Cross-National Perspectives on Education - Essay Example

CROSS NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION Introduction Education is attributed to as a very essential context of human existence. Beyond its conventional borders, it is directly responsible for everything that humans do, and it occurs through assimilation, observation, or following instructions. In the contemporary world, education of all forms is a necessity, and it determines to a large extent the specific targets that people can attain. It is therefore sufficient to state that education in an aspect of human life inseparable and indispensable from the societies we exist in. These facts therefore translate to one thing; that since it determines our lives to great extents, then the quality of our lives is directly dependent on the quality of education we get exposed to. This study text will analyze education issues on a cross-national perspective by comparing education in the United Kingdom and Japan while focussing on dominant affecting factors such as the cultural, political, and educational contexts. There exist broad parities of issues critical in determining cross-national perspectives and international education. Internationalized education may refer to transcend of national borders by one in seeking for cross-border education, and again, it may refer to the preparation of scholars to be active contributors to the interconnected globe (Wiseman 2005, p.6). Either of these definitions is driven by different values such as international communities, globalisation, market economies, and the profile of finance to mention but a few. In a collective perspective, education is in most cases driven by internal affairs which remain the duty of authorities at institutional levels such as the government (OECD 2003, p.62). In a governmental context, this will be further determined by factors which construct the ability of the government’s influence which is solely its economic performance, thus its profile of finance. Governments understand that low quality education frustrates the strides of applying education as a boost for economic development and growth, and this would in the end lead to an underperforming state in this highly globalized instant of time (Eicher & Bailey 2002, p.32). Therefore in enhancing the goals of education, governments are one, redefining the traditional approaches of providing educational. These include financial increment and providing measurable educational behaviours, competencies, knowledge, and skills. In addition, and most importantly, depicting much interest in achieving education that can be weighed at international and cross-national levels. These are in turn defined by analyzing whether what the student is exposed to sufficiently equips them with the right “tools” for surviving this fast-changing globe, or rather, ability to effectively handle politically-sensitive demands since they constitute a large portion of modern society (Singh, 2011, p.2-6). Japan As is the case with any other society, the Japanese political and cultural concepts guide the rules of their existence. The Japanese political structure differs from most western political ideologies in that it was constructed based on different or opposing concepts to those depicted by the West after World War II, and particularly the U.S. The system applies the rule of democracy, and is unique in that the Liberal Democratic Party has been the only party holding power for the last jubilee (Darlington 2014, n.p.). It is a constitutional monarchy which provides minimal power for the emperor. The prime minister is valid for only four years. The Kokkai forms the Legislature branch, and this post is earned by obtaining majority votes. The lower house is called the House of Representatives or Shugi-in. The only recognized political party is the LDP, and has ruled since 1955, and the Supreme Court rules all the courts in the country. In terms of culture, Japan retains much of its ancient cultures such as its language which remains Japanese; their literature is still tied to Chinese and Indian literatures. In music, Japan is the second as the biggest music market, and retains the use of ancient instruments. In arts, performances and visual arts remain colourful and a national heritage. Finally, the Japanese are popular for being overly decent, hospitable, and respectful, and least affected by western ideologies (Facts About Japan 2014, n.p.). The Japanese uphold education as rather important aspect of their lives. As such, it enforces the most stringent measures in ensuring its quality is untainted in any manner. First of all, the national curriculum for education is determined by the Japanese Ministry of Education. As such, the broadcasting of education is uniform all over Japan, and there is no parity between poor and rich schools. Secondly, the school calendar is made up of 240 days a year, and this gives the students enough time to engage in intense focussed academics, and also have time for practice and co-curricular activities (University of Michigan n.d., n.p.). This in turn creates an all-round individual. Finally, Japan’s education system is known for being directly financed for education purposes only, with other expenditures such as travelling and boarding being supplemented by parents or side organizations. The relationship between education and the political/cultural aspect is that one, the government is fully dedicated to manning the education system single-handedly through the Ministry of Education. Two, culture acknowledges education is important, and enrolment is in large numbers. Finally, both genders are encouraged to get educated, that is, there are no segregations caused by gender. From the revelation above, concluding that the education perspectives are largely determined by profile of finance, and that is directly connected to the political aspect. The main issue herein is therefore the profile of increasing finance since the last section gave two main aspects of Japan’s educational system finance structure. The first one according to Komatsu (2002, p.50) is that the entire education system is controlled by the Ministry of Education alone, and not by any inferior or subordinate bodies or organizations such as county governments. The financial paradigm dictates that sufficient funds are channelled into education to ensure that it runs effectively to cater for all the students while providing education measurable in cross-national and international contexts. The issue of single-handedly handling the entire education system is approvable in that all the students across the state get exposed to similar curricula, and this supports equity. In short, it seals the gaps that would otherwise result from differently-formatted curricula, and most importantly erases the potential sources of inconsistency that would arise from factors such as poor backgrounds. The other advantage of this kind of governance is that in the event that the curriculum changes or is altered, then channelling it to individual centres including those at grassroots levels would be swift and easy. This is because the Ministry of Education would only have to send it down the hierarchy until it gets to the end-person, who is the student. From this, completion across Japanese education centres would be similar. As earlier highlighted, the Japanese school calendar is made up of 240 days out of the total 365, and this makes their system one of the longest in the world (Mathison & Ross 2008, p.668). There are some advantages and disadvantages in this; first of all, the advantages. Allowing the students more time means they get exposed to more academic schooling time, and less time is consumed by non-educative matters. This does not however mean they are Jack the dull boy because the system partitions the said time into educational and extracurricular activities such as sports, excursions, trips, and other recreational activities. There are advantageous in that the students do not get brainwashed by books but also develop extra skills and life exposures. This helps to retain the required morale to keep studying. However, this can be detrimental to the staff (teachers) who might get overworked, stressed, or have limited social time (Zhao, et al 2010, p.231). All these can be attributed to the increased individualisation of the teachers. The final weakness in the Japanese education system emerges from the funding of only educational aspects while leaving out other supportive elements such as transportation to school. This might expose the learners to the inequity that they were earlier preventing. Learners from weak backgrounds might lack some of the unfinanced services and have their education affected in the negative. This evaluation perfectly fits into the section or context of political and Japanese profile of finance. The evidence is in that politically, the Ministry of Education, which is under the larger Japanese government, is responsible for overseeing of all educational practices. As the discussion provides, the curricula is determined from this Ministry then channelled down to the entire school system. The profile of finance appears in that apart from just providing the curricula, the government directly funds the education sector’s all constituent aspects on its own, and it strives to provide the entire support required (financial). The financial ability translates to the stability, sustenance, and quality of any sector, including the educational sector, and as such, the Japanese maintain high standard of education by providing the required funding. United Kingdom The United Kingdom (British) political system is a constitutional monarch just like Japan’s. The head of state is the ruler of the monarch and in their case, a king or queen rules. Similar to the Japanese constitution, the powers of the ruler are limited by the British constitution. The UK constitution is unwritten; rather, it is constructed based on common law, tradition law, and custom laws. The supreme and highest body of authority and legislature is the Parliament. Parliament is made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The UK government is constructed by the party with the majority slots in Parliament, and the leader of the government, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the Queen. The government executes its mandates through an organ called the Cabinet which constitutes of heads of departments and government ministers. In the UK, two parties dominate the political scene; the Conservative and Labour Parties, both of who are entitled as “Tories” (Government UK 2014, n.p.). This is unlike the Japanese System which has been ruled by one Party for close to five decades. In the cultural context, the British do not discriminate people by their ethnicities, social class, or other factors. Rather, they might do this with regards to manners, accent, or demeanour. They also accommodate people from all over the world. They also emphasize on privacy, not manifesting strong emotions in public. Generally, they tend to be formal and precise (Kwintessential 2013, n.p.). However unlike the Japanese, most of their customs and traditions have been flawed greatly by western ideologies. These include music, dressing, and language amongst others. The basic UK education system is either provided free of charge to all students (pupils) by state schools manned by local government authorities, or by independent schools which charge for their services. This presents the first difference between Japan and the UK in that the education in Japan is provided by a single body, whereas in the UK, the parent has two options. The independent schools offer better (high quality) education as compared to state schools, and this creates channels for inequity in the quality of education offered, thus unequal competition at national levels. Statistics show that most of those attending independent schools join universities unlike those in state schools. This can suggest poor dissemination of education to the learners in these state-sponsored schools. In valuing of education, it is fundamental that both genders enrol in full-time education from tender ages until they attain 16 years of age. In fact, this basic education is a constitutional right for all children. Upon attaining this age, children can extend their stay at school to gear up for university, or get prepared for their careers. This applies only for learners in state schools. Those in independent schools remain in school until they attain 18 years of age, and most of them proceed to university (HMC 2014, n.p.). The education context is related to the political aspect in that one, the system of governance is devolved, meaning that there are state governments under the main government. This therefore means that each state has individual schools under it. This in turn translates to that individual states have individual curricula and education systems. Second, the constitution protects the rights of all the citizens, and as such, parents are expected to enrol their children to school when they attain a certain age. The cultural aspect applies in that both genders are treated equally, so both girls and boys are eligible to get equal education. In addition, education is highly valued, and so the enrolment in schools is impressive as well. Still under the context of political influence and the profile of finance, the UK system of education is influenced. This is evident in that the constitution dictates that education is mandatory for all children upon attaining the age (Lamp 2010, p.119). Again, and despite that the system is not national, state governments determine the mode of conducting educational activities at their level. On matters finance, the state governments provide the scholarships for all pupils, and whether a child enrols for state or independent schools is determined by their parents’ financial abilities. It is therefore justified to conclude that this evaluation fits into the financial and political profiles. In comparing Japan and the United Kingdom’s educational systems, there emerge some similarities and differences, and which define the cross-national perspectives of education. These similarities and differences are caused by political, financial, cultural, and societal factors to mention but a few. First, the similarities; the first similarity is that both the culture and political stances support that education is a basic and mandatory right which every child has the right to. Second, both governments fund the education sector although in the UK scenario, the funding is done indirectly through state governments. The final similarity is that there is no discrepancy regarding gender, social class, or the level to which one may decide to take their education to. On the contrary, there emerge some differences. First of all, while the entire Japanese education system is controlled by the Ministry of Education, the UK system provides options in that one may opt for independent or state schools. The other difference is that the UK system is more prone to inequity issues owing to its support of various bodies to conduct education. As such, competition is likely to vary at national level since some get exposed to better education than others. The other parity is that while the curricula in Japan is controlled by the Ministry of Education, the UK’s curricula are determined by individual state schools, and with the fact that there are numerous states in the UK, the curricula are bound to differ from each other. Finally, there is a difference between the calendars in that the Japanese educational calendar has 60 additional days to the UK’s, meaning the Japanese student is allowed more academic exposure than their UK counterparts. Conclusions The two approaches posses similarity in their definition of education within and beyond boundaries in that there appears a significant pattern in their dynamics. They both contain imperatives and constraints which influence the structuring of education in different countries. There are beyond-academic forces of production responsible for shaping of the said educational structures by either aiding the interests of furthering or contradicting the dissemination of education. From these observations, it can be assumed that the sector of education (in cross-national and international perspectives) lies in an illumination of social, political, financial, cultural and many other differentiation arguments. In addition, these patterns are transformed across states even international boundaries, and still retain the similarities in their influential patterns. 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Zhao, Y, Lei, J, Li, G, He, M, Okano, K, Megahed, N, Gamage, D & Ramanathan H 2010, Handbook of Asian Education: A Cultural Perspective, Routledge. Read More