Teaching China’s First Critical Futures Studies Courses: Insights and Issues

Abstract

There is a common perception that Chinese students are proficient test takers, but less adept at critical thinking. There is conflicting evidence to support this claim. In this article, the author first briefly traces the development of critical and independent thinking in Chinese history and outlines the situation in Chinese education today. Secondly, he presents his personal experience of encouraging the development of Futures-oriented and critical thinking in a Chinese tertiary education setting, via the creation and teaching of China’s first extended Critical Futures Studies courses. The criticality component of the program was modified specifically for the Chinese context. An ethnographic approach is taken in the latter part of this article as the author shares details of that curriculum, as well as successes and shortcomings gleaned from the experience. The purpose of this sharing is to assist other Critical Futures Studies educators in setting up Critical Futures Studies courses in China, or in similar environments where Futures thinking and critical thinking have not been emphasized within the culture and/or educational curricula. The article also posits suggestions on how to develop such programs and related critical thinking processes in broader school curricula. Finally, the author reflects upon his/her role as a critical futurist in China, using Inayatullah’s (2018) Causal Layered Analysis.