I thought I would be sleepy during this class since I didn't get a noon-nap but went shopping and cooked for my friends. But it turned out that Dr. Muth and his class was fun enough to attract ny full attention for the fleeting 2 hours and 40 minutes.
At the begining, we were showed of some pictures of the text books in different time of America. It didn't seem to be special or inspiring when first seen. But when Dr. M asking what's the indication about the content of the textbooks, a new perstective which had never occured to me presented itself. The context shows the historical background of the time when it was designed.
In the first picture, there is a page of textbook for kids, with jingles and pictures. The content is about God, Christan and Bible. That's what kids were supposed to know and to believe at that time. It seems like that the kids would be brainwashed by the textbook.
The second picture is a page of Webster concerning of pronounciations. "Why people care about pronouciations?" For uniformation and Americanization. That's when America tried to establish its own culture.
The third picture is of a kids' textbook. " the kid likes to ride his car in his yard". Well, just something about car. It was from 1950s, when Russion outsmart America in technolege and American education system were blamed for that. So more content with technolege were added to early education.
How amazing these perstectives are! I never expected to interpretated the content in this way, but it works! I am so glad that I am here, exposed to these ideas and ways of thinking!
The second part dealt with the reading assignment < Learning in Adulthood>. Dr. M showed the outline of the chapted we read. Pretty much like what I do. He had to turn off the lights so that we could read the PPT clearly. And it was very considerate of him to remind us close our eyes when he turned the lights on. It was such a tiny thing, but so impressive!
He showed a TED talk in which a rich man argured that it is not the super rich businessmen who create jobs, but the middle class, since only when there are more costumers, more emplyees are needed. So the right way to facilitate American economy is not to cut the tax of the very rich, but to help develop and thrive the middle class. That makes sense to me.
During the break, some discussion were raised about Women's Way of Knowing. I expressed the frustration after reading the parts of "Entering into the Moral Community" and "Conceiving the Selfless Self". I thought these ideas shoule be seen only on the women who are poorly educated in the poverty-striken areas. But I found them on myself, and that felt not cool. But it was very helpful to know that I was not the only one who felt this way. There are always certain rules that women are supposed to perform. And once they fail on these roles, no matter how outstanding they are in other aspects, they will be judged to some digree.
Then we worked on some class discussions and brainstormed about the educational biography, which is quite helpful.
One new word learnt during the discussion is "Social Capital", which means Guanxi in Chinese. It mean the social network and social resource one have that facilitate him in social life. Finally, the transliation of Guranxi present itself! I am gonna post it on Renren!
Today's class has been quite enjoyable.
To learn is the best thing.
