Value Education in the Era of Value Pluralism: Teaching in “Outline of Chinese Culture” and “Freedom and Destiny”
Value Education in the Era of Value Pluralism: Teaching in “Outline of Chinese Culture” and “Freedom and Destiny”
Date: 31 October 2013 (Thursday)
Speaker: Prof. Ng Kai Chiu (Department of Philosophy)
Language: Cantonese
The age of monism, may it be Confucianism or Christianity, has long gone. Instead, we are now living in the era of value pluralism. “How to promote value education in university” is thus a critical issue to educators unless we regard value education as superfluous in university education. In this lunch seminar, the speaker will share his philosophy on value education based on his teaching experience in general education courses. The sharing will be in four parts:
- The concept of “values” is more abstract than concepts like “artefacts”, “creative works”, “data” or “phenomena”. How can teachers arouse students’ interest in the reflection and exploration of values?
- What are the principles that teachers can follow when they are teaching courses that introduce single cultural traditions and their values, like “Outline of Chinese Culture”?
- On the other hand, are there any guiding principles or useful practices for teachers teaching courses that introduce plural values, like “Freedom and Destiny”?
- Conclusion: What is the purpose of value education in university education?
Speaker’s Bio Prof. Ng Kai Chiu is Assistant Professor of the Department of Philosophy, awardee of the 2012 Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award and the 2012 Exemplary Teaching Award in GE. Since 2009, Prof. Ng started teaching general education courses aside from the Philosophy major courses. These include courses in Area A (Chinese Cultural Heritage) including “Outline of Chinese Culture”, “An Introduction to Chinese Culture”, “Chinese Culture and Its Modernization”, “Mainstream Chinese Philosophical Thought”; and courses in Area D including “Art and Methodology of Thinking” and “Freedom and Destiny”. Among the above courses, “Freedom and Destiny” was designed and proposed by Prof. Ng in 2010. Prof. Ng’s research interest is Chinese Philosophy, particularly Confucianism.
