Michael J. Seth, James Madison University
| DATE: | Friday, September 23, 2005 |
|---|---|
| TIME: | 4:00 PM |
| PLACE: | IEAS Gallery, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Berkeley |
| FORMAT: | Colloquium |
| SPONSORS: | Center for Korean Studies |
Understanding South Korea's preoccupation with schooling (its "education fever") is essential to understanding the recent history of Korea. Education fever is not simply an educational issue but a product of the dynamic mix of social, political, economic and cultural forces that have shaped this rapidly changing society. It has its origins in inherited cultural values that equated education with status as well as moral perfection, in the Western, especially American concepts of progressive education, in the Japanese colonial experience and in the education policies of the South Korean government after 1945. The zeal for education was the crucial factor in accounting for the country's remarkable transformation into a well-schooled nation in the decades after liberation and was an important factor in the nation's rapid economic growth and its democratization. It has also created a host of problems such as the focus on examination preparation, the enormous financial burden on families, and the struggle to maintain equal education opportunity. Education fever poses challenges for both educational policy makers and for scholars seeking to understand South Korea's society and its recent history.
Michael J. Seth received his Ph.D. from the Department of History, University of Hawaii at Manoa and has taught at James Madison University since 1998. He has written extensively on Korean historical and cultural issues.
Free and open to the public. Sponsored through a grant from the Korea Foundation.
