Confucius and Education Reform in Korea

I had a very pleasant dinner Saturday night: tasty Korean food with friends.  The main chef of the evening was a young woman who is interested in reforming higher education in South Korea.  We talked a bit and that conversation has inspired these thoughts here...

She pointed out that, generally, South Korean higher education is overwhelmed by a very powerful instrumentalism: students compete fiercely to get into the best schools and this creates not only an "exam hell," but also a privileging of rote learning and practical knowledge.  Creativity, innovation, and knowledge (and perhaps even beauty) simply for its own sake (i.e. without reference to practical application) are all subverted in the obsessive rush to excel at standardized tests.  Much of this happens before students get into college, but the same sort of narrow utilitarianism infuses higher education generally.  While there are efforts to develop a broader possibility of liberal arts education (see for example Korea University's College of Liberal Arts), my friend, a Korean who graduated from a US liberal arts college, suggested that much more could be done to cultivate a more open-minded, free-thinking, critical and creative approach to the humanities and social sciences.

And as one who has championed uselessness, I am completely sympathetic to her analysis.

Oddly enough I also believe that an answer to this problem can be found in Confucianism.

I know that Confucianism is often pegged as a key part of the educational instrumentalism in East Asia.  The argument goes something like this: because of the rigid and rigorous examination system in imperial China and Korea (Tokugawa Japan was different), a general culture of rote memorization arose and that has carried over into the modern era. This culture runs deep into family life: parents will sacrifice much and push their children to succeed educationally.  And the limitations that this imposes on creative and critical thinking are exacerbated by the extraordinarily competitive pressures of large populations struggling for scarce opportunities in a global economy.  

But all of that gets Confucian education wrong.  It is true that Confucianism was appropriated by state managers, as early as the Han dynasty, and infused with Legalist principles to serve as a legitimating political ideology.  And that the examination system was the key institution for reproducing state structures and ideology.  Confucius himself, however, did not have such a strictly instrumentalist vision of education.   For him, education was all about moral development.  We have to learn, and teach, how to rightly apprehend what Duty means in particular social contexts and how Ritual is best expressed in specific moments if we are to progress toward Humanity.  There are many ways in which the sensibilities of Humanity can be instilled.  In his times, he and his immediate followers (i.e. before the Qin dynasty) encouraged a curriculum that included:  ritual, music, archery, chariot-riding, calligraphy, and computation.  Arts, sciences, athletics - sounds rather like a liberal arts ideal. 

Technical and professional training were less important to him than a broader humanistic awareness:

The Master said: "Devote yourself to the Way, depend on Integrity, rely on Humanity, and wander in the arts." 7.6

Way, for a Confucian, is the organic totality of human relations and how they are embedded in broader natural and cosmological dynamics.  Integrity is the understanding and practice of moral goodness, knowing and doing the right thing.  And Humanity is the highest achievement of ethical conduct, it is what we all strive to be.  Analects 7.6 ends with a reference to the arts, which, to me, suggests that art - in all of its various forms - helps us cultivate the kind of moral virtuosity required of Humanity.  

None of this is about competition and standardized exams.  Indeed, Confucius disdained competition of any sort:

The Master said: "The noble-minded never contend.  It's true that archery is a kind of contention.  But even then, they bow and yield to each other when stepping up to the range.  And when they step down, they toast each other.  Even in contention, they retain their nobility. 3.7

And asking questions is central to Confucian pedagogy, however much our image of East Asian classrooms is one of the authoritative teacher giving forth correct knowledge to unquestioning students:

When he was in the Grand Temple, the Master asked questions about everything he saw.  Someone said: "Who says the son of a Tsou villager understands Ritual?  When he was in the Grand Temple, he asked questions about everything he saw."

When he heard this, the Master said: "That questioning is itself Ritual." 3.15

Asking questions is proper behavior, especially for someone in a setting that naturally elicits questioning.  Not every circumstance calls forth questioning, but in educational settings it would seem that questions are an effective teaching tool.

I could go on.  But suffice it to say the strictly systematized and standardized, rote-memory educational system that now often bears the name "Confucian" is not at all in keeping with the educational ideas of Confucius.  And those original Confucian ideas could be relevant to educational reform in Korea and other parts of the world.

Comments

[Charlie Horrocks]

Interesting subject Sam. My grown-adopted son is south korean, in heritage, so this drew my attention. The part I found most interesting was, within the reference to the Masters words on Integrity and Humanity, the use of the particular words depend and rely. I was wondering if you had further thoughts regarding the use of those particular words, or principles, in context to the principles of integrity and humanity.

[Manyul Im]

Hi Sam; good stuff. I just taught a section on this in my Confucianism class. There's a good piece by Clark W. Sorensen ("Success and Education in South Korea" Comparative Education Review, 38:1). Confucian valuing of education, as opposed to manual labor, plays a role, but a large role was also played by the post war nationalist movement, particularly by the societal "exercises" (undongs) that Park Chunghee mandated for two decades for the sake of modernization. It's interesting, even commerce, in addition to manual labor, is devalued as an activity for aspiring junzis, so in Korea, even economic success isn't enough to give a person high status -- a high level of educational achievement is required.

[isha]

Manyul:

Good observation about the role played by Park Chungchee and his junta in the South Korea education system. It was a total mobilization system, drilled to this bone during his formative years by the Japanese occupation army in Manchuria. Therefore, I would hesitate to use such name as “the past war nationalist movement", since his service in the Japanese army forever disowned him to the many Korea nationalists.

Park Chunghee's formative years were formed by the Japanese occupation army and he stole a page from the Japanese imperialists. Post war education system, including his all male drafting system, were copied from the Japanese War mobilization system.

Isha

[Jason Lau]

Sam, this situation is symptomatic of many (all?) East Asian/Chinese societies. Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, the mainland - the emphasis on rote learning and pressure to perform are definitely not unique to South Korea.

Your suggestions are interesting, especially given it could be argued that the current learning style is derived from an Imperial examination system supposedly based on Confucianism. It is true that much of Confucianism has moved far from Confucius' original teachings. It is possible that a return to original Confucianism would address some of these problem. However, pure Confucianism is unacceptable to those who enjoy a Western lifestyle and post-modern values. So can you appeal to Confucius in part? I guess that's the question.

[Sam]

Jason,
Thanks for the comment. You ask the big question: "...can you appeal to Confucius in part?" I think, as you suggest, that modernity does require certain revisions to traditional Confucianism (gender bias being perhaps the biggest immediate problem - see my post on that subject here). But, in doing that kind of revision, we can still hold onto certain key Confucian ideals - like Humanity (ren). Over the past four years or so I have blogged a lot on this topic; search around the site a bit and you will find various thoughts on how modernity and Confucianism can coexist...

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[Jiho Park]

Hello, I am a South Korean middle school student. I have been surfing around the internet for articles on south korean educational system. I do not know much about confucianism (I know next to nothing about it), but I agree that our country's educational system must be reformed. The current educational system puts enormous amount of pressure on Korean students. We listen to teachers and take notes, but it is only to memorize it and get good scores on tests, not to truly understand the lecture. I wonder how it would be if we bring those Confucian ideas into our schools.

[Demarest Melson]

Hi Sam, this article lets us know the higher education system of Korea.I got your point! What is really important is the moral values development of the students..not just only subject-centered curriculum what is important is the outcome of what they have learned from their studies which they should put into practice.