Eastern Philosophy Of Education And Educational Policy: Features And Priorities

Based on the study of philosophical and pedagogical literature, the article analyzes the features of the philosophy of education, the educational system and educational policy of Eastern countries, using the example of Japan and China. The conclusion is substantiated that the western and eastern systems of education coexist in addition to each other. The East needs knowledge and information. The West needs wisdom and education.


INTRODUCTION
Today, the experience of Eastern educational policy and Eastern philosophy of education is of great interest to the world community.
However, the relevance of studying such experience, which is obvious to some philosophers and methodologists, remains for The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations (ISSN -2689-100x) The acuteness of modern economic, social, ideological problems that pose a threat to the future of mankind casts doubt on the value potential of the ideological foundations of Western civilization, its ideas of individualism, anthropocentrism, unrestrained consumption with the selfish use of nature, societies and the individual, reorientation of public and personal consciousness to values. An alternative to anthropocentric thinking, which led the West to a technocratic civilization, dangerous for the existence of not only different cultures, including the West, but the planet as a whole, is the Eastern view of the world. In this regard, the issue of studying the eastern educational experience seems to be relevant. As the purpose of this article, let us designate the analysis of the national characteristics of the implementation of the national policy of some eastern states in accordance with their philosophy of education.
National educational systems have evolved over many centuries, undergoing various changes, formal and substantive. In educational policy and philosophy, various cultural, political, geographical and other influences from outside are reflected and intramental transformations are recorded. That is why education is able to demonstrate in a concentrated form the obvious difference between the civilizational ideas of the West and the East. In the very understanding of the essence of knowledge, a worldview contradiction is revealed. Knowledge in the Eastern tradition is a spiritual ability and activity, in the West "knowledge is power", and above all in objective, "material" being. For Western upbringing, it is natural to rely on the "ego"; for the East, on the contrary, it is a rejection of the "ego", an orientation toward benefiting others. This, in turn, forms a different educational motivation: utilitarian motives in the West (growth of well-being, living standards, fame) and motives of spiritual perfection in the East (liberation from ignorance, benefit to society, respect, conscious responsibility for one's own actions).
Today, in the age of globalization, there is an intensive interpenetration of cultures. Often this phenomenon takes the form of the expansion of one culture (priority Western) in relation to another. However, as A.V. Paribok, "the style of modern (Western) life is so difficult for the average person that the natural resources of the psyche are no longer sufficient to maintain social adequacy and an acceptable measure of satisfaction from life, which is why a new family of humanitarian practices is in demand. The development of such practices leads to the development of techniques, then to methodology, and then the process of generalization naturally reaches the philosophical level " [Paribok, 2010, p. 210]. This "new family of practitioners" is widely represented in Eastern philosophy and is implemented by the traditional educational policies of countries such as Japan, China and India. The main goal of non-Western education is to improve the relationship "man-nature", "man-society", "man-man". Western anthropocentrism forms in the process of education a person standing above nature and the world of other living beings, promotes the exploitation of nature, interference in natural processes and forms the idea of increasing human needs. The traditions of Eastern education represent a person as an integral part of the biocenosis on the planet, but not its master. The acquired knowledge should serve the idea of protecting life in all its manifestations and motivate the value of selfimprovement and the ability to take responsibility for one's own actions.
The demand for such an educational result in a globalized world is increasingly noted by modern thinkers. The Eastern experience of globalization of traditional national educational systems is also interesting. In this article, we will look at the educational systems of Japan and China. One of the reasons for the so-called Japanese economic miracle in the post-war period is rightly called the educational system built in the state.
Structurally, in form, the educational system of Japan is in many respects similar to the American one. In terms of its content, and especially in spirit, Japanese education is unique. It cultivates the Japanese national spirit, forms the appropriate moral norms, develops the features of the national character. The educational function is characteristic not only of primary and secondary education, but also of higher education. The idea of fostering respect for parents, elders, and faith in friends runs along the entire educational path. This moral aspect is the main difference between Japanese education and Western education.
Japanese universities managed to preserve the originality based on the traditional features of the national culture. Having borrowed from the United States the structure of training specialists and the technology of the educational process, Japan has preserved its traditional principles of education management, based on strict centralization. The national feature of the institutionalization of Japanese higher education is caste and elitism. This is mainly manifested in the orientation of universities towards established ties with certain strata of society, groups of consumers of educational services, their priorities and expectations, the traditions of firms in relation to personnel, the requirements of the general atmosphere of the firm. Initially, Japanese education focused on attracting foreign specialists. The issues of training our own young personnel were in second place. The Land of the Rising Sun largely copied the American education system, using its pragmatism, purposefulness, but at the same time focusing on collectivity, and not on individual personality. Today Japan is a definite model for the information society. The turning point for the formation of Japan came in the middle of the 19th century, when the question arose about the country's independence from the leading Western countries (there was a danger of turning it into their raw material appendage). Having chosen the first option (independence), the Japanese leadership began to methodically put into effect a plan to reform the national education system, using the best practices of the United States and European states.
Japanese higher education includes: full-cycle universities (4 years undergraduate, 2 years of master's, 3 years of doctorate), accelerated universities (2-3 years, mostly women), professional colleges (no more than 3 years, specialized education), technical institutes ( OCLC -1121105668 education is recognized as truly higher. Higher education is widespread, more than 70% of eighteen-year-olds enter universities despite the fact that all education is paid. This contributes to the fact that Japanese higher education is one of the main levers of public policy. Modern educational trends are to reduce the number of universities by merging them into national university corporations, to internationalize universities (an attempt to give English the status of a second state language and, as a balance, to promote Japanese language teaching abroad), to enter the world scientific arena (proclamation of the slogan "30 Nobel laureates for 50 years "). Thus, adapting to new global requirements, Japanese education continues to preserve its own national identity, uniqueness and tradition, changing externally, but remaining essentially stable.
China occupies a special place in the history of world education. One of the main character traits of Chinese civilization is the priority attitude towards knowledge: the possession of knowledge elevates a person in society, making both the person himself and society as a whole more perfect. Today, the Chinese educational system is developing very rapidly. The country's leadership, not without reason, attaches great importance to this area, carefully checking reform plans and focusing on educational innovations. Many researchers of the Chinese mentality highlight such a feature of thinking in this people as a high innovative potential. Indeed, the world knows more than one significant Chinese "breakthrough" in cultural and technological progress: the production and use of the first paper, printing of lithography and woodcuts, movable type, etc. trust in the written and printed word, in the authority of the teacher.
The main teaching method in pre-revolutionary China was memorizing large texts. The main such texts were the Confucian canons, the knowledge of which ensured career growth and prosperity.
Unlike universities of other national models, a Chinese university is designed to solve not only the tasks of teaching and scientific research, but also to perform social work -the formation of a student's civic position, involving him in the activities of social structures and the performance of public duties. Chinese people tend to combine education and research with business or look for ways to apply their educational achievements in commercial and social activities. And the state supports the idea that the acquired knowledge should serve the benefit of society and have applied value. Another feature of the Chinese educational system and society in general, both in antiquity and in modern life, is the examination structure, which has existed for more than 1,300 years. Until 1905, the choice of any officials was necessarily competitive. Entrance exams are still an integral part of Chinese education at all levels.
The organizational structure of the Chinese national model of education is already fundamentally different from any Western model of the corresponding historical period. For the West of both past and modern years, it was especially interesting not what was taught in China, but how it was done. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the basic principles of Chinese education, formulated by Confucius and his followers in different periods of Chinese history and have not lost their relevance today. By education, Confucius understood the unity of two processes: training and education. Upbringing was of paramount importance, since the main goal of It is "the traditional culture that is continuously developing and broadcasting throughout the history of the development of Chinese society, having a significant impact on the thinking, behavior of the Chinese, as well as on the goals, essence, content, process, development and quality of education. The traditional concepts of Chinese philosophical culture are deeply anthropological, therefore, a paradigmatic appeal to a person, links between a person and culture is a factor in optimizing the modern educational space of China " [Konstantinova, 2011, p. 73]. These educational principles are contained in the "Short Course of Traditional Chinese Culture", specially developed as a teaching aid for all modern Chinese universities. There are five basic principles: 1. "Yin cai shi jiao" -"to teach, taking into account the student's abilities." 2. "Wen gu zhi xin" -"learn from the past." 3. "Yu bo Fan yue" -"simplicity is born from complexity." 4. "Jiao xue xiang zhang" -"students learn from the teacher, and the teacher learns from the students." 5. "Qi fa yu dao" -"management of the heuristic activity of trainees" [Zhongguo chuantong wenhua gailun, 2006, p. 300].
Strict adherence to these principles allows Chinese education, despite all its visible tradition and ritualism, to be open to innovations, to study the best practices of foreign educational reforms and quite successfully introduce it into its own national educational system. In Chinese education, in contrast to many other national educational systems, the transition to a two-level education system -bachelor -master -was successful. In full-time universities, students study for 4-5 years (no age limit). In higher vocational schools and colleges, the term of study is 2-3 years. Postgraduate education develops in two stages: a master's degree (2-3 years of study), and then, if desired, a doctor's degree (usually 3 years). The age of undergraduates must not exceed 40 years, the age of doctoral students is 45 years. A confirmation of the success of the reform can be considered the fact that in China, a labor market for bachelor graduates has already been created and is functioning smoothly.
A feature of the Chinese educational system can be considered the presence of "universities for adults", where you can get your first diploma of higher education, improve your qualifications or simply eliminate illiteracy in any area of knowledge (without obtaining a diploma or other document). The term of education for adults is usually 4-5 years. The forms of training are different: full-time, parttime and free time training.
The huge population of the country and the mass character of education determined the emergence of radio and television universities and Internet universities in the Chinese educational system, performing the functions of mass distance education. Also, the Chinese government, while promoting academic activities among young people, supports the desire of Chinese citizens to get education abroad. Financial support is provided through various fund grants and investments of the Chinese diaspora abroad. At the same time, "The Chinese government is making efforts to create favorable opportunities for attracting overseas educated people to their home Also, the government has put forward an initiative to create in China a system of state subsidies for the top 100 universities, called "Project No. 1 of the XXI century", or abbreviated "21-1". The goal of the program is to improve the quality of education in a number of universities up to world standards. The project participants are: Peking University, Tsinghua University (comparable to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -a world leader in science and technology), Fudan University in Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhejiang universities, etc. This project is one of the most significant programs in terms of public investment. development of higher education in China at the turn of the century. Universities should become bases for training highly qualified specialists capable of effectively solving issues of economic construction and social development. The project envisages work in three directions: development of leading scientific directions; creation of a social service system and comprehensive development of the university infrastructure. The program is financed by investments from the state, departments, regional administrations and universities' own investments. "The implementation of this program gave impetus to the reform of educational management and made a revolution in the management of educational institutions. The educational conditions and the general atmosphere for the training of creative highly qualified specialists have noticeably improved. The research structure was optimized, the level of equipping with educational and research equipment and the level of research opportunities in universities increased "[Zhang Lili, 2002, p. 135].
Thus, the study of the Chinese educational model allows us to conclude that ritualism, historically established traditions and Confucian ideas of educating the personality of a citizen, combined with new concepts of reforming the educational system and modernizing Chinese society as a whole, form a harmonious synthesis and ensure the successful development of the country. That is, in fact, China is a producer of some positive experience in integrating the national educational system into the emerging global educational space. The philosophical content of the modern educational model of China is the comprehension and development of fundamental foundations and directions that determine not just a national, but a civilization future.
The considered national educational projects have been formed over the years, have been tested not only by time, but also by various forms of social and political instability. Not being completely closed, isolated, these projects are able to adequately respond to the global changes taking place in the world. The educational system is formed within a certain culture in a long evolutionary way, and only this makes it effective and harmonious in its society. Eastern educational systems, while maintaining their essential tradition, thereby maintain the planetary dialectical balance of opposites. Both western and eastern education systems need complementing each