The Sustainability of the Social Responsibility of Canaan Farmers’ Schools: A Comparative Case Study of South Korea and the Philippines

Abstract

This paper is about the impact of social responsibility of the instructional design (ID) of the Canaan Farmers’ School (CFS) in the South Korean society and the challenges of replicating the same impact in the Philippine society. It is becoming increasingly apparent that after decades of implementation, the ID of the CFS is failing to replicate a South Korean-like national development impact in the Philippines. This situation of ineffective replication of the impact of the ID of CFS represents a setback to the significance of the expansion of social responsibility, which requires a serious examination. For a comprehensive understanding of the situation, this study employed a qualitative comparative case study approach to gather comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth information, collected at the CFS Philippines during the training for Camp Asia Inc. scholars on January 26-28, 2017. The 51 participants of the study are comprised of CFS Philippine administrators and staff, and Camp Asia advisers and scholars. Research findings revealed that the three important components of the ID of CFS were the pioneering spirit, mindset transformation, and asset-based community development. Moreover, the lack of political will is seriously missing in the leadership for the expansion of social responsibility embedded in the ID of CFS in the rural and urban communities of the Philippines as it was the case in South Korea.