比较育?

If you did not understand this, you should read this post…

http://cloudcatamaran.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/compare.jpg

The 21^st century is considered to be the “Age of Uncertainty” (Claxton, 1998, p.44) due to the fact that under the increasing pressure of globalization people nowadays do not know what to expect tomorrow. Education also fell under this pressure. The response to such changes was the establishment of new educational systems, which Edmund King (as cited in Broadfoot, 2000) criticized as “developed for a world that no longer exists” (p.367). However, his hypothesis is not perfect owing to the fact that I think that the cognition should come through comparison. The field where educators can re-evaluate the existent educational realities through the light of different cultures as well as socio-political context is called comparative education. This semester we started studying “Comparative and International Education” subject (Aisi Li); and after reading millions of scholarly papers, finally, I have decided to define the complex idea of “Comparative Education” (比较育bǐjiāoyù) relying on the ideas of the key experts. I hope that this information will be useful for your CIE assignment… ;)))

http://www.sothinkmedia.de/images/compare.jpg

Different authors and scholars define comparative education in their own way. For example, Antoine Jullien de Paris, as a path breaker of comparative education, in 1817 described comparative education as “an analytical study of education in all countries with a view to perfect national schooling systems with adaptation and changes from which policymakers can borrow ideas to implement in their own-country” (as cited in Bray et al, 2007, p.1). This leads to the fact that comparative education was used only as an assistive tool for policy borrowing, and mainly by policymakers. Hans, utilized comparative education with an academic field saying that comparative education is type of education which “analyzes comparative law, comparative literature or comparative anatomy in order to highlight the differences in the forces and origins that create the differences in the educational systems” (as cited in Oni, 2005, p.244). In this way, it can be clearly seen that the definition changed dramatically from political perspective to academic one. Another researcher used the most unorthodox approach. Lewis presented the issue of comparative education in terms of an Island formation. Lewis asserted that, “no country is an island; that each is a part of the world; therefore, no educational system anywhere in the world is worth anything unless it is comparable to some other systems in the world” (Lewis, 1967, p.369). Comparative education from his perspective was described as a global phenomenon which was impossible to ignore. Later on, Blishen included the notion of culture into the comparative education definition stating that it is “the branch of educational theory that has to do with analyzing and interpreting the educational practices and policies in different cultures” (Blishen, 1967, p. 50). 

http://www.theinkprosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Compare.jpg

A very uncommon view on comparative education appeared in the work of Le Thanh Khoi, a Vietnamese professor, who believed that comparative education is a multidisciplinary area which is “not strictly a discipline, but a field of study covering all the disciplines which serve to understand and explain education” (Khoi, 1992, p. 99). As a result, the definition of comparative education cannot be interpreted as a separate study; it became an amalgam of dissents. George Bereday (1957) states: “comparative education is self-knowledge born of the awareness of others that is the finest lesson comparative education can afford” (p. 14), meaning that in addition to learning about other people and cultures, comparative education also helps the researcher to know about oneself. As it can be seen from the analysis, the scope of the concept of comparative education is definitely very broad and encompasses perspectives from different fields of sciences. The ways in which scholars in different countries view the definition of comparative education can be understood in the light of different cultural, social and political context in each country.

http://www.petescarsmartkia.com/images/
interior_design1/dare_to_compare.jpg

In conclusion I would say that the comparative education science is built up by different scholars’ believes. Sadler asserts that “if we study foreign systems of education thoroughly and sympathetically-and sympathy and thoroughness are both necessary for the task- I believe that the result on our minds will be to make us prize as we have never prized before the good things which we have at home and also make us realize how many things there are in our own education systems which need and search change” (as cited in Bray, 2007, p. 37-38). Thanks to all these literature, I started thinking about comparative education in a different way. Now, I understand that any analysis is impossible without comparison. I have decided to apply this knowledge in my thesis work. I hope that with a right approach, I will be able to make my analysis deeper… But still, I find it difficult to give you a clear definition of “Comparative Education” because it is so broad… But, you are free to choose any of given definitions and my interpretations of these definitions, or create your own…

Reference:

Bereday, G. (1957). Some discussion of methods in comparative education. Comparative Education Review, 3, 13-15.

Blishen, B. (1967). A socio-economic index for occupations in Canada. Can. Rev. Sociol. Anthro, 4, 41-53.

Bray, M., Adamson, B., & Mason, M. (Eds.). (2007). Comparative education research: Approaches and methods (pp. 145). Springer Science & Business Media.

Broadfoot, P. (2000). Comparative education for the 21st century: retrospect and prospect. Comparative Education, 36(3), 357-371.

Claxton, G. (2001). A flying start on a learning life: education for the age of uncertainty. RSA Journal, 2, 44-45.

Khoi, L. (1992). Conceptual problems in inter-cultural comparisons. Theories an Methods in Comparative Education. Bern, 26, 87-113.

Lewis, J. (1976). Comparative hematology—studies on camelidae. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology, 55(4), 367-371.

Oni, C. S. (2005). Programmes for educating vocational teachers. Ife Journal of Educational Studies, 4(1), 240-265.