Acculturation and Educational Paradigm Shift of China for Western Educational System

중·서 교육 패러다임의 접변과 변화

This research starts based on the assumption that the changes of educational system in China which had been caused by accepting western educational system in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China are indeed considered as a paradigm shift of educational system in China, This research aims first to investigate what kinds of problems and changes Chinese educational system confronted at that time and second to examine what kinds of implications such changes and problems of paradigm shift may have today in China. In order to achieve the goals of this research, I first researched changes and characteristics of educational paradigm shift occurred in the history of China. On the basis of those findings, I tried to analyze acculturation problems of Chinese educational system for that of western countries at that time, their implications in present time Chinese educational system, and the possibility of further paradigmatic shift in present Chinese education. In this paper, I assumed three historical paradigmatic shifts in educational system in China which had big influences on the foundation of Chinese education, such as the introduction of Confucian Thoughts, the introduction of Civil Examination System in Sui Dynasty, and lastly the introduction of western educational system in the late Qing Dynasty. The last paradigmatic shift occurred by the introduction of western education system into China was very different from the previous two paradigmatic shifts in China in that it was literally initiated by the world with cultures different from those of China, and that's why it is called Spatial Collision. It was also one of the many changes China had been forced to confront unvoluntarily. It was done for many other complicated factors such as the greed of western imperialistic countries, spreading of Christianity and missionary education, domestic resistance against long feudal reigning of Qing Dynasty, and lastly the intellect's eagerness for new knowledge and new ways of thinking. What is surely regretful for the paradigmatic shift of Chinese educational system was that it had been triggered by those many heterogeneous factors, thereby leading to such a sudden, entire and complete shift of Chinese education system. In addition, it was done without a deeper and further consideration of Chinese education system with thousand years of tradition. This situation could be understood to be an impetus strong enough to encourage the advent of a new paradigm propelled by rapid economic growth of China, many problems of western education system, reconsideration of Chinese tradition, and strengthening of women power in China, etc.