Redeeming Confucian Liberal Education

Sam Crane acknowledges "that Confucianism is often pegged as a key part of the educational instrumentalism in East Asia," and goes on to refute the notion and suggest "that an answer to this problem can be found in Confucianism" — Confucius and Education Reform in Korea. He writes:

The argument goes something like this: because of the rigid and rigorous examination system in imperial China and Korea (Tokugawa Japan was different), a general culture of rote memorization arose and that has carried over into the modern era. This culture runs deep into family life: parents will sacrifice much and push their children to succeed educationally. And the limitations that this imposes on creative and critical thinking are exacerbated by the extraordinarily competitive pressures of large populations struggling for scarce opportunities in a global economy.

But all of that gets Confucian education wrong. It is true that Confucianism was appropriated by state managers, as early as the Han dynasty, and infused with Legalist principles to serve as a legitimating political ideology. And that the examination system was the key institution for reproducing state structures and ideology. Confucius himself, however, did not have such a strictly instrumentalist vision of education. For him, education was all about moral development. We have to learn, and teach, how to rightly apprehend what Duty means in particular social contexts and how Ritual is best expressed in specific moments if we are to progress toward Humanity. There are many ways in which the sensibilities of Humanity can be instilled. In his times, he and his immediate followers (i.e. before the Qin dynasty) encouraged a curriculum that included: ritual, music, archery, chariot-riding, calligraphy, and computation. Arts, sciences, athletics - sounds rather like a liberal arts ideal.

Click on the link for quotes from the Confucian canon demonstrating that "the strictly systematized and standardized, rote-memory educational system that now often bears the name 'Confucian' is not at all in keeping with the educational ideas of Confucius" and how "those original Confucian ideas could be relevant to educational reform in Korea and other parts of the world."