MCLC: pupil criticized for 'wrong' answer

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: a. e. clark (aec at raggedbanner.com)
Subject: pupil criticized for 'wrong' answer
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The remarkable literacy of Shanghai tykes; an example (by no means
uniquely Chinese) of moral mis-education; and a lively debate on the
microblogs.

A. E. Clark

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Source: Ministry of Tofu (4/19/12):
http://www.ministryoftofu.com/2012/04/chinese-pupil-poses-moral-conundrum-a
fter-being-criticized-for-wrong-answer

Chinese pupil poses moral conundrum after being criticized for “wrong”
answer
Jing Gao

In a quiz on Chinese reading, a first grader answered “No, I won’t” to the
question “Would you give up your pear out of courtesy to your brothers if
you were Kong Rong?” He got a huge “X” for his answer from his teacher.
The child’s father, upon seeing the answer sheet, took a picture of it and
uploaded it to Sina Weibo, the hugely popular microblogging service, which
has had the nation question the purpose of education.

The reading section of the exam is a passage, written in both Chinese
characters and pinyin, about a classic moral story, commonly known as
“Kong Rong giving up pears” (孔融让梨), that has been taught in elementary
schools since the Song Dynasty in the same way the tale of George
Washington felling a cherry tree lingers in the U.S. classes. According to
the story, Kong Rong, later a politician in late Han Dynasty, picked the
smallest of all pears and let his brothers choose the rest that were
bigger, despite being only 4-year-old and the youngest in the family at
the time.

The post by the child’s father was reposted by 2,000 users and received
400 comments within one day. It is heatedly discussed on Sina Weibo, as
netizens debate if educators should enforce values onto students, and if
honest expression of unorthodox opinion should be encouraged.

A reporter from Dongfang Daily
<http://news.163.com/12/0418/19/7VD81S5100011229.html> contacted the
child’s father. The child is in Grade 1 at an elementary school in the
city of Shanghai. When the father saw the exam paper, he questioned his
son about the answer, but the son insisted that he was not being playful.
“ I asked him, ‘Why did you write that you won’t give up your pear?’ He
answered, ‘I don’t think Kong Rong, a 4-year-old, would have actually done
that.’ I asked him why not. He answered, ‘Because he was only 4 years
old,’” the father recalled. He said that his son was pretty confident in
the answer and refused to correct it, at least not until he got an
explanation from the teacher.

“Actually, my son is not selfish. He understands the significance of
sharing. He passes food to me, his mother and his grandma at the table
every day.”

The majority of the flurry of the online commentary it inspires is
supportive of the little boy. In an online survey on Sina Weibo
<http://vote.weibo.com/vid=1647961&source=voted>, 57.1% of all 3,569
respondents say they wouldn’t give up pears in Kong Rong’s situation, and
23.7% say “I don’t know.”