Into Another Level - Reading and Historical Understanding

Red Scarf Girl is a historical memoir
by Ji-li Jiang about her experiences
during the Cultural Revolution of China,
with a foreword by David Henry Hwang.

This story, told in the first person by Ji Li Jiang, raises awareness of what can happen in a country when an ideology of a dictator who achieves power uses the government to control the population. Ji Li's story does so in a way similar to what a reading of George Orwell's 1984 does, with the added emphasis of it being an actual memoir. Both titles shed light on the human desire for power and the natural tendency of governments to move toward institutional power and control if they are not kept in check. Both stories can also give us useful insights into the current context in the USA and around the world. Red Scarf Girl does so in an authentic way told from the perspective of someone who has lived through the kind of tyranny we in USA all thought we were (some still think we are) immune to.  

Red Scarf Girl was published in 1997. It foreshadows what we are in many ways seeing transpire today across the US and the world. One very important tactic described and currently being used to control the citizenry is the revision of history. Ji-Li's experience of historical revision reaches deeply into her personal and family life. Her understanding of her family's past is totally revised externally and in her own mind based on the propaganda of the Communist Party during Mao's cultural revolution. Students were given the definitive description of each class of people and every individual within that class. Each was determined to be an enemy or an ally to the regime based on the class status of their ancestors and other family members. No discussion. No nuance. No reality. You are who we say you are. There is no escaping your class background.

If you have any interest in studying this phenomenon or the history of it, you can read a stack of high level academic works (I'll list some below that I have found worthwhile) and of course George Orwell's work, but honestly and especially for your own children and students (depending on their age) there may not be a need to read a highly emotionally charged and/or advanced reading or difficult text when we still have valuable first person accounts like this one from Ji Li Jiang. 

1984 is emotionally hard to read and even more so is Brave New World, in my opinion. Red Scarf Girl is geared towards readers of about a 6th-7th grade reading level. Red Scarf Girl presents the facts of one persons life, which do in fact carry an emotional charge, but not to the extent that the reader (unless highly sensitive) will find the need to turn away from the story. However, please, do be available for discussion and processing as it will certainly raise intensely important questions for students.

Amazingly though, this recount of the author's life in China lays out in many ways the techniques of censorship and manipulation. Most pertinent to the discussion in my view is that we are currently  experiencing the same techniques in the West.

I'd say this is a must read and given the reading level it will be a quick read for most, especially adults. It provides a window into history, worldview ideology, politics and opportunities for learning and  discussions involving each of those subjects. And if you are interested in a deeper dive, have time and the reading aptitude, below is a more extensive list:

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park - A story similar to Red Star Girl from Korea.

Animal Farm by George Orwell 

1984 by George Orwell - Both Orwell titles should be a warning not a blueprint.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx - We might as well hear it from a sources of communist ideology.

The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - This one is a more personal experience & more intense, a long hard read.

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay - Important scholarly work from these two accomplished academics.

There Will Be Gaps

Over our years of homeschooling, I commonly heard phrases from others that were often somewhat flattering to me, but quite honestly, mostly unfounded. I heard things like "You must be very patient." or "You must be really smart." There have been many commonly asked questions too, for example; "Are you a teacher?" "What is your education?" "How do you teach multiple ages?" And the most often repeated reaction to my being a homeschooling mom is, - (homeschool moms, I know you've heard this one at least as much as I have) - "I could never homeschool my kids!" That statement is frequently followed by an explanation from them as to why that is an absolutely irrevocably true, beyond any shadow of doubt fact!

My typical response is usually that it really isn't as hard as they imagine. For me, that is the statement of fact that continued to ring true throughout our days of homeschooling. (I may expand on my experience of that in another post.)

If such a conversation continues, (often they don't) and deepens, (less frequently) leading to a real discussion about education, learning and family it evolves into a discussion of who loves and is the best example and teacher to the children in all of our lives, assuming relatively stable families, of course.

Another protest I have also commonly heard is about all of the potential learning gaps that will afflict the poor homeschooled children due to their parents lack of expertise in all the many areas needed for academic success. Again, if the conversation still continues (even rarer at this point), I attempt (trying to remember to do so delicately) to point out that no system of education, public or private, will provide enough exposure and understanding of all of the potential areas and subject matter that will be needed by our children over the next decades and over their own lifetimes.

Giving our children the basics to access the world of academics is vital. Basic math and reading is obviously important so that they will be able to move forward in pursuit of more understanding in any subject area they choose. The basics are necessary so that they will possess the ability to search and discover answers and solutions on their own. A firm grasp of those same basics are important so that they will be able to take the steps they will absolutely need to move forward in their lives with confidence.

However, no matter where they are being educated, no matter who their teachers are, they will have gaps. All of them will have gaps in some area of expertise and without confidence in their own ability to find info, explore the ideas of others and create their own solutions, they will be living not with simple gaps in information but in a chasm of fear and uncertainty. Mostly, they will need to accept that ongoing learning is part of life. Ideally they will possess a love of learning that will not only sustain them but will bring them joy throughout their lives contributing to their ability to thrive in relationships and in the work they choose.

The most important attribute I have observed in homeschooling parents is an interest and delight in ongoing learning for themselves. Whatever your choices are for the education of your children, share your own love of learning with each of them and with all of the children you have contact with. Acknowledge your confidence in them that they will be able to find answers and make decisions. Remind them that learning lasts a lifetime. Celebrate sharing the journey of ongoing learning with them. Provide an example of working diligently to fill in your own gaps!

New Reality

When in the thick of early parenting, or the midst of elementary education - homeschooling or otherwise - or during the busy, busy, run here and there of active teen years, it is hard to imagine that the day, whether sometimes longed for, or sometimes dreaded, will ever actually arrive. And even though it has clearly, been approaching steadily, looming over the horizon, day by day - it lands with the sudden surprise of a lightening strike in an approaching storm, not yet immediately overhead, and the day is here. They move out and into the world on their own.

So with pride and tears and joy for all that has been shared and all that is in front of them and me, too - I watch and guide as best one can, as they fly, or lurch, or stumble, away into the big wide world and the best thing left to do is to sing praise for the love and wonder of it all!