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Asia literacy on Aussie agenda

By K.C. Boey - posted Wednesday, 20 May 2009


If Australia were a "torn country" in Samuel Huntington's scheme of the "clash of civilisations", China is understandably dividing public opinion.

Does it represent a threat or an opportunity in its designs on Australian mining resources? Is China's ascendancy as an economic powerhouse in Australia's strategic interest?

These questions were on educator Professor Yong Zhao's mind as he was flying into Melbourne for a conference.

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As Zhao told delegates to a national summit of the Asia Education Foundation (AEF), at which he was a keynote speaker, he couldn't wait to get his hands on the defence white paper that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveiled the day before he arrived.

China-born Zhao, internationally renowned distinguished professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, spent the night poring over the 140-page paper, loading additional images to his PowerPoint presentation, before fronting the next morning to speak on "21st Century Global Citizens".

Zhao's facts and figures, graphs and images contrasting global expenditure on arms and defence with money that went to the poor were stark.

"Why do we spend so much in order to kill each other, and not help each other?" he wondered.

Delhi school principal Ameeta Wattal followed, picking up on the theme of global citizenship from the Indian perspective.

As Wattal was telling delegates of the experience of her Springdales School in Delhi, AEF executive director Kathe Kirby leaned over to summit leader Tony Mackay to whisper that "we need to break this colonial mindset (in Australia)".

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One hundred and sixty educators, teachers and representatives of parents from every one of the six states and two territories were at the two-day sixth national summit of the AEF, the Melbourne-based foundation of the Asialink Centre at the University of Melbourne and Curriculum Corporation, co-ordinating the teaching of Asia in Australia.

The objective: to enhance Asia literacy for every young Australian in schools.

China - and India - does not Asia make, of course. As an Asialink co-authored index of Australia's engagement with Asia, released in February, shows, Asean as a trading bloc is more vital to Australia than China.

Enhancing Asia literacy is thus a challenging task, evident beyond the two days. Frustration tested patience: haven't we heard this all before, this need to study Asia?

Let's get on with it … the refrain was palpable among not a few presenters and delegates, in language unapologetically colourful in the Australian vernacular.

From academic Professor Tim Lindsey to corporate consultant Tamerlaine Beasley, the imperative articulated by Rudd - that he "wants Australia to become the most Asia-literate country in the Western world" - is redundant.

The question is how best to get going on this. And why the study of Asia is raised solely from the perspective of Australia.

Overlooked - or crowded out by the scheduling - is Rudd's answer to the "why" question: how Australia best prepares itself for the Asian Century - to maximise the opportunities, minimise the threats "and make our own active contribution to making the Asian Century peaceful, prosperous and sustainable for us all".

Business is single-minded on the answer.

An Asia Literacy Business Alliance was launched in conjunction with the summit. Business organisations and companies representing some 400,000 businesses signed up to the alliance.

"Asia is becoming more important to the global economy," the alliance says in a statement. "Within 10 years, the region will have three of the four largest economies of the world.

"Increasingly, Australian business leaders see Asia as a growth engine. Many companies are consequently investing in ensuring their talent base is Asia literate, able to leverage opportunities and minimise risk in this new economy.

"Yet, Australia's education statistics do not reflect the growing importance of Asia for Australia."

Educators agree on the "crisis" statistics, with the alliance pledging preparedness to work with education to do something about them.

Alliance representative Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, joined delegates for lunch to press home the alliance message.

The question is put to Ridout about the risk of a perception of a "beggar thy neighbour" attitude in its singular utilitarian motive. The image of Australia as "deputy sheriff" to the US wouldn't help, Ridout agrees, but essentially business is a two-way relationship.

The utilitarian approach doesn't take into account postcolonial history, as Paul Kiem, president of the History Teachers Association of Australia, teaches in his western Sydney school in Auburn, the most multicultural suburb in all of Australia.

So, too, does it fall short of the expectations of Ian Dalton, executive director of the Australian Parents Council.

Together, Kiem and Dalton suggest that the assumption that the motive of parents on what's best for their children's education is always driven by job prospects may be misguided.

"Parents are open to the study of Asia if they see it as being integral to the development of the whole person," says Dalton. A good neighbour being one.

The reality, for Ken Olah, relieving director curriculum, in the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, is that "any suggestion that the Asian region needs a small, Western, colonial country more than Australia needs close relationships with its Asian neighbours is ridiculous".

Studies of Asia have to take account of changed and changing aspirations among the peoples - and increasingly assertive nations - of emerged and emerging Asia.

Asia needs to be framed beyond threats and opportunities, and studied for intellectual enrichment.

They go beyond the accommodating within a crowded curriculum the study of languages, culture, literature and the arts, and appreciation of food, dance, music and song, and nuances of how business people exchange business cards.

In the end, by Olah's reckoning, it is "not just a head thing, it's a heart thing".

Kirby is in no doubt that a "sense of real urgency" emerged from the summit.

She is confident Australian education has gone beyond the three "p"s in studies of Asia - of poverty, padi fields and pandas - and is encouraged that the summit brought to the table business and youth, key stakeholder groups required to build demand for Asia literacy.

Youth represented at the summit made clear they were ready to mobilise young Australians to demand Asia skills and to connect at people-to-people level with their peers in Asia.

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First published in the New Straits Times on May 10, 2009.



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About the Author

K.C. Boey is a former editor of Malaysian Business and The Malay Mail. He now writes for The Malaysian Insider out of Melbourne.

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