Family structure, institutional context and school success: Charting the achievement gap among Korean Chinese pupils

Abstract

This article ethnographically examines how family characteristics, school resources and teacher expectations affect educational aspirations and attainment among Korean Chinese pupils in one ethnically-mixed Korean school. The academic success of Korean students in China has been widely discussed in local press/media often within the context of a “model minority” discourse. This discourse typically explains Korean student achievement as the result of a cultural emphasis on education combined with lived experience that confirms the perceived payoffs of that education. Not only does the model minority discourse perpetuate a myth of universal Korean student achievement, it also fails to consider the widening achievement gap among Korean students at a time of local transition and change. Using the Open Systems Approach (Ballantine, [2001. The sociology of education: A systematic analysis (5th). New Jersey: Prentice Hall]), the author demonstrates the variations in academic performance which are viewed as the result of the relationship between the school organization (“process”) and the environment outside the organization (“input”). Fieldwork focuses on two fourth-grade classes, both of which consist of a certain number of Danqin (Single-parent household) and Wuqin (Living with relatives) Korean pupils. Alongside detailed observations, in-depth, largely semi-structured interviews and the use of secondary source data, research results link the achievement gap among Korean pupils at this particular Korean school to the family structure, to the home learning activities, in which pupils participate with their families, to the school resources and the expectations Korean pupils have with their teachers and classmates. This paper seeks to contribute to the literature that critically examines Korean Chinese academic success by viewing it through the lens of open system of education which emphasizes the need to look beyond cultural explanations of success and failure to include an analysis of structural and institutional factors influencing the school experiences of Korean pupils.