‘KOREAN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION’

MARRIECHU C. CANLAS

It was interesting to know that the educational system of Korea was heavily influenced by China’s Confucianism. Much of Confucius’approach to education was Avant Garde as he promoted the ideas “to educate all despite their social status” and “to teach according to the students’characteristics”. The first of these broke with tradition as only the aristocracy had the privilege of education during his time. He also proposed a complete set of principles concerning study. He said, “Studying without thinking leads to confusion; thinking without studying leads to laziness.” Imparting knowledge was only part of his teaching; he was a living example of the concepts he promoted and this had a deep and lasting influence not only to the Chinese but as well as to the Koreans.

Koreans believed and practiced the principles of Confucius in improving their way of life through enlightenment which is a result of education. They value their social status so they strive hard to have a high attainment in terms of their education to prove their status. Just like nowadays, there are a lot of Koreans who pursue law or doctor’s degree in order to have a high status in their society. There are also a lot of Korean students who even go to other countries just to become more advanced and competitive especially with their English communication skills. As we can see, Koreans are really focused on how to improve their lives in terms of having high quality of education thus, enriching their own country as a whole by producing productive, competitive and effective citizens.

Therefore, having the right philosophy of education plays a big role since it will either make or break the success of educating the children as they grow old and become the future leaders of the society.

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The author is Teacher III at Don Antonio Lee Chi Uan Integrated School, Xevera, Calibutbut, Bacolor Pampanga