Parental Involvement and Growing Education Inequality in South Korea

Abstract

South Korea has been lauded for its education system for the past several decades because its students tend to score well on international achievement tests such as the PISA. However, closer examination of Korea’s education reveals that it is riddled with inequalities. This paper demonstrates how the education system perpetuates socioeconomic inequality instead of alleviating it, as education is intended. After providing relevant background information about the structure and standardization of the Korean education system, this paper reviews existing literature about socioeconomic status, parental involvement, and student achievement to understand how these factors continue to widen education inequalities in the country. Results show that the increasing prevalence of shadow education, or private tutoring, in the country has created gaps in student achievement such that students from high-income families score higher on standardized tests and have a far greater advantage in the job market than students from low-income families. Evaluation of current equalizing policies and suggestions for future improvement will also be discussed.