After discussing the mediating effect of cultural
tradition on perceived objective reality and the need for a model
that constructs paths from cultural factors to Social behavior, this
document describes a path model developed as a result of an
investigation of two human resource development policy paradigms that
were enforced alternately between 1949 and 1979 in the Peoples
Republic of China. The role of the Confucian educational tradition is
explored as the persistent independent factor th_A acted as an
incentive for participation in education during the years of the
study. Next, study findings regarding changes in educational
participation during literacy campaigns and in the literacy rate of
the school-age population over 30-year period are analyzed. The
moderate policy direction, identified as similar to the Confucian
educational ideology, is shown to have resulted in higher literacy
attainment than that attained under the radical policy that is seen
as contradictive to the Confucian educational tradition. Last, the
importance of further path models that would show the relationship
between cultural tradition and social demand for education is
discussed.