Liberal Studies has not served its original purpose in schools

One speaker at a conference I attended over the weekend remarked that these days young people in Hong Kong are under a lot of peer pressures to divulge their political stand, and they are afraid of standing on “the wrong side” so they may get a hard time from their peers. Sorting out arguments by reasoning has become a mission impossible, because there is a strong sense of “right is right; wrong is wrong” where “right” and “wrong” depends entirely on where you stand and whose company you are in. Regrettably this scenario has become more common today than before liberal studies was made a compulsory subject in the DSE curriculum. Liberal studies is supposed to nurture critical and independent thinking. But the ability to exercise independent thinking has become even rarer than before.

I do not intend to put the blame on liberal studies as the cause for the prevalence of intolerant views and attitudes, as this is not just the phenomenon experienced in Hong Kong. Scholars have written about this starting at least a decade ago. It is now believed that the frequent use of social media plays at least some role. Moreover, evidence has emerged that young people’s moods are often deeply affected by their activity in social media and the responses of their friends or foes in social media. But it seems clear that liberal studies has not raised the capability of young people for critical thinking. The intent of introducing liberal studies in the secondary school curriculum has not been served.

In view of the rapid rise in the use of social media by young people, and the propensity of many to get addicted to it, there has never been a need for critical and independent thinking as there is now. We have shown that high uses both of media that do not involve interacting with others as well as media that do involve interacting with others tend to be associated with negative measures of 8- to 12-year-old girls’ social well-being. The results here suggest that even media meant to facilitate interaction between children are associated with unhealthy social experiences.

A recent article in Forbes (“6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health”, June 30, 2017) cited the American Academy of Pediatrics to point out six problems with social media. It’s addictive; it triggers more sadness, less wellbeing; it fosters comparisons with others, yet comparing our lives with others is mentally unhealthy; it can lead to jealousy and that could set off a vicious cycle; it could trick you into the delusion of thinking it will help but in fact it doesn’t; and finally, it could trick you to believe you have many friends but in fact you do not.

Exactly because we live in this age of the internet and social media, we do have a need for a course in critical and independent thinking. In principle, liberal studies can serve that purpose. In practice, however, to achieve this purpose liberal studies need to be taught with this purpose in mind. Liberal studies is less about the content of specific knowledge to be acquired than about nurturing an attitude of humility, healthy inquiry and questioning. It is also about nurturing the courage to assert one’s critical judgment in spite of peer pressures.

During the protest against moral and national education back in 2011 and 2012, there was a lot of talk about protecting children from “brainwashing”. This fear is actually pathetic, and is particularly worrying when many educators joined the chorus. Rather than worrying about “brainwashing” educators and parents should worry about taking certain beliefs for granted without questioning and critical analysis. An important ingredient to critical analysis is being open-minded, while an important ingredient to open-mindedness is the humility to think one can be wrong. If one is not open-minded one would be taking certainly ideas for granted without questioning. But many parents and teachers wanted to protect children from brainwashing by denying them to get in touch with ideas thought to be alien to their entrenched beliefs.

Proper training in critical thinking is the best and the only protection against uncritically accepting misleading notions or beliefs. It is sad to hear from some teachers that some youngsters refuse to join study tours to the mainland because “they do not want to be brainwashed”. Liberal studies is there to liberate the mind, so that students will become less arrogant, more widely read, more assertive of themselves, less subject to peer pressures, and with the confidence to confront different ideas. Liberal studies is there to help students find their direction in life. As a mandatory course in the DSE curriculum it is very costly: in the sense that it tends to preempt discipline-based courses that may prepare students better for them to take on more challenging courses in the university. Many professors in universities have complained that freshmen lack the proper preparation for them to enroll in especially STEM subjects. But if liberal studies effectively equips students with the ability and the openness to examine all kinds of ideas critically, the benefits are worth the cost, because they will continue to learn with a humble attitude through out their lives.