The enculturation of traditional schools: The significance to world culture

In a world of highly varied cultures, the rapid convergence to a common set of forms of formal schooling is remarkable. It is commonly asserted that these forms of formal schooling have embedded within them the cultural assumptions of Western Europe and North America, where they were invented, and thus create major learning problems when transferred to cultures with differing assumptions and understandings. However, this is not necessarily so, as can be seen in the development of schooling in East Asia, Latin America and elsewhere. While the enculturation of traditional schooling has been a prevailing Westernization of indigenous cultures, there remain pockets of hope in nations that have managed to break the mold. Japan and the Tigers of the East illustrate the possibility of adopting only the educational processes that can be assimilated effectively into their own cultures. Also, the new schools found in Latin America and other regions provide viable alternatives to the Western traditional schools. There remain significant lessons for the West to learn from these cases.