Process, Place, and Time:
Reflections on the Thoughts of Deng Xiaoping
Glenn F. Cartwright
Associate Dean
Faculty of Education
McGill University
3700 McTavish,
Montreal QC Canada
H3A 1Y2
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Deng
Xiaoping’s
inscription for
Beijing Jingshan School
International Education Forum
Beijing, ROC
September 13-14, 2003
Abstract
Two decades ago, Deng Xiaoping suggested that Education in the new century must fuel the drive toward modernization (a process), foster a view of the world (a place), and gear its citizens for the future (a time) by training them to the highest levels of competence.
Though
the goals are clear; achieving them may be more difficult. With 20% of
the world’s students,
The
first step is to recognize that in the information age human brains are
the greatest national resource.The
second step is to acknowledge the complementary role the computer will
play in the new century and use it to amplify intelligence, harness human
potential, and distribute information productivity. All
this flows from the legacy of Deng Xiaoping’s vision and his challenge
to us for education in the future.
Mr. Chair, Honoured
Guests, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
bring you greetings from my country
It
is a great privilege for me to be here with you today to celebrate the
words of Deng Xiaoping at this gathering.When
I first came to
It
is 20 years since Premier Deng Xiaoping suggested that Education in the
new century must promote modernization, foster a world view, and gear its
citizens for the future. Two decades later, it falls to us to evaluate
developments, to analyze his thoughts, and to reflect on his wisdom.He
envisioned new education for modernization, for
the world, and for the future.These
three “fors” have come to be known as the “Three Fors Inscription”.
His
words resonate in us now and as we think about them, we find they are as
true today as they were when they were first spoken.In
my view, he was speaking of education for modernization which is
a process, for the world which is a place, and for the future
which is a time.In short, he was
speaking of process, place, and time and so I have entitled my talk “Process,
Place, and Time.”
I
would like to discuss each of these in turn.
1.
FOR Modernization: A Process
First,
the process.Deng
Xiaoping understood that Education was not a product but an ongoing process
that can be used for modernization.One
of the first books I had to read as a student teacher many years ago was
The
Process of Education by Harvard University Professor Dr. Jerome Bruner.Although
as a young man I had always wanted to teach, I had never really given much
thought about Education or what it was.Teaching
was my interest and to me education was an abstract concept.I
certainly never thought of it as a process.Bruner’s
astounding claim was that “…any subject can be taught effectively in
some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development.”In
other words, if we could just get down to a baby’s level, we could teach
complex subjects like mathematics in an intellectually honest form. This
sounds a bit like the great philosopher Confucius, doesn’t it?Though
Bruner had exaggerated a bit, his controversial book stimulated thinking
about education when it was published.But
it was his notion of education as a process – rather than a product
or an end – that was new to me. Education was seen as a dynamic progression
which battered our old beliefs that education was a “thing” one could possess.Even
our old language betrayed that previous style of thinking:We
would say “He was educated at
By
the way, it was Bruner who wrote nearly 50 years ago about iconic thinking
– the idea that people can learn and think in pictures or icons – and that
such analogical representations become metaphorical due to their functional
similarity to the structures and actions being modeled.This
icon of a briefcase on my computer screen reminds me of a real briefcase
and this in turn suggests I can use it for carrying my computer files home.
It was Bruner’s recognition of the benefits of iconic thinking that later
formed the philosophical basis of human-computer interface development
at Xerox, and later at Apple with the Macintosh “desktop” user interface.What
is remarkable is that iconic thinking has been known in
In
English, the word “process” has another meaning.When
a line or queue of people march or move together – they are said to process
in a procession.If you think about
it, you can never get anywhere without moving, without processing in this
sense.To get anywhere, to arrive
at a new place, requires some
movement.
Education
is a process that generates movement – movement of thoughts and words,
knowledge and wisdom, ideals and values.Education
helps us move and therefore creates the momentum required for modernization.Deng
Xiaopingknew that
modernization requires movement fuelled by education.
However,
modernization implies more than new industrial processes, 
more
than new machinery, 
more
than new factories and buildings.It
means new thinking, new concepts, and new exploration.Modernization
implies not only the renewal of the physical plant but the renewal of our
human resources, re-equipping the population with the cognitive tools and
skills that will be required for optimal success in the world of tomorrow.
Modernization
is an on-going process that is never completed.One
never completes modernization because all new things become old and the
process must start again.Modernization
as a process must be a goal and a way of looking the world with new eyes
and new thinking and new ideas.New
education must necessarily embrace modernization.
All
this to say, education and modernization go hand in hand: both are rooted
in movement, both bring us to a new place.
2.
FOR the World:
Twenty
years later it is clear to us that although the broad, expansive process
of education that Deng Xiaopingenvisioned
needed to be rooted in a place – its focus must be the world.
Futurists
often say “Think globally, act locally”.One
might very well reword this to apply to education:
Teach
locally, educate globally! At a time when the rest of the world knew little
of
The
world is becoming a relatively smaller place.As
its size shrinks, citizens with a worldwide understanding will be able
to compete more effectively, live more comfortably, and contribute more
meaningfully.
Enter
the computer!The rise of the computer
in the last half century promises to help us with some of these goals.Individual
computers amplify intelligence and their interconnection now forms a rudimentary
nervous system for our planet.This
means that each individual contributes much like a 
nerve
cell in a giant global brain and by doing so can help influence the entire
world.
Recently,
two of my students put their class PowerPoint presentation on the web.Six
months after they finished my course their web presentation was read by
an author in the
The
Computer as Harvester
Around
the globe, the computer network is growing.We
have called it the Web but it is possible to view it in like a mechanical
harvester. 
It
now seems increasingly likely that the computer's ultimate contribution
to society will be to harvest human intellectual activity. If
this is correct, then there is good news for nations with large populations.For
the first time, the computer presents a new way of harvesting the skills,
attributes, and abilities of the population. This is fundamental in the
information age, and the key lies in using the computer as an electronic
harvester ? developing the skills of the population and marshalling them
toward greater productivity. To improve a nation, we must improve its people.
This idea is not new, for as Asoka Mehta writing about
.
. .we are dealing with a land, a society, and a people who have suffered
the effects of erosion. Where then do we begin? In my opinion, the only
way to solve the problem is not to remake our soil or our society, but
to remake our people. The whole process has to be reversed.
We
cannot hope to remake our economy if we don't improve our people (Aron,
1963, p. 131).
How
we do this depends on our perception of the situation. Let me give you
two examples.
I
believe that two of the greatest natural resources of the new century will
be water and nervous tissue – that is human brains.Traditionally,
both of these have been undervalued.
First,
an example from
The
second example is from
With
the world’s largest population,
The
task is straightforward:educate 20%
of the world’s students efficiently and economically to the highest standards
of global competence.This is not
so much a problem as it is a wonderful opportunity!
If
necessity is truly the mother of invention, then
The
key, of course, is resource utilization. And the resource is people.Rarely
have people been considered a natural resource except in times of war when
large armies were better than small armies. In the information age, people
become a national resource. I suggest that the computer will provide the
means of utilizing that natural resource and those nations with large populations
may well find themselves rich beyond counting if they can harvest these
human resources through the computer. What had once been a burden of overpopulation
may well turn out to be a wealth of natural resources. Why the change?The
reason is that the world is moving from away from a production society
towards an information society where it is information and ideas that are
bought and sold. As John Naisbett
(1982) has observed: "With information as the strategic resource, access
to the economic system is much easier (p. 15)" and "Information is an economic
entity because it costs something to produce and because people are willing
to pay for it (p. 36)."
But
ideas do not originate in computers, 
they
originate in people. A nation rich in people can be a nation rich in ideas.
And ideas, information,and knowledge
collected and packaged appropriately, are what will sell in tomorrow's
marketplace. The computer can and must be used as a medium to develop these
ideas, and to collect and distribute them.
To
accomplish this, new skills must be developed in the population or at the
very least in a significant subset of the population. Such programs of
development cannot be accomplished by individual educators or by institutions
working in isolation, nor can they be implemented solely by government
policy without the cooperation of those intimately involved with the technology.
Only an integrated approach will work.” ….
“We
must come to conceptualize the computer as catalyst, network, and harvester.
At the most basic level, the computer is a catalyst for the development
of the central nervous system at higher levels it improves the skills
and abilities required for effective education. In a network, it provides
the opportunity of linking individuals together, amplifying their brainpower,
cumulating their thoughts, and multiplying their abilities. Seen as a harvester,
the network can be used to gather the thinking output of a nation
a priceless commodity in the information age” (Cartwright, 1985).
3. FOR the Future: A
Time
Third,
the Future.In
addition to occurring in a place, education must be for a particular time.Deng
Xiaoping said that education was for the future, the third “for”
of his “Three Fors Inscription”.The
future is uniquely situated on the continuum of time.It
starts now and moves forward.It is
not just another year or another century the way past years or centuries
have been.The future has quite different
characteristics than the past.For
example, as Deng Xiaoping wisely knew, though we cannot change our past,
we can change our future.It
is in this way that the future differs most from the past.
The
future is not just something that happens to us -- something over which
we have no control:in fact, we construct
our future.Unlike the past, the future
has unlimited possibilities and it is we who create them, choose them,
and live in them.
New
education must prepare students for life in the future.It
is in the future that they will spend the rest of their lives, though it
is somewhat of a cliché to say so.Education
can help prepare students by creating multiple scenarios which can be explored,
visited, examined, and chosen or rejected.In
this way students are able to make choices about their lives in the future
and have active hands in planning them.
The
growth of information technology and its application to education is a
case in point.Many of us who have
been involved in educational computer applications for the past three decades
were nonetheless surprised by the rapid growth of information technology,
its spread around the world, and the sheer immensity of the database.Just
a few months after the start of the World Wide Web, there were millions
of web pages available.I still remember
asking myself “Where did all these come from?”Why
do people wish to put their knowledge on line, available to others, usually
at no cost?” Why do people enjoy surfing the Web?
One
reason for the Web’s popularity is that it is a model of the human brain.Our
brains work by association:think
of one idea, and it stimulates another thought.This
is just like clicking a link on a web page.Human
thinking is not horizontal but vertical.The
web is also vertical, hence its appeal.
The
second reason is that web authoring promotes a sense of sharing, a spread
of valuable knowledge, and a feeling of powerful accomplishment.
While
many people fear the future, and fear change, in fact the future should
be comforting to us all since we have some measure of control over it by
virtue of the choices we make.
Conclusion
The
passage of twenty years has shown the wisdom of Deng Xiaoping.His
three Fors inscription is a vision that has lasted two decades and will
live on.His vision is a gift to all
of us, a guide for educators, and an insight into the future.It
is a challenge to live up to
for present and future generations.It
is his vision we celebrate today, which has served so well for the past
decades and will serve long into the future.
As
Deng Xiaoping might have said, “the future starts now!”
References
Aron, R. (Ed.). (1963). World Technology and Human Destiny.
Bruner, J (1960). The Process of Education,
Cartwright, Glenn F. (1985). Technological webwork: Cultural and societal
implications. Paper presented
at the Technology and Development Seminar.
Naisbett, J. (1982). Megatrends.
Nielsen/NetRatings (2002).