Asia

__** Korea, Japan, Russa, India, and China **__ Mike- borenits@msu.edu Japan

Sean Washington- washi165@msu- Korea Sarah - Reidsar1@msu.edu India Jon - rileyjo1@msu.edu China Stefanie Nowak - nowakst1@msu.edu Russia

The Ideas, Practices, and Approaches Our Countries Share
 * Russia, Korea, India, and China all value their history and culture. Even though these countries concentrate on the math, science, and technological related fields economically, they still appreciate culture through art and practice old traditions.
 * Chinese and Indian government seek the same outcomes of education - manufacturing and technological advancement, and economical benefit. Because of this similarity, they also share another approach to the arts - they take a backseat to everything else.
 * Russia and China seem to share the same passion for the artwork of ballet and theatre, as both countries are well-known for it.
 * The primary teacher education process is similar in India, Russia, and China with each country training it's teachers in a basic curriculum of subjects with the arts mixed in alongside all the other subjects.
 * Korea and China tend to have a very similar teaching style- teacher centered education.

Differences
 * Unlike Korea, Russia and China, India has numerous languages throughout each state in the country.
 * While all five countries have experienced great political tensions and strife over the past centuries, it has not influenced the arts as much in China, for example, as it has in India. Myriad artists who have been discovered from India cite these political tensions as inspiration, and draw upon that suffering as motivation for the works produced. In China, it is just the opposite.
 * Despite comparable GDP's, Japan spends nearly twice the percentage of it's GDP on education as China does.
 * Korea has a completely different style of training their teachers. They are trained for their field dependent on the level of schooling that they are teaching. For instance a post-elementary school teacher learns completely differently than a middle school teacher.

Comparisons
 * Russia and China have similar compulsory subjects in primary education which includes fines arts and music.[[image:Japanese_Calligraphy.jpg align="right"]]
 * It was interesting to see the differences in the types of arts that are "showcased" in each country. For instance, in Japan, silk and thin line calligraphy and paintings are favored, where as in India, weaving and bright bold colored works are highlighted. This was surprising, as when I think art, I don't picture variations within the disciplines (painting, drawing, etc.).
 * Another interesting fact I saw in comparing, was the new induction of "The Training Year" in Japan. Essentially, this seems like a student teaching for new teacher candidates. I find it intriguing that this practice is only a few decades old, where it has been introduced and conducted for much longer in the United States.
 * It was interesting to see no mention of Bollywood in any of the arts information that surfaced on India, since that is a huge money maker for the country.
 * The fact that India and Korea have been under turmoil and the fact that that likely influences their educational process.