NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... both in political theory and in related areas such as moral education and life philosophy, and to educate a new generation of instructors able to deal effectively with students who were far less easily indoctrinated than those of an earlier period. The early 1980 s saw the introduction of moral education (day) or thought and character education (sizing pine jiao yu) as a whole new area that emphasized individual moral development in ways seldom found in the politically and socially oriented texts of the past. It was the harbinger of a whole range of new courses in Chinese universities under titles such as professional ethics, personal life philosophy, the cultivation of talent, the legal system, etc. One textbook that I have to hand entitled "The Discipline of Moral Education" (Day xue), (25) published in 1986, was prepared for the training of teachers in normal universities who would be responsible for new courses in moral education at all levels within the school system. It suggests that education should be seen as an independent science which deals with the laws (guide) regulating moral learning processes, and that therefore it includes, by definition, thought education, political education and the formation of moral character.
It goes on to demarcate its relation to the fields of philosophy, ethics, psychology and sociology and to elaborate the special challenge it faces with China's open door policy and the determination to critically assimilate both China's historical heritage and the findings of Western thought and research. The overall content of the text covers basic definitions of education, philosophical conceptions of human nature, the structure of moral character, its development at different stages, principles of education, methods of moral education, the application of these methods at different levels and in different types of school setting. The individual human person is the focus here, even though the framework remains that of Marxist social and political theory. (Price, 1992: 57). The cross-cultural generalizability of William Perry's (1970) theory of intellectual and ethical development was examined via the Zhang Cognitive Development Inventory (ZCDI; L. F. Zhang, 1995, which is based on Perry's theory), with 3 samples of college students, 1 from the United States and 2 from the People's Republic of China.
The ZCDI was shown to be reliable and valid for all 3 samples. The results indicated that the Chinese college students' cognitive-developmental pattern differed from that proposed by Perry, but the U. S. students' pattern did not. Possible reasons for the different cognitive-developmental pattern of the Chinese students are presented, leading to the conclusion that Perry's scheme is not universal.
Instead, students' cognitive-developmental patterns seem to vary as a function of different cultural and education systems. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to student affairs practice. (Min, 1997: 37 - 55). As the student population in the United States has grown increasingly culturally diverse, it has become crucial that student affairs professionals in higher education understand the differences among students from dissimilar cultural backgrounds. In this article, I discuss William Perry's (1970) theory of intellectual development and cultural dimensions that I believe have caused the different cognitive-developmental patterns of U. S. and Chinese college students. (Perry, 1976: 547 - 560).
Unlike some stage theorists, who believed that cognitive-structural stages follow invariant sequences that are not defined by culture, Perry (1970) took an interactions view. He argued that a college environment can connect with students in certain ways that encourage them to develop cognitively along his scheme. When King (1978) discussed the applicability of Perry's scheme to the design and implementation of student development programs, she put great emphasis on decision making. Rodgers (1989) reiterated that cognitive-developmental change results from cognitive conflict. That is, a challenge presented to a person's current way of making sense is one of the conditions necessary for that person's cognitive development. Rodgers postulated four conditions that must be met for an environmental challenge to facilitate growth.
In line with these interaction ists, I argue that the different cultural and education systems in the People's Republic of China and the United States may create different learning environments that, in turn, lead to different cognitive-developmental patterns. (Lewin, 1994: 36). In his original theory (as mentioned earlier), Perry (1970) argued that cognitive development results from the interaction between a person and his or her environment. The cognitive-developmental pattern found among the Chinese college students, different from that of the U. S.
students, could be attributed to a number of cultural dimensions as they relate to the differences between the Chinese and U. S. education systems. In each dimension, the Chinese students were not provided with enough opportunities to make their own decisions, whereas the U.
S. students were challenged to make up their own minds. (Perry, 1976: 547 - 560). The first dimension has to do with different enrollment systems. Chinese students enter college with predetermined majors that are overspecialized (Min, 1997).
In contrast, in the U. S. education system, students are allowed to choose their areas of study after sufficient exploration of their interests in different subjects. (Perry, 1976: 547 - 560). The second dimension relates to curriculum and instruction.
Until recently, Chinese college graduates were "trained as elements of the planned economy" (Min, 1997, p. 41). The students were restricted in very narrow fields of specialization. A system of compulsory curriculum was implemented (Du, 1992). In addition, the courses within each curriculum were taught mostly by "uninterrupted lectures with no student participation in discussion." In contrast, U. S.
students fully enjoy the credit system. They make up their own curricula. Moreover, instruction is characterized by a variety of types of student involvement, including group projects, discussions, and seminars. (Perry, 1976: 547 - 560). Related to both enrollment systems and curricula are class systems and residential conditions, both affecting peer interactions.
In China, college students entering in the same department are divided into several class sections, and they stay 'in those same class sections for the entire college period. In the United States, because students choose their own courses, they go to different classes and meet new classmates, including students from different fields of study. In terms of residential conditions, Chinese students are assigned to a room that is shared by seven students for their entire college period. U. S. students may make residential choices, including residence halls, fraternities and sororities, or rented houses or apartments that are shared. (Imrie, 1995: 171 - 189).
Another cultural dimension has to do with China's practice of job assignment, as opposed to job choice in the United States. The tradition of China's job assignment is best illustrated by the following quotation: After 1949, the government introduced a unified system of job assignment for college graduates to complement the state planning of the economy. The Decision on Reform of School System issued by the Government Administrative Council on 1 October 1951 clearly stipulated that college graduates "will be assigned jobs by the government. " From then on, this fundamental principle has remained unchanged except for the period of the Cultural Revolution. (Min, 1997: 37 - 55). Since the middle of the 1980 s, the Chinese government has been trying to reform the job assignment practice.
However, at best, these reforms have resulted in different strategies for job assignment. The students are left with no choice at all. In contrast, students in the United States have access to career guidance, career counseling, and career choice. (Min, 1997: 37 - 55). In summary, the aforementioned cultural and education dimensions have restricted Chinese students' opportunities for decision making, and this limitation may have led to the unusual trajectory of their cognitive development, according to Perry's theory.
The impact of these cultural and education dimensions is further evidenced by the difference found between the 1994 Beijing sample and the 1996 Nanjing sample. Although the former revealed a reversed pattern of cognitive development on all three scales, the latter revealed it on only one scale. In this light, the Chinese students' cognitive development was progressing according to Perry's scheme. (Perry, 1976: 547 - 560). What could have contributed to this progression?
I would argue that this progression comes from three of the major education reforms currently occurring in China. First, many Chinese higher education institutions, including those in Nanjing, are in the process of establishing a credit system. Second, in the early 1990 s, universities were assured that they could "redefine the goals of different specialties, draw up teaching plans and syllabi and compile and select different materials." (Min, 1997: 37 - 55). The aim of this effort was to make each specialization more inclusive, so that students would gain knowledge from a broader area. In the near future, this effort will be continued. Third, students are beginning to play more active roles in their job selections.
They are provided with the opportunities to have direct meetings with their potential employers (Lewin et al. , 1994; Min, 1997). To various degrees, all of these reforms provide students with greater opportunities to make their own decisions. (Imrie, 1995: 171 - 189). Words: 3, 168. Bibliography: Hayhoe, R. (1991). The tapestry of Chinese higher education. In I.
Epstein (Ed. ), Chinese education: Problems, policies, and prospects (pp. 109 - 114). New York: Garland Publishing. Imrie, B. W. (1995). Assessment for learning: Quality and taxonomies. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 20 (2), 171 - 189.
Kruze, U. (1991). "'Political Correctness' in Chinese Education: Issues and Debates on Compulsory Political Education in the Curriculum (1988 -the Present), " (Paper presented at the Conference on Chinese Education for the 21 st Century, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 19 - 22). Lawson, J. M. (1980). The relationship between graduate education and the development of reflective judgment: A function of age or educational experience. Dissertation Abstracts International, 41, 4655 A.
Lewin, K. (1994). Educational innovation in China: Tracing the impact of the 1985 reforms. Essex, England: Longman House, 36. Min, W. F. (1997). China.
In G. Postiglione & G. Mak (Eds. ), Asian higher education: An international handbook and reference guide (pp. 37 - 55). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Perry, E. (1992). "Chinese Political Culture Revisited, " in Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. Perry, eds. , Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press: 1 - 13. Perry, W. (1976). Toward the cross-cultural validation of a Western model of student approaches to learning.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27, 547 - 560. Price, R. (1992). "Moral-Political Education and Modernization, " in R. Hayhoe, ed. , Education and Modernization: The Chinese Experience. Oxford: Pergamon, 57. Reed, G. (1991). "The Political Implications of the 'Learn from Lei Feng' Campaign in the P. R.
C. " (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New Orleans, Louisiana, April: 34 - 5.
Free research essays on topics related to: moral education, cognitive development, college graduates, cross cultural, moral character
Research essay sample on Moral Character Cross Cultural
