Education and culture differences

The relation between education, beliefs, actions, and society is intertwined, as no one can neglect how our education affects our personality, thinking, and behavior that are all together the building blocks of our character, and the building of all the characters in a place is the building of its society. However, different cultures will have different philosophies, which results in different ways of doing things, especially in educating the next generations, and education is the reason after the pupil’s mentality for seeking change in their societies, or trying to maintain the good old days.

But the question that proposes itself here is; should education strive for changing society? Or should it try to maintain our social life and cultural norms?

Education system in the East and West is different due to their different culture, and indirectly shows the strength and weaknesses of both cultures (Kim, 2005). By reviewing on both philosophies, each has its own root, principle and the approach in developing and producing the qualified and superior society. This due to the role of knowledge that does not only functions to provide the explanation and information, but the most important is the knowledge that emerges as the medium in influencing, developing, and also shaping the notion of human and the society itself. (Aminuddin Hassan and Nur Syuhada Jamaludin,2014)

Comparing the two societies, we can realize that Easterners prefer stability and normally obtain the knowledge directly from their teachings of religion, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. And what people prefer affects the philosophy of education that they follow in it. Adding that religion and philosophy are greatly connected and affecting person’s life in all aspects of the Eastern life that in turn affects the philosophy of education which is a way to think about the process of learning in all its perspectives and angles.