Wing On Lee

Constructing Citizenship: Comparing the Views of Students in Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States

Young citizens growing up in different societies experience multiple socialization processes that help to shape their values and attitudes toward the political life of their societies. Gabriel Almond and G. Bingham Powell (1996, 47) have pointed out that “each community’s political culture exists uniquely in its own time and place. The attitudes and beliefs of its citizens are shaped by their personal experiences.” Yet across countries, common patterns of citizenship values have been identified. Dian Kiwan (2005, 38) has identified five broad conceptions of citizenship: “moral, legal, identity-based, participatory and cosmopolitan.” Michael Walzer (1994) distinguished between “thin” and “thick” conceptions of citizenship, with thin conceptions roughly equivalent to Kiwan’s moral and legal categories and thick conceptions covering the other three categories. Although Diemut Bubeck (1995) questioned the adequacy of Walzer’s conceptions, claiming that some conceptions of citizenship have both thin and thick components, Walzer’s categorization, nevertheless, provides a useful way of understanding the way citizens across societies view their political roles. Thin conceptions of citizenship can be characterized as rights based, concerned with status in the political community and providing a somewhat passive role for citizens, such as obeying laws and voting periodically. Thick conceptions of citizenship, however, have much higher expectations of citizens in terms of their virtues, their expected participation, and their performance in the community. Other writers on citizenship have expressed similar views, especially in relation to democratic citizenship (Barber 1984; Heater 2004). For example, in his historical review of citizenship, Heater showed that citizenship developed from formal, legal, and rights-based emphases to multiple and global citizenship, requiring commitments beyond state-defined duties and responsibilities. Terence McLaughlin’s (1992) notion of minimal and maximal citizenship also identifies four sets of thin and thick features in various areas of citizenship, that is, form and substance in citizenship identity; private and public in citizenship virtues; passive and active in political involvement; and closed and open in social prerequisites, with the former as a thin feature of citizenship and the latter as thick in the four respective citizenship areas.

Emerging Concepts of Citizenship in the Asian Context

Many people, either explicitly or implicitly, hold a linear view that modernisation and democratisation should be a cumulative point of a country’s development. There is also a widespread belief that modernisation and democratisation are both necessary for development. Also, it is widely held that the two are interdependent or interstimulating. If one side develops, the other side will be handicapped without a parallel development of its counterparts. A famous enquiry by Norman Jacobs (1971) is featured in his book that asks the question: Modernisation without development? To him, modernisation without a democratic structure cannot result in development. However, global experience has witnessed the emergence of postmodern conceptions on the one hand, and economic development without major democratisation in many countries on the other. Many of these economies are located in Asia, and within Asia, China is an obvious example. Samuel Huntington, while making efforts to track worldwide patterns of democratisation, increasingly identifies cultural forces that may influence democratisation and development. With reference to Asia, he observes, ... while recognizing the differences among Asian societies and civilizations, East Asians argue that there are also significant commonalities. Central among these, one Chinese dissident observed, is the shared rejection of individualism and the prevalence of ‘soft’ authoritarianism or very limited forms of democracy. Asian societies have common interests vis-a-vis the West in defending these distinctive values and promoting interests.own economic interests. (Huntington, 1996, p. 108)

Concepts and Issues of Asian Citizenship: Spirituality, Harmony and Individuality

The organisation of this book was made possible by an observation among the contributors that there should be distinctive features in addressing the issue of citizenship in the Asian context. However, such an endeavour is bound to be faced with many difficulties. Therefore this chapter, rather than promising to tackle problems, begins with an acknowledgement of the difficulties.

Citizenship Education in Hong Kong: Development and Challenges

Until July 1997, when it was returned to Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong was a British colony for about one and a half centuries. Its long colonial history was characterised by a strategy of depoliticisation on the part of the government and by apoliticised attitudes among its people. There are two major reasons for such a characterisation of Hong Kong. First, situated on the border of China, Hong Kong was geographically more subject to Chinese than British influences, especially in terms of food and water supply and control of refugee and immigrant inflows. Governance of Hong Kong was viable only if there was a consensus among the British, Chinese and Hong Kong governments. This necessitated a scenario in which politics was downplayed. Second, Hong Kong itself was a territory of immigrants, largely composed of refugees from China. Its early immigrants treated Hong Kong as a haven from the Communist regime. At the same time, it was close enough to maintain connections with relatives and friends in the Mainland. A later batch of refugees came during the period of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, again to escape from politics. Because of the political-phobia among the refugees, coupled with a Chinese tradition that the common people should keep their distance from governmental and judicial agencies, Hong Kong’s inhabitants tended to avoid politics as far as possible. Instead, they focused their attention on economic activities.

Perceptions of Citizenship Qualities Among Asian Educational Leaders

Developing good citizenship has been a continuing educational concern worldwide. As a report on the civic education study of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has noted, ‘All societies have a continuing interest in the way their young people are prepared for citizenship and learn to take part in public affairs’ (Torney-Purta, Schwille, & Amadeo, 1999, p. 12). This overall statement was actually drawn from the country case reports included in the civic education study. For example, the Australian chapter reported that ‘active citizenship education’ became a key objective of the curriculum at the turn of the 1990s (Print, Kennedy, & Hughes, 1999, p. 39). The Belgian chapter indicated that in 1994 a decree was published in the official gazette, Moniteur Belge, demanding that teachers should prepare students to become responsible citizens who possess the qualities required in a pluralist society (Blondin & Schillings, 1999, p. 64). The Canadian chapter remarked that there was country-wide acknowledgment that citizenship education is the responsibility of schools, and such an expectation is explicitly expressed in the social studies curriculum: ‘responsible citizenship is the ultimate goal of social studies’ (Sears, Clarke, & Hughes, 1999, p. 129).

Does Context Still Matter? The Dialectics of Comparative Education.

This introductory article serves as a hermeneutical tool for interpreting the subsequent articles in this special issue, which explores the nature and roles of comparative education in the 21st century within the context of a changing world order and the growing prominence of comparative education in the Asia-Pacific region. A review of the evolution of different genres of comparative educations reveals the importance of contextual considerations as a constant ritornello (a refrain or instrumental interlude) in comparative education research. Reflections on comparative education in dialectical perspectives in this article provide new impetus and enlightenment on contemporary issues in education and society. Seeing comparative education as a dialectic process enhances the openness of comparative education to challenge the status quo perception of issues, and provides a compare-and-contrast perspective to identify polemic interpretations, such as empirical epistemology which can be viewed as a subjectivity that rejects the transcendental sources of knowledge. Dynamic secularism can be a friend of, and coexist with, religion as it ironically provides more opportunities for more religions to co-exist harmoniously under secularism than many countries that adopt a national religion. The dialectics of comparative education opens up a new role for comparative education to accommodate polemic perspectives to co-exist and to recognize the equal importance of universality and particularity.

Changing Ideopolitical Emphases in Moral Education in China: An Analysis of the CCP Central Committee Documents

Abstract With the understanding that moral education is interpreted as both ideological and political education in China, this paper attempts to look at the ideopolitical emphases in government moral education documents since the adoption of the open policy in 1978. The analysis will be focused on three particular aspects, namely (1) the changing perception of the role of moral education, (2) the changing emphasis on what moral education should achieve, and (3) how such change of emphases would reflect the changing social and political circumstances in China. In sum, this paper argues that government documents on moral education can be a significant indicator for tracking social transition in China.

A Professional Learning Community for the New Teacher Professionalism: The Case of a State-Led Initiative in Singapore Schools

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to explore the empirical fit of two PLC models, using Singapore as a case. Insights emerged from documentary analyses and interviews with state-affiliated agents from the Academy of Singapore Teachers. The proposed DuFour–Fullan model, despite policy aspirations, remains largely DuFour-predominant in practice. Aspirations for a Fullan-inspired approach are evident, but still rest in the stage of conceptualization.

Multiple Modalities of Asia-Pacific Citizenship Pedagogies: Eclectic Concepts, Hybridised Approaches and Teachers’ Preferences

This volume, the third in our series, is part of a deliberate effort to identify and analyse distinctive characteristics of citizenship education in Asia and the Pacific. In our first volume, Citizenship Education in Asia and the Pacific: Concepts and Issues (Lee, Grossman, Kennedy, & Fairbrother, 2004), we established that there are identifiable perspectives in citizenship education that can be characterised as ‘Asian-Pacific’. The regional perspectives have significant features that contribute to the academic discourse of citizenship and citizenship education and the international literature. Specifically, Kennedy and Fairbrother (2004) identified seven citizenship education themes in Asia-Pacific societies: 1. Asian countries are characterised by multiple modernities that provide rich and complex contexts for the development of citizenship education. 2. Asian citizenship education is characterised more by conceptions of moral virtues and personal values than by civic and public values. 3. Civil society is constructed differently in the West and in Asian countries, but it nevertheless can play an important role. 4. The nation-state plays the same role in Asian and Western countries in relation to citizenship education. 5. There is tension between citizenship education, school subjects, and the academic curriculum. 6. Teachers are key players when it comes to the implementation of citizenship education in school. 7. Student agency in responding to citizenship education needs to be taken into consideration.

Education for future-oriented citizenship: implications for the education of twenty-first century competencies

Globalization and the knowledge economy have opened up worldwide agendas for national development. Following this is the emphasis on the social dimension, otherwise known as social capital. Much of social capital includes “soft skills” and “twenty-first century skills”, which broadly cover critical, creative and inventive thinking; information, interactive and communication skills; civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills. Proactively, the Singapore government is preparing for Curriculum 2015, a new curriculum that would develop student attributes, embedded in the “confident person”, “self-directed learner”, “active contributor”, and “concerned citizen”. Significantly, a new curricular initiative, Character and Citizenship Education, emphasizes the integrative nature of citizenship and twenty-first century competencies and has been implemented in all schools in Singapore from 2011. This future-oriented approach to citizenship education emphasizes the significance of individual initiatives and the intellectual capital of citizens. This paper analyses features of this particular approach to citizenship education, and its strengths and significance, which may be viewed as an integrative “total curriculum approach” with a “whole-society” perspective. In addition, the challenges of teaching twenty-first century skills will also be highlighted. This departs from the conventional paradigm of socialization, but to help students develop attributes for a future society to come.