Confucian Societies, Education in

Education in Confucian societies has attracted attention in policy and research discussions largely because of their students' remarkable performances in international comparisons. The educational systems in Confucian societies operate on aims, expectations, philosophies, approaches, and practices very specific to their respective cultures. This entry describes the cultural context of education in Confucian societies and examines ways in which it differs from Western approaches to education. The central role of moral education and of examinations is also described.

The term Confucian societies, a convenient label that embraces a broad range of complex social phenomena, is sometimes used to refer to Japan, South Korea, the four Chinese jurisdictions (Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao), Vietnam, and North Korea. It should also marginally include Singapore, which has a large Chinese population within a multiethnic society. [Page 440]Most of these societies were in one way or another directly or indirectly influenced by Confucius (551–479 BCE), a scholar and a lobbyist at a time when China consisted of mutually hostile kingdoms. His thinking, largely recorded in The Analects, has been identified as the origin of what are called “Confucian thoughts,” which were turned into doctrines favored by the many monarchies that followed. In essence, common to such doctrines was the perception of society as a structured hierarchy with strict protocols. Such structure and protocols were seen as the best way to keep a society intact for internal integration and resistance to external threats. Over the dynasties, the doctrines have evolved, lending themselves to various interpretations, but the fundamentals have been sustained.

Even in contemporary Confucian societies, regardless of the economy and the polity, there is a strong culture of what is often labeled “collectivism” in the Western literature. In Chinese societies, for example, collectivism is characterized by the following:

• that individuals are born into a social fabric
• that the social fabric is a vertical hierarchy
• that the individual self has its value only when it submits and contributes to the group
• the group notion starts with the family
• the family is a “small self” vis-à-vis the larger group—for example the village—and the chain of submission of the “smaller self” to the “larger self” continues until it comes to the whole nation, which is “all that are under the sky”

Instead of reliance on principles such as open competition or rule of law, the Confucian societies rely on social structure and submission to the collective will as an alternative approach to maintaining social stability and solving social problems. Such an approach is pervasive in all social behaviors, such as resource allocation and conflict resolution. In that context, education has a particular and strong role to play. In this entry, two major dimensions are discussed: the notion of moral education and the strong influences of examinations.