Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
22 February 2011
Malaysian History for homeschoolers
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books.
A homeschool dad once questioned why I kept insisting on acquainting our sons with Malaysian history: “There’s nothing but Parameswara and Hang Tuah. What’s that got to do with us?” Hmm. Interesting question. You can’t fault the cynics, what with controversies raging over blatant distortions in Malaysian history text books for secondary schools. Truth is, the version of selective history forced-fed on public school students since the late 70s didn’t do anyone any favours. No wonder so many of us have become jaded adults with no sense of collective identity and no appreciation for shared history or cultural value. And some people over at the Ministry of Education are wondering why Malaysians have such a dim view of Malaysian history. But whose history, Mr Minister?
Textbooks are a bore anyway, so why let the powers-that-be spoil the fun when there are a number of excellent books on Malaysian history out there? We’re nowhere near the kinds of books Scholastic publishes for children – and I mean those gripping and engaging historical fiction that teach with multidimensional stories rich with ‘contextual clues’ as one writer puts it. Here are a few books I introduced to our own homeschool, including several others I discovered too late for our boys. These books are available at the local bookstores.
A Children’s History of Malaysia by prolific Malaysian horror meister Tunku Halim. First published in 2003, it’s history written as story for young children. There’s the usual suspects - Parameswara, Puteri Gunung Ledang*, and oh, there’s Dr Mahathir too, even the Indonesian Konfrontasi. Odd that the cover is plain white (for a children’s book?) and shockingly, not a date or year in sight (well, he’s kept them all away in the Appendix). Author Tunku Halim admitted turning to beloved classics (like CS Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles) and contemporary children’s best sellers (JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series) for inspiration because he didn’t want to bore children. I think he has succeeded to a very large extent. He certainly learnt well because the book has more than a hint of CS Lewis’ tone of voice, which is not a bad thing. It’s really an excellent introduction to history, and what Tunku Halim has accomplished is no mean feat – all 278 pages of it. Recommended.
His second book of history titled History of Malaysia, A Children’s Encyclopedia, was probably influenced by the enormous popularity of that first history book. The hardcover book is very readable, lavishly illustrated and annotated (the author did his homework) and covers events dating from 7th Century Srivijaya Empire (ask yourself, how many history textbooks actually teach about this period?) to the formation of Malaysia in 1963. I spotted an error in the Chinese population in a table that places the number at less than a million (!) in 2004 though. It’s NOT a textbook, still I didn’t like the fact that subjects were arranged alphabetically instead of chronologically, but then the author did say it’s an encyclopedia. This is however compensated with a relatively comprehensive timeline in the back pages. If you write to the author (tunkuhalim@gmail.com) – he actually names homeschoolers - to purchase more than 10 books, he promises a very substantial discount!
Andrew Barber has
done a wonderful job with Malaya, The Making of a Nation 1510-1957. Written in attractive prose by a person who has a flair for history and a story-teller’s gift, it’s a book that reads as well as it feels. It’s obviously written for non-academics, and this is probably why it doesn’t have the whiff of must and mildew. All the better I say! Well-designed, printed on stock paper, reasonably large print and generously illustrated too. Mr Barber is a former British diplomat who now lives and works in Malaysia. Only 132 pages – even children 12 years and above would find it a good read too. As books on local history go, the author deserves credit for his clear writing style that avoids jargons and the abstract.
So when I chanced upon another book on Malaysia by the same author, I did not hesitate to buy it as well. The cover says, Malaysian Moments, a Pictorial Retrospective, and it has the same beautiful feel (attributed to designer Lileng Wong) and great photographs (Lileng and Kate Phillips). The book contains fascinating stories that do not normally feature in standard history books, but they should. There’s a story on the origin of Negaraku; W Somerset Maugham and Anthony Burgess are introduced in a chapter suitably titled The Expatriate in Malaysia: A Literary Genre ; and an interesting piece on Frank Swettenham’s 1906 Centennial Map of Malaya. These insightful essays first appeared in a magazine for expatriates so we’re told, and thankfully, it’s now compiled in a book for the rest of us. (I’ve since learnt that Mr Barber’s very first book in the series was Penang Under the East India Company 1786-1858. If you see it, I would be grateful if you let me know).
Where Monsoons Meet by Choo Foo Yoong, Lee Khek Mui and Low Swee Heong. Here’s a book that takes an alternative look at Malaysian history. Alternative, because it does not tread familiar ground but instead offers what the authors call ‘a people’s history.’ Readers might find it slightly subversive and will be taken aback at its Marxist-socialist slant, but that’s all the more reason to read it. First published over three decades ago, it was reprinted a few years back in time for Malaysia’s 50th birthday with a new foreword – ‘A comic history that’s no joke’ -by Amir Muhammad (read it here). It’s an unusual book presented in cartoon and comic format (in the style of the popular illustrated “….For Beginners” series) with sharp captions and wit that critique the officially sanctioned version of our history (in particular the British in Malaya). Which is why it is so appealing, because history should never be swallowed whole from a single point of view. The book is a gem and will allow for great conversations on perspectives in history, and an exercise in listening to all sides -even if it sounds uncomfortable!
This is getting to be a long post, and there are a few more books to introduce. I’ll save them for Part Two. Meanwhile, if you have a recommendation, I’ll be happy to hear it.
*CORRECTION: I misquoted the legend told in the book. It’s the Three Magical Princes and the legend of Bukit Seguntang (updated 22 Feb 2011)
12 May 2010
David Elkind, not Raymond Moore
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books.
For some odd reasons, searches for “Raymond Moore’s book The Hurried Child” find their way to this blog. Well, I thought I ought to do everyone a service by correcting an unfortunate error:
David Elkind wrote The Hurried Child
Raymond Moore wrote Better Late than Early
I suppose people get these authors and their books mixed up because they appear to share similar ideas about not hurrying a child before her time, and these experts get quoted a lot.
Dr David Elkind has written a number of books (Miseducation, All Grown Up and Nowhere to Go, The Power of Play, etc) that explores almost similar themes and his books have had considerable influence on my thinking as a homeschooling parent. Dr Elkind isn’t a homeschool advocate per se, but he believes a child is put at risk if she is schooled formally before she is developmentally ready – that would be around 7 or 8 years. It is unfortunate that Dr Elkind’s voice continues to be drowned by the cacophony of peddlers of early learning methodologies and systems.
Dr Raymond Moore on the other hand is arguably one of the earliest pioneers and advocates of the homeschooling movement. Together with his wife Dorothy, Dr Moore authored research that pretty much launched homeschooling as a viable and credible alternative to formal education in schools. The Moores themselves believe a child should begin formal education around 8 to 10 or even 12 years. Their books ( including School Can Wait, The Successful Homeschooling Family Handbook) have become favourite go-to tomes for homeschoolers the world over, and their Moore Formula for home education has assisted many families who chose to educate their children at home.
4 May 2005
Deschooling
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books; schooling.
“Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby “schooled” to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is “schooled” to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions that claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.”
Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
What Illich was criticising was the way schools (and other similar public agencies) turn us into slavish consumers who must depend on professional producers (whether government bureaucrats or corporations) to tell us what’s good or right for us. When homeschoolers take responsibility for their own education, they are resisting what he called “approved measures of social control.” You could say homeschooling is a form of deschooling in practice, because we see education as a lifelong commitment to formal and incidental learning utilising new approaches that foster life values, not dead knowledge.
I would take that to mean values that express love for God in heart, soul, mind, and strength – and love for our neighbour as we love ourselves.
2 May 2005
Books that influenced
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books; Education.
I am looking back at early influences that might have moved me towards my current understanding of schooling and education. Back when I was a secondary student – maybe 16 or 17, I had two pretty progressive teachers: Mr Lee taught English, while Miss Pillai taught literature.
Mr Lee who was more laidback, lent me books. Like Herbert Kohl’s 36 Children, John Holt’s How Children Learn, and Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society.
Miss Pillai was strident in her political views and occasionally ran into trouble with the authorities, but she made us understand that literature wasn’t just words and stories, but ideas that shaped society. Lee and Pillay were a couple who shared a modest apartment not far from the school they taught in.
Those paperbacks packed a wallop. I don’t think I understood fully what these authors were saying, much less grasped how radical these books were then in the mid-70s. I don’t think I understood how influential these men’s ideas were -not knowing any better – but I was utterly sold on their arguments. They were questioning conventional wisdom about schools, how kids learn, how process and substance were two different things, and yep, they certainly made me ask the same questions although I couldn’t see how anyone could beat the system.
In some ways, you could say these early ideas made it easier for me to ‘deschool’ and homeschool my own kids when the time came. Since then there have been other books, but that’s a story for another time.
What early influences led you to homeschool?
25 April 2005
End of Education
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books; Education.
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO LOOK AT EDUCATION since it encompasses processes (how we learn) and formal knowledge (what we learn), but what is it all for? The late Neil Postman in his book End of Education said the purpose of education is to provide moral guidance, a sense of continuity, explanations of the past, clarity to the present, and hope for the future. It’s certainly well put but as it is all too clear, more education does not a better world make.
To be fair Postman does give suggestions to actively connect thought and deed, knowledge and service, so that society gains from education. But to do that, he proposed we rescue schools from their deplorable state with a complete overhaul, which is as likely as a goose laying a golden egg.
The 9th century Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi who introduced Medieval Europe to arithmatic and algebra (from the Arabic al-jabru) called the latter ”the science of restoration and balancing.” I’d like to think it’s a definition that clues us in on what’s the point in any education – if I may be allowed to extrapolate from his thought.
Learning is more than acquiring knowledge or mastering a skill. To quote Dewey, it’s not preparation for life, because learning is life itself. And life expresses itself not just passively in our being, but also in our doing, which must include that which brings restoration and balance in a world tainted by the Fall.
Jesus who came not to be served but to serve went about teaching and doing good, so the Gospels tell us. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul said that the Church of God has been amply gifted with teachers,pastors, and prophets to equip His people for works of service . And to Timothy, Paul said that the Bible was given to equip God’s people for good work.
The impulse behind all learning is to know God and His work in creation and history. We glorify Him when our learning finds expression in service to others. It was the great reformer Martin Luther who once wrote that God does not need our good works, but other people do. Life-long learning for a life of service. Makes sense to me. Now can anyone help Ethan make sense of algebra?
16 October 2000
Some thoughts on books and reading
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Books; Reading.
The last and only comprehensive survey conducted in 1996 revealed that the average Malaysian read only 2 books a year. What a dismal state of affairs. The cliché that books take you places and offer a window to the world is all true. But if we are not going to read, we will be considerably poorer for it. Here are some thoughts about reading and how to derive greater pleasure out of it.
1. KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE READING
Homeschoolers around the world are known for their voracious appetite for books, resulting in many parents discovering afresh the joy of reading. That’s good. But it doesn’t end here. As responsible parents, we need to show more than a little interest in our children’s reading diet – just as we keep an eye on the friends they make and the company they keep.
Be aware that you’ll have to decide if your child is ready for a particular book. Times have moved on and values we take for granted have been turned on their heads. It should not surprise us that even children’s literature is beginning to represent a minefield for impressionable young readers.
All the same, showing concern ought not turn parents into apprehensive snoops, or worse, some 1984-type Thought Police. We should instead approach books and reading as an opportunity to bond with our children, as interested adults walking alongside their charges on a literary pilgrimage.
2. BOOKS COMMUNICATE IDEAS
Every book has a point of view. The term that is sometimes used to denote a particular viewpoint or philosophy is called “worldview”. A worldview has been described as a mental map of an individual’s beliefs or presuppositions about life and existence.
Having said that you will appreciate that sometimes even the most innocuous paragraph may be coloured by the worldview of a writer, Christian or not. But remember, good writers do not litter their prose with little signposts that say, “Next paragraph: What I think about morality,” or anything like that.
Books – especially fiction – are a universe to themselves. Usually a writer’s worldview is articulated in the narratives. You’ll find it echoed by characters in the book, manifest in the prevailing moods or relationships, and expressed in the way a situation or crisis is resolved. Extrapolating Jacques Ellul’s astute observation, a story is like a watch keeping time or measuring events as they happen; on the other hand a biblical narrative is a compass pointing to its True North.
3. READING IS LISTENING TO WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
It has often been said that Christians have a tendency to preach a bit too much at people who hold opposing views. How to remedy that? Well, you could read and reflect more than you normally do. Because books offer everyone a simple non-threatening lesson in listening.
“Literature is experiential,” says Leland Ryken. So if you are reading a book, you are really eavesdropping on thoughts and conversations in another person’s reality. You live out the drama of someone else’s struggles to come to terms with the great issues of life and death.
Good literature opens a window to the interior world of writers, and that of Everyman, many of whom “live lives of quiet desperation,” to borrow a phrase from Thoreau. You see others as they see themselves, which is what empathy is all about. Careful reading can help deepen our empathy for people engulfed in life’s complexities.
4. READ WIDELY
Too many of us read books mainly to glean some specific information – which is not a bad thing in itself, unless it’s all you ever do. Rarely do we read for pleasure or personal enrichment. Yet beyond the fiction and non-fiction divide are literature and writings of various genres – poetry, fantasy, allegory, humour, biography, etc. that await discovery.
Like adults, children need a balanced diet of different kinds of literature. The better we are acquainted with these, the more we will be able to appreciate the story-telling devices writers employ. Armed with this understanding, we will be more equipped to pick out thoughts behind words, and meanings beyond facts.
Imagine what it would be like if we were not inveterate readers ourselves. Suddenly the demands of homeschool with its emphasis on wide reading pulls us into a world we are unaccustomed to. Like one who has been confined in a darkened room for long periods, we are momentarily blinded by the dazzling array of books, many by authors whose worldviews we are unfamiliar with. Invariably red flags appear.
Reading widely – especially of good literature – builds an informed mind, which the Spirit uses to broaden our capacity to respond knowledgeably and wisely to the issues of our times.
5. READ WISELY
We must learn to respond critically with a Christian mind to everything we read, just as we do the things we see or hear. To begin with, one must not make the error of presuming that only Christians communicate acceptable ideas, while unbelievers don’t. We are all prone to error and misjudgments. It should not surprise us then to know that a Christian author (like any writer) is capable of communicating a wrong idea wonderfully and a good idea horribly, or vice-versa.
After reading, discuss the book’s ideas and themes with your children. Play devil’s advocate. For starters, ask if the book is fiction or non-fiction. Are the events plausible or believable? Why do the people behave the way they do? Are these actions good or bad? Why do you say so? What does the Bible say about these things? Would you recommend the book to a friend?
By engaging the author’s worldview, you challenge young readers to appreciate that not all ideas are equal, and not everything we read is acceptable or true. How well a tale is told must finally be judged against what kind of thoughts they plant in our hearts and minds.
6. DRINK DEEP FROM GOD’S WORD
This side of heaven, the words of Jesus come to mind, that wheat and tares need for a time grow side by side. The mortal wound that is Sin leaves its mark on all human enterprise and art. Therefore the sacred and the profane, the mediocre and excellent, the bland and the beautiful artfully coexist in dozens of permutations.
This is not to gloss over sin and its tragic consequences, but an acknowledgment of a tension that dogs our existence. Surely we are not called to live in a hermetically sealed cocoon as a means to keep our children and ourselves pure. Neither can we be there all the time to tell our children what’s right or wrong, and what’s good or bad.
That is why it is so important for our kids to develop deep familiarity with and an affinity for God’s word, so they can confidently sieve through the experiences life throws at them, and joyfully account for the faith they hold. The word “Bible” means, a collection of books. That’s an instant library of 66 books in one handy volume.
Christians know that this divinely inspired word of God is redemptive history played out across different kinds of writings or genres. As the word of God, it is the one book that will cast light on all other books we may read. For that reason, it is truly the first book we need to read well, and the last word on issues that confront us. Read it conscientiously.
7. TEACH KIDS TO FEAR GOD, NOT IDEAS
He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, the Bible tells us. Therefore we do our children a huge favour when they learn to fear God more than they fear words and ideas. Throughout centuries, the birth of new ideas has spawned revolutions good and evil. Interestingly, the course of history has been determined by the fear of ideas as well.
If we want to avoid scenarios depicted in Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″ or the fatwas of self-righteous mullahs, we do well to remember that the fear of ideas like the fear of man, is a snare. The legalist in us all should remember that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life – something the Pharisees of Jesus’ time missed to their loss.
I am convinced that God who calls man to “reason together,” means us to engage our grey matter in the good fight too. How else do we love God with all our heart, mind and soul if we don’t? As Francis Schaeffer once wrote, if we want to resist the spirit of the world, we must challenge it in the form it takes in our present age. Reading thoughtfully and critically gives us all an opportunity to grapple with ideas and questions our generation is raising in this age.
May God grant us wisdom and grace to stand fearlessly for His name’s sake.
Further reading:
Want to learn more about literature? Don’t know how? Well, here’s a good place to start. Get hold of the books listed below for a mind-expanding tour of the world of books and ideas.
How to Read Slowly: A Christian Guide to Reading with the Mind
by James Sire
An excellent primer for beginners on what writers say and what they mean. The book also provides advice on what to read and when.
Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature
by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
Here’s a valuable book to help you cultivate a taste for good literature. Meet writers past and present, explore the Christian worldview, understand Biblical concepts in imagination, post-modernism and more.
The Universe Next Door: A Basic World View Catalog
by James Sire
The book has three objectives – outline basic worldviews of the western world, trace historical developments of these worldviews and the move to eastern mysticism and new age belief systems –and succeeds admirably. Good intro for all concerned Christians.
The Universe Upstairs: A Cartoon Guide to Worldviews
by Merve Jones
Inspired by James Sire’s Universe Next Door, Irish Merve Jones breaks down complex worldviews into a fascinating simple-to-read visual (read, comic book) journey.
The Literature of the Bible
by Leland Ryken
This is a book that requires serious chewing. Quite intimidating in scope and technical in parts, but a genuine eye-opener nonetheless. This seminal work by Prof Ryken will help increase the pleasure of Bible reading.
How To Be Your Own Selfish Pig (And other ways you’ve been brainwashed)
by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
The late Francis Schaeffer’s daughter reduces her father’s ideas into something understandable and contemporary by way of wacky prose and penetrating propositions. Recommended for high school and college students, and perfect for adults starting out from zero! With a bit of creativity, it’ll work for junior too.
How to Read the Bible for all its worth
by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
A great help in making sense of Scripture as it was first recorded, the types of writings it encompasses, and its different rules of interpretation. Guaranteed to clear foggy notions about understanding the word of God.