A Confucian-Socratic framework provides a structure for analyzing culture-influenced aspects of
academic learning. It is argued that these ancient exemplars model approaches to learning that
continue to differentiate students within a modern Canadian postsecondary context. Specifically,
it is argued that Chinese cultural influence increases the likelihood that a student will report
Confucian learning beliefs and behaviors and that Western cultural influence increases the
likelihood that a student will report Socratic learning beliefs and behaviors. Socrates valued
private and public questioning of widely accepted knowledge and expected students to evaluate
others' beliefs and to generate and consider their own hypotheses. Confucius valued effortful and
pragmatic acquisition of essential knowledge. Confucius also valued poetic summary and
behavioral reform. Two self-report studies, one (pilot) expert study, and one work sample study
assess the utility of this framework in a Canadian context. The self-report studies provide
evidence that the framework is reflective of modern cultural differences as expressed in a Western
postsecondary context; however, the work sample study produced mainly null results.
Consequences of cultural differences in Western postsecondary contexts are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11182 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Tweed, Roger G. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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