Group+2

Group 2 Chelsea Gannage (Argentina), Amanda Hewson (Costa Rica), Timothy Mitchell (Japan), Nari (Naie) Kim (Austria), Lizzie Appel (South Korea), Daniel Dyer (South Korea)

** Japan ** ** Argentina ** ** Costa Rica ** ** Austria ** ** South Korea **

=Ideas, practices, and approaches our country’s share: = Mainly each country puts an emphases on education; the question is if they have the resources to develop an educational system that will educate its population. Japan and Costa Rica have found an education system that impacts most of their country. A great way to gauge education is to look at a country's literacy rate. Both Costa Rica and Japan have high literacy rates; Costa Rica's population is 96% literate and Japan's is 99% literate. This shows that they have put education as a high priority and have great ideas to offer education to most of their country. An example of this is "The country (Costa Rica) invests more than 30% of the national budget on primary and secondary education, and is one of the first countries in the world to make education both free and obligatory" (Amanda Hewson). All the countries that we have studied place a great deal of value on their education system and have created a structured curriculum for all students to follow. South Korea also puts great emphasis on education. While High School in South Korea is not mandatory 97% of students graduate High School. (Daniel Dyer) Although the type of curriculum they use is different, the value of unity among education approaches is all very similar.

=Differences: = A major problem that many countries share because of the hard economic times that the world is facing is the ability to fund schools and their many programs. Historically South American countries (Argentina, Costa Rica) typically have mediocre economies due to many different reasons; and because of this education suffers. "Although the coverage of education in Argentina is wide, the quality is lacking. Argentina is a middle-income country that has had a bad economic history, which mirrors in its education" (Chelsea Gannage). Japan has the worlds 3rd largest economy as of 2012. This gives them the ability to contribute more to education, and it can be seen by how well they excel in math and science; Japan ranks third. Usually the first subjects impacted by lack of funding in schools is the arts; this puts counties that have poor economies at a disadvantage. Donald Arnstine states the arts "have traditionally been justified on the grounds that they provided wholesome recreation, salutary therapy, the cultivation of taste, or vocational preparation. These are not bad reasons for teaching the arts, but they are not compelling enough to keep them from being among the first school studies to suffer when budgets are cut." This is why Japanese schools offer more art education programs in their schools. There is also a difference in the way art is used in these countries, because of the variety of art that is valued among these societies. Some countries, such as Austria, have a more multicultural view of art, where others such Japan value specific forms of art that have been around for many years. These different values are reflected in how much art is involved in education, as well as outside of the educational environment.

__Rank Country GDP__

__(purchasing power parity) (Billion $)__


 * 1) 3. [|Japan] - $4,310


 * 1) 12 [|South Korea] - $1,459


 * 1) 23 [|Argentina] - $596


 * 1) 35 [|Austria] - $332


 * 1) 90 [|Costa Rica] - $51.17

__Popular Art Practices:__ Costa Rica - Arts & Crafts Japan - Traditional Music media type="youtube" key="yqNlQUqLeMA" height="215" width="379" align="center"

Austria - Architecture South Korea: Classical forms of art

Argentina - Music and Dance media type="youtube" key="bXhQNRsH3uc" height="244" width="322" align="center"

=What cultural aspects might impact creative expression? Why? = Argentina is a country known for many things, but perhaps what they are most well-known for is a dance called the Tango. This dance was shaped from the candombe ceremonies of former slaves. The art is very important to the Argentine people and is performed by all ages. In Japan children are encouraged to use their creativity very young. By the age of four or five children of Japan are able to play the violin in solo performance and string ensembles. (Timothy Mitchell) Embracing the art of this instrument at such a young age seems to have a positive effect on the Japanese educational development. In Costa Rica, there is a great emphasis on community, and throughout education students are given opportunities to excel in certain areas of work that will impact the community.

=What surprised you about your comparisons? = It is very interesting to see how high the literacy rates are in a majority of the countries we studied. Our lack of knowledge in relation to other cultures often causes our American society to look down on other countries of the world. In reality, many countries around the world are striving in ways we would have never realized, and there is actually a lot we can learn from them to better our society. Many other countries place great emphasis on academic achievement, with many different views of how education should be studied. Japan and Argentina have a 99% literacy rate, Austria has a 97.7% literacy rate, South Korea with a rate of 97%, and Costa Rica has a 96% literacy rate. Almost half these countries rank the same level of literacy as the United States. The different types of art programs offered within each of the countries was also very surprising because they often reflected the economic condition of the country and how the program will effect the country as a whole. Many of the programs offered reflected opportunities both within the education system and for the community as a whole, which proves that many countries are trying to increase the participation of art over a broad range. It is very surprising to see the broad range of art education throughout the countries. Some counties have a rich art education program and others have a poor art program. In this group it ranges from South Korea who has "one third of the daily curriculum in South Korea is focused on the what we would classify as the arts" (Lizzi Appel), to Costa Rica who has a small economy to the point art education suffers due to lack of funding. Once you put countries side by side you realize how different they are in terms of what kind of art they produce and how their education helps them accomplish that. Education has a major factor in how rich art is in the country by just how much exposure it gives its students.

=Sources: =

[|Therichest.org] [|Curious Cat] [|Central Home] [|Index Mundi] [|The World Fact book]

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