115 B o o k R e v i e w s / C o m p t e s R e n d u s typographical errors), and some penetrating analyses. Each study includes a comprehensive bibliography. The book should be of interest not only to policy makers in developing countries and international aid officials but also to those interested in the strategic directions of Western universities. It may inspire some necessary reforms - endogenously rather than exogenously, one might hope. oooooooooooooooooooo Yee, Albert H. (Ed.). East Asian higher education: Traditions and transformations. Paris: International Association of Universities Press, 1995, pp. vii, 213. Reviewed by Michael Hatton, Humber College. This book includes fifteen essays that describe and comment on higher education in East Asia, including Burma (Myanmar), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, the Peoples Republic of China, the Philippines, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The authors are a varied group, and include present and former professors, research fellows, university presidents and senior ministry officials from the East Asia region, as well as a sprinkling of U.S. writers and a lone Canadian. Albert Yee, the editor for this volume, as well as the author of two papers and co-author of another, has impressive qualifications for the task, including forty years experience in higher education both in East Asia and, more recently, the United States. The essays are uneven and eclectic; there is little consistency in form, substance, depth of analysis or length. In spite of this, the book is engaging (absorbing, at times) and makes a valuable contribution to the literature. Readers with an interest in Asian higher education will not be disappointed in the volume as a whole, though they will almost certainly find certain chapters more compelling than others. Some of the essays don't correspond with western standards in terms of their "academic" nature; however, the reader is neatly cautioned - 1 think quite unintentionally - by Hayhoe and Zhong when they suggest that the future may brook "more tolerance of divergent viewpoints on what constitutes excellence in scholarship" (p. 131). Yee authored the first chapter, in which he achieves several goals. First, he discusses the East Asian community and its diverse traditions, thereby setting the stage for the reader's appreciation of what he calls "a critical-analysis, issues-oriented approach to the study of [East Asian] higher education" (p. 14). Second, by way of example, he employs this approach, comparing elements of the development of higher education in China with those of Japan. In this 116 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus regard he does an exceptionally compact and illustrative job of contrasting the effects of Quing China with Meji Japan on their respective societies. These few pages alone are a valuable discourse for the western reader who knows little of Asian higher education, though they may seem simplistic to the more experienced. Third, Yee finishes the chapter with an overview of the remaining fourteen papers. Although meagre, the biographical data mentioned in this part of the chapter, coupled with the list of contributors (pp. xiii - xiv), provide an informative perspective on the dispositions of many of the authors. The second essay in the book is a brief statement (about 600 words) by Wataru Mori, former President of Tokyo University, describing his efforts at the university to "convert the faculty (or departmental) -oriented system to a graduate school-oriented system" (p. 23). If there is a chapter in the book that is quite different, this is it; and one questions why it was included, or at least why it occupies this position in the book. The following essay, chapter three, also deals with higher education in Japan. In this chapter Shinichi Yamamoto provides the reader with considerable insight into several of the key issues facing Japanese universities, including the government policy of "minus ceiling" budgeting; the decreasing number of students seeking doctoral degrees in science and engineering; the growing demand for accountability; the professorial preference for equal distribution of general university funding, department by department, regardless of research costs or activities; and the lead role taken by private industry in basic research, once the sole province of universities. The description and appraisal of these issues are succinct yet substantial. If Yamamoto intended to impress readers with the dimensions of the challenges facing Japanese universities, he has most certainly succeeded with a simple, elegant style. In chapter four, Yee describes the development of higher education in Hong Kong, identifies and traces the evolution of key institutions, and profiles a selection of the principal issues facing the universities, colleges, polytechnics and the Open Learning Institute. His description of the British influence is kinder than some writers offer: "In the main, the British have supported public education in Hong Kong in a manner that would not be significantly inferior to efforts in Great Britain. After China assumes sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, the promotion of education by the British in Hong Kong should rank as their most admirable contribution to the people" (p. 44). Yee's description of the language issue and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's decision in 1991 to drop the required English entrance examination grade from a D to an E, make for interesting reading. For Hong Kong, the pivotal issue of the next few years will be the influence of the P.R.C. on education in Hong Kong. Not quite the 117 B o o k R e v i e w s / C o m p t e s R e n d u s consummate optimist, Yee suggests that "a cursory study of education in PRC, especially the state of its universities, should send shivers throughout the territory" (p. 52). This view should be balanced by the fact that at least some Hong Kong polytechnic administrators have gone on record stating that in 1997 Hong Kong institutions of higher education will be faced with a hitherto unparalleled opportunity to provide educational leadership to the most populous, and one of the most needy, nations in the world. The essay by Sunait Chutintaranond and Pracob Cooparat compares the development and state of higher education in Burma and Thailand. Their preference for the use of "Burma" as opposed to "Myanmar", as well as references to the "dictator Saw Maung" (p. 55) and General Ne Win who "is universally regarded as a despot" (p. 61), provide the reader with a transparent indication of the perspective they bring to the state of higher education in Burma. One of the more interesting features of this chapter is the discussion regarding the options faced by Southeast Asian countries when the U.S. became involved in the Vietnam War. Sunait and Pracob describe the two primary choices as "accommodate communism under either the patronage of the then USSR or China, and the other was to adopt the United States anti-communist policy" (p. 61). Thailand, opting for the anti-communist tact, received U.S. military aid and economic assistance. Burma chose neither path, and received nothing. Relatively little has been written about the state of higher education in Burma (or Myanmar), and for this reason alone the chapter is interesting. Lim Teck Ghee's essay comparing Malaysian and Singaporean higher education is quite appealing, particularly for the open way in which Lim discusses the effects of the bumiputra quota system. The ability (and willingness) to tackle this and other issues (consider: "hasty measures to discard the use of English as the medium of instruction in favour of the national language have further aggravated the problem of lowered standards" p. 79) in an international publication, while holding a professorial position at the University of Malaya, is quite instructive with regard to the openness in Malaysia today. Readers interested in the development of higher education in Malaysia since the race riots of 1969 will be pleasantly engaged by the forthright approach in Lim's overview. His discussion of Singaporean higher education is equally interesting. There are two essays dealing with higher education in Indonesia. The first of these, written by Sukadji Ranuwihardjo, examines a sample of higher education issues including ministry control of curriculum and fees, particularly low tertiary enrolment, the growth of private institutions, lack of standards, and the salaries of teachers (full professors earn an average of $660 U.S., p. 86). The second essay, by Nakamura Mitsuo and Nishino Setsuo, traces the history, development and growth of Islamic higher education in Indonesia. 118 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus The essay by Ransoo Kim and Young Sop Ahn describes elements of the political and higher education systems in South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea. They are President and Professor respectively, from Kwangju University in the Republic, and the window they open on elements of the higher education system in the North is tantalizing. However, the authors tend to be as political as they are analytical (this is true in many of the essays). This inclination is observed in statements such as: "The S. Korean government predicts that within a decade after merger Korea will be the tenth most powerful country in the world economically and militarily. A single nation will certainly be a joyous, historic milestone for the people . . . " (p. 119). Ruth Hayhoe and Wenhui Zhong argue in their essay on "Universities and Science in China" that a variety of factors are contributing to a new, higher visibility for Chinese scholarship. This conclusion is documented in part by the higher ranking of output of Chinese academic papers and publications in a selection of citation indexes. Further, the authors suggest that this visibility does not necessarily reflect the full output because of "linguistic, cultural and ideological differences in scholarly criteria between East and West, as well as biases of databases" (p. 132). This issue is interesting and important, and a longer, more elaborate study that examines changes of this sort throughout the Asian region will be quite valuable. There are two essays on higher education in Vietnam. The first, by Khe Ba Do, former Vice-President of the University of Saigon and Vice-Minister of Education, discusses difficulties associated with attempts in Vietnam to develop an integrated university and community college system. The personal experiences described near the end of the Do's chapter are a poignant reminder that higher education is much more than dispassionate academic study. The second paper, written by Jean Berlie, provides a brief historical sketch, then identifies a half dozen of the most pressing problems facing the Vietnamese. Any reader with an interest in Vietnam, before or after the American military involvement, will find these two chapters make for interesting reading. Robert Cooney's and Eliza Paqueo-Arreza's chapter on issues related to higher education in the Philippines, as well as Thomas Boyd and Chuan Lee's chapter dealing with the role of vocational education in Taiwan (Republic of China), identify and discuss challenges faced by higher education in many countries and areas of the world, at least by type if not dimension. Although the text carries a 1995 publication date, systems of higher education in East Asia are changing rapidly, and staying up-to-date with events in even a single East Asian country is a major challenge. The death of Kim II Sung and the recent conferring of degree granting status on polytechnics in 119 B o o k R e v i e w s / C o m p t e s R e n d u s Hong Kong are but two examples of the changing landscape for higher education, though different in scale. East Asia is a huge geographical area encompassing a population of almost 2 billion. With the variety of cultures and traditions, it would be impossible to inclusively document higher education issues. Instead, Yee identified "native scholars . . . when feasible" (p. 14) and commissioned chapters "to deal with leading issues and trends" (p. 15). This approach has worked well and, on the whole, has produced a useful and agreeable volume. oooooooooooooooooooo Novak, John M. (Ed.). Democratic Teacher Education: Programs, Processes, Problems and Prospects. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. 1994. Pp. viii, 262 including notes and index. Reviewed by Ken Osborne, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. Perhaps the best way to describe this book is to use the words of its editor, John Novak of Brock University. It is "a deliberate attempt to focus attention on the creative work and struggles of democratic teacher educators" (p. vii). It contains thirteen chapters, most of which describe an approach, a programme, or a project, in pre-service or in-service teacher education, all except for one in the United States, and all of which have some claim to be democratic. To say this, of course, is to raise the question: what is democratic teacher education? Is it a way of incorporating democratic principles into teacher education programmes? Is it a way of organizing teacher education so that its graduates incorporate democratic principles into their own teaching? In either case, what are these principles and what entitles them to be called democratic? Is it a way of organizing teacher education so that in some way it contributes to the greater democratization of social and civic life? Or is it a combination of all three possibilities? This last position is the one taken by all the contributors to this book. They are agreed that that contemporary American society, and by extension liberal capitalist society generally, represents at best a weak form of democracy, and that schools do not do nearly enough to prepare the young for democratic citizenship. They are also agreed that schools can and must make a vital contribution to democratic life. As Novak puts it: "If democracy is to become a way of life in contemporary North American society, we certainly need to have schools with strong democratic commitments" (p. 1). As this quotation suggests, the contributors to this book all follow, sometimes explicitly, the path pioneered by