Chapter 1: Introduction

Since the late 1980s a wide-ranging debate has emerged across the Asian region about what the content of social education should be and how it should be taught. In large part this may be attributed to the political, social and economic transformations taking place in the region, including both internal and external forces. Politically, for example, the emergence of, or return to, more democratic systems in Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand on the one hand, and the more open door policies of the socialist regimes in countries like China and Vietnam on the other hand, have led to spirited debates about the content of the social education curriculum in all these societies. Economically, the rapid economic development in the region and the pressures of globalization have led to concerns about the relevance of the social education curriculum for the development of the qualities of “modern” citizens in a competitive environment. Socially, as in much of the rest of the world, emerging issues of racial, ethnic, and religious identities are reflected in the debates over the content of the social education curriculum.