Wuwei (non-action) Philosophy and Actions: Rethinking ‘actions’ in school reform

Abstract

This inquiry aims to enrich conversation regarding school reform. The author asks about what other discourses are possible when the action-oriented question of how to ‘act’ is a major approach to ‘fix’ current educational problems. Drawing from Taoist philosophy of wuwei (non-action), the author provides a frame to review current school reform movement. Political philosophy of wuwei highlights non-interference or non-intervention governance. Laozi discusses his theory of governance that a sage leader should take and explicates the paradox of non-action: By not doing, everything is done. The paradox of wuwei complicates dialogues in the field of curriculum theory by opening spaces for taking effortless actions in the midst of standardization and accountability reform movement.

Keywords:

• Taoism
• School reform
• curriculum theory
• cross-cultural conversation

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to many scholars who read the draft and shared their ideas. The blind reviewers provided me with meticulous feedback and enabled me to re-read Tao-Te-Ching from ontological text to political text. Hongyu Wang, Charlie Tocci, Jinting Wu, and Jim Jupp shared their thoughts about the earlier draft. I owe to Janet Miller, Bill Pinar, and Peter Taubman in terms of offering intellectual frameworks for rethinking the current US school reform movement. I am grateful for participants who attended my presentation during the 2013 American Associations for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS) conference. Most notably, this paper is dedicated to graduate students at Oklahoma State University who have shifted my thoughts about school reform.

Notes

1. Roberts’ (2012) work introduces the historical background of Tao-Te-Ching and Laozi. Although his work contributes to understanding Tao-Te-Ching, his comparison between Paulo Freire and Tao-Te-Ching generates problems by not considering Laozi’s major audience. Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed is an educational philosophy that highlights the humanization of education by emancipating both the oppressors and the oppressed. Working with students is highlighted, while working for/about students prevails in education. Laozi does not emphasize enlightening people for social change. Self-reflection of the people and the art of silence are far from Laozi’s political philosophy of wuwei. Rather, returning to the natural Tao and letting people be free of desires is what a sage leader does to bring contentment to the people

2. It would be helpful to give some examples of sage leaders of taking wuwei. Politically, Mahatma Gandhi’s salt March in 1930 and Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s peaceful anti-government protests are good examples of sage leadership. Gandhi’s leadership and political actions had the specific purpose of gaining India’s independence from Britain. Also, Gandhi’s actions were driven by Hindu and Buddhist traditions of emptying desires or valuing vacancy in actions. The non-violent components of Gandhi’s actions were highly influenced by Zen Buddhism. Gandhi had to listen to the voice of his people, who were struggling with taxation of salt by the British Empire; such listening was similar to Confucian teaching. Still, Gandhi’s actions can be seen as taking wuwei. As indicated in Chapter 27 of Tao-Te-Ching, Gandhi utilized strategies of not competing with others but co-operating. ‘A good traveler leaves no track or trace. A good speech leaves no flaws.… A well-tied knot needs no rope and yet none can untie it’ (Chan, 1963, p. 153). Gandhi did not need a rope to unite the Indian people. Since Gandhi did not use any rope, the British government did not know what to untie.