Society

Teacher urges inclusion of death education in curriculum

By Uking Sun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-04-05 17:39

Education on death, a core part of education on life and living, can help people become less worried or anxious about death, develop a rational thinking of death as a natural ending of everything in the world, and improve their quality of life, said Dong Changhong, a teacher at Jinhua High School in East China’s Chengdu city.

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"I believe it is very necessary to promote education on death in China because Confucianism tries to avoid the discussion of death and Chinese people, although we highly value the affection and goodwill of people, cannot calmly face disasters and death if we look at the trauma suffered from the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008."

The teacher recommended promoting values of humanitarian care, death and living through initiatives in education, such as adding courses or encouraging exposure to death-related topics in the curriculum at elementary and middle schools.

But she also thought it a difficult mission in China because Chinese culture traditionally shies away from anything related to death—even the number 4 is disliked, because it is pronounced similarly to the Chinese word for death.

China’s education system is still examination-oriented and the student performance mechanism remains unchanged, so parents and students still regard passing exams as the most important goal of schooling, Dong Changhong added.

Dong considered Japan a good example on the practice of death education, thanks to the publications there on disaster and death. In her opinion, Japanese people appeared to be remarkably calm despite the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation crisis.