Science versus tradition

China’s first compulsory school course of traditional Chinese medicine met with doubt from parents, teachers

Chinese science teachers hesitant about their new role as TCM instructors

There is a skepticism among modern parents toward the new course

Supporters say TCM culture ought to be promoted among the next generation

The fall semester is somewhat different this year for Yang Jun, a science teacher in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

On August 9, shortly before the start of the new semester, his school, the Xiaoshang Yipeng Third Elementary School, received a notice from the provincial department of education and the provincial administration of traditional Chinese medicine, informing them of a new mandatory training for a new course in the elementary curriculum.

“Traditional Chinese Medicine and Wellness (TCMW),” as it is called, suggesting that this new course be offered in grade 5, one class hour per week, to be taught by science teachers.

As a science teacher, Yang feels uncomfortable taking on such a task. He believes that science teachers are not a good fit for teaching TCM. Yang also pointed out that, though having a lot in common with science, TCM and science are simply not the same.

In fact, many TCM beliefs directly contradict proven scientific theories. “For instance,” Yang observed, “some TCM experts claim that humans may invigorate their organs by ingesting respective animals organs. ‘A kidney for a kidney,’ for example, which means eating an animal kidney nourishes one’s own. How ridiculous does that sound to the science teachers!”

Yang is not alone in feeling unsure about his newly assigned role as a TCM teacher. Shi Youhe, Director of Teaching and Researching at Lin’an Chenxi Elementary School, shares Yang’s concern. On August 24, a week before the new semester began, Shi attended training.

“I should at least have some basic TCM knowledge myself before I can motivate my students to learn. However, till this point, I have not even had complete faith in TCM myself. I believe that the first step is to make myself interested in this subject, but unfortunately, the training only lasted one day.”

Shi expressed his disappointment but said he would nonetheless faithfully perform the tasks.

Read, think, learn, practice

Shi shared an example of his frustration. There are nine chapters in the textbook TCMW, which is the equivalent of 36 class hours. Each class hour consists of four modules: “Read,” “Think,” “Learn” and “Practice.”

Every lesson begins with a wellknown story from ancient China, followed by a learning point and then an extended practice session. For example, Lesson 1, “Shennong (an ancient Chinese chief known as Yandi) Discovering Curative Virtues of Plants,” showcases the process of Chinese ancestors discovering herbal medicine.

The story is followed by the introduction of the homologous nature of medicine and food. In the practice module, students are asked to “taste the following foods that have curative properties,” and “decide whether they taste the same as described in the traditional Chinese medical literature.”

Shi was at a loss upon reading this question. Admittedly, introducing TCM theories with stories should be appealing to children. However, without any reference books for the teachers to prepare for the class, their job is made difficult. “Does that mean I will have to buy some Chinese medicine to try for myself?” Shi wondered.

He also feels that the development stage of this course was too rushed. “The textbook is written in a hasty manner. I think they need to realize that a lot of TCM theories that the experts take for granted are difficult for us laymen.” said Shi.

Yang shares his view. He pointed out that the TCM course did not go through an experimental stage like science classes during the curriculum reform. “Having written the textbook doesn’t mean the course is ready to be taught in the classroom. There should be an experimental stage before it is offered to the public. They should have picked at least one school for a test run.”

The “curriculum reform” Yang referred to is the National Science Curriculum Reform for the Compulsory Elementary Education, which is currently occurring simultaneously with the promotion of the TCM course. The new science curriculum criterion will replace the 2001 version.

According to Liu Enshan, chair of the Revision Committee of Compulsory Education Elementary Science Curriculum Standards, the development of the new curriculum standards took over five years. The early stage involved status quo research, document analysis, International comparison, monographic study, design demonstration and preliminary exploration of teaching strategies.

After the completion of the first draft, several large-scale surveys were carried out targeting eastern and western regions of China, which were then followed by repeated revisions of the draft.

The TCM course does not appear to have any official standard. An official course standard specifies the nature and concept of a discipline, course objectives, course content, as well as implementation recommendations etc. As far as Yang is concerned, before a course is offered to the public there must be a standard, however TCM textbooks seem to be the only thing it offers.

Popular skepticism

Gao Yinming is a mother of a fifth grader. She keeps an open mind and is hopeful that her daughter will learn something new. But Gao knows a parent who is a doctor trained in Western medicine. He is one of those who are against introducing TCM in the classroom.

It is of vital importance to cultivate scientific literacy in our children, but traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine or Miao (one of the ethnic minorities in China) medicine hardly do anything to contribute to it, the doctor said.

In fact, for a long time, TCM’s scientific quality and value system have been subject to controversy. One parent from Shaoxing is openly opposing teaching children TCM at school. He is concerned that this course may cause a discrepancy between what is taught in class and what is learned at home.

This concern is shared by many other parents as well as science teachers, such as Yang, who wonders what to do when a TCM course

Some pare science tea what to do course cont ence.