Why We Need to Know about East Asia (4.20.15)

East Asia. The home of k-pop, j-pop, and Asian idols. The promised land of milk tea and kimchi. The region in which our ipads are manufactured and shipped, along with thousands of other “Made-in-China” goods. From the era of Western expansion in the 19th century, East Asian exports and orientalism have influenced the culture of the US. But while our counterparts in the region are well-versed in American history and politics, how many of us can name the current Japanese emperor, or identify the reasons for the continuing division of Korea? As statistics frequently point to this region as the future powerhouse of the 21st century (often called the “Asian century”), it’s time we looked beyond our borders, to our rising neighbors across the Pacific.

            Politicians most commonly group China, Taiwan, Japan, and the two Koreas under the broad term “East Asia.” This label encompasses three of the “Asian Tigers”—nations and metropolitan areas where meteoric industrialization have made them paragons of economic success. In the past year, however, President Obama has commonly referenced the East Asian countries, not for their economic rise, but as a model for youth education.

            Despite the US’s global superpower status, it has consistently and quite publicly scored poorly in international student assessments, like the PISA. While cities like Shanghai or Seoul have come out at the top, the US has scraped by in the mid-20s, low-30s mark. Acknowledging this shortcoming, President Obama has frequently cited the need to copy East Asian education methods: “if they can do that in South Korea, we can do it here.” But what exactly is happening in Chinese and Korean schools? The most obvious disparity between East Asian and American education is the degree of invested time and money. In Korea, all students attend afterschool academic classes, called “hagwon,” from the time they get out of school, late into the evening. Different hagwon are dedicated to teaching math, science, reading, and English, before the material is taught in schools. While the government spends relatively little on education, the ratio of private to public expenditures is higher in South Korea and Japan than in any other nation in the world. The secret to their academic excellence is not money or time, but culture. East Asia possesses a history of academic rigor that distinguishes it from the US. Ingrained within Asian cultures are Confucian beliefs concerning the personal returns on education. Especially in Korea, this heralds back to the days when one’s marks on an annual government exam dictated one’s career. Without a similar background of academic rigor, the US will find it challenging to compete with the academic dragons of the East.

            East Asia also poses an important consideration to the US in the context of global security. Though mostly ignored by American news outlets, cultural and territorial disputes are still raising tensions in Asia. Many of these conflicts stem from the legacy of imperial Japan in WWII, and the claims of the current government to islands along the Eastern and Southern coast of Korea and China, respectively. The Chinese government has also entered into frequent clashes with Koreans over cultural monuments and heritage sites near the Korea-China border, which were erected by ethnic Koreans during Korea’s expansionist “Three Kingdoms” era. And despite optimistic speeches concerning reunification and an end to armed conflict, North Korea continues to express its concern over military exercises conducted between the US and South Korea, leading to its pursuit of nuclear capabilities. Our nation depends heavily on diplomatic relations and trade with its allies in East Asia; unless we learn to pay attention to the situation across the sea and acknowledge the historical and cultural background, we may be left behind by the most dynamic region in the world.

            The idea of broadening one’s perspective and “looking outside the walls of a well” (hence the title of this column), also comes from Chinese and Korea folklore, a tribute to the oft overlooked influence that East Asia has had in American culture.