Values Education for Dynamic Societies: Individualism or Collectivism

Edited by William K. Cummings, Maria Teresa Tatto & John Hawkin

2001, 312pp.

ISBN 10: 962-8093-71-1
ISBN 13: 978-962-8093-71-7

HK$50(local), US$8 (overseas)

Published by Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC)

Description

Social changes have made values education an important topic for academics, policy makers and practitioners in all parts of the world. This book examines values education in a diverse set of societies. Some, including China, the United States and Russia, are very large countries. At the opposite end of the scale, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are much smaller societies but are no less complex. Other countries addressed in this book include Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico and Thailand.

All these societies have very different cultures and heritages. Through its comparative analysis, the book significantly enhances conceptual understanding of this complex domain. An intriguing finding concerns the emerging support in Asia for individualistic values, by contrast with the new interest in collective values in the West.

William K. Cummings teaches at George Washington University, and is a past president of the Comparative & International Education Society. Maria Teresa Tatto teaches at Michigan State University, and has conducted influential comparative studies of teacher education, student learning, and reform. John Hawkins teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is Editor of the Comparative Education Review.