Barbara Hong, associate professor of special education, with Prof. Dr. Adnan Kisa, president of Zirve University, in Turkey.
Self-determination: the ability to make choices for oneself. Self-advocacy: the ability to speak up for oneself. Self-empowerment: the ability to act independently in one’s own best interest. These concepts are at the root of everything Penn State Altoona’s Associate Professor of Special Education Barbara Hong teaches. She says, “Sometimes we miss the point in higher education. We are preparing them to become someone but we don’t spend enough time helping them obtain these skills.”
In the twenty-five years she has been working with children with special needs, Hong has developed a passion for introducing and encouraging those (and other) “self” ideas with her students. “With self-awareness you know who you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are. I hear students say things like ‘My mom says I have to be a teacher.’ I ask them, ‘Why don’t you find out what you want?’ They say, ‘I like photography but maybe it shouldn’t be a career.’ But they don’t know how to fix the problem.”
Although Hong teaches special education classes, “everything that I teach is applicable for all children. It’s the same skills of self-determination, self-advocacy, communicating what you need in a pleasant and professional way. These are not just skills for people with disabilities. [These skills are helpful for everyone, old or young, college or non–college goers. They are skills in life that will bring you success and happiness because they help you achieve your goals. We want students to be thinkers of their lives, not followers and conformers.”
Hong has spent years studying what it takes to learn and how to approach both teaching and learning to bring the best possible outcomes. Well aware that—as she says—“education is a continuous process,” she has earned a PhD in cross-categorical studies with a special focus on mild/moderate disabilities and psycho-educational assessment, and three master’s degrees—policy and administration, instructional practices, and learning disabilities—all from Columbia University. She has taught at all levels, from elementary school to graduate level.
In her teaching approach Hong applies lessons she learned in her own studies. “Neuroscience is how the brain works. Cognitive science is making the connection to how we learn. We take information in only seven minutes at a time. The time you take to learn a new concept, you must give yourself at least thirty seconds to process that information or else it will be lost or forgotten. Cognitive science made me a better teacher because I now ask ‘How can I help students retain the information they are learning?’
“I’m preparing students to become more than a teacher, but an educator, a leader in the community and in the field. I ask them, ‘How can you extend your service to those around you?’” Hong answers that question in her own life by being active in Kappa Delta Pi, an international education honor society. She established a chapter at Penn State Altoona in 2009 to recognize students who have surpassed their academic performance by serving the community. In 2011 she was selected as Teacher of Honor by KDP and currently serves as the chair of the International Committee at the headquarter level.
Throw a dart at a map and there’s a good chance Hong has lectured there. She can rattle off a list of places from Singapore (her birthplace) to Pennsylvania, with Malaysia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Taiwan, Cypress, Turkey, Guatemala, Sweden, Tunisia, Somalia, Ireland, Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, New York, and Texas on that list. She has been a Fulbright Scholar at Qatar University and the First Honorable Visiting Scholar at the Taipei Municipal University of Education. In 2014 she was named the first Fulbright Specialist in Turkey and traveled to Zirve University to train faculty, in-service, and preservice teachers. She was also invited by the U.S. Embassy to consult with the Supreme Council of Education in Qatar as a Bureau Program Speaker for the spring of 2014.
Hong has published numerous articles on diverse subjects that address her background and teaching interests: “Why Schools in America Should Not Be Like Schools in Singapore,” AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice 10, no. 4 (2014): 40–47; “Strategies for Augmenting Students’ Attention in Higher Education” (with Catheryn J. Weitman), in Learning in Higher Education: Contemporary Standpoints, ed. Claus Nygaard, John Branch, and Clive Holtham (Faringdon: Libri, 2013); and “Preparing Students for Postsecondary Education” (with W. Fred Ivy, Humberto R. Gonzalez, and Wendy Ehrensberger), Council for Exceptional Children 40, no. 1 (2007): 32–38. She is also the associate editor of five journals and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders.
Even with the academic work and the editorial work, Hong never forgets what her true calling is. “I care about those I teach. I want to make sure I teach them the right stuff, not just what I believe or favor.” She returns to the idea of self-determination. “Self-determination is work. It is not about being independent; it’s about being interdependent.” As part of her commitment, she is presently working on developing a curriculum on self-determination. “Self-determination without ethical caring is not a good thing. It can be very dangerous. There is no other way to teach ethical caring than to become caring for the student. Caring requires you to treat people fairly, kindly, being empathetic.”
In her role as student advisor, she says, “I spend a lot of time talking to students. Sometimes I advise students out of classroom teaching because it’s not what they want. There are a lot of teaching experiences like in prisons, at homeless shelters, in libraries, and at hospitals. I tell them to think of themselves as educators: more encompassing, outside the four walls of the classroom. The ‘be’ is a profession, the ‘become’ is whom you embrace when you finish college, or even if you don’t finish college. It’s not measured by a piece of certificate; learning is a passion, not a degree. We are advising students about what kind of life they are going to live in the world. “
And Hong understands the teacher’s role. “You cannot lift someone to a higher level if you’re on the same level or lower. In teaching we need to be upgrading ourselves, learning, researching, correcting; we must be willing to change our beliefs and practices based on scientific evidence and not stick to the old theory even when these theories have been disproven or are wavering. We must constantly be humble enough to say ‘maybe I had it wrong.’”
With such an outlook on education, it is no surprise when Hong says, “Teaching is my whole life. I look forward coming to work because work is so embracing.” In her teaching, her writing, her lecturing, and her advising, Barbara Hong is clearly living a life of self-determination.
—Therese Boyd, ’79