looks to nurture international and inter-cultural
encounters across its membership and to teach
responsible attitudes to the natural environment
and sustainability; and to allow individual
talents and abilities to develop. ‘These concepts,’
comments Tim, ‘while familiar in the West,
are new challenges to Chinese education.’
Tim helped develop and administer the ACUE
awarded at HSAFU, itself a WLSA member and the
most academically sought after school in Shanghai.
The broader curriculum includes the study of at
least one foreign language, literature and philosophy,
mathematics, science and history. But, the guiding
principle at HSAFU, chiming with the WLSA
Many boys I taught
at Winchester now
live in Hong Kong,
so I am part of a strong
OW community here.
manifesto, is the pursuit of liberal education
through the development of a contemporary and
internationally applicable concept of Winchester
Div. At Fudan, this is termed ‘Colloquy’, defined
as a gathering for the purpose of discussion on a
particular topic, and is a course based on wide reading,
discussion, extensive writing and the skills of critical
analysis, which Tim Parkinson personally administered.
‘The challenge of this concept to Chinese teachers,’
says Tim ‘should not be underestimated! Education
in China has a dominant utilitarian aspect. My task
is made harder by the impact of the only-recentlyrelaxed one-child policy. This has incubated what
is commonly called the trait of the Little Emperor.
Parents’ aspirations focus on their sole offspring.
The challenge is to persuade them that Colloquy,
notwithstanding the absence of tests and tables, is
designed to make their son or daughter a strong
US or UK university candidate as well as a broader
purpose to develop them as people’. CEO of
WLSA, Dr. Jack Jia, says that ‘without Winchester’s
support and in particular Tim Parkinson’s
commitment to the project, WLSA could never
have achieved this pilot project so successfully.’
Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, the Scottish-born
tutor to Puyi, the last Dragon Emperor, noted in his
memoirs that ‘Confucian China had a wholehearted
belief in the truth that is Manners Makyth Man.’
Mao Zedong and his ideologues sought to extirpate
Confucius from Chinese culture and society, perceiving
his teachings as an unwanted legacy of a feudal and
imperial past. Confucius’ teachings have not only been
at least in part rehabilitated by the present regime but
have become fundamental to the way in which China
wishes to portray its culture and society to the world.
Traditional Confucian principles of education, built
on order, are compatible with at least some Western
concepts of liberal education. What appeared to
be mindless rote-learning was in fact a process of
memorisation and reflection; the absence of learnerinitiated verbalisation, such as spontaneous questions,
in fact masked a process of silent but effective mental
engagement with the topic. Ordered thought can of
itself prove a sound basis for innovative thought. The
Chinese Government has itself started to promote
International programmes that are designed to inculcate
habits of critical thinking as opposed to robotic learning.
As the mission statement of WLSA states, moral
training is a key part of an education which is not
merely academic, but is reflected in behaviour: a
good teacher must be a good moral exemplar. That
sounds very Confucian. Confucius taught four things:
culture (wen), conduct, loyalty and faithfulness.’
(Analects 7:24). He held that education should be
open to all: ‘in education there should be no class
distinction.’ (Analects 15:38) and that almost all are
capable of improving themselves through education:
‘Only the most intelligent and the most stupid do not
change.’ (Analects 17:3). ‘There can be real encounter
between China and the West here,’ Tim Parkinson
believes, ‘and Winchester will be part of the story.’
Tim has proved to be an excellent ambassador for
Winchester, one on whom the Head Man can rely to
represent him effectively in maintaining and developing
Winchester’s international educational influence.
The Wykeham Journal 2015 47