Classic dilemma: Confusion over Confucian text
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In Shandong, home of Confucius, the provincial education authority has prohibited students from memorizing the full text of the Three Character Classic. This classic, written during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), is regarded as the embodiment of Confucianism suitable for teaching children.
The province's Education Department, in a notice issued Tuesday, said that schools did not select text carefully enough from classical writings for reading. As a result, some "bad content" found its way to the students' mind and twisted their values.
Besides the Three Character Classic, in the matter of other classical Chinese writing also, the schools should be careful in selecting text for students.
The notice did not give any examples of bad content.
Zhang Yiwu, a professor of Chinese at Peking University, told the Global Times Thursday that the notice is not against encouraging students to read the classics.
Some parts of the Three Character Classic are not suitable for the present day, Zhang said. For example, sections of the classic advocate absolute monarchy.
"However, till now, I could not find any student being adversely influenced by the classics," Zhang said.
Wang Dongcheng, a professor at China Youth University for Political Sciences, told the Global Times that students should have the freedom to choose what they want to read, and they have the ability to differentiate the bad content from the good one.
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