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Glad to have the "cultural presumption" issue on the table re education.  Intrigued like you by the possibility/likelihood that different cultures see the relationship between between individuals and societies differently and that this in turn affects how they (and the individuals in them) think about education. 

Richard Nisbett's Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerner's Think Differently and Why is an interesting/provocative and relevant exploration of cultural differences.   Serendip has a resource page on Individuals and Cultures that may also be relevant.  Suppose there are indeed significant cultural differences.  Does that mean that we need to think about how to "fix" education differently in each culture depending on that culture's expectations of education?  Or might we aspire to a set of values for education that is relevant for all cultures?