Citizenship education in Chinese schools

Research in Education, May 2002 by Chen, Yangguang, Reid, Ivan

Theoretical exploration

Citizenship education, in the broadest sense, is an important task in all contemporary societies. An urgent need for any innovation in present Chinese Citizenship Education is to change the old definition of what was called `socialist citizenship education' or `capitalist citizenship education' and to start to engage in systematic research into the citizenship ideal, including its concept and mission. There has been a good deal of pressure in China to adopt a neutral concept of citizenship because of a number of contradictions or incompatibilities in society, such as 'monarchy' versus 'democracy', `centralism' versus 'decentralism', 'collectivism' versus 'individualism', etc. However, the attempt to accomodate the pressure relies heavily on studies of what components citizenship embodies, though they may vary according to different points of view. In general terms, these components can be classified into the following categories (Cheng, 1996).

1 A sense of national identity and patriotism, usually defined in national terms and seen as an essential ingredient of citizenship, though most countries acknowledge the existence of multiple and overlapping identities (be they local, ethnic, cultural, religious or whatever).

2 The enjoyment of certain rights and entitlements, which means that to be a citizen is to be a member of a group and thus to be entitled to the benefits that group membership confers. Citizens, for example, are entitled to the protection of their government when they are travelling outside their own country. They are entitled to the protection of the law and to whatever rights their constitution and political system guarantee them.

3 The fulfilment of corresponding responsibilities and obligations, which requires citizenship to carry with it the obligation to accept certain duties, including responsibility for obeying the law, paying one's taxes, respecting the rights of others and fighting for one's country.

4 A degree of consciousness of, and involvement in, public affairs which is specially referred to as a citizen's duty to play some part in public affairs and be committed to social construction.

5 Acceptance of basic social values beyond those ofa particular nation, which conveys the notion that some basic social values are held in common, like trust, co-operation, respect for human rights, non-violence, and so on, although they vary from country to country and are often debatable.

Despite some controversy over the content of each category, all five are usually seen by most researchers as a fundamental school commitment. We may agree that the purpose of education is the development of the individual youngster, to fit them for social life in the State, and to render the individual sensitive to societies beyond his, or her, own. But, obviously, each component has considerable scope for interpretation, even in the presentation of the facts.

Practical improvement

First, more time should be allocated to citizenship education, independent of political interpretation, either within a specific course or through cross-curricular dissemination. It is likely to be difficult to increase teaching hours, partly because of the growth of knowledge but also because of widespread criticism of the extent to which students are overloaded with academic work. As has been seen, time allocation has been a major obstacle to the adoption of curricula based on the universalist criteria of the encyclopaedist tradition. The total number of classes available has decreased with the introduction of a five-day school week since 1994, eliminating Saturday classes. However, it could be achieved by proper curriculum design or curriculum integration, for instance by changing the structure of the curriculum, introducing integrated curriculum design, increasing the number and scope of optional courses so that students may simultaneously acquire a broad basic knowledge yet concentrate on their special subjects, especially in secondary school.