Understanding contemporary childhoods and studenthoods in the Asia Pacific region

The rise of Asia has made headline news both globally and locally in the 21st century. In particular, the growth of Asian economies and the competitiveness of Asian students’ academic performances in international assessment tests such as the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are frequently mentioned. For example, in the PISA 2009 assessment results, Asian participants such as Korea; Hong Kong, China; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Japan; and, Taiwan have been placed in the top performing countries or economies with very high scores (OECD, 2011). The dominance of Asian students’ high academic performances in such high stakes tests has not only made international education headline news but also opened up new debates concerning the “effectiveness” of Asian schooling systems and Asian pedagogical practices. Many “Western” countries have indicated that they want to emulate the trend of Asian students’ superior academic performances. For examples, mass media reports with titles such as “How China is Winning the School Race” (Sharma, 2011) and “Top Test Scores from Shanghai Stun Educators” (Dillon, 2010), as well as heated debates following Amy Chua’s (2011) controversial publication of 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,' have all come together to highlight the perceived success in the context of Asian cultural practices and contemporary schooling systems as “models” that promise excellence in learning outcomes. At the end of 2012 the Australian Government released a white paper entitled Australia in the Asian Century. This document provides a roadmap for Australia with a strategic plan to engage with Asia in a number of sectors including education. As stated in the document: During the Asian century, the importance of education to Australia’s economic performance will continue to grow. We can only remain a worldbeating economy if we also deliver world-class education (Australian Government, 2012, p. 164). This white paper highlights the phenomenon of the Western romanticization of Asian students’ academic performance as being the ultimate objective of learning outcomes. While Western systems look at Asian schools and students’ academic performances as being systems with “better” learning outcomes, most Asian countries continue to look at the Western education systems as “advanced” progressive models which need to be emulated, especially in terms of students’ abilities to be creative, innovative and imaginative. Education policy “borrowing” from the West to the East seems to be somewhat typical for many Asian countries (Lee and Tseng, 2008; Park, Lee, & Jun, 2013). Although the divide between Eastern and Western cultures is evident, it is important go beyond a binary and simple logic of Western/non-Western binary constructions of childhoods and appropriate/inappropriate pedagogical practices to reconceptualize the notion of childhoods and studenthoods in selected Asian cultural contexts