Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

textbooks, though this policy is almost certain to be abandoned by her successor.
Textbook pluralism thus survives in Korea, but in a highly polarised form ironically
underpinned by broad consensus over the ethno-cultural essence of nationhood.
Portrayals of Ethno-cultural Diversity: Minorities and Migrants
As the coding results demonstrate, the importance of respecting diversity is
acknowledged, to varying degrees, in curricula across East Asia (see Appendix
II-12d). However, references to diversity or tolerance tend to dissolve, on closer
examination, in the pervasive solvent of nationalism. Besides documents relating
to Moral Education (or equivalent subjects) and social studies, it is significant
that specific references to diversity appear most frequently in foreign language
curricula (see Figure 3.4). Understandings of pluralism and diversity as qualities
that cut across national boundaries, characterising domestic as much as
international society, remain generally weak.
Figure 3.4. References to ‘respect/appreciation for diversity’ in primary and
secondary subject curricula in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea
16
National Language Foreign Language Maths
Science Social Science
No. of references per 100 pages
12
8
4
0
China
Japan
Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
More general policy statements, taken on their own, give a rather different
impression in the case of China. There, official curricula explicitly highlight the
diverse ethic character of the People’s Republic, mandating extensive provision
for the education of ‘minorities’ — alongside persistent emphasis on inter-ethnic
‘unity’ or ‘solidarity’ (minzu tuanjie) (see MOEGO and SEACGO, 2008). The
National Education Outline (gangyao) 2010-2020 enumerates various measures
aimed at ‘advancing’ bilingual teaching; ‘pairing’ schools in minority areas with
those elsewhere, for purposes of ‘assistance’; incentivising graduates to teach
in ‘minority-inhabited areas’; and developing ‘modern distance education’. The
13th Five-Year Plan 2016-2020 makes the ‘sound development of ethnic areas’
a ‘strategic goal’ of reform (Chapter 40), while emphasising successes already
achieved. The number of years of education received by 14 of the 56 officially
recognised ethnic minorities, including Koreans, Manchus, Mongols and Kazakhs,
now exceeds the national average (UNHRC, 2013). In Tibet, it is claimed, fifteen
years of free education is available; the enrolment rate of school-age children
for primary schools has reached 99.64 per cent; youth illiteracy has fallen to 0.57
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
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