East and West in Comparative Education : Searching for New Perspectives

Sparked by global capitalism’s demand for new knowledge and new commodities, education in East and South Asia has focused on science and technology, often at the expense of the human sciences. However, although this demand has led to some standardisation, the cultural differences between countries still have a significant impact on their educational systems, which seek to capture some of the indigenous culture. This book examines these cultural differences, analysing the changing educational systems which seek to reconcile the retention of authentic culture with the demands for standardisation and convergence. This book was published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

Sparked by global capitalism’s demand for new knowledge and new commodities, as well as new logistical systems to deliver them, the nature of education has changed significantly. Universities, in striving to become a part of this knowledge society, have focused on responding to these demands, at the expense of the humanities and social sciences.

The dominance of this way of thinking, primarily a product of Western educational thought, has clearly affected approaches to education in the East. The originalities, authenticities, and unique perspectives of the East have failed to get enough attention, subsumed by the focus on science and technology.　However many education systems are still endeavouring to capture some of the indigenous and authentic culture of their home countries, incorporating national cultural ideals, even in subjects with a primarily vocational focus. Although the drive for scientific knowledge has led to a degree of standardisation and convergence, cultural differences still play a role in the education theory and policy of different countries.

This book examines these cultural differences between different East Asian and South Asian countries, with chapters ranging from historical educational analysis to contemporary re-interpretations of the construction of society and education in the East. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.