Chung Bom Mo’s Education Studies and Human Development Approach in 1960s South Korea

This article analyzes the characteristics of the educational research and human development approach of Chung Bom Mo, a prominent Korean educational scholar in 1960s South Korea. After studying in the United States, he pursued the scientificization of education at the Central Education Research Institute and the Institute of Educational Psychology at Seoul National University after the Korean War. With the advent of Park Chung-hee’s military coup, he explored the social function of education in conjunction with economic growth and modernization. In particular, he sought to develop and expand the theory of development education based on the human development approach by referring to and adopting US modernization theory. He also conducted the Achievement Motive Development Project to track modern and developmental changes in human attitudes, values, and personality. His development-oriented research and ideas on education represented a group of social scientists at that time who pursued a modernization approach based on the rejection of traditional values by referring to overseas social science knowledge.