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The Confucian Ethics Curriculum in Singapore 97

this paper focuses on the Chinese version. At that time, CDIS under the Ministry
of Education invited two American academics, Professors Yu Ying-shih (余英时
1930–2021) and Tu Wei-ming (杜维明), to serve as overseas consultants for
its Confucian Ethics Curriculum Development Team. The two experts were invited
by then Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education,
Dr Goh Keng Swee (吴庆瑞 1918–2010), to Singapore in August 1982 to “develop
the basic conceptual framework” for the curriculum. According to Dr Lau Wai
Har (刘蕙霞), project director of CDIS’s Confucian ethics program, the chairman
and a member of the Confucian Ethics Education Committee, Professor Wu Teh
Yao (吴德耀 1915–1994) and Dr Shu Sinn Whor (苏新鋈), each proposed an
outline for the development of the curriculum, but the teaching materials were
later completed on the basis of the final outline suggested by Professor Tu Wei-
ming, a Chinese American Confucian scholar (Chen & Tan, 1983, p. 1). Therefore,
this set of textbooks could be said to have its root in the thought of the so-called
New Confucianists (新儒家) of the 20th century.

2 The Overall Structure of the Curriculum

The Confucian Ethics curriculum was developed by the Confucian Ethics Curricu-
lum Development Team. The director of the team was Dr. Lau Wai Har, and its
members include Huang Shoujian (黄守坚), Yang Xiuqin (杨秀钦), Chen Xing (陈
兴), Hsing Chi Chung (邢济众), Ho Soo Guang (何子煌), Lim Poh Hwan (林宝环),
1
Chiu Leou Mann (丘柳漫), and Zhou Guocan (周国灿). Zhou was mainly
responsible for polishing the final texts. The Curriculum consists of four major
parts, namely, textbooks, workbooks and supplementary readers for students, and
guide books for teachers. 2
The textbooks are divided into two volumes of 20 texts each for secondary
3
three and four. The titles of the 40 passages are as follows:

1 The author is not able to identify the respective proper names in English for Huang, Yang, Chen,
and Zhou. As such, the pinyin romanization is used for these names.
2 The set of Confucian Ethics course materials, which are directed by CDIS, compiled by the
Confucian Ethics Curriculum Development Team and published by Educational Publications Bu-
reau Pte Ltd., includes Confucian Ethics: Textbook Secondary Three (1984); Confucian Ethics:
Textbook Secondary Four (1985); Confucian Ethics: Homework Secondary Three (1984); Confucian
Ethics: Homework Secondary Four (1985); Confucian Ethics: Teacher’s Manual Secondary Three
(1984); Confucian Ethics: Teacher’s Manual Secondary Four (1985); The Road They Took: Confucian
Ethics Supplementary Reading Book for Secondary Three (1987); The Road They Took: Confucian
Ethics Supplementary Reading Book for Secondary Four (1987).
3 These are the original titles of the English textbooks of the curriculum.