Comparative and International Education - Focus on East Asian Education

1 Course Unit

East Asian societies, specifically China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, have experienced extraordinary expansion of education during the last few decades, probably the most rapid expansion in human histories so far. The spectacular development of education has been considered as a critical source of dramatic economic growth and technological advance in the region as well as global popularity of East Asian cultures. East Asian education is distinctive not only with respect to quantitative expansion but also to its qualitative development. East Asian students have constantly occupied top ranks in various international academic tests such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). The excellence performance of East Asian students has attracted attention of policy makers and educators in other parts of the word to learn sources of their educational success. Despite all these quantitative and qualitative developments, however, East Asian education has also been criticized with its high levels of educational standardization, centralization, and exam-focused learning among others. Critics, both inside and outside of the region, have increasingly questioned whether East Asian education would be appropriate for flexible and globalized economies that require more individualized and differentiated learning opportunities. These distinctive features and developments of East Asian education provide an extremely useful case with which to understand the roles of education for individuals and societies. The proposed course will focus on the following four themes: 1) Historical background of East Asian Education; 2) Features of School Learning and Beyond in East Asia; 3) Educational Inequality in Comparative Perspective; and 4) Consequences of Education for Individuals and Societies. This course will be designated as a Penn Global Seminar, which requires a short- term travel after a semester-long class. During the semester of Spring 2023, students will learn historical development and various features of East Asian education. After finishing the semester, students will have an opportunity to actually visit South Korea. The focused trip to Korea will provide unique experiences of seeing and learning how education actually works in an East Asian society. In Korea, students will visit actual K-12 schools to observe how daily learning occurs inside of Korean schools and to talk with school teachers and students. The trip will also include visits to some education-policy institutions as well as higher education institutions. Fall or Spring 1 Course Unit