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The Confucian Ethics Curriculum in Singapore 105

country and society. The writers of the textbook explained to the students that
because Confucianism believes “cultivating the person” is “fundamental to the
development of one’s family, the rule of one’s state, and peace for all under
heaven,” it emphasizes that from the leaders of the state to the people in general,
“all must take the cultivation of the person as fundamental.” As for the ways to
cultivate the person, the text cites the example of “he frequents the company of
men of principle that he may be rectified” in “Xue Er” of The Analects (《论语 · 学
而》), to let students know that Confucius had said that a person can “frequent the
company of men of principle that he may be rectified.”
As for the cultivation of harmonious family relationship, the curriculum aims
to develop students into people who can get along well with their parents, siblings,
and future spouses. In this regard, they try to guide students with the Confucian
concept of Five Relationships (五伦). For example, in Lesson 15 of the Textbook
Secondary Three, the authors quoted from what Confucius said in “Wei Zheng” of
The Analects(《论语 · 学而》): “Filial piety nowadays means caring for one’s
parents. But people care for their dogs and horses, too. Without reverence, what is
the difference in between?” As for how to show respect and love to parents, the text
states that Confucius’ idea was: “In order to make parents happy, children should
always keep a pleasant countenance, something they cannot always do well” In
the passage, the authors also quoted from “Xue Er” of The Analects: “Filial piety
and fraternal submission!—are they not the root of all benevolent actions?” Then,
quoting from “King Liang Hui Part I” of Mencius (《孟子 · 梁惠王上》), “Extend
the reverence for the elders in your own family to those outside; love other people’s
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young children as you love your own, ” the authors explain to the students that,
“Only those who are filial to their parents can extend the spirit of respect and love
to the parents of others,” thus cultivating in them a “spirit of benevolence and
love.”
This shows that the curriculum does not follow the traditional way of teaching
the Confucian classics, such as teaching The Analects of Confucius first, followed
by Mencius and Xun Zi (《荀子》)… or The Book of Poetry (《诗经》), The Book of
History (《史记》), The Book of Rites… Neither does it lead the students to learn
Confucian teachings through explaining the classics sentences by sentences. The
textbooks of the curriculum, instead, were developed around specific themes, such
as why one needs to study and cultivate oneself, how can one acquire “wisdom,
benevolence, and courage,” how can one use “the Doctrine of the Mean (中庸)”
and the notion of “wishing to be established oneself, one seeks also to establish
others (己欲立而立人).” By using these topics as guidelines, the textbook

6 https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=12908&remap=gb.