Abstract
This study investigates two types of high schools in South Korea as a social environment for the formation of social capital: selective (foreign language high schools, FLHS) and non-selective (general high schools, GHS). By analyzing in-depth interviews with 22 graduates of FLHS and GHS who attended the same elite university, we found that FLHS generally provide a better social context and students in FLHS are more likely to form ties with their peers than those attending GHS. Furthermore, since FLHS pool the cultural capital owned by individual students, various opportunities for extracurricular activities appear to function as the domain not only for forming social capital but also promoting cultural capital. The results indicate that the friendship ties formed by students from FLHS and GHS have a significant role in organizing their social and academic life at university.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Park took power in 1961 in a military coup d’état, and his regime ended with his assassination by the head of the Korean CIA in 1979.
Heated debate has surrounded the “diversification of schools,” which is supported primarily by the defenders of SPHS. Strong doubts have been expressed about the alleged purpose of the SPHS, as they function mainly as elite institutions that produce better college admission rates, although there is little difference in their curricula.
In 2011, 28.3% of students who graduated from FLHS located in Seoul largely entered one of three top universities in Korea (so-called SKY universities, e.g., Seoul National, Korea, and Yonsei University). Approximately, one third of successful applicants in SKY universities were FLHS graduates (Kim and Yoon 2011). Such high proportion of FLHS graduates attending top universities enable us to easily employ purposive sampling methods.
Three of the 10 GHS graduates attended a GHS located in the metropolitan Seoul area. There are six FLHS in Seoul: Dae-won, Dae-il, Myung-duk, Han-young, Seoul, and Ewha Womans FLHS. Except for Ewha Womans FLHS, which is a girls’ school, we sampled our interviewees evenly from five of the six FLHS in Seoul.
Public provision of free education in Korea covers 9 years, up to middle school (lower secondary education).
In fact, few EA-friendly GHS from our samples can be identified as an elite high school in their district.
Similar to teaching goals of Taiwanese English as a foreign language (EFL) (Chen 2011), such vivid experiences make FLHS students to collaborate with and learn from others.
Seth (2002) termed Korean parents’ excessive investment in or over-concern with education “education fever”.
Whereas internal social capital is generated by an executive’s relationships with others in the organization, external social capital is generated by his or her ties to others outside the organization, primarily obtained by attending an elite university or membership of an external economic association (Kim and Cannella 2008).
References
Alon, S. (2009). The evolution of class inequality in higher education: Competition, exclusion, and adaptation. American Sociological Review, 74, 731–755.
Berg, B. (2007). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Power and ideology in education (pp. 487–511). Oxford: New York.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood.
Bourdieu, P. (1996). On the family as a realized category. Theory Culture & Society, 13(3), 19–26.
Brantlinger, E., Majd-Jabbari, M., & Guskin, S. L. (1996). Self-interest and liberal educational discourse: how ideology works for middle-class mothers. American Educational Research Journal, 33(3), 571–597.
Buerkle, K., & Guseva, A. (2002). What do you know, who do you know? School as a site for the production of social capital and its effects on income attainment in Poland and the Czech Republic. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 61(3), 657–680.
Burris, V. (2004). The academic caste system: Prestige hierarchies in PhD exchange networks. American Sociological Review, 69, 239–264.
Chen, Y. (2011). Fostering Taiwanese EFL teachers’ constructivist instructional beliefs through teaching goals and ICT use. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 20(2), 373–386.
Covay, E., & Carvonaro, W. (2010). After the bell: Participation in extracurricular activities, classroom behavior, and academic achievement. Sociology of Education, 83(1), 20–45.
Feld, S. (1981). The focused organization of social ties. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 1015–1035.
Feld, S. (1984). The structured use of personal associates. Social Forces, 62(3), 640–652.
Frank, K. A., Muller, C., Schiller, K. S., Riegle-Crumb, C., Mueller, A. S., Crosnoe, R., et al. (2008). The social dynamics of mathematics coursetaking in high school. American Journal of Sociology, 113(6), 1645–1696.
Hallinan, M. T., & Williams, R. A. (1989). Interracial friendship choices in secondary schools. American Sociological Review, 54, 67–78.
Kim, Y. H. (2003). Alumni groups and school network. Paper presented at 2003 International Conference of Korean Sociological Association, Jeju University, Jejudo, Korea, pp. 53–68.
Kim, Y., & Cannella, A. A. (2008). Social capital among corporate upper echelons and its impacts on executive promotion in Korea. Journal of World Business, 43, 85–96.
Kim, S., & Yoon, S. (2011). The paradox of school equalization policy: Falling status of general high schools. Joongang Ilbo, 15 May 2011 (in Korean).
Kingston, P. W., & Lewis, L. S. (1990). Introduction: studying elite schools in America. In P. W. Kingston & L. S. Lewis (Eds.), The high-status track: Studies of elite schools and stratification (pp. xi–xxxiv). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Koo, H. (2007a). The changing faces of inequality in South Korea in the age of globalization. Korean Studies, 31, 1–16.
Koo, H. (2007b). A new approach to class analysis in South Korea in the age of globalization. Economy and Society, 76, 255–327 (in Korean).
Korean Educational Development Institute. (2009). Korean education yearbook. Seoul: Korean Educational Development Institute (in Korean).
Kubitschek, W. N., & Hallinan, M. T. (1998). Tracking and students’ friendships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61(1), 1–15.
Kwon, Y. G. (2009). A report on parents’ occupational status of students attending foreign language high schools and independent private high schools. Policy statement (in Korean).
Kwon, Y. G. (2010). Dreaming by family incomes. Policy statement (in Korean).
Lee, S. H. (1994). Bourdieu’s new social theory: ‘Habitus’ and ‘symbolic order. The Media and Society, 5, 79–115 (in Korean).
Lee, S., & Brinton, M. C. (1996). Elite education and social capital: The case of South Korea. Sociology of Education, 69, 177–192.
Lucas, S. R. (2001). Effectively maintained inequality: Education transitions, track mobility, and social background effects. American Journal of Sociology, 106(6), 1642–1690.
McNeal, R. B. (1995). Extracurricular activities and high school dropouts. Sociology of Education, 68, 62–81.
Min, B. C., & Park, S. Y. (2010). The school effects of foreign language high schools: Applying the propensity score matching method. The Journal of Korean Education, 37(1), 147–165.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). (2009). Brief statistics on Korean education. Seoul: MEST (in Korean).
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). (2010). A data on the present state of foreign language high schools. Seoul: MEST (in Korean).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2009). A report on successful applicants in the foreign service examinations during the last five years. Seoul: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (in Korean).
Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Park, S. Y. (2010). Crafting and dismantling the egalitarian social contract: The changing state-society relations in globalizing Korea. The Pacific Review, 23(5), 579–601.
Park, H. J., Byun, S. Y., & Kim, K. K. (2011). Parent involvement and students’ cognitive outcomes in Korea: Focusing on private tutoring. Sociology of Education, 84(1), 3–22.
Seth, M. J. (2002). Education fever: Society, politics, and the pursuit of schooling in South Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Song-Chae, K. H. (2010). High school tracking policy is devastating schools and students. Hankyoreh, 1 September (in Korean).
The Lawtimes. (2009). A general survey on Korean legal professions 2009 (in Korean).
Van de Werfhorst, H. G., & Mijs, J. J. B. (2010). Achievement inequality and the institutional structure of educational systems: A comparative perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 407–428.
Yoon, S. Y. (2007). A distinctive success of special purpose high schools in the higher civil service examinations. Seoul News, 13 June (in Korean).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, D.H., Kim, J.H. Emerging High-Status Track in South Korea: Social Capital Formation in the Social Contexts of Foreign Language and General High Schools. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 22, 33–44 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-012-0023-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-012-0023-3