Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2008 number 4

The author studies several traditional interpretations of the "educated person" concept, which exist in the USA and Japan. In the USA, which is a successor of the Greek-Roman traditions, two understandings of the "educated person" concept are being used. One is connected with the idea of "cultural literacy"; the other, with the critically-creative thinking. On the other hand, in Japan the understanding of this concept was formed under the influence of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Because of that, the Japanese people created their own ideas of cultural development and culture. These ideas are in the foundation of such traditional Japanese arts as dance, tea ceremony, origami, and others.
Originally, only the priests and samurai could practice these arts; however, during the Tokugawa period, which started in the XVII century, these arts began to spread also among the ordinary people trying to imitate the noblemen. This happened due to establishment of private schools. In the end of the feudal period these arts had become the common property of all strata of the Japanese society. The author notes that such kind of cultural education did not foster the social and economic development of the country. The analysis of these concepts is a sort of prelude to a wider investigation. The author suggests overcoming the contradictions caused by different concepts of educated person among the Japanese and Americans (these differences can be explained by the difference in mentality). He introduces a term of a "system" concept of educated person. The fact that the education system in both countries is oriented to distribution (social ranging) implies "distribution" of the life trajectory for each concrete individual. The pursuit of grades, test results and diplomas undermine the traditional understanding of the person being educated, which causes significant damage to both American and Japanese societies.