Social Darwinism, status ranking, and creativity in Confucian-heritage education: Dialectics between education and knowledge economies

Abstract Education and national economies bear a dialectic relation with each other in societies moving toward a knowledge economy: Education has become a key instrument in the service of economic agendas; it is itself transformed by them. Social Darwinism and hierarchical status ranking are two potent forces operating in the process of transformation. They act in unison to pressurize Confucian-heritage education. Relying on methodological relationalism as analytic framework, we point to adverse consequences of status ranking, discuss difficulties and contradictions in the promotion of creativity, and identify examination superstition as antagonistic to the goal of reforming education. We plead for teachers’ battling for greater autonomy from political control and active participation in articulating educational values beyond those of economic and business agendas. Finally, we list two fundamental values for guiding education: (a) well-being above achievement, and (b) cooperation above competition. Keywords: knowledge economy, social Darwinism, status ranking, Confucian-heritage education, examination superstition