Reconsidering Education for Sustainable Society: An East Asian Perspective

The authors propose an ecology-centered paradigm pursuing a harmonious relationship between mankind and the natural world and all of its living beings is a solution that enables man and nature to survive together. The realization of a way of living and social institutions that promote the co-prosperity of man and nature will require significant changes in Education. Accordingly, the will to achieve the goal should be equally strong. They argue that first change needed is in the mind-set and our behavior. Therefore, we need to change the direction of education first. Efforts should be made to break away from the education of the industrial era. The paradigm of education should be shifted from nature-exploitative education to new one, namely ‘nature-friendly education’. Most countries have used school education as a tool for economic growth, and consequently school education was mobilized in conquering and exploiting nature. Now the direction of school education should be reset toward nature-friendly education. In this attempt to shifting paradigm in education, Confucius’ ren-motivated education and learning proffers a satisfactory perspective.