Korea\nTimes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMerit,\nwisdom and the Korean tradition of governance\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n January\n27, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emanuel\nPastreich<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/www\/opinion\/2019\/01\/723_262723.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nruthless competition between young Korean to get into good high schools and\nthen be admitted to leading universities as the necessary step to finding\nsuperior jobs takes a terrible toll on the lives of many and has distorted the\nnature of learning. Korea Times \u201cMerit, wisdom and the Korean tradition of governance\u201d January 27, 2019 Emanuel Pastreich https:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/www\/opinion\/2019\/01\/723_262723.html The ruthless competition between young Korean to get into good high schools and then be admitted to leading universities as the necessary step to finding superior jobs takes a terrible toll on the lives of many and has distorted … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9296425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[651],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9296425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\nEducation has become a concealed combat that drives us into isolation, rather\nthan the grounds for cooperation among all people for the purpose of\ndiscovering the truth or creating a better society.
\n
\nI have heard frequent comparisons between this obsession with exams in\ncontemporary Korea as a means to achieve social status and the civil service\nexamination system that dominated traditional Korean society. The civil service\nexam was central to Korean governance in the Joseon Dynasty and it affected all\naspects of culture before then.
\n
\nThe analogy between contemporary test-taking and the Confucian civil service\nexams of the Joseon Dynasty is not entirely wrong. The examination system,\nespecially after the complete saturation of government jobs in the late 18th\ncentury due to a rapid rise in population, became the battlefield in a ruthless\ncompetition for jobs that were tied to wealth and power.
\n
\nA few powerful families monopolized the exam systems through access to\nexcellent instruction for their sons, or through corruption, or through both\nmeans.
\n
\nThe content of the exams was reduced to the memorization of set phrases, the\nemployment of set flowery language that conformed with the demands of the\nexaminers, and the endless practice of unimaginative model essays.
\n
\nBut the degenerate form of the civil service examination system of the late\nJoseon does not represent the original intentions of that exam.
\n
\nRather, we need to ask ourselves what it meant to have a society in which\ngovernment service was considered the highest goal and in which being educated\nin moral philosophy, as opposed to business administration, or finance, or\nadvertising, was presented as the goal for all educated people.
\n
\nThe first question we must ask is about the value of meritocracy that is the\npart of the examination system most frequently cited. The civil service exam\nsystem in Korea, Vietnam and China \u2015 which would become a model also for\nFrance, Britain and other countries in the 18th and 19th centuries \u2015 is often\nheld up as the model of meritocracy; rule by the capable and the educated. It has\ntremendous appeal.
\n
\nMeritocracy forms a strong alternative to aristocracy (granted that meritocracy\noften degenerates into aristocracy over time) or tyranny.
\n
\nThere is recent interest in the virtues of meritocracy (especially in the\nChinese case), most notably the writings of Daniel Bell of Tsinghua University.\nHe proposes that the current Chinese political meritocracy can serve as an\nalternative to Western democracy in his book “The China Model: Political\nMeritocracy and the Limits of Democracy.”
\n
\nIt is certainly true that meritocracy, a system that seeks to promote those\nwith the skills and the ability to govern, may offer an alternative to\n“democratic” systems wherein citizens vote for leaders who are\npreselected by special interests. After all, if people vote based only on\ninformation supplied by biased media sources, it is hard to consider such a\nsystem to be an effective way to select leaders.
\n
\nThe civil service system was subject to withering critiques by reformers in the\nlate Joseon Dynasty who argued that Confucian scholars who were well versed in\nthe classics were unprepared to deal with the challenges of modernization and\nthat the need was for practical experts who could negotiate trade treaties,\nestablish postal systems and run railroads and steel mills.
\n
\nThat legacy lives on, and most tests used today to determine careers and focus\non math and the English language, on administration and management, or on\nspecific skills in accounting or in finance.
\n
\nMoral philosophy has disappeared from exams in the process of modernization.
\n
\nSo why did the civil service examinations focus on the Confucian classics and\non moral philosophy? Was it because the scholars had lost touch with the needs\nof the nation and had lost themselves in their own privilege?
\n
\nUnderstanding the nature of the Confucian civil service is difficult because\nthere is a fundamental misunderstanding about the original spirit of the civil\nservice exams.
\n
\nThe term “meritocracy” is a misnomer. Of course the Chinese civil\nservice exams were about merit, but that was not their primary function.
\n
\nThe exams were originally, from their roots in the Han Dynasty, meant to serve\nas the basis to establish rule by the wise and the ethical, rather than rule by\nthe capable and the erudite. The two goals are related, but grasping the\nfundamental difference is critical for future reform.
\n
\nThe philosophers who systematized Confucian thought, Confucius and Mencius,\nwere advocating not so much for a meritocracy, as for a noocracy, or “rule\nby the wise.” Noocracy has become an unfamiliar term, but that goal of\ncreating a nation ruled by the wise and the ethical was also held up by the\nGreek philosopher Plato as the best form of government.
\n
\nMost people today would consider the idea that government should be\nadministered by the wise, rather than by the capable, to be either hopelessly\nnaive, or perhaps dangerously elitist, but let us think carefully about this\nissue before we dismiss this critical assumption in traditional Korean culture.\n
\n
\nDemocracy can easily degenerate into the people being misled by false\ninformation or charismatic leaders into terrible decisions that lead to the\nworst form of tyranny.
\n
\nMeritocracy can lead to rule by those who have clear skills and a high level of\neducation, but who have no moral compass and who pursue their personal\ninterests, or their family interests.
\n
\nConfucius and Plato had a point in advocating for rule by the wise.
\nHow people are promoted in government and business is critical for a healthy\nsociety.
\n
\nThe problem is: how do you achieve governance by the wise?
\n
\nHumans are flawed creatures and there will be corruption and abuse of power in\nany system. Periodic reform is essential to assure transparency.
\n
\nThe demand that those involved in politics and governance be steeped in moral\nphilosophy from childhood, being familiar with the humanities and capable of\nwriting thoughtfully about how to find ethical solutions to problems in\ngovernance and in society is logical and compelling. We need exactly such an\napproach today.
\n
\nBut we should pursue the spirit of traditional Confucian governance, and not\nits forms \u2015 especially in later ages.
\n
\nWe should not force everyone to read only the Confucian classics, or to take\nthe exams used in the Joseon Dynasties. The world today is different.
\n
\nRather, we can experiment with new approaches to making philosophy and\nliterature part of the training for all those who wish to work in government,\nor in business, so that they will be aware of their own actions and their\nimpact on society, so that they will see ethical behavior as the highest goal.
\n
\nThe readings for such an education should extend down to the current day, and\nshould not be limited to the Chinese tradition. Moreover, such an education\nshould involve learning from a teacher, a moral and philosophical teacher, and\ntalking with that teacher. We must move beyond the inhuman system of\ncomputer-graded anonymous tests. Exams must be more human and more organic.\nThey can refer to abstract principles, but they must be grounded in the moral\ntests we face in contemporary society.
\n
\nSuch an innovation in the sense of recapturing the original spirit of the\nConfucian tradition can bring tremendous new vitality to government and to\neducation, giving new hope to youth in Korea, China, Vietnam and around the\nworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"