Comments on: ‘Education is change’, so why not give some change? http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/ The no-nonsense China expat and traveller community. Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:38:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Dreamblogue has head in clouds, feet on ground | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-7282 Dreamblogue has head in clouds, feet on ground | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:43:49 +0000 http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-7282 [...] aforementioned Tom Stader is a good friend of mine, and his Library Project is something I think is awesome. It’s great to see his cause being picked up by innovative folks like Lonnie and [...] [...] aforementioned Tom Stader is a good friend of mine, and his Library Project is something I think is awesome. It’s great to see his cause being picked up by innovative folks like Lonnie and [...]

]]> By: Laisee http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6247 Laisee Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:18:33 +0000 http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6247 Dan the Man, I have encountered the exact same problem as well, so you are not alone. Frustrating to say the least. Tom's project is a great one!! I know that the Yale Club in Beijing raises money for books for rural chinese schools so some form of collaboration there might be worth exploring. And Lauren, the fact that parents are prohibiting is often more an incentive to read that if they were promoting it ;) Dan the Man,

I have encountered the exact same problem as well, so you are not alone. Frustrating to say the least.

Tom’s project is a great one!! I know that the Yale Club in Beijing raises money for books for rural chinese schools so some form of collaboration there might be worth exploring.

And Lauren, the fact that parents are prohibiting is often more an incentive to read that if they were promoting it ;)

]]> By: Ryan http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6144 Ryan Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:34:39 +0000 http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6144 I definitely agree that there needs to be a push for "reading for fun" here in the PRC - however, I think "no books at all" is more the problem with the places that The Library Project is going. That said, I've had a number of students (mostly of the 'upper crust') who continually have their noses buried in the latest Harry Potter book, so... there's hope. I definitely agree that there needs to be a push for “reading for fun” here in the PRC - however, I think “no books at all” is more the problem with the places that The Library Project is going.

That said, I’ve had a number of students (mostly of the ‘upper crust’) who continually have their noses buried in the latest Harry Potter book, so… there’s hope.

]]> By: Lauren http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6138 Lauren Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:54:32 +0000 http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-6138 Yeah, great project. I will see how I can get involved from Nanjing. Question: I wonder if there are any problems in China with parents not wanting kids to do reading--god forbid--outside of the school curriculum? In an education system where memorization of set facts is considered more important than, say, a lifelong love of reading, how does one get parents to _support_ kids to go to the library and pick up the fun, shiny colorful books? For example, all the adults I know who were obsessed with Jin Yong kung-fu historical fantasy in middle school were forbidden from reading it (even though the books seem to be totally amazing writing and even formative at that adolescent juncture in answering questions about ethics and life). Is it detrimental to kids' futures in this competitive society for them to read books just for fun? Should donated books serve specifically to enhance their learning in school? Yeah, great project. I will see how I can get involved from Nanjing.

Question: I wonder if there are any problems in China with parents not wanting kids to do reading–god forbid–outside of the school curriculum? In an education system where memorization of set facts is considered more important than, say, a lifelong love of reading, how does one get parents to _support_ kids to go to the library and pick up the fun, shiny colorful books? For example, all the adults I know who were obsessed with Jin Yong kung-fu historical fantasy in middle school were forbidden from reading it (even though the books seem to be totally amazing writing and even formative at that adolescent juncture in answering questions about ethics and life).

Is it detrimental to kids’ futures in this competitive society for them to read books just for fun? Should donated books serve specifically to enhance their learning in school?

]]> By: DanTheMan http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-5546 DanTheMan Thu, 21 Jun 2007 10:32:08 +0000 http://www.lostlaowai.com/commentary/blog/2007/06/21/education-is-change-so-why-not-give-some-change/#comment-5546 Great project ! I think it's really needed and I hope it gets all the support it needs !! BTW, I would like to ask the rest of you ppl living in China. Do you guys have any problem with youtube.com ? I can watch movies (although a bit slow) and I can search for them, but... When I search for movies and I get allot of results, for some reason I can just watch the first result page (first 25). If I try to click on "next page", or "sort by X" or anything like that, I get a connection error. I tried two different computers, English windows, Chinese Windows, and both IE and FireFox, and still the same thing. Anyone else having this problem ??? Thanks allot ! Great project !

I think it’s really needed and I hope it gets all the support it needs !!

BTW, I would like to ask the rest of you ppl living in China. Do you guys have any problem with youtube.com ? I can watch movies (although a bit slow) and I can search for them, but…
When I search for movies and I get allot of results, for some reason I can just watch the first result page (first 25). If I try to click on “next page”, or “sort by X” or anything like that, I get a connection error. I tried two different computers, English windows, Chinese Windows, and both IE and FireFox, and still the same thing. Anyone else having this problem ???

Thanks allot !

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