Korea, the Republic of Korea to be more exact, may well be a show case of the developmental transformation of a country in the past half century and of the educational development that were closely interwoven in the process. This book tries to present a synopsis of the development process, the problems and issues and the reflective thoughts that were inevitably incited by the process, which the author hopes would be of some relevance to other developing countries.
The book starts with a short resume of Korean history to acquaint the reader with the historical underpinnings upon which the recent history has relatedly evolved. Then, the processes of and the problems in the development are presented in three aspects: economic development from abject poverty to affluence, political development from stifling autocracy to liberal democracy and from a hermitic society to a modern nation. A critical discussion of "development pathologies" and of the notion of manpower follows.
In the second part, the discussion proceeds on with regard to the problems of Korean education that is in principle expected to facilitate the process of national development. The discussion examines both the assets and liabilities, merits and drawbacks, in Korean education, following the flow of educational process that encompasses the problem of educational objectives, curricular experiences, educational evaluation and administrative support.
Thinking about the dynamics of education in relation to national development inescapably entails a host of thoughts on philosophical, psychological, political and academic problems such as the existential nature of man, the ideal nation, the nature of science and the like. Some such thoughts are presented in the last part of the book, in "Man, Society and Education."

Forewords

Part I
Development and Beyond
1. In the Beginning 13
2. From Ashes to Affluence 27
3. From Autocracy to Democracy 43
4. From Hermit to Modernity 55
5. The Concept of Manpower 67
6. Development Pathology 79

Part II
The Flow of Education
7. The System 97
8. Aims and Objectives 109
9. Learning Experiences 123
10. Evaluating Education Outcomes 135
11. Infrastructure 147
12. The Teacher 161

Part III
Man, Society and Education
13. Human Nature 173
14. The Nation 185
15. The Universal and the Particular 199
16. Knowledge and Science 211
17. The Whole Person 225
18. The Power of Education 237

Epilogue 249

Notes 261

Index 264