that the textbooks are constructed based on the disciplinary structure of the content rather than the fashion in which learners learn or teachers teach. Although textbooks that are organized in this manner are rigorous in structure and have a strong knowledge-based foundation, their fatal flaw is that they deviate from the ideal approaches to textbook design and exclude the principle of learning and teaching based on natural structure. Thus, we altered the module structure based on the problem domains that are targeted by the students’ learning activities. For example, the textbook for the first semester of the third grade is composed of modules entitled “Happy Learning,” “Our School,” “Safety Guards My Growth,” and “Home, the Sweetest Place.” Instead of delivering knowledge systems related to learning, schools, safety, and family, the modules focused on the students’ independent exploration of the corresponding domains. Third grade students encounter

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pivotal moments at primary school, which present additional challenges and an increased likelihood of confusion in their studies and consequently warrant fresh learning methods that facilitate exploration. “Happy Learning” addresses this exploration process by highlighting the relationship between learning and self-growth and the ways in which students can enjoy learning, in order to facilitate their autonomous mastery of their studies. This approach was also applied to the design of the other three modules (school life, safety, and family life). As the problem domains target learning activities, each module has a value orientation. Textbooks for children are expected to have a clear value orientation, as opposed to being neutral. For example, although “Happy Learning” was designed to instigate the exploration of new learning methods, the module highlighted that learning is an enjoyable process. “Our School,” which emphasizes the societal concepts of “our” and “we” with regard to the school, was designed to initiate a sense of ownership for the school. Finally, “Safety Guards My Growth” focuses on the “protective role” of taking safety precautions; while “Home, the Sweetest Place” addresses the emotional connection of the family. Thus, an appropriate and clear value orientation enhances the lessons and substantiates the idea that textbooks should not be devoid of a value orientation. However, the value orientation should not be lectured unidirectionally to the students. Rather, the embedded values should be acquired by comprehending and exploring the corresponding domain.

3.1.2.2

Main Body: A Systematic Composition of Learning Activities

Textbooks, especially moral education textbooks, contain text that expresses viewpoints. This text is commonly structured as a general argument at the beginning of the lessons, the general arguments and supporting evidence in the middle, and a summary at the end. If a lessons’ text is its “skeleton,” then the illustrations and cases are its “flesh and blood.” There are those that hold the view that stripping away the “flesh and blood” of a lesson makes the “skeleton” more prominent, complete, and logically sound. However, this perspective follows the logic of content, rhetoric, and indoctrination while excluding the logical principles that concern learning and teaching. Textbooks that are developed based on such viewpoints are disliked by students and contradict the ideal educational approach for textbook design. Such a design also establishes a basis for the deviation of teaching from the principal goals of moral education. Specifically, instead of investing effort into developing students’ moral character, it encourages the teaching process to highlight the “knowledge points” in the text, which consequently becomes a process of memorization. Therefore, the functions of the text were redefined and redesigned in Morality and Law. The first function is to introduce the learning situation, whereby the text is used to introduce the students to specific learning situations. The second function is to present exploration activities. The third function is to serve as connection, transition, and exchange between activities by summarizing the previous activity and introducing the next activity. The fourth function is to promote the natural generation

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of opinions and the summary of ideas. Naturally, many of the texts play multiple roles, serving two or even three of these four functions simultaneously. For example, the title of the introductory section of the lesson “We are Different” (second semester of grade three) is “Looking at Our Differences,” which serves as a preview of the upcoming activities in the subsequent section. The opening paragraph states, “We are about the same age, we study in the same group of the same school, and we have many common interests and hobbies, so we are able to chat and play together! But we are also different, can you believe it?” This summarizes the general similarities among the students and uses a question to stimulate an exploration of their individual differences. Next, the students are asked to participate in an activity to compare the individual differences of the leaves on a tree. The paragraph following the activity states, “if our group is a big tree, then the students are the leaves. We share many common features, but we are also different!” This serves as a summary of the previous activity and also as a transition to the next activity (“Find the Differences” and “Using Your Imagination”). The title of the second section, “Getting along with Differences,” functions as an introduction to the next activity. The first paragraph of this section mentions, “We like to make friends with people that share our interests and passions. That is just human nature! But what will happen if we focus too much on the similarities when considering making friends?” It thus summarizes the existing tendency to overly emphasize commonalities in social settings, while simultaneously transitioning to a thought exercise that presents an extreme hypothetical scenario in order to further stimulate thinking and reflection. The activity is then summarized with the following assertion: “Everyone around us is different in one way or another. Learning to get along with those that are different is a necessary skill.” The summary is followed by the subsequent remark: “Some students may feel uncomfortable when they are with someone different. What can we do to help someone feeling such discomfort? Let us learn to think from a different perspective!” This serves as a transition into a new situation/question, which is coupled with a new activity. Following the activity, the text continues to propound the benefits of “getting along with differences” by proclaiming that “understanding other people from their perspective and accepting our differences enables us to make more friends,” which is followed by a discussion on the benefits of befriending people that have different personalities and interests.

3.1.2.3

Categories: Different Types of Learning Activities

The main body of each lesson is followed by different categories of activities, which include in-class (such as individual, group, and class activities), extracurricular, social learning activities; individual and group activities; physical and hands-on activities; and reflective exercises. These were named “Activity Zone,” “Communication Zone,” “Reading Corner,” “Story House,” “Enjoy Reading,” “Tips,” “Knowledge Window,” and “Related Links,” respectively. The “Activity Zone” is the most dominant category of activities. In order to reduce word count and page space, many activities that were designed for the “Activity

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Zone” were included directly after the main body of the lesson text, without the “Activity Zone” title. The “Communication Zone” activities encourage learners to exchange experiences, viewpoints, and ideas, as well as challenge the viewpoints of their classmates. The underlying premise is that different individuals would have different solutions to similar problems. This is because these solutions are informed by different life experiences. Sharing and exchanging these experiences provides the students with the opportunity to be inspired by contrasting perspectives. The section entitled “playing is an important way of learning. Share what you have learned from playing” (second semester of grade three, p. 6) is an example of such an activity. For controversial topics that may trigger oppositional opinions, activities such as group discussions and debates are included. Learning is facilitated and educational goals are reached through this sharing and exchange of experiences, viewpoints, and solutions, and the subsequent discussions and debates. Technically, activities in the “Communication Zone” and “Activity Zone” tend to overlap, and the activities of the former could easily be merged with the latter. However, the editing team maintained two distinct categories so that the activities in the “Activity Zone” focus primarily on physical participation, while the “Communication Zone” activities are oriented toward oral communication. The “Reading Corner,” “Story House,” and “Enjoy Reading” are reading activities. The “Reading Corner” includes a wide variety of reading materials, such as articles written by children of a similar age, fables, and fairy tales suitable for children, or brief articles on a particular philosophy. The “Story House” reading materials emphasize storytelling, while “Enjoy Reading” introduces well-known writers’ works. Reading not only is a distinct activity in itself but also supplements other learning activities. The experiences (encounters) of similarly aged children from around the world are often presented in the “Reading Corner.” The inclusion of such experiences is due to the premise that the thought and cultural achievements of societies and easily understandable philosophies can be utilized to guide on-site, social learning, and in-class exchange. The articles were selected because the emotional and physical experiences embedded in them would resonate with the students. The sections entitled “Tips,” “Knowledge Window,” and “Related” are informational sub-categories that aim to aid other learning activities. The “Tips” section provides suggestions, clues, and hints for the exploration activities, such as how they can be used and any safety measures that are required. The “Knowledge Window” provides the necessary foundational knowledge to prepare students for the corresponding activities. The “Related Links” sub-category aims to present events and facts that are related to the activities as references and examples to demonstrate how to proceed with the corresponding activities.

3.1.2.4

The Subject of the Activities: Children in the Classroom

Learning activities should not be presented in abstract isolation but in the context of life events. For example, to design activities that increase the awareness of the difficulties that parents face while raising children, life events that feature small and

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often overlooked details of parenting were included. Each activity was thus created with reference to certain life events, and each had its own protagonist. In addition, a narrator (a cartoon of a child of a similar age) was designed for each textbook to engage and interact with the students in the classroom prior to, during, and after the activities by introducing the background of events and the mental processes of the protagonists, while simultaneously raising questions, triggering emotional responses from the students, and providing summaries and cues. Thus, a platform was established that facilitates interaction between the protagonist of the life event, the narrator, and the students in the classroom, which consequently promotes learning activities. Since all categories of activities were designed to stimulate, guide, and assist learning and exploration, the protagonists were positioned as a partner to students in the classroom. They thus help students grow by sharing experiences and presenting problems, while the narrators act as another partner that encourages learning, poses questions.

3.1.3 Breakthroughs Attained by Emphasis on Learning Activities The concept of designing textbooks around learning activities was a major breakthrough in the writing of the moral education textbooks. Such a breakthrough manifested both vertically and horizontally. From a vertical perspective, since China’s economic reform, progress has been made in the development of new textbooks. However, due to the inertia of indoctrination, the focus of the textbooks had not shifted toward a learning orientation. Although the value of autonomous learning has been recognized by the relevant authorities, following the new curriculum reform, its role in moral education was yet to be refined, which led to uncertainty surrounding the orientation of the textbooks. From a horizontal perspective, several Western countries hold negative attitudes toward direct moral education and are quite hesitant about the research and development of moral education curriculums. Thus, highquality moral education textbooks are limited. Social science textbooks, which are similar to that of moral education, are mostly content-oriented rather than learningor teaching-oriented. For example, common textbooks from social sciences in the United States are developed by publishing houses and commercial institutions, and federal and state governments are not involved in the development process. Hence, it is the developers that are responsible for the content, while the instruction of the knowledge contained within the textbooks is deemed to be the responsibility of the individual teachers. Therefore, despite past efforts, the problems inherent to moral education textbooks remain unresolved. Morality and Law, designed by the present authors, attempted to remedy this by adopting a structured approach that incorporated learning activities.

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Disrupting the Unidirectional Lecture Methodologies from Past Moral Education

The most unsavory feature of past textbooks is their unidirectional teaching styles, which relied on indoctrination and lecturing. It is often forgotten and can be considered contrary to the concept of education that students are living beings, and not mere “containers” that are meant to be “filled” with knowledge. Indoctrination is objectionable as it dehumanizes students. Although lecturing is an approach that is only mildly imposing, it still violates students’ initiative and autonomy. Thus, irrespective of the accuracy of the content, resentment, and resistance toward it are natural outcomes. As has been previously noted, textbooks in the past have commonly used a “moral + example + summary” approach, which is similar to the methods of indoctrination and lecturing. Although this structure and style are also prominent in educational materials from other disciplines, they are particularly characteristic of moral education textbooks due to the content surrounding morality, ideology, and politics. Such themes contrast natural science in that they are required to be presented in a manner consistent with students’ learning patterns to avoid being indoctrinating and sanctimonious. On that account, it was a tremendous achievement to design the textbooks around learning activities, while avoiding the lecturing of content. Instead of using essential moral concepts as their framework, the textbooks were instead structured based on “problem domains.” The titles of the lessons were activity themes rather than proselytized morals, and the secondary titles were the categories of the activities rather than knowledge points. In that way, as detailed above, the texts serve as introductions, transitions, and adaptations of learning activities, rather than instructions of moral concepts. Additionally, the supplementary materials serve as guidance for the activities, instead of providing additional lectures. Thus, the past approaches of indoctrinating and inculcating a focused knowledge structure were disrupted to instead embed the teaching methods of each lesson into the activities, which would help teachers to design, organize, guide, supervise, and support student learning. In the event that a teacher independently intended to use unidirectional instruction, they would be unable to find materials that supported the approach (such as a logical framework, conceptual bases, and supporting evidence), at least not directly from the textbooks. Since each textbook is an integrated whole that has sections designed to facilitate independent learning, the dialectic reasoning and conceptualization of the individual knowledge constructs cannot be separated from the system of activities.

3.1.3.2

Reversing the Positions of Teaching and Learning

In the ancient times, education was reserved for a privileged minority, and that was its greatest flaw. Despite the inequalities of the ancient education system, it surpassed modern education because it had learning orientation at its core. This was particularly the case in the history of moral education, where morals were acquired

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rather than taught. Although the popularization and increase of access to education was a significant achievement, the burgeoning volume of students has forced teachers to teach increasingly larger groups. As a result, the orientation has shifted from the learner to the teacher. This shift in orientation had an immediate effect on the knowledge and skills of the larger population. However, the approach’s reduction of autonomous learning negatively affected liberal education, including moral education. Thus, educational philosophies that have lasted thousands of years, such as “teaching through aptitude” and “enlightening only the enthusiastic and guiding only the fervent,” became a legacy of the past. Influenced by such global changes in education, moral education textbooks also began to adopt a teaching orientation. Consequently, the requirements of the state and society, rather than the moral needs and social growth of the children, became the source of content. The content became increasingly organized in accordance with a conceptual logic, instead of the way in which students develop their moral character. It thus followed a rhetoric structure rather than one that facilitated exploration and learning. In such a context, instead of holding a secondary position in a teaching-oriented system, the learning orientation was completely lost. Thus, Morality and Law aimed to reconstruct the relationship between learning and teaching in order to bring them back to their roots as learning materials, despite textbooks being called “teaching materials” in Chinese. On that account, from a linguistic perspective, they can be considered teaching materials that are used as learning materials. Thus, moral education textbooks become morality teaching materials that are utilized to learn moral character. As each component of the new textbooks was constructed to facilitate learning through learning activities, the role of the teachers has been redefined. Instead of being the leading figure of the classroom that conducts top-down indoctrination and lectures, teachers are expected to assist, organize, guide, and support the students’ learning. Specifically, the new orientation positions teachers as the designer of the learning activities and they are expected to adapt the textbook activities to the students. The teacher should also be an organizer, assistant, mentor, and counselor, in order to effectively support the new autonomous learning approach. Thus, in summary, in the textbook’s design, learning, and teaching have an interactive relationship that coexist around the life scenarios that are presented in the textbook.

3.1.3.3

Creating the Conditions for Life Engagement

Humans exist as complete beings that have cognition, emotion, will, and the ability to act. Humans also possess a consciousness and a subconsciousness, which is veiled behind the conscious state. Humans are also a product of their habits, tendencies, and non-reflective choices, which occur between consciousness and subconsciousness. Collectively, these features are different aspects of life, and even though the learning process can focus on one or a few of these aspects, it will ultimately affect life as a whole. For example, under the theme of school life, interesting campus activities can be used to stimulate the students’ love of their school from an emotional perspective,

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or mini projects (e.g., to understand the school’s history and achievements) can be used to stimulate students’ love of their school from a rational perspective. Previous editions of the moral education textbooks have tended to use a rhetoricfocused structure and persuasive style that primarily concentrated on the learners’ cognitive ability. This was done due to the belief that improving cognitive ability leads to heightened moral character development. For example, the lesson of “integrity” was structured by asking “what is integrity?” “why should we care about integrity?” and “how does integrity define how we should behave?” Under such a structure, students become passively involved in developing their cognitive abilities, while their emotions, will, intentions, and subconscious habits and instinctual responses that were formed through their life experiences were almost completely excluded. Irrespective of how content regarding integrity was presented as a whole, while explaining its nature, motives for interest, and methods of application, the knowledge is compelled into memory rather than internalized autonomously. Thus, it ultimately has little effect on their future behavior. For Morality and Law, a large variety of learning activities were included to stimulate rational cognition, self-reflection, emotional experiences, self-motivation and self-determination, behavioral experiences, and imagination, in order to facilitate students’ overall development. The type of activity was selected based on the theme, the learning patterns of the child, and the necessary corresponding knowledge. In addition, a majority of the activities were designed for multiple areas of development. For example, activities that aimed to develop rational cognition also included exercises related to emotional development and self-motivation, so as to engage the learner holistically. As such, each lesson is an organic combination of the five types of activities, each of which aim to stimulate different areas of the brain in order to ensure comprehensive development.

3.1.3.4

Constructing a Moral Learning Methodology Based on Life Experience

As moral education requires a learning orientation, the learners’ own experiences cannot be excluded from the learning process. From the moment a person is born, they have the innate potential to learn, which is handed down through genetic inheritance and is also acquired by surviving the mother’s womb—the genesis of the path of learning. Similarly, a student comes to school with the experiences they have accumulated through interactions between their innate learning potential and childhood lives, which serve as the foundation for learning new things and acquiring additional experiences. Education enriches and expands existing experiences and also applies existing experiences as a seed for the acquisition of new knowledge and skills. In both cases, existing experiences serve as the foundation of learning. In that sense, if education is metaphorized as the planting of a fruit tree, then to exclude students’ experiences is akin to attempting to force fruits onto the branches, which may seem beneficial over the short term but are unlikely to be sustainable.

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The content and logical systems of textbooks prior to the reform tended to alienate learners. Although they were structured rigorously around the knowledge system and applied strong supportive reasoning, they lacked any relation to students’ personal experiences. Consequently, even though the knowledge was memorized temporarily, it was of no personal relevance to the learners; therefore, it was ineffective. Following the curriculum reform, textbook writers began to recognize this as an issue and attempted to reduce learner detachment, which gradually developed over various versions of the textbooks. However, due to their lack of experience, the challenge of altering one’s mentality, and habitual inertia, the solutions they devised were inadequate. In fact, later versions demonstrated the tendency return to the pre-reform orientation. In the newly developed activity-based textbooks that included students’ experiences, the focus of the activities is the arousal, utilization, comprehension, enrichment, and improvement of students’ existing experiences. Despite the various types of experiences that a learner is likely to have, students are generally only aware of visible, active experiences and remain unaware of dormant experiences. The active experiences are thus the starting point for activity design, whereas the dormant experiences are the prime object that are sought to be aroused. In other words, the proposed activities aimed to utilize the experiences in the conscious mind to activate those in the subconscious mind, so that they can be processed and organized to accumulate new experiences. Thus, participating in activities becomes a process of utilizing, processing, expanding, and enhancing one’s existing experiences. Designing textbooks based on students’ prior knowledge does not signify that the content should be limited to their own existing experiences. Thus, there is significant room for content that is not directly related to the students’ experiences. However, transitions were embedded into the texts so that other experiences, particularly those accumulated by society, can be used to form a bridge with those of the learners. Since a textbook can only incorporate common experiences, it is unlikely that the unique experiences of each student would be included. Therefore, the experiences selected were generally universalizable and representative of students at the corresponding development stage. Nevertheless, in order to address the individuality of each child, “gateways” were embedded within each section of the textbooks to allow personal experiences to be drawn in with the examples presented in the textbooks. As such, some activities utilized exemplars as means to trigger, motivate, and encourage students to reflect on their own experiences as an open-ended activity. This was done to provide the learner with the opportunity to organize, process, and enhance their own experiences within the classroom.

3.1.3.5

A Systematic Combination of Content and Education Guidelines

As mentioned above, high-quality textbooks should abide by two core principles: accuracy and reliability of content (the content principle) and appropriateness of the method (the method principle). Since accuracy and reliability of content are

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easy to comprehend and textbooks with errors in the content are more likely to be flagged, the content principle tends to receive more attention from textbook writers. However, the issues related to methodological appropriateness are less prominent and receive less attention. Furthermore, although the textbooks are expected to conform to mainstream educational principles, which consider both the content and method principles to be equally important, the method principle is the paramount principle. To ignore the appropriateness of the teaching method is to create textbooks that are unlikely to be deemed exceptional, regardless of how well-refined the content is. In addition, any textbook that does not sufficiently emphasize the method principle cannot be effectively evaluated. Thus, in the new line of textbooks, the content of the textbooks was constructed based on students’ lives rather than curriculum standards, following which it was organized in a manner that covered the requirements of the curriculum. In addition, the theme of each lesson was designed according to the scientific principles that govern students’ learning. For example, as honesty is a requirement of the state and society and also a real challenge of children’s lives, activities for the corresponding lessons were designed to reflect honesty as a desirable moral character trait. A psychological perspective was adopted instead of an academic reasoning approach that is based on ethics. Developing such an approach was challenging, as the psychological mechanisms that govern the formation of moral character traits remain unexplored, which meant that no ready-made references were available. The editing team thus had to conduct the corresponding research through surveys and explorative practice. The developed activities were designed to be appropriate for children in terms of their theme, content, and comprehensibility. Additionally, the activities’ ability to arouse existing experiences and inspire active exploration was also focused on. Seeking this foundational appropriateness was considered to be a fundamental requirement during the textbook’s construction. The goal was to ensure that the textbooks facilitated children’s growth and could inspire them to improve themselves and pursue a better life. Nevertheless, emphasizing the method principle does not imply that the content principle should be neglected. On the contrary, ensuring the implementation of the method principle contributes to the effective implementation of the content principle. Furthermore, although a non-professional designer may easily notice glaring errors in the accuracy and reliability of the content when evaluating the quality of a textbook, they may overlook the relatively subtle content that ensures its appropriateness for the corresponding age group and the means by which the content is delivered. However, the implementation of both principles is crucial for producing a good textbook. Thus, a more professional understanding of the content principle incorporates accuracy, representativeness, and appropriateness of the content. A thorough content assessment evaluates the textbooks to stimulate learning interest and independent exploration. Therefore, in addition to striving for appropriateness of methodology, the new textbooks aimed to ensure the implementation of higher content standards, so that both principles were effectively implemented.

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3.2 Construction of Children’s Life: New Teaching Methods Highlighted by the Textbooks Due to the negative influence of binary thinking, the general relationship between the textbooks and the ways in which they are taught tends to be overlooked. This chapter argues that the textbook is an important guide in the teaching process. The key design questions are concerned with how primary school moral education textbooks should guide the teaching activities, the writing strategies that should be adopted, and the manner in which teachers should implement such guidance through their teaching. In the following section, these questions are addressed.

3.2.1 Theoretical Reflection on the Relationship Between Textbooks and Teaching 3.2.1.1

Integrity: The Relationship Between Textbooks and Teaching

The textbook writing process entails the systematic organization and presentation of teaching content as well as the design and guidance of the teaching processes and methodology. The aim is to ensure that the underlying educational philosophy is conveyed and the teaching process is facilitated by the manner in which the content is arranged, activities are designed, and pages are laid out. In Democracy and Education, Dewey (1916/1978) argued that subject matter and teaching method are a combined entity, because method involves the organization of subject matter. Thus, “never is method something outside of the material” (p. 172). Textbooks are thus human thought and insight in organized form; while, in this context, teaching method is the efficient handling of the textbooks, which aims to achieve educational goals while expending minimal time and effort (Dewey 1916/1978). Although teaching materials and methods are mutually distinct and can be discussed individually, as pointed out by Dewey, the method cannot be independent of the material. It can thus be argued that an innate connection (or an integral relationship) exists between them. According to Dewey (1916/1978), to separate the teaching materials and methods is to make the methods dull and the teaching mechanical. However, as is common in approaches of dualism, the integration of material and method tends to be neglected. Such a mentality is based on the idea that “knowing, feeling, willing, etc. are things which belong to [the] self or mind in its isolation, and which then maybe brought to bear upon an independent subject matter” (Dewey 1916/1978, p. 174). In this approach, material and method are two subsequently irrelevant matters. Textbooks become systematically categorized facts and principles of the natural and human world, while

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3 Learning-Centered Moral Education … method then has for its province a consideration of the ways in which this antecedent subject matter may be best presented to and impressed upon the mind; or, a consideration of the ways in which the mind may be externally brought to bear upon the matter so as to facilitate its acquisition and possession. (Dewey 1916/1978, p. 172)

3.2.1.2

Textbooks: An Important Path that Guides Teaching

Since textbooks (material) and teaching (method) should be integrated, the textbook should be an important guide in the teaching process. In addition to being an effective and abundant source of supporting materials for teaching, textbooks can convey teaching ideas, suggest teaching methods, and provide other approaches to guide the teaching process. By providing materials for new teaching models, textbooks are essential support tools for teaching and facilitating the achievement of educational goals. Dewey emphasized “the need of active pursuits, involving the use of material to accomplish purposes, if there are to be situations which normally generate problems occasioning thoughtful inquiry” (1916/1978, p. 160). In addition, the overall design of the textbook should convey the concepts required to deliver the new teaching models. The philosophy underlining the textbooks is usually indicative of the corresponding teaching concept. For example, a knowledgeoriented philosophy works under the assumption that their primary role of textbooks is to impart knowledge. Correspondingly, the teaching would be based on lecturing the knowledge and proficiencies contained in the textbooks. An intellectual approach considers textbooks to be tools that support teaching. Thus, teaching becomes a process to achieve intellectual development through the use of the textbooks, where the knowledge itself plays a supporting role (Yang 2002). In addition, teachers’ indepth understanding of the fundamental attributes of the curriculum is of profound significance to effective teaching. According to the curriculum standards for Pinde yu Shenghuo (Moral Character and Life), teachers are expected to “have a profound understanding of the nature, characteristics, and fundamental concepts of this course” (Ministry of Education 2011a, p. 11). This supports the notion that integrating the corresponding teaching concepts into the textbook is an effective approach to developing a deeper understanding of the methods required, as the abstract concepts are combined with specific teaching cases. Moreover, textbooks can provide methodological guidance for the new teaching model. All teaching practices require an appropriate method, which can be improved when delivered with the material itself. According to Dewey, no amount of improvement in the personal technique of the instructor will wholly remedy this state of things. There must be more actual material, more stuff, more appliances, and more opportunities for doing things, before the gap can be overcome. (1916/1978, p. 159)

Thus, the act of improving teaching methods and selecting them appropriately are not isolated processes, because both require the alignment of the textbook and other resources. In addition, textbooks also serve as mental cues for specific teaching methods that are applied in certain contexts. Although observation, discussion, and physical experience are all teaching methods, they do not apply to all teaching

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scenarios. Proper textbook design should provide teachers with options with respect to the relevant methods that can be utilized for a particular context.

3.2.1.3

Moral Education Textbooks: Leading the Evolution from Knowledge Learning to Life Construction

Prior to the new curriculum reform, the moral concepts taught in the Chinese moral education curriculum were almost entirely focused on knowledge. It was believed that theoretical and universal moral knowledge, which underwent structural processing as a discipline, was the only approach to morality. Accordingly, moral development was deemed “the learning of moral knowledge,” which was carried forward into the textbook design. Zhang (2009) compared the design of question types between the textbooks prior to and following the curriculum reform, and found that, prior to the reform, “what” and “why” were the most dominant questions used (approximately 75%). These questions focus on moral cognition and are usually aimed at the acquisition of moral knowledge. However, mastering moral knowledge alone is inadequate for developing moral character. Dewey accused such instruction on the “ideas about morality” as being “intellectual education” rather than “moral education,” which, “even at its very best, is comparatively small in amount and slight in influence” (1899/1994, p. 143). Since this approach to moral instruction concentrates on the abstract and theoretical study of moral concepts, the learned knowledge is unlikely to influence students’ existing values. In addition, due to the approach being distinct from students’ lives, such instruction voids any incorporation of students’ experiences. As a result, dailylife experiences are not assigned the corresponding significance that they require and are unable to be further developed in the school environment (Dewey 1916/1978). Somewhat substantiating this perspective, a study conducted in the United States demonstrated that moral education courses in primary and secondary schools have no effect on children’s moral behavior and that direct moral instruction presented little benefit with respect to cultivating moral quality and conscience (Huang 2000). In order to eliminate the predicaments caused by knowledge-oriented moral education, the focus of the textbooks needs to be shifted from the attainment of knowledge to the construction of life experiences (life-oriented moral education). A life-oriented moral education model posits that morality exists as a part of life and life is the basic form by which morality exists; in other words, morality is the way in which a person chooses to live (Lu 2005). Since the life of a person is holistic, life-oriented morality spans various dimensions (norms, values, and mentality), ranging from moral knowledge to other areas of life, such as behavior, emotions, and beliefs, which are manifested in both theory and practice (Lu 2005). Thus, the purpose of the life-oriented model is to guide students toward a valuable and meaningful life so as to cultivate virtue. Furthermore, since the fundamental goal of the model is to guide children toward choices that would facilitate their construction of moral experiences and lifestyle (Lu 2005), the corresponding textbooks should ensure that the teaching philosophy and methods are communicated effectively to teachers.

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3.2.2 Textual Strategies for Ensuring a New Textbook-Guided Teaching Approach This approach of integrating the teaching methods into the textbooks facilitates the application of entirely new teaching models and methodologies in moral education. The situation in China also requires a more guided approach. This is because the primary school moral education courses are usually delivered by teachers from other disciplines as a part-time task. Thus, there is a general lack of investment in teaching preparation. In some schools, it cannot be guaranteed that the teachers will be granted adequate time to teach the subject either. For that reason, holding the expectation that teachers should spend additional time researching the concepts and methods to deliver their classes is somewhat unrealistic. In light of this, if a textbook serves as a carrier of content, it is only is likely to induce teaching practices focused on memorization. Therefore, in addition to enhancing the effectiveness of learning, it was deemed essential for the new textbooks to elevate the efficacy of teaching as well. The following sections introduce the specific strategies adopted to achieve this goal.

3.2.2.1

Structure: Predefining Educational Goals to Guide the Construction of Lives

In addition to finding a link to the lives of the learners, textbooks should meet certain structural requirements to be able to systematically and effectively guide teaching. To do this, the lessons of Morality and Law were designed with a three-step structure: observing life, reflecting on life, and growing in life. For example, the section “I want to have and I can have” (Lesson 5, second semester of grade four) was designed in the following manner. First, the children are asked to write a “Wish Card” to encourage students to review the things they want and their reasons for wanting them, which focuses their observation on their desires. Next, a story is introduced about a child that wishes to have a schoolbag from a well-known brand. The students are then asked to discuss whether her desire will be granted by her parents and also address the possible reasons for their choice. Following that, other common desires are presented and the students are asked to roleplay as either the parents or the child in this scenario. This was followed by the vitally important process of the students revisiting their “Wish Card” and reflecting on whether their motivations were sufficiently strong and whether they would want to change any of their original wishes. This activity is significant because it provides the children with an opportunity to reflect on the realities surrounding their desires. Lastly, an open discussion session was included to encourage ideas for dealing with a predicament like “I know the desire is unreasonable, but I just cannot help it.” The process equips students with methods that guide them to seek options beyond simply reflecting on past experience. The new three-step structure was designed to ensure that teachers consistently remain focused on students’ lives during the teaching process, so as to effectively

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guide them to gradually develop their moral character. Contrastingly, past editions have generally steered teachers toward providing a “package” of moral concepts and the reasons of their significance, without considering the impact of such knowledge on the students’ lives. Although it would be unreasonable to generalize such an approach as worthless, its positive effects are usually minimal and indirect. A teaching orientation focused on students’ lives—one which serves as a guide for life improvement—enhances the effectiveness of the moral education curriculum. The development of moral character and legal awareness can only be based on the real lives of each student.

3.2.2.2

Content: Student-Centered Learning Activities

The embedded structure in the activities means that the lessons are composed of different sections, such as “Activity Zone,” “Communication Zone,” “Knowledge Window,” and “Reading Corner.” Each learning activity has their own corresponding teaching activity. Thus, the learning category defines the teaching method. The categories developed required students to observe, organize, and explore various situations, which effectively reduces the likelihood of unidirectional teaching practices and clearly demonstrates that the learner should be at the center of the teaching process. Without the active participation of the learner, the primary educational goal of guiding children to improve their lives cannot be achieved. For example, in order to help students to recognize and appreciate the effort of their teachers, an activity entitled “Let’s Approach Our Teacher!” (Lesson 5, first semester of grade three) was designed. The activity involves the following process: first, the students are asked to collate a list of tasks that one of their teachers does each day. They are then asked to use different colors to organize the tasks in a table provided within the textbook. The teacher is then asked to coach the students to review all the tasks that are present within their categorized table. Thus, the students are encouraged to conduct independent inquiry and intuitively organize and present their findings. In order to further emphasize a student-focused orientation of the textbook’s design, the editing team also developed the categories in a way that would be fun and engaging by referencing the general psychological characteristics of the corresponding age group, which stimulates active participation. For example, in “Do not Hurt Yourself” (Lesson 11, first semester of grade one), the students are asked to investigate potential dangers in their home. In order to make the activity more appealing and facilitate active engagement, the exploration process was designed as a game of “maze chess.” The textbooks for grades three and four also included fairy tales. Although such tales do not conform to the standard scientific method, they were found to be well liked by the students and generally had a positive impact.

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Examples Highlighting Key Learning Points Extracted from Students’ Lives

Utilizing examples was the third strategy that was adopted to supplement the textbooks. The examples that were included in our textbooks were extracted from real life and were presented as “life events.” For example, when introducing channels of learning, in addition to “I learned a lot from extracurricular books, newspapers, and children’s magazines” and “I learned that people should treat others nicely when with my classmates,” the textbooks also utilized examples such as “I got to know many plants and insects when playing in the wild.” The examples not only introduced students to various aspects of life, but also contained the teaching cues for the instructors (e.g., playing is also an important learning method). When selecting the examples, one key criterion was maintained: accurately reflecting the real-life moral needs and personal dilemmas of the learners. In order to help students to improve their lives, it was necessary to uncover such needs and diagnose the underlying problems. Without this step, the effectiveness of the teaching was likely to be poor. The editing team thus identified the cases that were most representative of the needs and dilemmas faced by children, so as to enable teachers to understand their students better. For example, in “I am Honest” (Lesson 3, second semester of grade three), the selected examples shed light on the mental processes that govern dishonest behavior, such as claiming that they forgot to bring their homework instead of admitting that they did not do it due to their fear of being scolded by the teacher, or lying about having a certain possession to maintain their vanity and status. Instead of the conventional “what-why-how” approach,1 the textbooks were designed to guide the teachers toward understanding the causes of dishonest behavior from a psychological perspective, so that the teachers are able to focus on helping students overcome such factors and reduce dishonest conduct. Another such example is “Do not Hurt Yourself” (Lesson 11, first semester of grade one), where the textbook highlights that the two major causes of dangerous behavior among students are ignorance and playing at the expense of safety. Correspondingly, the teaching was focused toward helping the students to overcome these two undesirable issues.

3.2.2.4

Presentation: Exhibiting the Classroom-Tested Teaching Blueprint

In order to provide examples of effective teaching to teachers, the editing team embedded empirically effective teaching methods into the textbooks, which would transform the seemingly flat and static content into three-dimensional and dynamic lessons. One such example was the section entitled “The Fun of Learning” in “I Learn 1 Conventional

approaches tend to focus on why we should be honest and should not lie. This is followed by a request to the students to behave accordingly, but no connection is established between this request and their personal experiences.

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and I am Happy!” (Lesson 2, first semester of grade three). In order to demonstrate that learning can be fun, several games were designed and included in the textbooks. These games include “word solitaire,” which allows learners to enjoy the learning process; “little housework expert,” which introduces the fun of learning by presenting learning outcomes; “Communication Zone,” which provides students an opportunity to share interesting learning experiences; “Fun in Reading,” which guides students to experience the joy of reading; and “Making Bookmarks,” which reinforces the fun of learning by asking students to write their learning experiences on bookmarks. These examples were also designed to guide teaching practices, so that teachers were more aware of the paradigms and value orientations of the content. Teachers were also encouraged to design their own activities by adapting the examples to suit the needs of the classroom. For example, “Where Do Our Food and Clothing Come From?” (Lesson 7, second semester of grade four) presents the processes of agricultural production through a series of diagrams that outline the difficulties of agricultural production. Teachers within different regions were encouraged to adapt the teaching design to fit their geographic region. Specifically, the students in rural areas were more likely to have seen or participated in agricultural production; thus, the teachers simply needed to ask them to recall their experiences. On the other hand, urban students usually lacked agricultural experience and required a more structured teaching design to facilitate their comprehension. During teaching trials of the textbook in Chongqing, one teacher designed a creative activity that required students to insert straws into cups to simulate the challenges of planting rice seedlings in the field, so that students were able to experience the effort required in agricultural production.

3.2.3 How Teachers Can Implement the New Teaching Methods The following paragraphs will delineate the ways in which teachers can utilize the textbooks to achieve educational goals.

3.2.3.1

Designing Teaching Activities Based on Real-Life Student Scenarios

The key to guiding the construction of children’s lives lies in meeting their moral needs and solving the moral dilemmas they encounter in real life. However, regardless of the efforts made by the editing team during the case-selection process, the chosen cases cannot comprehensively cover the individual lives of each student, group, school, or region. Therefore, teachers are expected to design their teaching activities in accordance with the specific requirements of their students. This would require the teachers to focus the teaching objectives on the specific needs of their students so that

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the activities are explicitly targeted. For instance, for “the fun of learning,” teachers from different regions and schools are encouraged to focus the course differently. The students of schools in large cities tend to have a greater access to books, and thus their teachers can focus more on reading activities. However, rural students or children of migrant workers are less likely to have access to a wide range of books at home and would thus rather spend their time with their peers; in which case, learning through play can be crucial.2 Additionally, teachers are expected to be receptive to altering their teaching process. Although the content of the textbooks should not be changed once published, the methods utilized to teach the content of the textbooks are flexible and can be constantly improved (Lu 2005). This can be achieved by adapting the approach to suit the students’ attitudes and responses during the learning process. For example, “Parents Love Me” (Lesson 10, first semester of grade three) included a story written by Mr. Yuansong Chen, called “Mum Likes to Eat Fish Heads!” The story was included in order to demonstrate the love of a mother by highlighting how the author’s mother saved the best part of the fish (the body) for him while eating the head herself. However, one of the students mentioned that fish heads are in fact priced higher than fish bodies at the market and that there are people that specifically buy fish heads from the vendor. Although the editing team accounted for cultural deviations that might occur during teaching practice, it was impractical for us to include all of life’s scenarios. To attempt to do so would be impractical and would prevent the teachers from working efficiently, because instead of focusing on the teaching goals, it would focus on devising explanations for situations. Thus, the teachers are required to adapt and improvise. For example, when faced with the above situation, the teacher can ask the student to consider if there are differences between the fish head in the story and the expensive fish heads that are available at the local market, or what the mother would have eaten if the other family members ate the fish heads. The intention was not to discuss the fish heads but to increase the students’ awareness and appreciation of the sacrifices that mothers make out of love. If needed, teachers can even substitute the scenario in the story with another situation that the students are more familiar with.

3.2.3.2

Guiding Students’ Self-Directed Moral Learning

Helping students to improve their lives is a process inseparable from their independent moral learning. The government’s call for cultivating students’ core competencies also requires independent and collaborated learning. Independent learning has consistently remained an important goal of modern education, which teachers are expected to promote. This would require the teaching focus to shift from the instillation of values to the inquiry of values. In line with this expectation, the updated 2 This

example originated from the report given by Professor Lu at the “Meeting for Compiling Teacher’s Book for the State-Compiled Textbooks of ‘Morality and Law’ for Grade Three and Four of Primary Schools” (Nanjing, July 30, 2017).

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textbooks were designed to contain a large number of student-centered activities and their general structure encouraged the exploration and discovery of the embedded values instead of directly presenting them. However, in practice, it was often found that many teachers maintained a stance of presenting the values and only asking students to verify their understanding of them. For example, in one trial, a teacher asked the students if “they thought being a teacher was hard work,” when teaching the section “Thank You, Teacher, for Your Hard Work” (Lesson 5, first semester of grade three). This teacher did not begin the main chapter until the students unanimously replied “yes.” Thus, the teaching process became one where the values were imposed by the teacher onto the students. Providing simple answers to closed questions not only affects the objectivity of inquiry but also reduces its significance. In the case above, the teacher should have permitted the students to independently discover the workload of the teachers by following the activity design of the textbook (which involves collecting tasks that teachers need to do each day), so that their awareness increased organically. The teacher then only needs to highlight the key findings of the students or to expand on the subject based on the students’ findings. Teachers should also actively create an environment that promotes autonomous learning, which includes providing necessary resources and methodological guidance. The new curriculum standards highlighted that “Students are the main body of the learning process… Teachers should stimulate students’ interest in active learning and inquiry by creating task- or problem-based scenarios, as well as by encouraging them to find solutions independently” (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China 2011b, p. 20). However, encouraging independent learning does not imply that the students should be left unguided. Independent learning skills are not representative of their aptitude, nor can they be developed overnight. Thus, the students need well-planned and decisive coaching. For example, in order to develop self-awareness, which was the main educational goal embedded in “I am Unique” (Lesson 1, second semester of grade three), teachers can provide students with various channels that help them develop a better understanding of themselves, such as reflecting on their daily activities, considering other people’s views of them, discussing their goals and desires, and contemplating their inner world. Similarly, in order to increase their appreciation for the school environment, which is the goal of “Let’s Talk About Our School” (Lesson 4, first semester of grade three), the teachers can ask the students to consider their favorite areas of the school grounds or take them to visit the school history exhibition or honor wall, and encourage them to reflect on the range of school activities in which they have participated. In short, teachers should provide the structural “scaffolding” that facilitates effective independent learning.

3.2.3.3

The Integration of Teaching and the School Moral Education Activities

Although the new textbooks consider their goal to be student self-improvement and support this goal through the manner in which they structure and organize their

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content, in-class teaching alone is inadequate to ensure the realization of this goal. This perspective corresponds with that of Durkheim, who pointed out that “Moral education cannot be so rigidly confined to the classroom hour: it is not a matter of such and such a moment; it is implicated in every moment” (1925/2001, p. 123). Therefore, the integration of teaching activities and other moral education activities within the school is vital. Specifically, the open design of the textbooks allows for moral education to be deepened and extended to other school activities. For example, “The Carrier of Love” (Lesson 10, second semester of grade three) includes an activity wherein teachers are requested to combine the lesson with other school activities, such as a “Charity Sale.” The lesson entitled “What I Need to Know About Shopping” (Lesson 4, second semester of grade four) proposes a scenario where items should be purchased for a group party; teachers are expected to combine the lesson with corresponding activities so that students personally acquire shopping experience. In another example, the lessons surrounding New Year’s Day, National Day, or Mid-Autumn Festival (grade one and two) are encouraged to be combined with corresponding school celebratory activities. In addition, the logical framework provided in the curriculum standards and textbooks can be used to guide the integration of the educational activities organized by the school and in-class activities. As an example, Nanjing Shangyuan Primary School designed school activities with reference to the moral education curriculum, so that the themes of the school activities (such as the students’ personal lives, family lives, school lives, social lives, and political identity) were systematically aligned. In addition, the findings and experiences of the school activities were utilized as supporting materials for in-class teaching (such as using memos from the “spring/fall field trip” to collect emotional responses, physical materials, and photographs that can be used in related lessons).

3.2.3.4

Fully Utilizing and Reflecting on One’s Teaching Experiences

Helping children to improve their lives is not a simple task, because it requires teachers to continuously accumulate the teaching experience required to do so. Teachers should, therefore, reflect on and fully utilize their teaching experiences to maximize their benefit. Self-reflection should thus be considered an important means to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching. This is mainly because the evaluation of teaching results is a huge challenge for curriculums. It is not possible to effectively help children to develop a desirable moral character and awareness of the rule of law only through a couple of lessons. Other than being a long-term process, it also requires the combined effort of the entire school. This cannot be achieved if the focus of evaluations is on teaching results (which only determines the performance of the students). Instead, evaluations should be shifted toward the teaching process, where self-reflection is crucial. It is thus suggested that teachers reflect on their teaching process by assessing the following factors: (1) whether the students’ real-life moral and social development needs are being satisfied, and whether the common problems that they encounter are

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addressed and resolved; (2) whether students’ life experiences are effectively incorporated into the instruction; (3) whether self-directed, autonomous learning has been effectively encouraged; (4) whether the teaching process is based on activities that involve the participation of both teachers and students; (5) whether new discoveries, understandings, or innovations have been uncovered that may improve the effectiveness of the teaching process; and (6) whether the teaching process could be further improved in the future. Improving the teachers’ understanding of their students should also be considered an important part of their self-reflection. The issues encountered in each lesson reveal and serve as in-class manifestations of the moral needs and dilemmas encountered by students, which can be utilized to improve future teaching performance. For example, during the teaching trials of the section entitled “Overcoming Difficulties Makes You Happier” within “I Learn and I am Happy” (Lesson 2, first semester of grade three), it was revealed that most students were strongly motivated to overcome difficulties but lacked the appropriate means to do so. Therefore, in the revised edition, the story in which Wang Dong overcomes his difficulties was placed prior to the discussion on overcoming difficulties, so that the story served as a methodological reference for the learners and inspired further discussion.

3.3 Reconstructing Teacher’s Identities Based on Learning-Centered Moral Education Theoretically, there are no definitive conclusions as to who the ideal teacher should be for a moral education course. A review of the question “who are moral educators” over the history of Western thought concerning moral education sheds lights on the establishment of a modern moral educator’s identity, as discussed in the following section. During the modernization of education, moral education became the responsibility of the schools. Accordingly, the essential modern identity of moral educators was the schoolteacher. This is also represented in the “Teachers Law of the People’s Republic of China,” which states that it is the obligation of all teachers to teach ideological values and build moral character. However, in practice, moral education teachers within primary schools are faced with an identity crisis, which is predominantly concerned with the lack of recognition of their role as moral educators. In order to help resolve this dilemma and reshape the modern moral educator’s identity as learners of morals rather than lecturers of moral knowledge, Socrates will be referred to as an example. Ultimately, the changes made in the moral education curriculum may further assist the development of schoolteachers’ identity as learners of morals. This puts the schoolteacher in the position of a seeker and explorer of a moral and virtuous life and that of a guide who brings out the best from their students.

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3.3.1 Investigating the Identity of Moral Education Teachers The answer to the question of who moral educators are, at first glance, appears to be self-evident: they are the educators that teach morals and morality classes. However, there has been extensive discussion and debate among Western moral scholars throughout history in regard to this question, which demonstrates that the answer is not as simple as it may first appear. If anything, the numerous debates and attempts to answer the question have revealed even more fundamental questions, such as whether a person or a group has the ability to make others become good. If so, who are they? What skills are required to make other people better? However, if such innate educators do not exist, is it possible to train and develop people to become moral educators? The advent of modernity appears to have provided society with unprecedented historical conditions to resolve this problem. A number of modern moral philosophers and educators have argued that morality can and must be taught, as demonstrated by Immanuel Kant in Metaphysics of Morals, who stated: “That virtue can and must be taught already follows from its not being innate” (as cited in Li, Q. L., 2007, p. 487). If this is so, the question lies in what the characteristics of a moral educator are. In “Emile, or On Education” (1762/1979), Rousseau used a poetic approach to define the ideal moral educator to the modern man. He argued that a person should first possess the necessary qualities prior to educating others. These qualities included having a noble character and good upbringing, being of a suitable age and healthy physical condition, and possessing extensive knowledge and the qualifications of an educator. However, Rousseau was also aware that a person with such noble qualities and talent may be unwilling to dedicate themselves to the moral education of children and that children may be equally unwilling to accept such a person as their moral guide. To this end, Rousseau also envisioned other requirements to ensure that a relationship is formed between moral teachers and learners.3 Specifically, the moral educator envisioned by Rousseau adopted an individualized approach to teaching. In the 25 years of living with his student——Emile, he educated Emile by using dialogue and narratives to integrate the knowledge and skills for survival with the moral and political knowledge for life. On top of which, he also guided Emile in the practice and application of these knowledge and skills in Emile’s daily life. This was the moral educator envisioned by Rousseau in his plan for moral education. Inheriting Rousseau’s viewpoints, Kant also witnessed the negative impact of modern science on morality, which he believed subsequently led to a moral crisis, and took it upon himself to construct a solid foundation for moral theory that was inspired by transcendental deduction. Kant believed that those who can aptly teach 3 In this regard, Rousseau’s vision was that this outstanding person did not agree to educate students

with life skills due to monetary reasons. Therefore, the only reason that such a person would be willing to spend their time and energy on the moral growth of students was natural obligations. In addition, conforming to the free nature of students, Rousseau envisioned two “education contracts” in order to establish the legitimacy of moral education by such teachers from the perspectives of inheritance of parents’ educational rights and students’ rational consent.

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moral theory are crucial in the enlightenment others. In The Metaphysics of Morals, Kant (as cited in Li 2007) illustrated the roles of a moral educator. By designing a question-and-answer checklist, the moral educator is able to help students derive the categorical imperatives with rational deduction alone. Furthermore, through encouraging continuous candid review of one’s own moral system and constantly honing the students’ judgment through argumentations in various casuistry, the moral educator serves as a guide in developing independent judgment to validate the legitimacy of the system. Correspondingly, the moral educator should encourage the moral learner to abide by moral obligations under their own free will, acting out of duty. Kant’s vision of the main tasks of moral educators is one of rational enlightenment (Munzel 2003), which is based around the notion of encouraging the learner the public use of reason and to apply their will to derive and conform to the categorical imperatives as rational beings. Thus, the responsibility of a moral educator is more centered on moral acts than on moral knowledge. In other words, a moral educator must guide the learner toward the notion that to understand morality means to implement moral acts. However, neither moral guide envisaged by Rousseau or the educator as a guide to rational enlightenment, as defined by Kant, fit well into modern mass education. Herbart (as cited in Li 2002) argued that the teacher that Rousseau envisioned bore too high a cost as it would require educators to dedicate their entire lives permanently attending to children’s growth, while Kant’s approach is generally unsuitable for direct instruction curriculums. Herbart instead suggested an approach that he believed was more practical and achievable for the demands of education, which involved the construction of a theoretical system called “educational teaching” (as cited in Li 2002). The idea was that teaching should be a means through which mental, spiritual, and moral growth are trained and developed. Based on the two spheres of psychological activity, Herbart divided teaching into the training of empirical, speculative, and aesthetic interests (cognition) and sympathetic, social, and religious interests (inter-human relations) and categorized pedagogical thought into analytical and synthetic modes. One way of achieving the synthetic instruction of sympathetic interests can be through presenting classic works of literature, historical narratives, poetry, and philosophy. Herbart’s theory of educational instruction permanently and rigorously embeds the aesthetic description of the world from classic works into the psyche, to form a strong and extensive “circle of thought” that supports various mental activities and cultivates a versatile range of interests. According to Herbart (as cited in Li 2002), moral power originates from enriching the mind and broadening one’s “circle of thought.” By doing so, desires become more legitimate and free will is accumulated through the force of resolute action. Herbart also believed that educational teaching should be applied to both family and school education. Accordingly, moral educators should draw on disciplines such as mathematics, history, literature, and philosophy to use their embedded aesthetic and moral representations of the world to broaden one’s “circle of thought,” which influences the cultivation of “good will.” Thus, Herbart’s concept of educational

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teaching not only outlined the pedagogical routes of moral education, but also determined two integral characteristics of the identity of modern moral educators. The first characteristic is that modern teachers should be instruction-oriented in that they must possess basic teaching skill and aptitude. Since teaching requires disciplinary knowledge, the second major characteristic is that these educators should be a teacher of a specific discipline from which they can draw. Thus, the notion that moral educators should also be teachers of a specific discipline is propounded, which serves as the foundational tenet of the argument that schoolteachers should be moral educators. In Didactica Magna (The Great Didactic), Comenius (1632/1907) laid down the argument that our educational institutions should undertake the responsibility of moral education. However, this perspective was based entirely upon a religious view, which is somewhat incompatible with the secular and rational nature of modern society. In the rapidly diverging social-political environment of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, religion as a moral system was failing in its duty of integrating society. Therefore, a number of great thinkers, such as Durkheim and Dewey, initiated a reform to modernize schools as social institutions by strengthening their moral educational function, thereby transforming them into moral educational institutions. The two thinkers proposed that moral education can be divided into the general moral environment of the school and the teachings of a corresponding curriculum. Correspondingly, the moral responsibilities of schoolteachers can be further subdivided. First, it is expected that all school administrators and teachers should consciously establish a moral environment in the school. In this regard, Durkheim suggests that from the perspective of moral instruction, school subjects and the student collective should be focused on so as to cultivate a sense of discipline and community spirit. However, Dewey differs slightly in his opinion. He prefers a learning orientation and emphasizes the experiences that are encountered within the school community and when participating in various activities, in order to enable students to communicate democratically and develop the social attitudes that are necessary in a democratic society. Although Durkheim and Dewey approach the subject from contrasting academic standpoints, they both emphasize that the schools should be environments that reflect the moral values that they seek to cultivate. In that sense, schoolteachers should utilize the school environment as a basis for moral education. Dewey (1897) suggests that the moral educational principles of schools are inherent in the community of school life. Teachers that embrace this viewpoint are likely to engage with the moral principles present in every subject, teaching method, and fragment of school life. Second, with regard to the curriculum, schoolteachers should recognize that teaching with a strict knowledge orientation should be avoided and that the moral values that are embedded within knowledge should be highlighted. According to Durkheim’s vision, teachers of both the sciences and humanities should train students with rational, scientific, and social-cultural perspectives, so as to collectively cultivate students’ social development. As for Dewey’s viewpoint, the learning process itself was a factor in developing both the students’ attitudes toward learning and their

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worldview, and their open-mindedness, concentration ability, sincerity, and broadsightedness were enriched. Thus, learning from any aspect of any curriculum has moral value. In addition, Dewey also pioneered the design of the activity-based curriculum, which transformed the educational models of schools from a half-play and half-work (learning) environment into a model that facilitated students’ overall cognitive and moral growth by guiding the development of their rational thinking, emotional control, and practical social abilities. By virtue of being redesigned by modern educational thinkers, modern schools were theoretically reconstructed into an educational space where moral education goals and methods are ingrained in all processes. In this process, the schoolization of moral education also implies the schoolization of moral instructors. Thus, the responsibility of being moral education instructors was assigned to schoolteachers, which consolidated their indispensable role as modern moral educators.

3.3.2 The Identity Crisis of Primary School Moral Education Teachers in China The above analysis outlined some of the philosophies of modern educational thinkers and the establishment of the modern identity of moral teachers. As a result, it was concluded that the schoolteacher bears the identity of the modern moral educator. As already mentioned, the “Teachers Law of the People’s Republic of China” expects teachers to develop the ideological and moral character of their students. Yet, in reality, schoolteachers are generally more inclined to see themselves as teachers of a particular discipline rather than a teacher of morals. This dilemma is more pronounced among those responsible for teaching Morality and Law. Morality and Law is compulsory across China in all primary schools. According to the curriculum requirements, students of every grade of primary school are required to receive two 40-minute classes per week. In addition, teachers are requested to use the textbooks for Morality and Law as guides to organize in-class teaching activities. As the courses are generally instructed by class teachers, Chinese language teachers, and teachers of other disciplines in China, there are very few dedicated teachers for the course. Although this appears to support the modern educational concept that all schoolteachers should undertake the responsibility of educating morals, in reality, it results in the required number of lessons per week not being fully implemented. Instead, the time reserved for the classes are used to teach other subjects (such as Chinese language or mathematics) or changed to independent study periods. Such a phenomenon is attributed to the over emphasis on the courses that are only relevant to academic progression, which intensifies the notion that moral education is, in some way, worthless. In addition, teachers’ lack of recognition of their identity as moral educators also contributes to the neglect of moral education in schools.

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These views were further substantiated upon collecting feedback from the teachers during their training program for the new curriculum,4 as several teachers frequently reported that they were reluctant to teach the course. Their reluctance was attributed to several causes. Some teachers complained that the combined workload of their own subjects and administrative tasks was already beyond what they were able to realistically manage in terms of the time and energy they had. As a result, Morality and Law felt like an additional burden that was outside of their normal range of responsibilities. This resulted in some teachers outright refusing to teach the course, especially since teaching it does not to contribute to the advancement of their career advancement or a salary increase. They argued that even if they invested their time and effort into teaching the course, since its effects cannot be definitively measured, there are no performance benefits to teaching the course. Other teachers believed that they were not sufficiently qualified to teach the course due to their lack of knowledge and awareness regarding moral theory. In order to address this dilemma, which was attributed to the teachers not being cognizant of their role as moral educators, the editing team began developing an approach to shift the institutional identity of moral educators from instructors to learners. The classical Western philosopher, Socrates, demonstrated the unique characteristics of moral educators through the way in which he lived his life. Specifically, Socrates never claimed to be a teacher of morality, yet he carried out a form of moral education, that did not involve imparting moral knowledge to others. Although such a paradoxical approach may not be based on the foundational knowledge and skills required for teaching morality, it is defined by a unique and strong ability to learn. Socrates’ concern for morality, combined with his way of learning virtue, and his practice of virtue, made him an excellent learner and an outstanding guide for the development of moral character. Instead of merely imparting moral knowledge to others, he sought to help others to become moral learners and to achieve the conversion of the soul toward the good. By being a paradoxical paradigm for moral educators, Socrates demonstrates to modern schoolteachers how it is possible to be both a moral educator and learner. Schoolteachers working in modern schools do not need to impart moral knowledge and their position in the eyes of the students does not need to be merely that of a teacher. Instead, teachers and students can be co-learners and companions in their shared journey of moral learning. Thus, the teacher-learner relationship becomes one of a “moral learning community,” where members with more experience help relatively inexperienced members to grow. Therefore, as teachers are also learners, it could be argued that the concept of teaching morals may not exist and that the education process is more akin to accompanying and supporting learners in their moral learning journey, which is driven by a sense of care for developing their moral 4 These opinions were derived from frontline teachers and pedagogical researchers when the author

participated in the National Primary School Moral Education Teacher Training Program organized by the Research Institute of Moral Education of the Nanjing Normal University in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In addition, these opinions were also based on the online survey of more than 1,500 moral education teachers in Chongqing conducted by the pedagogical research Tao Yuanhong, who was the director of the Moral Education Center of the Chongqing Academy of Education Science.

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character. This was the approach that the editing team adopted, and they resultantly strived to ensure that the design facilitated the establishment of teachers’ identity as moral learners.

3.3.3 Rebuilding Teachers’ Identity as Learners Through the Moral Education Curriculum Redefining teachers’ identity as moral learners through curriculum design was a challenging idea, but not one that was groundless or unobtainable. The following section illustrates the theoretical and practical opportunities of implementing the concept through a detailed analysis of the textbook content.

3.3.3.1

Pursuing a Life of Beauty and Virtue

All humans desire eudaimonia (happiness); however, according to Socrates, only by caring for one’s virtues and by becoming a moral learner can one truly attain eudaimonia. As such, teachers also innately desire eudaimonia and a meaningful, abundant lives, and hence need to care for their virtues and live a life of virtue. The new curriculum pursues the concept of cultivating moral character by considering learners’ lives and by guiding learners to construct moral relationships between themselves as individuals and humankind, as well as between humankind and other individuals, humankind and society, and humankind and nature. Such an orientation rationally determines that the curriculum contributes toward a virtuous path and also helps teachers to recognize and understand their lives from a different perspective. The teacher and student thus become peers in the moral learning process, who reflect jointly on their experiences in order to explore, create, and construct the life that they desire. In order to encourage teachers to reassess their learning approach, the first unit from the grade three textbook was designed around the theme of learning. It is a commonly known fact that both students and teachers struggle to cope with examoriented education system in China and that they often feel drained by the intense and competitive learning that the system demands. These extreme and distorted learning experiences prevent students from learning comprehensively and accurately and give credence to the belief that learning is a forced and painful process that offers little freedom to learners. As a result, students gravitate toward escapism rather than embracing learning. However, a relationship that is primarily concerned with by exams and exam scores is a misrepresentation of the relationship students should have with learning and with their teachers. It is for that reason that “Happy Learning” (Unit 1, first semester of grade three) attempts to restore a purer and more holistic definition of learning and rebuild the relationship between students and learning.

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The concept of restoration is based on the fact that humans are defined by their ability to learn. As such, learning is an organic, innate ability that everyone is born with. Learning is thus everywhere in society and learning experiences and achievements are diverse. With that in mind, and contrary to the knowledge and skills of exceptional students—accumulated through 20 years of competitive and exambased learning—the learning concepts, attitudes, experiences, and methods that are acquired through authentic learning activities can be applied to lifelong learning of subjects that are beneficial to one’s quality of life. Compared to the monotony and tediousness of mechanized learning, a more organic approach is undoubtedly one that is preferred by teachers and learners. Thus, a benefit to applying this orientation to curriculum design is that in addition to cultivating a more holistic view toward learning within the students, the teachers’ learning attitudes can be addressed and steered toward more meaningful learning experiences. In Morality and Law, virtue, as a factor of the quality of life, was reflected not only in specific learning content but also in class activities. During the lesson entitled “The Carrier of Love” (Lesson 10, second semester of grade three), students were asked to recall caring behaviors that they had experienced themselves. Some of the examples provided by the students included assisting in cleaning up a classmate’s vomit unprompted, helping a classmate with a foot injury get to the toilet, and helping classmates prepare for the next class when they needed assistance. The activity revealed and highlighted the values and virtues embedded in these small acts of kindness, which might have otherwise slipped past the students’ conscious awareness. This leaves a deep impression on those that participate in this activity. This reflective activity also serves as an awakening experience for the teachers. The virtues embedded in the experiences have a positive influence on the teachers, which they would not have had the opportunity to experience otherwise. It encourages their pursuit of virtue and helps them guide the students to seek a better life.

3.3.3.2

Being an Explorer of Morality

Contrary to past editions of the curriculum that utilized unidirectional communication to convey the concept of a virtuous life, the new curriculum included exploratory activities that encourage both teachers and students to explore the concept of virtue independently. Such exploration targets life holistically, as opposed to targeting a specific problem, academic field, historical time, or geographic space—thereby supporting the notion that creating and constructing a life of virtue requires learners to reflect on their own lives, which is not an easy task. However, the challenges of the task push teachers to become moral explorers, as is demonstrated through the lesson on the interaction between neighbors that will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs. The dynamism of modern life implies ever-increasing change and diversity, which does not necessarily translate to a life of virtue. On the contrary, such diversity and change in life’s conditions pose additional difficulties for those who pursue virtue.

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Within this dynamic landscape, commodity housing has emerged, which tremendously changed life in residential neighborhoods and communities. As a result, the living conditions of every household have greatly improved. However, the old maxim, “close neighbors are more helpful than distant relatives,” which represented the community bonds held between neighbors, no longer applies to these new residential communities. In these new communities, neighbors are more often considered to be “familiar strangers.” Should people adapt to this new reality, or would it be more appropriate to view these changes as problems and seek to resolve them in order to recreate a sense of community in the neighborhood? Morality and Law included this seemingly simple yet rather complex dilemma, in “Our Good Neighbors” (lesson 6, second semester of grade three), which teaches basic etiquette between neighbors, addresses the warmth of mutual support and care between neighbors, and provides appropriate conflict resolution techniques. Although the content may not seem too challenging, it requires sufficient preparation from the teacher. For example, the first character that appears in the lesson is a child and their appearance is followed by a segment about getting along with other children in the neighborhood. The students are asked to think, “If you do not know the children in your neighborhood, how can you get to know them?” (Lu 2018, p. 34). This may seem like a strange question to ask the students who live in close-knit residential communities. For them, it is perfectly natural for one to already know their neighbors. However, for children who live in modern residential communities, this is much more of a challenge. This question was included to connect the textbooks to students’ life experiences and to stimulate them to reflect and explore the embedded concepts. In truth, getting to know one’s neighbors is not as simple as it sounds. There is a particular apathy toward knowing and interacting with neighbors that raises the question of why they should feel inclined to befriend their neighbors. They may assume that they are “already quite busy with studies on the weekdays and have lots of things to play with at home,” which makes it appear like there is not much need to develop a sense of community within the neighborhood. If the teacher does not address these doubts by emphasizing the stance that neighbors should interact and befriend one another, the lesson quickly devolves into moral pontification, wherein the significance of the interactions between neighbors and the methods of interaction are overlooked. In this regard, the question of why knowing the neighbors is necessary should be addressed prior to exploring the approaches to forming said relationships. Furthermore, the exploration of these motives reveals even more theoretical questions, such as why people live in a residential community in the first place. Although it is unrealistic to expect the teachers and students to conduct academic research to explore these questions, they are able to investigate the questions from various angles and provide a variety of answers. Thus, the textbook was not designed in manner that delivers standardized answers to the students. Rather, it seeks to stimulate curiosity, in-depth thinking, and an exploration of the subject by posing questions such as “why do people live in the same village/community” and “why is our village called Wang’s Village?” (Lu 2018, p. 30). In order to support such inquisitiveness, the teachers are expected to design corresponding activities that trigger inquiry. Naturally, this implies that they themselves

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should fully understand the problems. Teachers that are more willing to study the topic are also more likely to ask themselves exploratory questions, such as “why do I live in a residential community,” “can we live without our community,” “what does the place in which I grew up mean to me,” and “if I had the choice, what is the ideal residential community in which I would like to live?” Thinking deeply about these questions may lead to the discovery that living together is a fundamental human need that is driven by our basic instincts and nature, and that an isolated life is unlikely to feel like a good life. In addition to the direct conveniences and benefits that emerge from the relationships with other members of the community, living as part of a community allows members to solve problems together, which enables them to experience a sense of union, partake in the joy of living together, and jointly overcome life’s challenges while sharing the sentiment of collective experience. When the value of living in a community is considered from this perspective, teachers may realize that answering the above questions is not as important as the process of exploring them. This is precisely why educational paradigms should be problem-oriented—which encourages students to raise more questions related to the topic—rather than solution-oriented, which only seeks to provide plausible answers. A question-oriented instructional design is thus more useful in helping students reflect on and appreciate the embedded value and significance of the community. In this instance, it facilitates the recognition of the importance of community life, thereby developing a sense of belonging to the community and strengthening one’s willingness to participate in and even contribute toward the community. Similar examples can be found throughout the textbooks. These examples cover topics such as the value of learning, the impact of cell phones on family life, and the importance of social equality for workers from different occupations. Furthermore, most of the topics are presented from a child’s perspective. This allows the teachers— who are more attuned to the significance of the topics—to recognize that they are not merely the problems of a child, but actually represent major social issues. Finally, in order to uncover other problems that may be typically neglected, the teachers are expected to conduct moral inquiry upon themselves. Thus, taking the step toward being moral learners requires continually questioning life’s phenomena in order to uncover the beauty and the good embedded within.

3.3.3.3

Serving as a Guide to Draw Out the Students’ Inner Thoughts and Feelings

Another feature of the new curriculum is its dialogue-oriented design. Professor Desheng Gao (2004, 2010), the lead scholar in the development of the new curriculum, pointed out that the goal of the new textbooks is to construct a relationship through the incorporated dialogue, which would help learners feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and fully engage with moral learning in a fair, balanced, open, and exploratory environment. The essence of this approach is to utilize the textbooks as lines of dialogue to trigger a sense of openness that can be used to open up the students’ true inner thoughts and feelings.

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Contrary to this goal, past editions of the moral education textbooks have often tended to follow the pernicious practice of preaching, thereby readily evolving into monologues and lectures rather than engaging with the students on a spiritual level. In order to incorporate moral enlightenment into the students’ elementary moral character, their fundamental driving factors must be addressed. For example, as an important component of moral character, integrity is a frequent focal point in moral education. However, past editions of the textbooks were often more focused on the integrity of other people, which creates a sense of disconnect with the learners and leaves them with no opportunity to reflect on their own dishonesty. This hindered the lessons’ ability to teach them how to truly become an honest person in life. The dialogues in Morality and Law encourage the teachers to be a coach that will help their students to open up and draw out their true thoughts and feelings on honesty, as well as reflect on questions such as why they feel unable to act in an honest or trustworthy manner. In that sense, the core responsibility of the teacher lies in drawing out the students’ true thoughts and feelings to ensure the learning process is specific and targeted toward the learners. For example, the teachers are expected to help the students determine the specific motives that induce dishonesty (such as the personal benefits of lying, vanity, fear of being judged, and fear of punishment). In addition, the teachers are followingly encouraged to discuss the ways in which these drives can be addressed to find an approach that is more honest. The current authors argue that a reflexive orientation motivates both the students and the teachers to be self-aware. An observant teacher may notice that inquiring about the deeper motives behind dishonesty triggers their own self-reflection in addition to that of the children. This process of exploration may cover past incidents that reflected their own dishonest behaviors, which may provoke them to wonder if such behaviors are initiated by more deeply embedded desires. Such moments of reflection bring with them a sense of irony, as some teachers may realize that they are not more righteous than their students. This may trigger a introspection as to whether they are indeed qualified to be moral educators and could force them to confront the possibility of being considered a hypocrite, which may induce to feelings of shock, fear, shame, or even indifference. This highlights the fact that moral educators are often expected to be morally superior. This expectation stems not only from others, but also from the educators themselves. They can easily become a source of stress and may even lead to teachers’ outright refusal to teach the course so as to avoid being viewed as moral hypocrites. However, it should be pointed out that failing to practice what they preach does not make moral teachers’ hypocrites. Gao’s (2018) research on moral hypocrisy revealed that inconsistencies between what is thought, said, and done are not hypocritical. Rather, from the perspective of pedagogy, it indicates an opportunity to further develop moral education. As previously mentioned, Socrates generally regarded moral educators to be moral learners who were more morally experienced than their students. Thus, their role is to help students to shift toward a perspective of caring for others while simultaneously continuing to learn. On that account, moral teachers should not be burdened with higher moral expectations and should be permitted space to concentrate on continually learning and practicing

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virtue. Teachers that are honest enough to find that they have not attained the pursuit of honesty as presented in the textbooks should not feel ashamed, but should instead consider it an opportunity to achieve additional moral growth. The perspective of the modern moral educator as a moral learner, which was proposed in Morality and Law, presents a new function for moral education. In addition to cultivating the moral character of the students and helping them to live a moral life, there exists an opportunity the teachers to experience an identical impact. These opportunities help to build the identity of teachers as moral learners. By establishing the moral educator as a learner of morals, teachers are made to recognize that teaching moral education involves fulfilling one’s internal, psychological needs rather than their external, physical needs. This shift in perspective highlights the key components and engages the pursuit of a virtuous life. It is, therefore, both theoretically and practically reasonable to define the modern moral educator as a moral learner. Applying such an approach could potentially contribute toward resolving the identity crises faced by moral educators in China.

References Comenius, J. A. (1907). The great didactic of John Amos comenius (M. W. Keatinge, Eds., and Trans.). London Adam and Charles Black (Original work published 1632). Dewey J. (1978). Democracy and education (B. S. Lin, Trans.). Taipei City: Wu-Nan Book Inc. (Original work published 1916). Dewey, J. (1897). Ethical principles underlying education. In The third yearbook of the national Herbart society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Dewey, J. (1994). The school and society: Schools of tomorrow (X. L. Zhao, Trans.). Beijing: People’s Education Press (Original work published 1899). Durkheim, É. (1961). La Educacion Moral [Moral education] (E. Wilson & H. Schnurer, Trans.). New York: Free Press of Glencoe (Original work published 1925). Durkheim, É. (2001). La Educacion Moral [Moral education] (G. J. Chen, Trans.). Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Press (Original work published 1925). Gao, D. S. (2004). Cong Wenda Zouxiang Duihua: Tupo “Pinde yu Shehui” Jiaoxue Gaige de Xin Kunjing [From Q&A to dialogue: Breakthrough the new dilemma of teaching of morality and society]. Ideological & Theoretical Education, 4, 7–12. Gao, D. S. (2010). Duihua yu Guanshu: Daode Jiaoyu de Shijiao [Dialogue or indoctrination: The perspective of moral education]. Global Education, (3), 27–32. Gao, D. S. (2018). Daode Weishan de Jiaoyu Xue Sikao [A pedagogical approach to moral hypocrisy]. Global Education, 11, 28–43. Herbart,J. F. (2002). Herbart Wen Ji (3) [Collection of Herbart’s works (3)] (Q. L. Li, Trans.). Hangzhou: Zhejiang Education Publishing Group. Huang, X. Y. (2000). Deyu Yuanli [Principles of moral education]. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press. Kant, I. (2007). The complete works of Immanuel Kant (Vol. 6): Religion within the bounds of bare reason, the metaphysics of morals (Q. L. Li, Ed., & R. Zhang and Q. L. Li, Trans.). Beijing: China Renmin University Press. Lu, J. (2005). Deyu de Dangdai Lunyu [The contemporary domain of the moral education]. Beijing: People’s Publishing House. Lu, J. (2018). Daode yu Fazhi: San Nianji Xia Ce [Morality and rule of law: Second semester of year three]. Beijing: People’s Education Press.

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Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2011a). Yiwu Jiaoyu “Pinde yu Shenghuo” Kecheng Biaozhun [Compulsory education curriculum standards for “moral character and life”]. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2011b). Yiwu Jiaoyu “Pinde yu Shehui” Kecheng Biaozhun [Compulsory education curriculum standards for “moral character and society”]. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press. Munzel, G. F. (2003). Kant on moral education, or “enlightenment” and the liberal arts. The Review of Metaphysics, 57, 43–73. Plato. (2007). The apology of socrates (F. Wu, Trans.). Beijing: Huaxia Publishing Co., Ltd. (Original work published ca. 399 BCE). Qu, J. D., & Wang, N. (2012). Freedom and education: Reading two philosophical texts on education of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company. Rousseau, J. J. (1979). Emile, or on education (A. Bloom, Trans.). New York: Basic Books (Original work published 1762). Yang, Q. L. (2002). Jiaocai de Gongneng: Yizhong Chaoyue Zhishi Guan de Jieshi [The functions of teaching materials: An understanding beyond knowledge]. Curriculum, Teaching Material and Method, 12, 10–13. Zhang, L. (2009). Xiaoxue Deyu Jiaocai Zhong “Wenti” de Bijiao Yanjiu: Jiyu Renjiao She Liang Tao Xiaoxue Sannianji Deyu Jiaocai [A comparative study of the “problems” encountered in primary school moral education textbooks, based on two sets of grade-three textbooks published by the people’s education press]. Journal of Shanghai Educational Research, 11, 64–66.

Chapter 4

Life-Oriented Legal Education and Education of Traditional Culture

Law-related education and traditional cultural education are two important components of Morality and Law. In this chapter, we outline the way in which the content related to the two themes was compiled and linked to children’s lives. The first section explains the motivations behind integrating legal education with moral education and the theoretical limitations of this integration, which mainly stemmed from the fact that Morality and Law was initially developed by combining two courses, Pinde yu Shenghuo (“Moral Character and Life”) and Pinde yu Shehui (Moral Character and Society). In addition, the section discusses the methods adopted to balance the degree of integration and avoid either the complete disconnection or consolidation of the two themes. The second section explores the challenges of incorporating traditional cultural education into modern moral education and adopts the perspective of a child’s conception of this theme, which informed the current textbook design. This was compounded with a subsequent analysis that led the present authors to conclude that the educational role of cultural education is to promote children’s cultural literacy. Thus, the corresponding content should focus primarily on the positive influences of culture and traditions on moral education, but should be supplemented by the negative influences of the two as well. The educational framework should imbue the natural logic of life with systematic knowledge. In addition, the teaching strategies should be designed based on the experiences and events that are appealing to children, as will be discussed in section two.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 D. Gao et al., Explorations of Chinese Moral Education Curriculum and Textbooks, Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1937-3_4

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4.1 Integration of Moral and Legal Education and Limitations 4.1.1 Whether or Not to Integrate: Issues to Be Addressed Following a Change in Course Name Upon China’s shift in political focus toward governance under the rule of law, new policies were devised to ensure that knowledge concerning the rule of law was incorporated into the national compulsory education system and relevant curriculums, so that the new generations will be proficient in the subject. On April 8, 2016, the Ministry of Education issued a document to uniformly change the names of Pinde yu Shenghuo (Moral Character and Life) and Pinde yu Shehui (Moral Character and Society) to Daode yu Fazhi (Morality and Law) within three years. Along with the change in the course title, the relationship between moral and legal education became an important focus that required resolution and integration during the development of the new curriculum and textbooks. These adjustments were generally considered to be necessary, practical, and natural responses to the changes in the national context. As a practical response, moral and legal literacy are at the core of civic literacy, which is an integral component of the development of modern society. As the average level of moral and legal literacy in China is relatively insufficient, there is an urgent need for improvement. Furthermore, as primary and secondary school children are at a critical juncture in the development of their moral and legal literacy, focused education is integral to their evolution. Morality and Law was thus designed to ensure that the national and social requirements for moral and legal education are embedded into primary and secondary education. As a natural response to the new social conditions, it was deemed inherent that Morality and Law should be a course that comprehensively covers moral and legal education. This is compounded by the fact that the 2011 edition of the curriculum standards posited that both Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society are comprehensive courses in themselves. Accordingly, it is natural to assume that the integrated course should also be comprehensive. Furthermore, as the moral and legal knowledge (including rules and norms) that were included in Moral Character and Life and Moral Character and Society were presented from a child’s perspective, this perspective should also be carried over. Although integrating moral and legal education can be said to be a practical and natural response to social requirements, further attention is warranted by the questions concerning the theoretical basis for such integration, the limits of integration, and whether the two themes are mutually interchangeable. Without a fundamental understanding of the associations between the two educational themes, a theoretical foundation for integration, and awareness of the corresponding limitations, the amalgamation may result in contradicting pedagogical practices, which would reduce the effectiveness of the course.

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Therefore, in order to ensure a sound basis for the union, the relationship between morality and law should be elucidated. However, no consistent conclusions have yet been reached with respect to their specific relation. “Jhering said that [the relation of law to morality] was the Cape Horn of jurisprudence. The juristic navigator who would overcome its perils ran no little risk of fatal shipwreck” (Pound 1915/2015, p. 67). There are two schools of thought surrounding the link between morality and law. The natural law school adopts the approach of inherent moral obligation. It considers law to be an inseparable and rational expression of morality (this assumes all laws are morally good). However, the positivist law school adopts the perspective of being. It propounds that since laws are created by man, they have no inherent link to morality. Thus, laws can exist independent from morals (laws can be morally bad). Despite the disputes between the two schools, there is a general consensus that law cannot be equated with morals, and that any relation that exists between morality and law cannot be ignored. “Practice that completely differentiates or confounds law and morality is wrong” (Fan 2012, p. 49).

4.1.2 A Basis for the Integration of Moral and Legal Education Although the general consensus among the two schools is that the relation between morality and law should not be disregarded, the specific relation between them remained undefined, as did the theoretical basis for the integration of moral and legal education and the manner in which such associations could be addressed in the new textbooks.

4.1.2.1

The Deep Connection Between Morality and Law

Morality and law originated and have co-existed since humankind’s earliest social history. As our life-world developed, morality and law became increasingly divided and subsequently developed their own corresponding knowledge system. However, such separation does not imply that morality and law are no longer associated. Rather, they serve as complementary forces in the improvement of our social realities. There are several reasons for this argument, as detailed below.

A Moral Foundation is Needed to Ensure that People Consciously Abide by Laws In the modern state, law often acts as a means of exercising state power, while state power guarantees that law is enforced. However, in our daily lives, the law serves

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as an authoritative and coercive mechanism that regulates the behavior of society by facilitating introjected heteronomous regulation. In order to ensure autonomous conformity to legal norms, moral principles are required to supplement the function of law (Xiao 2011). Consequently, this moral legitimacy serves as a basis for legal legitimacy. Based on his exploration of the relation between morals and law, Roscoe Pound highlighted that law cannot be detached from or be less developed than ethical norms. Law cannot apply itself; the legal system requires the initiation, preservation, and supervision of specific people. Thus, there must exist a force more comprehensive than abstract legal norms to motivate such people to act and to determine their own actions (Pound 1915/2015). In other words, in order to ensure that people autonomously respect and abide by the law, a general obligation to conform to the law should be enforced, “and this obligation must also be moral” (Fan 2012, p. 43).

Freedom of Choice is Inseparable from Legal Protection Lon Luvois Fuller (1964/2005) believed that it is imperative to clarify the meaning of morality prior to understanding the relationship between morality and law. He subsequently distinguished between the morality of aspiration and the morality of duty. The morality of aspiration is the “fullest realization of human powers,” while the morality of duty lays the foundation of an ordered society, which in turn serves as the basis for the achievement of its potential aspirations (Fuller 1964/2005). The morality of duty is inherently consistent with the formulation of law, while the morality of aspiration has negligible direct significance in terms of law, as the law cannot oblige people to achieve their optimum potential intellectually. Distinguishing between these two types of morality enables us to effectively understand why the freedom to make autonomous moral choices is inseparable from legal protection. Fuller further argued that although it is highly improbable that a person can be coerced to live a rational life, it is possible to use law to curb more extreme, substantially speculative, and irrational behavior by creating the necessary conditions for a rational existence (Fuller 2005). This view can be complemented by contending that in a society without an institutional framework for the fair distribution of rights and duties, noble acts are less likely to be appreciated and face the risk of being ridiculed as pedantic (Li 2006), which undermines moral sensibilities. The law thus provides a guarantee for moral freedoms. However, in order to ensure that law does not become counterproductive, it should not overstep its boundary by impeding on morals, which are often only distinguished from law by a fine line. On one side of this line, the autonomous pursuit of moral excellence serves as an incentive; while on the other, the law exerts its authority to ensure adherence to basic norms. Excessively restrictive legal requirements are likely to lead to resentment because they constrain one’s freedom to autonomously pursue moral excellence.

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The Law Acts as a “Moral Educator” that Helps to Improve Morality In addition to guaranteeing certain freedoms, the law redeems some of the deficiencies of morality. The everyday communication of morals regulates the relationships and conflicts between individuals only. Thus, moral codes are limited in that they cannot be applied to large-scale social systems without the supplement of law. With the secularization and increasing complexity of society, the law serves as an important means to resolve conflict. In addition, as pointed out by Hart (1961, as cited in Cane 2008, pp. 23–24), law can also be used as a compass for in-depth thinking within the moral sphere, as “legal enactments may set standards of honesty and humanity, which ultimately alter and raise the current morality.” Although legal intervention cannot resolve moral differences, the institutional resources of the legal system can ameliorate the potential negative social effects caused by moral differences in a democratic society. Even when there is general agreement in the moral sphere, the institutional resources embedded within law strengthen morality’s inherent social role. Therefore, the law is able to serve as what Braithwaite calls a “moral educator” (1987, as cited in Cane 2002/2008). Finnis (1980) also reasoned that the law improves morality by converting abstract moral concepts into concrete conduct, as morality … has to be based on values that can be defended as worth pursuing. But these values are so general that they do not by themselves determine how people should behave in a given situations. We can seldom proceed by a process of deduction from the values to the required behaviors. (p. 4)

This can be seen in various social contexts. For example, although members of society would generally agree that they are morally obligated to pay tax, when law is absent, moral obligation does not define the exact amount of tax that should be paid (Honoré 1993, as cited in Cane 2002/2008).

4.1.2.2

The Synergy Between Moral and Legal Education

The previous subsection demonstrated the profound connection between morality and law. In this subsection, we explore the relationship between moral and legal education, which is manifested in various dimensions.

Both Types of Education Aim to Improve Civic Literacy A comprehensively developed character requires both moral and legal education to define and control the “good” and “evil” that are embedded in human nature. Morality alone is insufficient in the face of man’s potential for evil, which also requires the protection of the law. In modern society, in particular, it is even more imperative for individuals to confirm their identity as citizens through the law, as citizenship is itself established by the law. However, a society’s citizens should also not abandon their moral obligations. Therefore, citizens are not only legal entities of society, but also

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moral actors. With that in mind, when moral and legal education is taught in primary and secondary schools, they should aim to improve children’s civic literacy, which is a holistic concept that is inspired by (but also distinct from) the individual academic study of ethics and jurisprudence.1 Therefore, although moral and legal education emphasizes different aspects of civic literacy, they share the unified educational goal of facilitating good citizenship.

The Effectiveness of Both Educational Themes Requires Establishing a Connection with Children’s Lives Following the reform of the curriculum, the fundamental pedagogical principle of “reconnecting cultivation of moral character to children’s lives” was adopted as a strategy to eliminate the negative effects of the antiquated knowledge-focused system. Given that a knowledge-based moral curriculum imparts “ideas about morality” rather than “moral knowledge,” its ability to improve children’s moral literacy is indirect and minimal (as stated by Dewey). Equally so, legal education in primary and secondary schools must aim to develop civic literacy, which requires a focus on the awareness of the rule of law rather than legal knowledge. In order to effectively improve legal literacy, any law-related education should be concerned with the realities in which children live, so that children are able to intuitively acknowledge the presence of law, sense how it protects them, and understand its significance in their own lives. If legal education is detached from a child’s reality, its pedagogical pathway is likely to only encourage the memorization of legal knowledge. This would have a negligible impact on legal awareness and civic literacy, which in itself reinforces the importance of finding a point of connection between the knowledge and the lives of the learners.

Moral Education Indirectly Enhances Legal Education As a complementary effect, moral education cultivates legal awareness. This is significant because when moral and legal sentiments are consistent, then moral education will promote the autonomous choice to abide by the law. As for value orientation, all actions that are prohibited and sanctioned by legal norms are equally opposed and condemned by moral norms, just as all actions that are acknowledged and deemed essential by law are also commended and advocated by morality. Morality is the inherent ethical foundation of law and a critical prerequisite for legal justice and the autonomous compliance of law. Therefore, a feedback loop exists, in which the comprehensive development of moral education aligns with the development of 1 It is precisely because this is different from professional ethics and legal education that the concept

of “law-related education” is used in our textbooks instead of “law education” and “legal education.” To avoid confusion, the term “legal education” was retained in the discussion on moral education and legal education in this section.

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legal education; while thorough legal education further develops moral education (Xu 2003). Thus, the value pursuit of moral education is generally associated with that of legal education, as it is contextually focused on the facilitation of life improvement. Furthermore, moral education requires conscientious discernment of right and wrong, regular self-reflection, and self-reward and punishment. If these outcomes are achieved in moral education, the outcomes of legal education are also likely to be advantageous. This is because the role of legal education is to cultivate the awareness of the rule of law, which shares the same psychological form as an awareness of morality. From this perspective, not only will moral education promote legal education, but legal education will also facilitate moral education.

Legal Education that Conforms to Pedagogical Principles Indirectly Reinforces Moral Education In Moral Education, Durkheim (1925/2006) pointed out that the primary element of all moral temperaments is “the spirit of discipline.” Thus, it can be argued that morality and law are similar in form. Law demands obedience through external authority, which is considered heteronomous regulation; whereas morality is driven by one’s inner authority, which manifests as autonomous regulation. Lawrence Kohlberg, who proposed the well-known theory of the stages of moral development, maintained that it is impossible for children to reach the stage of internal autonomous moral reasoning without undergoing the stage of external heteronomous moral reasoning. In this sense, legal education serves the basis for moral reasoning in the development of education, thus serving as an indirect source of moral education in itself. With respect to educational goals, legal education should provide learners with the dialectic reasoning that is required in order to accept the governing role of law and to incorporate social legal norms into their conscience and their ability to regulate themselves. Furthermore, legal education should convey the civic values embedded in law through the rationality of law as a social mechanism, rather than attempting to superficially inculcate these values. With a value orientation that seeks to engender autonomous respect for and compliance with the law among learners, legal education manifests as a form of indirect moral education. This can be emphasized in primary and secondary schools by reinforcing the spirit of the law, which endeavors for equality, justice, and the protection of disadvantaged groups and minorities. Additionally, conducting legal education in a moral manner can also be considered an indirect form of moral education. This implies that the teaching process is aligned with the perspectives of children and that the design, presentation, and entrenched teaching methodology of the textbooks reflect the psychological development characteristics of children. Teaching practices that are indoctrination-oriented overlook children’s perceptions of the law and disregard their physical and mental development characteristics, life experiences, and ability to acquire knowledge, which may indirectly result in negative moral consequences.

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How Morality and Law Tackles the Relationship Between Morality and Legal Education

Given the deep connection between morality and law and the mutual facilitating relationship between moral and legal education, the authors of Morality and Law strived to integrate both themes into the textbooks in various ways.

Integrating Moral and Legal Education and Children’s Lives In the new textbooks, the first layer of integrating the learner with moral and legal education involves the demonstration of how morality and law currently coexist in children’s lives. At first glance, such integration may appear to be superficial and explicit; however, such an approach is directly aligned with children’s understanding of the world and with pedagogical principles. It simultaneously also highlights the common social origins of morality and law. The aforementioned integration can be achieved through two fundamental approaches. The first is to integrate the two educational themes based on real-life demands. For example, in “Let’s Make Our School Better!” (Lesson 6, first semester of grade three), the textbook presents “Educational Law,” which demonstrates the protection of children’s right to education by exploring a story of a child living in a rural mountain region who dropped out of school. The corresponding information is directly associated with the learners’ practical need for education, which consequently enhances their legal awareness. In addition, a poem written by a child who dropped out of school was placed after the story, which aimed to simultaneously instigate compassion and reinforce the moral aspects of the choices made. The second principal approach is to integrate the two educational themes into the standard everyday scenarios and events that children experience. Since morality and law are closely related and are important aspects of leading a virtuous life, their impact as educational themes can be maximized through mutual integration and assimilation within a child’s life. For example, in “On the Way to School” (Lesson 4, first semester of grade one), the textbook described various scenarios that emphasized an integrated educational approach. For example, the care and help received from parents, teachers, and other people (moral education) were discussed alongside traffic regulations (legal education) in the textbooks.

Emphasizing the Innate Morality Embedded Within the Spirit of Law To avoid the superficial and explicit integration of moral and legal education, it is imperative to strongly emphasize the areas where morality and the spirit of law are unified, such as their pursuit of equality and justice and their protection of disadvantaged groups and minorities. The updated editions of the textbooks attempted this by including information on how children are protected by the law. The textbook of the first semester of grade six—which is a special edition that specifically addresses the rule of law—includes a unit dedicated to the legal protection of children, so that

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the learners are made aware of the existence of such laws and can understand how they may define legal boundaries that safeguard their rights.2 Equality in the eyes of the law was also highlighted as a fundamental principle. Moreover, learners are informed that, in addition to protecting citizens’ rights, laws serve as measures that are enacted by state institutions to safeguard order and ensure effective governance.3 Combined, these principles aim to convey the spirit of the law in a way that deepens the connection between law and morality.

Underlining the Positive Impact of Legal Education on Moral Development As already discussed, law performs the dual functions of refining the role morality plays in citizenship and serving as a “moral educator,” which should be carried over into the textbook design. Moral education is integrated through the values that influence behavior, while legal education is expressed as determining and refining the limits and conditions of behavior. For example, in “Everyone’s Friend!” (Lesson 8, second semester of grade three), an anthropomorphic approach is adopted to introduce the function of public facilities, which aims to improve learners’ awareness of the importance of protecting such facilities. In addition, corresponding terms from the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security” were included to familiarize learners with the different levels of severity of the repercussions of damaging public property. In this instance, the anthropomorphic approach serves as a conceptual yet undefined moral consciousness, while the legal terms that are included specify the bottom line of the law.

4.1.3 Limitations of the Integration of Moral and Legal Education Although careful integration of moral and legal education is possible, they ultimately serve different social domains, which presents certain limitations that should be considered when introducing them into a comprehensive course.

4.1.3.1

The Differences Between Morality and Law

The constraints of incorporating morality and law are ultimately due to a number of major differences in the way in which each domain operates.

2 Cited

from Professor Gao’s report at the seminar on the writing philosophy of Morality and Law (the special edition for rule of law), compiled by Yan Tang, Ph.D. 3 Cited from Professor Gao’s report at the seminar on the writing philosophy of Morality and Law (the special edition for rule of law), compiled by Yan Tang, Ph.D.

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Morality and Law Serve Different Functions Although morality and law are both guidelines for actions, their relationship with authority and coercive forces are significantly different, which impacts the way each domain operates and the roles they serve. Primarily, morals are non-mandatory norms that rely on the power of public opinion, social customs, and societal beliefs to regulate how people should behave, whereas law is obligatory and defined by the state. Thus, the effectiveness of moral regulation is greatly dependent on the individual and subjective moral beliefs of society. However, the law mainly serves as objective sanctions, which require direct evidence and logical proof. In that sense, morals are representative of thoughts and feelings, while laws are driven by legal acts (Pound 1915/2015, p. 52). Although an unequivocal intention or desire to engage in an illegal act is similarly abominable as committing that act in a court of conscience, no secular court punishes pure intent or desire alone (i.e., in the absence of any actions taken to commit or attempt a crime).

Morality and Law Operate Within a Different Range of Regulation Morality and law each operates within their independent domains. On the one hand, morality may be immaterial in some important areas of the law. For example, whether two or three witnesses are present at the signing of a person’s will is generally irrelevant to morality (Pound 1915/2015). On the other hand, some moral issues do not require legal intervention. As pointed out by Maritain, The secret of the heart and the free act as such, the universe of moral laws, the right of conscience to hearken unto God, and to make its way to Him – all these things, in the natural as in the supernatural order, cannot be tampered with by the State nor fallen into its clutches. (1943/2009, p. 72)

Thus, the legalization of morality is likely to accord less space and freedom to selfreflect to individuals, which contradicts its purpose of facilitating the autonomous development of the self (Fan 2012). In addition, disregarding independent relations between morality and law is detrimental to the effectiveness of law. Pound (1915/2015) contended that equating morality to law and presuming that the commonalities between them are binding is conducive to the misinterpretation prescriptive statements as authoritative legal norms, which obstructs the maturation of a developing legal system.

Morality and Law Operate with Different Bases of Validity The validity of law is the inherent unity of fact and norms. Factual validity necessitates the threat of penalties to enforce the acceptance of and compliance with the law, which does not consider the subjective beliefs and attitudes of the addressees. However, penalties alone do not ensure universal and autonomous abidance to the law. A

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just law must be established based on reasonable grounds (normative dimension of law). Therefore, factual validity ensures that the law is differentiable from traditional morality, while normative validity ensures the acceptability of the law in society, which helps to preserve its sustainability, and fulfill its role in social integration (Xiao 2011). Jürgen Habermas alleged that the cognitive validity of moral norms and legal norms are distinct. Specifically, the “validity claim” of morals is its sense of righteousness, which indicates that moral norms are considered worthy of being universally recognized because of their association to the autonomous will of both those that follow and those that create the norms. In that sense, moral norms are innately acquiescent due to the role free will plays in their formation. However, the validity of law lies in legitimacy, which is defined more by procedure and the basis of origin than by substantive value (Xiao 2011). This, therefore, implies that democratic principles can only be applied to law, and are not suitable for morality4 (Habermas 2003, pp. 135–136). Based on the above, it can thus be concluded that morality and law emphasize different aspects in their bases of validity.

4.1.3.2

The Difference Between Moral and Legal Education

Due to the operational differences between morality and law, as well as their contrasting range of regulation and bases of validity, moral and legal education are also contrasting. One obvious difference lies in the fact that moral education is based on morals and legal education is based on laws. Thus, the corresponding curriculum needs to be designed in a way that allows learners to experience both morality and law distinctly and the different roles they play in improving society. The second noticeable point of divergence lies in how the two are taught. The common pedagogical methods that are employed in moral education include the discussion of moral dilemmas (improving moral judgment), roleplay (cultivating moral sensitivity), and the discussion of value (value clarification); while legal education often adopts case studies (deepening the understanding of legal terms) and moot court (promoting legal experience). Therefore, a wider range of pedagogical approaches are required to ensure educational effectiveness. In addition, moral and legal education should be introduced to children at different stages of moral development. According to Kohlberg (1958), children develop a preliminary understanding of the concept of law that reaches till the fourth stage of their moral development (“law and order” orientation). Although the concept of an “illegal act” is occasionally introduced to children during the first stage (“punishment and obedience” orientation), they have not yet formed a concept of law, and they are generally unable to understand what legal norms are and the reasons why they must obey these norms. Therefore, to children who are in their first stage of moral development, the concept of following laws is similar to hearing an instruction from 4 To

further illustrate this claim, take for example, a society in which the majority has voted that it is acceptable to torture a group of people. Based on the principles of democracy, it is thus perfectly possible to make it legal to torture these people, but this does not mean that it is moral to do so.

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authoritative figures such as parents and teachers. However, as they progress to the fourth stage, children are gradually able to understand that the law is a universal standard that is used to protect all people and their legal interests (Gao 2016). Thus, while moral education can start from a younger age, legal education requires introduction at much later stage of mental and cognitive development. However, fundamental legal knowledge can still be introduced to children at a younger age. Gao (2016) believed that “pre-legal education,” which involves the introduction of rules and regulations, helps to lay the foundation for discerning legal knowledge at a later stage.

4.1.3.3

How Morality and Law Addresses the Differences Between Moral and Legal Education

Based on the above analysis, the writing team of the new textbooks adopted the following strategies, aimed to address the differences between moral and legal education.

Avoiding the Unnatural Integration of the Two Domains Topics that belong to only one domain were not artificially integrated with the other. For example, in “The Carrier of Love” (Lesson 10, second semester of grade three), the topic of “having a caring heart” and “being willing to help others,” which are distinctly moral expectations, were excluded from legal principles. To unnaturally force such moral concepts into representing both domains would be harmful to the students’ moral development and would likely impact the efficacy of their autonomous regulation. Similarly, the lesson entitled “I am Honest” (Lesson 3, second semester of grade three) was also considered to be strictly moral and correlated to the characteristics of children’s development, wherein honesty is viewed as a psychological barrier rather than an ethical dilemma. However, this does not mean that it cannot be a legal issue when taken to extremes (such as fraud). Another example is the lesson that introduces state institutions and the People’s Congress system; since the content only discusses the government and the legal system, morality was not considered as part of the lesson. It should be noted that the notion that each lesson should include both a moral and legal focus—which often arises due to the title of the course—is a misinterpretation of the differences between morality and law and moral and legal education. The forced integration of morals and law is likely to lead to a blurring of their boundaries. This would confound the self-regulated “soft” norms of morality with the heteronomous, rigid norms of law, consequently inhibiting moral free will. Additionally, confusing legal norms with moral norms would undermine the mandatory nature of law. This forceful integration is also likely to lead to illogicality and incoherence in the textbook and teaching design. Therefore, it should be a goal of the curriculum to ensure a careful and holistic integration of both domains.

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Distinguishing Between the Different Functions of Morality and Law Despite the inclusion of lessons that were specifically dedicated to one of the two domains thematically, there were also lessons that fused both moral and legal elements. These were included due to the course’s comprehensive nature, which required the design to be adapted to the lives of the learners. In order to balance the moral and legal themes of the content, the distinctive roles that morals and law serve in education should be determined. Moral education aims to develop virtue, while legal education safeguards the acceptable line of conduct. The corresponding scenarios and events should thus include both the bottom line of conduct and the pursuit of virtue, as well as their complementary relationships and boundaries. For example, in the lesson entitled “Thousands of Kilometers Under One ‘Line’” (Lesson 13, second semester of grade three), both communication etiquette and information security were included as core components. Information security is a rigid communications requirement that plays the role of both protection and restriction, while civility and etiquette in communication is a soft requirement that aims to instill certain social behaviors. Similarly, “What I Need to Know About Shopping” (Lesson 4, second semester of grade 4) discusses consumer rights and shopping etiquette. Consumer rights are a clear component of legal education—which cover the consumer behaviors that are protected and restricted by law—whereas shopping etiquette is based around civil consumer habits. Thus, the differences between moral and legal education are primarily reflected in their autonomous and heteronomous nature, respectively. By distinguishing between their different modes of operation, learners can better understand that morality and law are complementary pillars of society. Morality leads us to improve our lives by pursuing virtue, while law enriches our lives by determining the boundaries of acceptable conduct. Thus, based on both the points of relation and divergence of laws and morals, it was deemed necessary that the design of the new textbooks and their embedded pedagogical strategies should ensure a balance between moral and legal knowledge, so as to avoid the complete homogenization or separation of the moral and legal content of the curriculum.

4.2 Chinese Traditional Cultural Education (CTCE): Exploration from Children’s Perspectives China is a nation with a profound cultural heritage, which the government has attached great importance to in recent years by emphasizing the education of the nation’s astonishing array of cultural traditions. However, due to its integration in curriculums in a manner that is disconnected from a child’s perspective, the effectiveness of cultural education has not been as successful as originally expected. China’s primary-school moral education classes are an important cultural education channel;

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thus, new approaches of imparting Chinese culture and tradition have been explored extensively through the moral education textbooks. In May 2012, Professor Lu was appointed by the Ministry of Education to lead the development of the primaryschool educational materials nationwide for Morality and Law. Her development team has subsequently gone to great lengths to explore how Chinese culture can be taught from a child’s perspective. However, this raises the crucial question of why it is imperative to ensure that children’s perspectives are incorporated into Chinese traditional cultural education(CTCE), which is what will be explored in this section.

4.2.1 Why Are Children’s Perspectives Necessary in CTCE The author believes that children’s perspectives are necessary in CTCE due to the three key reasons.

4.2.1.1

The Prerequisites for the Modernization of CTCE

Although CTCE is comprised of Chinese traditional cultural references, it remains an important part of modern education. However, in order for it to remain relevant, traditional cultural knowledge requires a modern approach. A common goal of past cultural education was to ensure conformity to traditional values, especially in response to the emerging conflicts between students’ modern social needs and traditional cultural values. Of course, we are not implying here that traditional culture is diametrically opposed to students’ needs, nor are we claiming that traditional cultural hinders their development. Instead, we are claiming that there are clear points of divergence between traditional cultural values and the diverse modern realities of contemporary students, which are compounded by the simultaneously abstract yet overly systematized nature of traditional values. Moreover, past cultural education has tended to emphasize the future social needs of the embedded values at the expense of children’s present developmental needs. However, in a modern child-oriented approach, more attention is paid to the current developmental role of education with consideration of the future development of society, which can occasionally lead to conflict between modern and traditional cultural values. In terms of content, past CTCE has a tendency to emphasize classic cultural references. Although such classic references have their value, given that they are often presented from the perspective of adults and adopt a systematic and rational approach in delivery, they often do not suit a child’s personal experiences. These classic elements are formed through the long-term accumulation and summation of society’s symbols of authority and correctness. In comparison, children’s experiences are seen as imperfect (or even incorrect) and are thus considered to have lower value (or be valueless). This results in the exclusion of their experiences from traditional cultural education, which is based on historical ideals. For that reason, past approaches to cultural education often involved indoctrination as a teaching method

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and knowledge acquisition as an educational philosophy (Yang 2002). Given that indoctrination involves the use of an external force to inject the doctrines into the learners’ minds, the adoption of such a method has led to a third level of conflict between traditional cultural references and the views of modern children, who are more aware of modern cultural references. Therefore, in order to prevent such errors and conflicts and to engage the student in the learning process, it is extremely important for the new curriculum and textbooks to be aligned with children’s views.

4.2.1.2

The Unavoidable Path to Improving the Effectiveness of CTCE

Any effective approach to education must be designed around children’s psychological growth to ensure their developmental needs are met. The effect of any educational approach that disregards the conditions of the learner is, at best, superficial. In My Pedagogic Creed, Dewey pointed out that “the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself” and that “The child’s own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education” (Dewey 1897/1994, p. 3). Therefore, when CTCE adopts the perspective of a fully developed adult rather than that of a child’s developing psychological state, the internal needs and interests of the child are unlikely to be sufficiently met. This would render the pedagogical approach ineffective, or more impactfully, would cause the students to lose interest in and disconnect from their traditional cultural heritage. Adhering to a child’s views necessitates the active exploration of the points of convergence between traditional and modern culture, which deepens the significance of the examples and cases applied and facilitates the achievement of educational goals in a fun, engaging, and implicit manner. Additionally, it provides an unhurried channel that allows children to be connected to their cultural heritage in a relaxed and enjoyable environment and ultimately expand their cultural awareness. This process can only be successful if speeches and feigned doctrines are avoided. Investigations into Chinese children’s interests have revealed that they are often more interested in Western festivals than Chinese festivals. Although marketing and commercial exploitation play a certain role in this shift, it should also be recognized that Western festivals often have more elements that appeal to a child’s sensibilities. For example, Easter is symbolized with Easter eggs and Easter bunnies and commonly involves enjoyable activities, such as eating bunny-shaped candies and chocolate, decorating Easter eggs, and egg-hunting games. Chinese festivals, such as the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival (also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day), Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, may be representative of a remarkable and extensive cultural heritage, but they are less engaging to a child. This was also seen in past cultural education, where many of the traditional cultural elements that were relevant and engaging to children were not highlighted due to the inadequate consideration of what engages children.

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It is Vital to Promote the Development of Chinese Traditional Culture

Along with the education of traditional culture, children’s modern perspectives are essential for enriching and stimulating their development of cultural heritage. Children are both inheritors and recreators of social experience and culture. Children’s active participation contributes to the liveliness of social experience and culture, which in turn stimulate adults’ active response. Furthermore, as children’s social experiences increase, they mature from passively adopting to actively acquiring social experience, which creates a feedback loop between acquisition and engagement that further perpetuates the construction of social experience. Children’s growth is thus a process of continuous accumulation and construction of social experiences (Xia et al. 2015), which consolidates their roles as successors and recreators of social and cultural heritage. Children are thus the carriers of the intangible wealth accumulated in society, as well as the successors and recreators of social culture. They play a vital role in the process of social progress and inheritance and the sustained development of culture (Xia et al. 2015). This view was shared by Arendt (1961/2011), who contended that without the constant injection of new, young faces into the rebuilding of the world, the only inevitable outcome is destruction. Education must therefore safeguard the sustainability of the world by facilitating continual development over new generations and ensuring a close association with the continuity of the world’s interests. The world can only survive through the sustained supply of people who use their actions to create new meanings from outdated phenomena. Similarly, only through such continuation can the new generations overcome the threat of extinction and ultimately reach a state of meaningfulness by transcending the mere need for survival (Zhang 2015).

4.2.2 What Types of Children’s Perspectives should be Incorporated in CTCE? Given the urgent need of children’s perspectives in Chinese traditional culture and its education, what types of children’s perspectives should be incorporated in CTCE?

4.2.2.1

Recognizing Children as Individuals and the Value of Childhood

The first step in positioning the child in CTCE is recognizing that, like adults, children are individuals with their own personality and dignity. It is also necessary to recognize that childhood has independent value. While the majority of people are aware of this, many either consciously or unconsciously dismiss the individuality, and to value children and childhood. For example, many people adopt future utilitarian goals as

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the only criterion with which to measure the value of a child’s life. In other words, if the child fails to achieve a specific goal in the future, adults dismiss all that had been done to that point as pointless—regardless of whether the child enjoyed and gained happy experiences in the process. This approach fails to recognize the independent value of childhood. The opposite of such a future-oriented perspective of educational value is one focused on the present. A present-oriented perspective emphasizes the educational value of the present moment, allowing children to fully enjoy the learning process while downplaying the external goals of education. In short, childhood should not merely serve as preparation for adult life. As Lu (2008) has noted, education is not good if it fails to consider children’s actual lives. The expectation that children should sacrifice their right to a happy life today in exchange for a promise of a happy life in the future is a form of deceptive education. As Lu (2008) asks: What can become of tomorrow if children are deprived of the opportunity to grow up free, healthy, and happy today?

4.2.2.2

Children are Still Children and Their Uniqueness should be Respected

While children should be respected as individuals, they should also be treated as children. It is important to recognize their own unique ways of understanding the world, as well as the characteristics of their growth. As Rousseau (2001, p. 71) noted, “Humankind has its place in the order of all things; childhood has its place in the order of life; adults should be treated as adults, while children should be regarded as children.” When treating children as children, the first step is to respect the natural laws and stages of their physical and mental development. There must be the awareness that their development differs from one stage to another: the process can’t only be rapid and tumultuous at one time, but slow and steady at another. This implies that “children are not only different from adults, but children themselves have differing characteristics depending on their age” (Yang 1998). Montessori also believed that children undergo continuous and advancing development, and that changes occur in stages. The characteristics exhibited during one stage of development are significantly different from that of another stage (Huo 2000). Treating children as children also means respecting their interests, needs, and unique ways of perceiving the world. In regard to practical education, some adults believe that children are immature and incapable; view their questions as stupid, and their explorations as inept and unsophisticated; and treat their games, fantasies, and doodling as a useless waste of time (Jiang and Liu 2014). However, as Montessori (2005, p. 79) pointed out, “children’s psychology and personality are completely dissimilar from that of adults. These are differences in fundamental nature, rather than merely one of degree.” This is the reason that children and adults do not understand one another.

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Children are Future Citizens and Creators of the Ideal Society

Although children are individuals, they are still children and should not be left to their own devices. The world of children has its own logic, differing from that of the adult world. This does not mean that adults do not need to educate children; rather, it underscores the need for adults to base children’s education on a thorough understanding of the children’s world. Adults must enter the living world of children, as well as understand, discover, and fully respect that world. Only then can they rationally and actively guide children to expand their understanding of the living world (Liu 2011). In other words, the education of children should be based on children’s development potential. Moreover, Dewey proposed that children be educated from the stance of their being “future citizens,” particularly insofar as the construction and development of a democratic society depends on the continuous influx of children, who will go on to implement the “ideal society.” The relationship between children and society is like that of fresh blood and the body, while the process of society educating children is similar to the hemopoiesis in the body. When society transforms children, it promotes its own healthy living, allowing it to continue moving toward “social ideals.” As such, the form or ideal of future society depends on the current direction of children’s learning and activities. After all, the children of today will become the adults of tomorrow, and their growth is thus closely linked to a society’s development. For example, the democratic educational approach and school atmosphere are conducive to the development of children’s democratic character, thereby facilitating the construction of a democratic society.

4.2.3 Positioning the Child and Approaching Traditional Culture Education in Morality and Law As such, it is vital to position children critically and clearly in Chinese traditional culture education. This section examines the way in which the elementary school textbook, Morality and Law, has used children’s perspectives to ensure more effective CTCE.

4.2.3.1

Educational Goal: Improve Children’s Cultural Appreciation

From the perspective of child education, CTCE at the elementary school level should seek to educate children about their culture, enhancing their cultural understanding and appreciation rather than focusing on knowledge. Adopting children’s perspectives in CTCE means to respect children and their stage of development. For students in elementary school, knowledge-oriented CTCE does not correspond with their developmental stage. As such, CTCE during this stage should focus on cultivating

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their cultural spirit. With this educational goal as the basis, elementary-level CTCE should seek to enhance cultural understanding and appreciation rather than the rote memorization of information regarding traditional culture. It is also necessary to focus on the overall influence of traditional culture on children’s lives. In reality, many elementary schools implementing CTCE evaluate its effectiveness based on how much of the Three Character Classic or number of ancient poems and classical Chinese writing children can recite from memory. Indeed, rote learning is deemed the most important or only evaluation criterion. In terms of children’s perspectives, this evaluation method does not respect children because it violates the objective laws of their development. Even if they were able to memorize such contents by rote learning, the lack of understanding means that no direct relation is formed between the contents and their lives. As Dewey argues, the resultant impact of the contents on children is “indirect” and “weak.” If the goal of CTCE is the education of cultural literacy, then two developments are necessary. First, the connection between traditional culture and children’s current lives must be emphasized. Only when traditional culture infiltrates their actual lives will children be able to recognize and understand traditional culture, effectively narrowing the gap between these worlds. When this occurs, traditional culture will have a positive impact on children’s overall lives. In Morality and Law, traditional cultural elements in children’s lives were used as the starting points from which to guide them in experiencing traditional culture, thereby enhancing their familiarity with and affinity toward traditional Chinese culture. For example, the tenth lesson in Volume II of the fourth-grade textbook, entitled “Our local customs” (Fig. 4.1), allows students to experience the traditional Chinese virtues of caring for the young and respecting the elderly by having them reminisce and share memories of the customs that they grew up with. The translation of the characters in Fig. 4.1, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows: 10 Our Local Customs

Caring for the young and respecting the elderly are traditional virtues of the Chinese people. Customs are a part of my life Many of the customs that we grow up with Every place has its own unique customs, which reflect the tradition of caring for the young. are closely related to our lives Correspondingly, there are many other customs that highlight the virtue of respecting the elderly Birth: I heard from my parents that after I was born, they boiled lots of eggs, dyed them red, and distributed to relatives and close friends. This is known as “baoxi” (announcing good news)

Introduction to customs that show respect and veneration for the elderly

(continued)

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(continued) Baby’s one-month celebration: I learned from my paternal grandparents that babies here must have their fetal hair shaved when they are one-month old. So, on the day that I turned a full month old, they shaved me themselves

Please choose a photograph showing a family celebrating an elderly person’s birthday and find out about a related custom or a special food item for that birthday banquet. Then, introduce or demonstrate it to the class. Next, discuss the well-wishes conveyed to the elderly through such customs

Other customs that I grew up with include…

I heard my father mention that longevity buns are displayed at the birthday banquet. Usually, eight small buns are arranged around a large bun to symbolize the eight immortals sending birthday wishes and for the number “nine” to coincide with the meaning of longevity

What are some of the other customs that you grew up with? What well-wishes and blessings do our elders bestow upon us through such customs?

In my hometown, The elderly person eat longevity noodles on their birthdays. Each strand of noodle is very long in order to represent longevity. A banquet is organized and held in the evening. The elderly person sits in the central and most important position to receive greetings and well-wishes from relatives, friends, and the younger generation

The customs associated with our growing up are ways in which elders bestow their best wishes on the younger generation

What other customs practiced in your hometown are related to respecting the elderly? In my hometown, we celebrate an elderly’s birthday in the following ways…

Second, importance must be attached to cultivating the inner spirit of traditional culture. As CTCE at the elementary school level focuses on improving cultural understanding and appreciation, it is necessary to pay attention to the favorable influence that the spirit of traditional culture has on children.

4.2.3.2

Content Selection: Predominantly the Positive but Supplemented by the Negative

Traditional culture is myriad and complex and contains both the best and worst elements of society. Selecting positive content is conducive to the transmission of traditional culture, while including the negative content facilitates the cultivation of children’s critical consciousness. In our study, we (Cai et al. 2018) found that the textbooks in mainland of China, Taiwan region of China and Japan didn’t focus on the negative contents of traditional culture more. CTCE, which employs children’s perspectives, considers the characteristics of a child’s age. In other words, while curriculum contents should be predominantly positive, it should be supplemented by some negative contents. Psychological research has shown that, in general, positive education should be the focus for those with poorer

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Fig. 4.1 Example of bringing traditional culture closer to children’s lives

comprehension abilities. In contrast, a combination of positive and negative education should be adopted for those with better comprehension abilities (Huang 2000, p. 167). Elementary school students—especially those in the lower grades—have relatively little ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Therefore, Morality and Law focuses on positive contents for CTCE at this level. The materials strive to screen and select cultural elements that express the progressive ideas of traditional Chinese culture, such as self-improvement, emotional affinity for one’s home and country, and social responsibility. These elements were integrated into the textbooks to facilitate and promote student growth. The focus on positive contents during the selection process does not mean that negative contents are rejected entirely. This is because the transmission of traditional culture does not involve accepting it in its entirety without any change. Rather, there should be a process of critically developing what is useful and discarding that which is not. At the same time, children must also be taught to reflect upon and be critically aware of traditional culture. In addition to helping overcome the negative elements of traditional Chinese culture, which connects traditional culture with the spirit of the times. For example, while the tenth lesson in Volume II of the fourth grade textbook entitled “Our local customs” (Fig. 4.2) guides students to understand the traditional Chinese customs of caring for the young and respecting the elderly, it also encourages them to reflect on other customs that should be eliminated or changed. The translation of the characters in Fig. 4.2, from top to bottom as follows:

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Fig. 4.2 Example of guiding children to treat traditional culture rationally and critically

Module No. 4 Cultural awareness and being concerned about the development of one’s hometown Changes in customs over time As society progresses, some old customs no longer satisfy people’s needs or are no longer relevant. These need to be eliminated or modified Mini survey Please investigate the customs in your area that should be removed or changed. You can do so by looking through reference books, searching the Internet, interviewing your elders or other means. Mini Survey Name of custom Investigation method Main activities associated with the custom Reason(s) for elimination or modification Possible alternative activities

Indeed, it is necessary to include appropriate negative contents in order to develop children’s abilities to reflect and think critically. Such contents enable students to

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recognize the shortcomings of traditional Chinese culture, often provoking anger and resentment. Although these emotions cannot directly elicit their passion for traditional Chinese culture, their critical awareness can be enhanced under the teacher’s rational and effective guidance. As such, negative examples can be an effective tool. This approach of having predominantly positive contents supplemented by negative contents actually conveys the true and inclusive spirit of traditional Chinese culture. Students will gradually develop their true character and personality when allowed to understand and explore both the positive and negative aspects of traditional Chinese culture. Even if school education emphasizes the positive content and prevents students from understanding negative aspects, children will encounter negative elements in their daily lives. In such a scenario, students may come to mistrust school education, eventually forming a hypocritical attitude. However, when students are permitted to understand traditional Chinese culture from both the positive and negative aspects, their personality will gradually develop to embrace inclusiveness and forgiveness.

4.2.3.3

Textbook Structure: Integrating Systemized Knowledge into Daily Life

CTCE from an adult’s perspective often prioritizes accurate and systemic contents while ignoring the value of children’s experiences. This has proven ineffective. CTCE from a child’s perspective prioritizes appropriate and interesting contents, while recognizing the value of children’s experiences. Although this approach is less systemized, students are more engaged with the contents, making it more effective. In the past, the design of textbooks tended to favor an adult viewpoint and consider the systemic nature of traditional cultural knowledge, resulting in the common mistake of using a system that is external to the daily lives and experiences of the students themselves. Our research (Cai et al. 2018) found that moral or society education textbooks in mainland of China, Taiwan region of China and Japan, except Taiwan region of China, the contents of traditional culture in mainland of China and Japan are still knowledge orientation relatively. Even though the textbook in mainland of China was based on children’s perspectives, the contents of traditional culture are still obvious knowledge orientation. Maybe the reason is that these contents are far away from students’ lives. To avoid this mistake, Morality and Law’s approach to CTCE has been rooted in the child perspective, thereby requiring that systemized knowledge be integrated into the logic of children’s daily lives. Undeniably, traditional Chinese culture has an inherent internal system. As Liang contends, “Chinese culture is a whole (at least its various components are all interconnected in various ways)” (Liang 2011, p. 29). However, given the need to organize the contents of traditional Chinese culture according to the logic of children’s lives, the design of Morality and Law is based on a decentralized approach. This refers to the assimilation or integration of traditional Chinese culture into specific events of

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Fig. 4.3 Example of the dispersed integration of traditional culture into different learning topics in a lesson entitled, “Keeping one’s promises”

children’s lives. Doing so not only effectively integrates CTCE with other lessons but also facilitates the consolidation of CTCE itself. Rather than treating CTCE as a standalone subject, this approach was actively applied in the relevant modules of Morality and Law. For example, a lesson entitled “Keeping one’s promises” concerns the topic of trustworthiness (Fig. 4.3). The translation of the characters in Fig. 4.3, from top to bottom and left to right is as follows: 2 Keeping one’s promises

Module No. 1 Peers and interactions

Who will still believe what he says

Activity corner

Keeping one’s promises is an important personal quality. Not doing so causes harm to others and oneself

Traditional Chinese culture embodies many lessons advising people to be true to one’s words in life and when treating others. Please find some stories or idioms related to going back on one’s word and share these with other students in the group

Discussion

“I know of a related idiom on breaking promises: to grow fat by eating one’s words. The background story of this idiom is…” “I know of another story about not living up to one’s promises…” “When I read Journey to the West, I realized that the 81st hurdle that Tang Sanzang must overcome on his way to obtain the scriptures was related to broken promises. The story is…” (continued)

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(continued) 2 Keeping one’s promises

Module No. 1 Peers and interactions

There is this student whom everyone calls What revelations did you get from these stories “Promise King” because he often makes about broken promises? Which brought harm to promises in school and at home. However, he others and which brought harm to oneself? seldom keeps his promises. Think about it: What will happen next? If you are his teacher, friend or family member, what will you do? Please take on different roles and act out possible scenarios “I promise that I will bring a racket next time!” 1. Not keeping one’s promises to others will “Teacher, I promise this is the last time that I harm them. In… story, the hurt experienced will hand in my assignment late” by others was… “I promise that next time, I will feed the cat on 2. Not keeping one’s promises to others will also harm oneself. In… story, the hurt time!” experienced by the dishonest person was…

In contrast, a centralized approach involves the use of specialized textbooks, modules, or dedicated classes. Although this practice is systemic, there is the danger of the contents being dissociated from children’s daily lives. While organizing the contents of traditional Chinese culture based on the logic of children’s lives may not maintain its inherent logic, doing so takes into account the hierarchical issues faced in CTCE. That is, this approach considers the distinction of internal CTCE hierarchies in targeting children of different age groups, which should be done according to the characteristics of their respective developmental stage.

4.2.3.4

Teaching Strategy: Beginning with Events or Experiences that Are of Interest to Children

This poses the question of how CTCE from children’s perspective should be implemented. First, it should start using a life event in which students are interested or personally familiar with. When selecting the relevant topics, textbook writers and compilers must strive to bridge the gap between children and traditional Chinese culture. To achieve this, they should place themselves in the children’s position, choose contents those are not only the part of the children’s life experience but also closely related to traditional culture. For instance, when introducing the traditional Chinese virtues of caring for children and respecting the elderly, customs incorporating children can be used. Examples include “baoxi” (announcing births), the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, and birthday celebrations for elderly relatives. When reminiscing about and reflecting on these customs, the students are guided to experience and understand the meaning contained in these practices, as well as the desires that the elders have for the younger generation or vice versa. This is necessary because abstract moral concepts and theoretical systems cannot constitute the basic contents of textbooks, as this would require a return to the previous method of knowledge and virtue indoctrination. Using children’s lives as the starting point not only closes the

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gap between them and traditional culture, but it enhances the effectiveness of CTCE. It is only when the materials involve scenes from their real lives that children are able to understand traditional culture and feel its inner spirit. Second, classroom teaching must be connected with the traditional cultural activities in students’ lives that bring them delight. Teachers need to identify activities and games in traditional Chinese culture in which children are interested and can participate, but that do not contain any safety or era-related concerns. Examples include paper cutting and Chinese knotting for the Lunar New Year, lantern making and guessing word-based riddles for the Spring Lantern Festival (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), kite making and flying for the Tomb-Sweeping Festival, and tug-of-war and making sachets for the Dragon Boat Festival. Although some traditional activities here have been continued and become modern activities, which just shows the strong vitality of these activities, it cannot be denied that these activities originated from tradition and have the genes of traditional culture. Therefore, from the perspective of traditional culture education, teachers need to guide students to understand the traditional stories, or experienced the traditional values involved in these activities. In addition, teachers also need to consider the safety of these activities in the process of incorporating them into education, such as the use of knives and scissors, etc. These considerations are also the embodiment of children’s perspectives, because they need to pay more attention to children’s safety than adults. Moreover, teachers should actively explore the elements in traditional culture in which children are interested and design teaching activities accordingly. For example, many traditional customs in China are related to eating—an activity that appeals to most students. Therefore, eating can be the factor used for developing child-related activities. For instance, in spring, teachers can take students outside to pick, observe, and sample wild vegetables; fall activities might include the picking and sampling of winter fruits, like melons. Teachers can also actively explore other activities by combining the characteristics and cultural traditions of the local region that concern or interest children. Such activities will help realize the effective connection between the excellent traditional Chinese culture and children’s lives, experiences, and interests, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of CTCE.

References Arendt, H. (2011). Between past and future (Y. Wang et al., Trans.). Nanjing: Yilin Press (Original work published 1961). Cai, F., et al. (2018). Comparative analysis on the integration of traditional cultural education into the moral education (society) textbooks in primary schools—a case study of “people’s education edition”, “kangxuan edition” and “Tokyo book edition”. Moral Education in Elementary and Secondary School, 12, 42–45. Cane, P. (2008). Responsibility in law and morality (J. H. Luo, Trans.). Beijing: Commercial Press (Original work published 2002).

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