Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

Figure 3.5 References to select categories related to global citizenship in
primary and secondary subject curricula in China, Japan, and the
Republic of Korea
No. of references per 100 pages
12
9
6
3
National Language Foreign Language Maths
Science Social Science
Category 7. justification and general orientation about global citizenship
Sub-category 10a. global/international citizen(ship)
Sub-category 12h. humanity as privileged referent of identity
0
China
Japan
Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea,
Republic
of
China Japan Korea, China Japan Korea,
Republic
Republic
of
of
In Korea, while official documents do not explicitly invoke ideas of shared
humanity, notions of global or international citizenship feature prominently —
not only in Social Studies, but also in Foreign Language curricula (see Figure
3.5). However, as in the case of Japanese references to ‘humanity’, this statistic
on its own does not indicate how (or whether) consciousness of national and
international identities is related. East Asian internationalism tends to be
premised on a conception of nations as fundamentally discrete and impermeable
— something that applies as much to Korea as to Japan or China (see above).
Rather than leading to a blurring or transcending of international divisions,
interaction between nations thus conceived tends to become an exercise in
parading national uniqueness.
Curricula for foreign languages are one area
in which the tensions between nationalism
and internationalism are especially apparent.
In Korea, documents stress the importance
of learning to be open-minded and nondiscriminatory
in dealing with those of other
nationalities, and the utility of English as a tool
for gaining understanding of other cultures
and traditions. Significantly, they also allude
to the importance of using English to explain
Korean culture to foreigners (Korean English
Curriculum, p. 5). The idea that a key purpose of
studying English is to enable students to explain
their national characteristics to foreigners
(i.e. Westerners) also features in Chinese and
The idea that a key
purpose of studying
English is to enable
students to explain their
national characteristics
to foreigners (i.e.
Westerners) reflects
how foreign language
curricula are tasked
with shoring up national
boundaries even while
imparting the capacity
to cross them
Japanese curricula, and reflects how foreign language curricula are tasked with
shoring up national boundaries even while imparting the capacity to cross them.
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
91