The establishment of normal colleges and universities is an important component of building a modern country, which possesses different value ethos with the universities. The emergence of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris and the local normal schools has set a new model for teacher education around the world and promoted values and knowledge…

Reflects on the recent development of comparative education, focusing on modernity's ongoing possibilities and the value of metanarrative as providing meaning and a space for negotiating shared values across cultures. Discusses research on China's and Japan's experiences of education and modernity to illustrate how the author's search for meaning…