Educational Leadership and Change: An International Perspective

6.The Neglected Dimension: Cultural Comparison in Educational Administration

6 The Neglected Dimension: Cultural Comparison in Educational Administration! Cheng Kai-Ming Yet I noticed that drawing attention to the cultural components in our points of view is a risky strategy which polarizes the audience.' (G. Hofstede, 1984:254) Introduction In this presentation, I will start by relaying to you a summary of my observations or 'hunch' about the cultural characteristics of education in East Asian societies. It started as a side product of my attention to education policies in Western Europe, and is reinforced by my recent research in mainland China. I will start with how the 'hunch' took shape. Then I will try to approach educational practices in Eastern Asian societies and attempt a cultural explanation. I will then argue that if such a cultural dimension does exist, its implications for studies in educational administration could be far-reaching. However, special attention should be paid to the methodology in order that the cultural aspects are uncovered. East Asia as a Cultural Group The Western awareness of Japan's economic challenge, very much summarized by Vogel's Japan as Number One, has provoked a tide for 1 This is a slightly revised version of the original key-note paper presented at the Conference. 88 Cheng Kai-Ming studies on Japan. Such a tide has also extended to the newly industralized economies (NIEs) in East Asia, giving birth to a substantial body of literature. However, many of such studies arrive at conclusions which are not conventional in the Western literature of economic and political theories, as Hicks and Redding (1983) have observed: The East Asian economic 'miracle' has defied theorists' attempts at explanation. Economics in particular, and the social sciences in general, have shown no predictive power and very little in the way of ex-post explanation. Such conclusions are often conveniently classified under the category of culture, without necessarily defining the term in a strict sense.2 The study of culture's influence does not stop at the macro-level. Hofstede's now classic work on work-related values (1980), which has added a new dimension to management studies, has found special reference to the East Asian culture (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987). All these relatively recent endeavours, in cultural studies have gained enormous momentum, notwithstanding advancements in the more traditional study of the East Asian culture in psychology (e.g., Hsu, 1985; Bond, 1986), sociology (e.g., King and Bond, 1985) and political science (e.g., Solomon, 1971; Pye, 1985, 1992). The recognition of an East Asian culture in education is perhaps the latest entry on the list. Very much prompted by the same notion of 'Japan as Number One', assuming that education contributes to the economy, enthusiasm in the study of East Asian education is often initiated by the examination of student achievement in Japan (e.g., Lynn, 1988). The deliberate comparison between Japan and the West is also motivated by the admitted educational crisis in the West (e.g., White, 1987; Lynn, 1988; Duke, 1986; Stevenson and Sitgler, 1992). However, two points are worth mentioning. First, although many researchers observe unmistakable differences between education in Japan and the West, the reference of such differences to cultural categories is only implicit (e.g., Lynn, 1988; White, 1987; Tobin et aI., 1989). Second, comparatively little attention is paid to education in the prospering NIEs in East Asia. Hence the 'educational challenge' remains a Japanese solo in the literature. Moreover, mainland China has always been an odd element in the 2 Anyway, it is by no means easy to define culture. Kroeber and Kluchohn (1952) have collected more than 250 definitions. The Neglected Dimension 89 study of East Asian culture. As the birth place of Confucius, who is often held responsible for the cultural characteristics in the region, China demonstrates most of the cultural attributes identifiable in the other East Asian countries. However, the similar cultural factors that have caused economic progress elsewhere in the region do not seem to bear fruit in mainland China. There could be two alternative explanations for this peculiar situation. The first explanation attributes the special position of mainland China to the predominance of political influence in the country. As Hicks and Redding (1983) admit: The People's Republic of China is obviously a special case, where political influences are of such massive weight that conclusions drawn from the rest of the region require heavy filtering and careful reinterpretation [when applied to...