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AnonymousWe need to study East Asia to understand others in the world. By understanding others' cultures I can help my students understand other countries and hopefully make the right decisions. Before this seminar I had no clue about North Korea... now I have more information and understand why they want nuclear power. I hope that by learning about others we can make the right decision in how we treat each other.
AnonymousWhy study East Asia? So many inventions, discoveries, ect. come out of East Asia that it would be wrong not to learn about they place they came from. Our world is so connected today that it would be a mistake not to teach about an area that is becoming a major world player. If nothing else I like to learn/teach about a variety of different cultures so my students see that all people are basically the same (same feelings, same mistakes, same struggles, same relationships etc) even if they look different or are from different places.
AnonymousWhy bother studying East Asia?
From Kindergarten through the twelfth grade I learned little to nothing about the Asian continent be it cultural, political, social or historical. All of my history education including World History focused on America, North America and Europe. And yet America is intricately entwined with Asia.
The amount of imported and exported items between Asia and the United States is staggering. Do our students even know this? The train and railway systems used in Asia, such as the bullet train in Japan are very advanced and different from what we use in America. Don't you think our young and budding engineers should learn about these systems?
Again,why bother studying East Asia? One crucial reason is cultural relevance. At my previous school, I was part of the Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) that focused on culturally enriched assignments that fit into the curriculum and of course were standards based. When a student can see himself/herself reflected in an assignment or can relate to that which is being taught, it makes such a big difference in th assimilation of the information.
The real question is, why aren't we teaching more about East Asia?
AnonymousAside from the fact that I just love the Chinese culture – the study of East Asia is important because it has such a crucial global impact in the areas of politics, religion, business, and the arts. As we discussed during class, over half the world’s population lives in Asia. China is a world power. Japan and Korea are major democracies. Two world religions, Buddhism and Shintoism, as well as Confucianism come from East Asia. The production of East Asia represents about a third of the World Gross National Product (the U.S. trades more with Asia than it does with Europe). In the past, Asian contributions in art, architecture, textiles, and landscape have had an enormous influence on the rest of the world. Asia continues to make strides in these areas as well as in the areas of theater, music, dance, and film. East Asia also plays a significant part in preparing you to engage a twenty-first century global environment. Since taking this class, I have come to recognize how important Asia really is.[Edit by="nstansbury on May 12, 2:52:05 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousWhy study East Asia? I have many Asian students in my class and if I can show them that I am interested in their culture, that will give them a sense of pride and just might be a reason they try harder in my class have a greater desire to be on their best behavior.