The Aim of Education: Tension Between the Nurturing of a Docile Body and the Maintenance of Individuality-A Comparative Study of High School in China and the UK

School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

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Abstract

In contemporary society, education has been framed as the primary tool for boosting socio-economic development, and is expected to foster competent individuals with specialised skills. Under pressures from credential inflation and performance accountability, secondary school education in both China and the United Kingdom has become a major field for economic demand and the construction of individuality. This article conducts a comparative analysis between the educational system in China and the UK and explores the tension between the socio-economic function and the maintenance of individuality. Through combining Foucault’s concept of discipline and docile bodies, Biesta’s subjectification, and Freire’s critical pedagogy, this article explores how the test-driven assessment system prioritises degree qualification over subjectification and challenges ideologies about meritocracy, the definition of success, and the function of discipline. The analysis signifies that despite the differences in the institutional background, both countries’ educational systems apply disciplines to learners through standardisation and surveillance to achieve greater socio-economy and complaint talents.