South Korea's Education Exodus

The Life and Times of Early Study Abroad

Adrienne Lo, Nancy Abelmann, Soo Ah Kwon, Sumie Okazaki, Adrienne Lo, Nancy Abelmann, Soo Ah Kwon, Sumie Okazaki

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780295806525
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

South Korea's Education Exodus analyzes Early Study Abroad in relation to the neoliberalization of South Korean education and labor. With chapters based on demographic and survey data, discourse analysis, and ethnography in destinations such as Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States, the book considers the complex motivations that spur families of pre-college youth to embark on often arduous and expensive journeys. In addition to examining various forms and locations of study abroad, South Korea's Education Exodus discusses how students and families manage living and studying abroad in relation to global citizenship, language ideologies, social class, and race.

PART I

The Lay of the Land

1

Early Study Abroad:
A Survey and Demographic Portrait

CHON SUN IHM and HEE JUNG CHOI

As education has become increasingly global, youth education options are no longer constrained by national boundaries. Transnational student mobility for overseas education is a worldwide phenomenon today, one that is grounded in a constellation of interrelated educational, cultural, political, and economic contexts.¹ Indeed, there were 8,460,826 noncitizen and nonresident students enrolled in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in 2010, which is more than double the 4,119,530 reported in 2000.² Within this growing trend of education across borders, the staggering volume and cost of overseas learning in South Korea calls our attention both to the relationship between the national education system and the political economy and to the social and economic costs incurred by the Korean family.³ It is not an exaggeration to say that Early Study Abroad (ESA) offers a powerful window into South Korean society at large. This chapter surveys trends in ESA with several questions: What are the characteristics of the domestic education system that drive this education exodus? What are the reasons behind the rapid increase in ESA students? What is the shape of the education exodus itself? And what are the demographic features of parents who choose this form of education emigration?

EARLY STUDY ABROAD BY THE NUMBERS

In this section, we review three large trends in South Korean ESA: the increasing number of younger students, the ascendance of Southeast Asian countries as destinations, and the increasing adoption of this form of education migration by a wider class-spectrum of parents. Taken together these trends speak to the diffusion of ESA.

Higher Numbers, Younger Ages

There has been rapid growth in the number of South Korean students going overseas for education both at the precollege level and at the postsecondary level. In 2006, it was estimated that 190,364 South Korean students were studying abroad at the postsecondary level, while in 1985 only 24,315 South Korean students were enrolled in higher education institutions overseas.⁴ The number of those who leave for foreign countries before college and whose only purpose for going abroad is to study has increased from 2,259 in 1995 to 16,515 in 2011.⁵ In the sixteen years since 1995, the number has increased about sevenfold, with the peak at 29,511 in 2006.

Figure 1.1. Number of Early Study Abroad students

Source: Korean Educational Development Institute, The Analysis of Education Statistics, Annual Report (2012).

While the official statistics in figure 1.1 illustrate the substantial increase of ESA students since 2000, the actual number of students is probably much higher given that children who accompany their parents who are working or studying overseas are not counted in the official statistics. Who counts as pursuing ESA is not always clear, as many South Korean parents undertake overseas work assignments or pursue advanced degrees overseas with their children’s education in mind. For example, many work-related, short-term visitors become ESA families. Indeed, a survey conducted in 2008 of 1,000 students with Early Study Abroad experience showed that 51.7 percent of them had gone abroad to accompany parents who were working or studying overseas.⁶ Thus, we find the official definition of ESA to be an overly narrow one, given the various forms of ESA.⁷

As Figure 1.1 reveals, not only has the number of study abroad students increased in recent decades, but the average age is also becoming younger. In the 1990s, official statistics counted only 200–400 South Korean primary school ESA students per year. However, the number of primary school students going overseas for their education has increased rapidly since then, and in 2002 their numbers surpassed middle and high school students. In 2011, for example, 7,477 primary school students, 5,468 middle school students, and 3,570 high school students were studying overseas.⁸ This trend of sending younger students abroad reflects parents’ ideas about the importance of early socialization and their varying beliefs as to the best age for acquiring second and third languages, and indicates the popularity of short-term migration to facilitate students’ readjustment to their studies in South Korea.⁹

DESTINATIONS: THE ASCENDANCE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

Surveys reveal that the United States is still the most desirable country for study abroad and, indeed, it has been the most popular destination for South Korean ESA students in the past decade.¹⁰ However, there is a gap between preferred countries and actual destinations. According to a 2007 survey of 999 adults living in the seven largest cities in South Korea presented in figure 1.2, English-speaking countries (including the United States and Canada) ranked as parents’ top choices for ESA. Figure 1.3 reveals, however, that destinations in Southeast Asia (e.g., Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines) have become increasingly popular in recent years among actual ESA parents, as the range of destinations has diversified. Although the United States continues to be the top destination, the percentage of those who leave for Canada, Southeast Asia, Australia, or New Zealand has also been increasing since 2005.

There are significant differences in the destinations of primary school students, middle school students, and high school students. Table 1.1 shows that the most common destinations for primary school students are in Southeast Asia, but the United States remains the most popular destination for middle school and high school students. The growing popularity of Southeast Asian countries most likely speaks to perceived geographical and emotional proximity; active efforts by Southeast Asian countries to recruit international students; the perception that such destinations are more affordable; and, in the case of Singapore, the increasing social capital associated with Chinese language acquisition as well as English.¹¹ Also important to point out is that ESA is often part of a life-course plan in which early stints in countries like New Zealand or Singapore when children are young serve as stepping-stones for later study abroad stays in countries such as the United States and Canada for high school or college.¹²

Figure 1.2. Preferred countries for Early Study Abroad

Source: Ihm Chon Sun, Suh So-jung, Yi Byung-min, and Jung Il-joon, Chogi yuhak lip’ot’ŭ: Kyoyuk mit chogi yuhak yŏlonchosa pogosŏ [Analysis of survey on South Korean education and early-age overseas education] (2008).

Note: n = total number of respondents. n = 999.

Figure 1.3. Early Study Abroad destinations

Source: Korean Educational Development Institute, The Analysis of Education Statistics, Annual Report (2009).

Table 1.1. Early Study Abroad destinations in 2008

Source: Korean Educational Development Institute, The Analysis of Education Statistics, Annual Report (2009).

Diversification of Parents

As might be imagined, parents who are able to send their children overseas are socio-economically distinct from those who are not able to do so. Family income and parents’ education are important influences. Among those who sent their children overseas, the average annual parental income level was above 100 million wŏn/year (approximately USD$100,000).¹³

Tables 1.2 and 1.3 illustrate how socioeconomic background influences attitudes toward both ESA and parents’ willingness to pursue it. As shown in table 1.2, the higher the family income and the parents’ education, the more positive their attitudes are toward ESA, which in turn lead to a greater likelihood of sending their children overseas. However, it is interesting that even in the low-income bracket of under 2 million wŏn (approximately USD$2,000 per month), 36.3 percent rated ESA positively. According to table 1.3, the proportion of South Korean parents who were willing to send their children overseas if they could afford it was 33.3 percent in the low-income bracket and 60.8 percent in the highest income group. There were no large differences between middle-class and upper-middle-class parents’ willingness to pursue ESA: 41.8 percent for those with monthly incomes of approximately USD$2,000–$4,000 vs. 46.8 percent for those with monthly incomes of approximately USD$4,000–$6,000. The popularity of ESA among a wider spectrum of families partly explains the aforementioned ascendance of Southeast Asia as an ESA destination, because it is perceived to be lower-cost than the United States or Canada.

Table 1.2. Attitudes toward Early Study Abroad in 2007

Source: Ihm Chon Sun, Suh So-jung, Yi Byung-min, and Jung Il-joon, Chogi yuhak lip’otŭ: Kyoyuk mit chogi yuhak yŏlonchosa pogosŏ [Analysis of survey on South Korean education and early-age overseas education] (2008).

Note: *M = million

Table 1.3. The influence of socioeconomic background on intentions to study abroad before college

Source: Ihm Chon Sun, Suh So-jung, Yi Byung-min, and Jung Il-joon, Chogi yuhak lip’otŭ: Kyoyuk mit chogi yuhak yŏlonchosa pogosŏ [Analysis of survey on South Korean education and early-age overseas education] (2008).

Note: *M = million

Reasons for Education Exodus

ESA can be understood as an extension of the escalation of South Korea’s shadow-schooling system, and more generally as a reflection of the country’s intense competition for social mobility through education.¹⁴ In this section, we review how the South Korean school system, intense pressure for private after-school education, and severe competition for jobs have together propelled ESA.

Figure 1.4 reports on the possible reasons and motivations for ESA. The participants of the survey were 1,006 adults living in the seven largest cities in South Korea whose families were not necessarily participating in ESA. Some of the respondents had children, while others did not. The largest number of people (44.5 percent) thought that the primary purpose of ESA was to learn English or other foreign languages. Another 16.5 percent responded that ESA offers a competitive edge for ...