| The changing socio-economic conditions of the Pacific Rim indicate an increasing interdependence of countries and cultures. Education directed toward cross-cultural understanding can provide the means for experiencing new possibilities for cooperation and change within the changing world.This study uses participatory research methods to investigate university undergraduate education requirements in selected universities in California, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The research also includes an investigation of the current condition of university education in the People's Republic of China. The researcher interviewed educators and administrators to determine the level of awareness of the changing world conditions the understanding of the mission of undergraduate education and the role of undergraduate requirements in addressing that mission and in providing the opportunity to explore the history and tradition of the indigenous society and the histories and traditions of other societies. The interviews provided the data which is analyzed using the theoretical concepts of Hans-Georg Gadamer and C. A. Bowers. Gadamer posits that it is through language that the human world is experienced and disclosed and understanding emerges and C. A. Bowers links education to the processes of communication and socialization.The researcher presents an analysis of the major issues facing each of the societies under investigation and of the role of education presented by the participants. The participants revealed in their comments that the past is always present, coming forward in time and affecting thinking. The participants questioned the values of their societies, both the traditional ones and the newly-emerging ones. They expressed the need for education to provide an experience with one's own history and traditional values. They acknowledged that new understandings can emerge when education includes the exploration of other histories and traditions.The researcher concludes that the educational process needs to provide students with opportunities which allow for the examination biases, cultural assumptions, and rationality systems for the investigation of the humanly shared world and for the bringing forth of new understandings in which particular problems can be acted upon with a solidarity of purpose. |
