This Forum article addresses some of the issues raised in the article by Ying-Syuan Huang and Anila Asghar's paper entitled: "Science education reform in Confucian learning cultures: teachers' perspectives on policy and practice in Taiwan." An attempt is made to highlight the need for a more nuanced approach in considering the Confucian…

The term "humanism" is Western in origin. It denotes the tradition that places special emphasis on cultivation of letters for education. In the West, this tradition was originated with sophists and Isocrates, established by Cicero, and was developed by Renaissance humanists. East Asia, however, also has its own humanistic traditions with…

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…

Confucianism has been identified as the major cultural factor that explains the economic success of the Asian Five Dragons (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan). This paper explores the impact of Confucianism on the organizational communication in these nations, based on the four key principles of confucian teaching: the…

Explores how religion is a pervasive influence in moral education in both the home and school in Japan, despite an official secular policy. Points out that after 1945 nationalism was replaced by secular social studies. Finds western thought included with Buddhism and Confucianism in government decrees on the curriculum. Places newly reemerging…

Discusses the relationship between the prominence of themes of the literate gentry woman in Chinese fiction and the rise of women poets. Examines later Japanese fiction to find influences of the woman reader and of earlier Chinese works. Explores the scholar-beauty novels, women as warriors, female martyrdom, and the equating of virtue with…

This paper explores the interplay between Western conceptions of education and students from other educational traditions, most specifically Japan, through the lens of the author's practice in international education. He examines models of the private and public spheres and public discourse advanced by Hannah Arendt and Jurgen Habermas in relation…