Posted on 02/13/2018 8:38:28 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
More than 100 American colleges and universities house Confucius Institutes, centres of Chinese language and cultural teaching funded and staffed in part with instructors screened by a Chinese government-affiliated entity known as Hanban.
The Confucius Institutes may seem to many to be benign outposts offering cultural events programming and non-credit courses in introductory Chinese, calligraphy or Tai Chi, but for nearly as long as the Confucius Institutes have been around more than 10 years now theyve been controversial.
(Excerpt) Read more at timeshighereducation.com ...
Confucius is the greatest Chinese philosopher and his thought profoundly influenced culture and daily life in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea and Japan.
A school of humanistic ethics, it has no parallel in the West.
Send them all home to China. Same with all of the Chinese students and make room for our American youth.
Chinese tend to respectful, talented and happy.
They aren’t turning out hyper-sensitive, angry, self-absorbed snowflakes like we are.
If we are falling behind them, we need to take a look at what kind of country we are raising.
And the Yellow Peril? Isn’t that racist?
It’s not so much that it had no parallel in the West as that we’ve stopped teaching philosophy.
Everyone is always worried about “spies” but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I also find any academic’s claim about “academic freedom” highly self-serving, given that American universities are probably have the most fascist political environments we have in the USA.
The model for China’s Confucious institute are the German Goethe Institute, Alliance Francais or the British Council, all of whom run language and culture programs around the world. The Confucious institute
If one is worried about Chinese spies, or industrial espionage, it would make more sense to look at the Grad or phD candidates who take jobs in sensitive tech positions.
I think these Confucius Centers go beyond “humanistic ethics” influence.
Anyway we don't teach American exceptionalism to prepare students for collage.
I would go along with that.
I think it is more “soft brainwashing”, making subtle acceptance of Chinese influence mainstream.
If we can’t compete intellectually with China, let’s just post a “Going Out Of Business” sign for America.
What are we really afraid of? Them or us?
Ideas matter most.
I am Confuced. We are all Confuced.
This stuff is being run through a Chinese government agency?
It isn’t even going to look like good Confucianism if so. Something that ought to be part of a philosophy department needs to be an independent part of that department. It would be like requiring all courses on Christianity to be run by the Vatican, or by the Billy Graham Institute, or whatever.
Yes, put the kibosh on this — not on the teaching of Confucian philosophy, which is something far, far older than Communist China, but on this Communist Chinese government outreach. Why did it take so long to become obvious?
American exceptionism is a mirror of gospel exceptionism, by historical arrangement.
Yes. This.
Its ironic because US universities are already high on the scale of totalitarian thought control and uniformity of opinion.
Yup, ideas do.
At least China is making some use of its vaunted philosophy by name. Why can’t the USA talk about gospel? Well actually it can. It just shouldn’t be using its government to do that. This was ruled out by constitutional bargain. But what’s wrong with churches and their associated universities. Has the cat got their tongue?
“I am the door.” — Jesus
And unlike some other "cultures", they assimilate while maintaining respect for their roots.
Do you believe American universities are beacons of philosophical and political equality?
I have no doubt that there are many sleeper agents among the massive numbers of Chinese students in the west, and that “cultural” institutions such as these are a means at keeping an eye on them. I find that mainland Chinese people are reluctant to talk about politics even when they have been here for many years. They have to realize that what they do in the west can make its way back to the the Chicoms and impact on family members still behind the Red curtain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.