When students look at their classmates in the classroom, consciously or unconsciously, they see competitors both for academic recognition and social success. How do they fit in relation to others and how do they succeed in achieving both? Traditional views on the drive to succeed and the fear of failure are well known as motivators for achieving…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand an unknown educational approach in Korean Confucianism's ethical education characterized as moral internalization, based on the study participants. A prevailed understanding of moral internalization of Confucianism is a strong imposed learning process, which is a well known Asian learning…

While common philosophical foundations influence instruction and leadership in East Asian nations, variable historical factors also significantly impact education within these countries. The current study was designed to holistically examine educational systems in different Confucian contexts, so that contemporary issues and necessary reforms may…

This study cross-culturally explored the way that East Asian lower-secondary school students perceive the peculiar matters of Asian civic values specific to Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Hong Kong using the Asian Regional Module data of the 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. Methodologically, exploratory and confirmatory factor…

The term "Asian values" became popular in the political discourse in the 1980s and 1990s. The most vocal proponents of Asian values are Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia's Mahathir and their deputies and government officials, as well as post-Tiananmen Chinese leaders. Most notable of all these three strands of the Asian values debate…

The purpose of this study was to explore issues of international education within a Confucian context. Fifteen international learners were purposively sampled from a Korean university; these participants were then given an extensive open-ended interview to elicit information about educational experiences. Data analysis revealed five main issues: a…

The primary aim of this paper is to explore a common dichotomy that characterizes debate about what has come to be termed "appropriate methodology". It is that between "traditional" and "communicative" approaches to language teaching, a distinction that persists despite arguments by some that the term…

This study investigates the structure and cross-cultural (in)variance of mathematical self-beliefs in relation to mathematics achievement in two world regions: Confucian Asia (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Europe (Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland, Serbia and Latvia). This is done both pan-culturally and at a multigroup-level,…

Until a century ago, Korean medicine was based mainly on Oriental philosophies and ideas. From a religious perspective, Chinese Confucianism was prevalent in Korea at that time. Since Confucianists believe that it is against one's filial duty to harm his or her body, given to them by their parents, most Koreans did not donate their bodies or…

The paper reviews Asia-Pacific higher education and university research, focusing principally on the "Confucian" education nations Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong China, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. Except for Vietnam, these systems exhibit a special developmental dynamism--still playing out everywhere except Japan--and have created a…

This study examines generalized trust and trust in institutions in Confucian Asia, covering six countries namely, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, and one dependent region, Hong Kong. Using data from the 2006 AsiaBarometer Survey, our study affirms the reliability and validity of using a two-item scale to measure…

For more than 2000 years, Confucian teaching has had tremendous influence on the history, politics, economy, and culture of East Asian countries and regions. Despite the rapid growth in gross domestic product (GDP), people's standard of living, and economic advancements, Confucian Asia continues to adhere to the Confucian cultural values that they…

Creativity is a very complex interaction among a person, a field, and a culture (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). People vary in their native capacity for creativity; however, an individual's interaction with the macrocosm can foster creative expression. East Asian cultures, which include Korean culture, are based upon the principals of Confucianism. The…

With respect to leadership for social justice in education, Korea needs to take a proactive approach to support the development of an educational infrastructure for a multicultural society. The testing culture of education within Korea also needs to be considered with social justice consequences in mind. Through these measures, Korea can…

In this paper we argue that scientific literacy ought to be rethought in that it involves ethics as its core element. Considering the fact that science education has addressed ethical dilemmas of Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) issues, it is worthwhile to question what the ethics of scientific knowledge mean in terms of their…