Int Rev Educ (2011) 57:773–775 DOI 10.1007/s11159-011-9239-3 BOOK REVIEW Handbook of Asian education: A cultural perspective Yong Zhao, Jing Lei, Guofang Li, Ming Fang He, Kaori Okano, Nagwa Megahed, David Gamage and Hema Ramanathan (eds.). Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, New York and London, 2011, 563 pp. ISBN 978-0-8058-6445-8 (hbk), ISBN 978-0-8058-6444-1 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-4106-1874-0 (e-book) Darko Štrajn Published online: 7 October 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 One can only guess why the editor and his seven co-editors decided to call this thick and heavy volume a ‘‘handbook’’. Moreover, from the point of view of its content this ‘‘handbook’’ contradicts all standard dictionary definitions of such a format. This is not a comprehensive overview of the main information concerning education in the geographical space of Asia; it is actually a collection of mostly analytical texts, which of course do provide a great deal of historical, social and cultural information. However, most of the chapters in the book primarily emphasise insights into different subject matters. Nonetheless, one must acknowledge that so far, despite the large number of publications on one or the other aspect of education in Asia, or on education in particular Asian countries, such ambitious attempts to offer a relatively comprehensive account of education in Asia in a clearly defined framework have been rather rare, if they existed at all. Therefore, this does provide some justification for categorising this volume as a ‘‘handbook’’. Considering the diversity of the continent (excluding its Russian part), the editors obviously decided that a cultural perspective can provide a unified framework for presenting education in view of recent global changes that have elevated Asia’s importance for the world and in the world. Many potential readers who disagree with, or at least feel uncomfortable with, Samuel Huntington’s The clash of civilizations will find the segmentation of Asia into five main ‘‘civilizations’’ somewhat contentious. However, even such readers will have to admit that the main editor’s aim to ‘‘maximize the comprehensiveness of the representation of the diversity in Asian education systems’’ (p. ix) substantiates such a division of the continent. Sinic, Japanese, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu education are thus presented in separate parts of the book in a number of chapters each. Another editorial methodological aspect touches on problems of a view that could be directed, culturally speaking, from outside or inside. This problem was addressed by D. Štrajn (&) Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: darko.strajn@guest.arnes.si 123 774 D. Štrajn the composition of the group of co-editors, who work and publish in the West but were all born and/or grew up in the civilizations they write about. As they admit in the preface to the book, they encountered significant problems in finding enough authors with a sufficient profile for all chapters. Consequently, some sections of the book lack some chapters that were initially planned. Thus it appears that the first two parts of the book on Sinic and Japanese education are more or less complete (containing eight articles each), whereas the other three parts do not exceed five articles. This probably reflects the situation in the educational research conducted so far in various Asian countries. Nonetheless, in spite of all these problems, this ‘‘handbook’’ represents a formidable outcome of a very significant academic effort. All the parts of the book share a similar structure. Each begins with an introductory chapter, which is the ‘‘cultural overview’’ of the education systems in the countries encompassed by the notion of a particular civilization. All of the parts are also concluded by a chapter on immigrant children from Asian countries. It goes without saying that these articles mostly present studies on immigrants and their offspring in the United States. Incidentally, these articles generally expose a myth or stereotype of Asian immigrant students as high-achieving members of a model minority. Chapters between the introductory and concluding ones focus on particular related aspects, concepts, notions and topics. All parts of the book contain chapters that touch upon governance and system dynamics of education in particular countries. Teachers and curriculum are topics that could not be avoided in any of parts of the book. In most of the articles, these more or less necessary topics of educational research are embedded in a discussion of cultural, historic, religious, economic and social contexts in general. In these respects, all of the book’s contributors provide detailed, argued, and well-explained insights into particular social and educational environments. Another theme that permeates most of the chapters is globalisation, which is discussed along with some reflections on reforms and other changes with which the educational systems responded to the political and economic changes of recent periods. Some specific cultural features apart, one can recognise patterns of educational reform, changes in the position of the educational system and so on throughout the periods of waves of school reforms that are quite similar to those in Western ‘‘civilizations.’’ Of course, many concerns about cultural matters – such as identity, gender roles and religion – were addressed in various ways in all of the countries, and are taken into account by the authors of individual chapters. In this respect, the reader comes across some extremely interesting accounts of and comments on relationships between structures of family life and education. Quite a few articles recognise the very significant influence of neoliberalism and Western conservatism in the framework of globalisation. Some accounts of the very specific construction of education and its major role within some countries are very valuable elements of this book; for example, the chapter on Bhutan, in which the environmental curriculum mirrors the special social and political orientation of the country. Although these over five hundred pages in quite small print do not cover absolutely all Asian countries, the Handbook of Asian education is a very exhaustive publication and it provides extremely valuable information as well as insightful analyses of the Asian education systems. The volume clearly provides 123 Book Review 775 some answers concerning the widespread question of why Asian countries are so successful in international scholastic achievement tests. Finally, it will also serve as a guide to many different kinds of readers who deal with Asia in any kind of international cooperation. 123