INSPIRED: REFLECTIONS ON ZHENG DAO RESEARCH & TEACHING PRIMARY SCHOOL
启发 : 正道小学的教学研发
I had visited many preschool education models around the world, e.g. the creative multiple symbolic languages of children’s expression of their understanding of the world in Reggio Emilia, Italy; the Block Play-based collaborative learning model of Bank Street’s Development-Interaction approach in New York, USA; or Fuji’s Kindergarten in Tokyo, Japan that uses its architecture and physical environment to encourage learning through inventing play and more.
我参访过世界各地许多学前教育模式。 比如, 意大利的雷焦·埃米利亚，儿童对世界理解的创造性的多重象征语言; 美国纽约，基于块游戏性的银行街开发-交互方法的协同学习模型; 或者是日本东京的富士幼儿园，利用它的建筑和客观环境来鼓励学生学习。
Zheng Dao Primary: A Non-mainstream Research & Teaching School
正道小学: 一个非凡的教学研究学校
On my recent visit to Hezhou 贺州prefecture-level city in Guangxi广西, I had the privilege of visiting a rather unique local primary boarding school - Zheng Dao Primary 正道小学- having been told that beyond its simple, basic, almost spartan setting, there was an interesting philosophy in education behind the school. When Principal Cheng Shi Ming (成世明) asked if I had a few hours for him to show me his school – I knew then that this wasn’t going to be a breeze through his school facilities. As he kindly drove me through the country roads leading from Hezhou Prefecture to Sha Tin village沙田村, I wondered, what I might see that would be so unusual in a rural village. I anticipated eagerly as I gradually saw less than modern buildings and partially paved roads, but an increasing oneness of the rural landscape with the simplicity of its people and life in Sha Tin village.
最近在广西的地级市贺州的访问中，我有幸参观过了当地一所相当有特点的寄宿小学—正道小学
有人告诉我，在学校看似质朴与简单的环境外，其实存在着一种我们肉眼看不见的十分有趣的教学理念。学校的校长成世明问我能否腾出几个小时，让他带我参观他的学校。我立即就意识到，他不仅仅是要带我随便看一看学校的设施。在他开着车，驶在从贺州市通往沙田村的乡间公路上时，我想，等会我将见到的，可能很难存在于一个寻常的小村庄里。我怀着无比期待的心情，看着现代的建筑越来越少，沥青路面也走完了。引入眼帘的，是一幅渐趋完整的乡村风景画，使我们看到了沙田村淳朴的人民和简单的生活。Zheng Dao Primary, a nondescript school of only 68 children, ages 2.5 years to 12 years old, occupies an old, white primary school building in Sha Tin village in Hezhou Prefectural-level City, Guangxi. Against a backdrop of the vast agricultural landscape, here exists a revolutionary approach to education that does some boundary-breaking things that would challenge my traditional expectations of a regular primary school.
广西壮族自治区贺州市沙田村的正道小学，一所看似平凡无奇的学校，建在一栋老旧，泛白的建筑上，仅仅拥有68名，年龄在2.5岁到12岁的学生。在这广阔的乡村里，它的教育理念方式和方法突破了常规和传统，打破了我对原有对传统教育的认知与期待。
Amongst many things there that left a deep impression on me, 3 stood out.
这儿的许多见闻都使人印象深刻，但有点3点尤其突出了它们的非凡与独特。
Living in a Zheng Dao Economy – Within the school gates exists a system of transactional currencies and reward system for character building as well as an early introduction to economics in society. This transactional and reward system comes complete with (i) banking services run by the older, more capable children taking turns to man a cash register and Zheng Dao bank accounts of each student (there is actually a small corner set up as the bank in one of the classrooms!) ; (ii) a simple barter and trading exchange centre using real goods or Zheng Dao currency obtained through services rendered, donations and rewards for achievement; (iii) a children-run Zheng Dao Canteen that requires children to purchase and use Zheng Dao currency with a social undertone that encourages the more ‘well-to-do’ children with extra resources to buy and donate bowls of “Wall Rice” （墙饭）- literally bowls ofrice drawn on a chalk board for needy ones to claim in exchange for real food till supply runs out.
1.生活在正道的经济体系下——这所学校有着它自己的货币交易与奖励体系，目的是建立学生自身的性格品质，并提早使学生了解社会的经济状况。这种货币交易与奖励体系和银行服务是由更年长，更有能力的孩子来运行的。他们轮流充当取款机，和各个学生的银行账户（实际上，每个教室的小角落里都设置了银行）；2.简单的以物易物的服务中心。学生们可以用真实的物品或正道货币（通常可以从提供的服务，捐赠和奖励中得到）来换取成绩；3.学生自己运营的正道食堂。孩子们需要用正道货币来购买食物。甚至还存在着一种约定俗成，有着更多资源的“富裕”的孩子承担了购买或捐赠“墙饭”碗的责任。这种“墙饭”碗实际上是画在粉笔板上的碗。对那些需要食物的孩子，他们可以用这种碗来换取真的食物，直到吃完了所有食物供给。One can already imagine the strong messages of basic economic principles so lacking in our modern world of affluence especially from an early age such a system can inculcate. You and I certainly cannot solve the problems of poverty and disparity at large. But here in Zheng Dao, I saw glimmers of hope as the seeds of philanthropy are planted when children start small and give as they receive, age-appropriately.
我们已经可以想象，即使在我们现在富有的生活里，特别是在早年，也是如此缺乏这样的经济制度的系统的认知。当然你和我不能完全解决贫困和贫富差距的问题。但在正道，我看到了希望的光芒，因为从小，在适当的年龄里就种下了慈悲善良的种子。
It is also interesting to note that almost all services within the canteen are run by children themselves - from payment, to cooking, to serving, to cleaning - all assisted by only 1 auxillary kitchen staff!
同样有趣的是，食堂里几乎所有的工作都是由孩子们自己经营的——从付款、烹饪、服务到清洁——所有这些仅仅是由一个厨房辅助人员提供的!
Competency Grouping – Where institutions of learning typically group classes of children according to age, Zheng Dao’s unique grouping is done through identification of readiness and competencies and not by age or academic achievement alone. 4 interesting distinctions in learning and readiness profiles separate the groups of children. These included:
根据能力分组——典型的学习方式，把不同年龄的学生分进不同水平的小组，而正道小学独特的分组方式，不单单根据年龄或年级，还需通过鉴别学生的思维敏捷程度和他们的实际能力来进行。学习的能力和思维能力可分成四种不同的水平，而正是这种颇为有趣的区分方法将学生分进不同的小组。这四种水平包括了：
真学过关队literally translated into Truly Learned and Passed Team;
自学自强队 meaning Strength from Self-Study Team;
入学准备班 核心队Admission Prep Class, a core team ranging from 2.5 years to 6 years who are of a calibre truly ready for admission to Primary School, and （2.5岁到6岁的学前班）
自贤队 精英队, the elite Intelligent & Virtuous Team, nurtured since Primary One.
Looking for evidence of the unique curriculum used in Zheng Dao in the short 3-hour visit, I can only surmise that there is a lot of learning outside the classroom walls. I see many photo clues of happy, excited children of different ages, integrate life skills learned in school and applied to real-world settings as they took hiking trips out into the countryside as well as other cities in China – only if they are assessed ready and competent to face the demands of such life-learning excursions. On a day-to-day basis, here children are immersed in academic tasks as well as life activities that oil their competencies inside Zheng Dao.
在短短的3小时的交流和探讨，寻找“正道”独特课程的证据，让我看到出了教室以外的课堂。我看到学校照片中有许多的线索：不同年龄段孩子有着不同的美好体现以及表达方式，他们在学校得到的生活能力与认知， 以及在徒步旅行到农村和其他城市时，体验到的并应用到现实世界的环境中去。在每天里，如果他们能够做好准备并觉悟地面对生活和学习，无论是在哪样的境缘， 孩子们都会在学习以及生活活动中并学以致用，这些都是他们在“正道”实践出来的。Self-Paced Learning and Individual Learning Plan – Every Zheng Dao student makes his/her own weekly learning plan – the dream of many parents and teachers! Imagine a weekly checklist of learning KPIs to be accomplished, dutifully kept and updated by each student daily and checked by supervising teachers. The role of the Zheng Dao teacher, apart from teaching key skills and concepts according to the national syllabus, is truly a facilitative one. After 3 failed self-attempts by the student on any given learning problem, the teacher steps in to do a 1-on-1 tutoring, only to teach “the unknown” rather than to repeat the obvious.
自我学习与个体学习计划– “正道”的每一个学生都制定了自己的每周学习计划–许多家长和老师的梦想！设想一个每周学习KPIs的清单，由每个学生每天认真地保存和更新，并由监督老师检查。“正道” 里老师的角色，除了根据国家教学大纲教授关键技能和概念外，确实是一个促进性的角色。在学生3次自我尝试失败后，对任何给定的学习问题，老师都会介入进行1对1的辅导，只教“未知”而不重复已知的。
There is a strong emphasis on self-learning and use of meta-cognitive ability applied on both academic as well as life skills in Zheng Dao’s education. It was pointed out that there is a large degree of freedom in the way children go about their learning in this educational approach. Yet the truth was that I saw a very structured foundation in training and study habits that starts way before these children are able to self–pace and self-study. There is impressive evidence of self-discipline, e.g. calming oneself through mantra chants and relaxation especially after a high activity from as young as 2.5 years (Principal Chen emphasized that children are encouraged not to be distracted by visitors but to be focused about their activities). However, I still witnessed good social etiquettes such as greetings along the hallways and outside the classroom and in classes when children were not engaged in reflections and relaxation. And yes, laughter abound too!
Nothing Short of an Educational Ideology
It is obvious that there is a great degree of structure both in the physical and teaching environment. Yet there also exists a large degree of personal freedom within a very systematic approach to learning established early on. Throughout my 3-hour visit, there was no evidence of loitering or children left wondering what to do with their time. Instead, I witnessed a high degree of planful, intentional activities across the ages. Principal Chen described his past 2 years of passionately research and teaching in Zheng Dao Primary. With a firm belief in laying the foundations of Chinese history and philosophy, he and his team tries new ideas, affirms proven beliefs, test boundaries and continuously challenges the norms. With such simplicity and basic infrastructure and materials, one can only imagine how much farther Zheng Dao’s educational approach can take its students when they are given access to more and better resources and facilities. That indeed is the aspiration of Principal Chen (成校长), a man I have come to admire for daring to dream and live the bold vision of how he would go about educating and training the body, heart, and mind of China's future citizenry!
完善的教育思想
显然，无论在硬件条件或是教学环境中，（这里）都存在着高度的结构性。然而，在这种很早就建立起来的系统的学习方法中，也存在着很大程度的个人自由。在我3个小时的访问期间，没有看到任何孩子游荡或者不知该如何打发时间的现象，相反，我见证了一系列有高度计划性与自主性的活动。陈校长描述了他在正道小学两年来的热诚研究和教学。怀着对中国历史与哲学基础的坚定信仰，他和他的团队不断尝试新的思想，再次确认已证实的信念，检验界限，并向规范发起挑战。基于这样简单基础的结构和物资条件，正道教育尚且能做到如此，我们可以想象正道教育在获得更多、更好的资源和设施的情况下，会带领学生走向更广阔的天地。这就是我一直钦佩的成校长的远大抱负，他敢于梦想，大胆地设想他将如何教育和训练中国未来公民的身体、心灵和思想！
Dr. Jane Ching-Kwan
Curriculum Founder/Director; Skool4Kidz Pte. Ltd.
http://skool4kidz.com.sg/about-us/
Advisor/Director; KLC International Institute
https://klc.edu.sg/klc-international-institute-klcii/
June 10, 2018
