Students attend a class at a cram school in Mapo Ward, Seoul, on Oct. 12, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — The academic performance of a child became more reliant on the wealth of their parents in the last 10 years, a study showed Wednesday.
Professor Kim Seong-sik from Seoul National University of Education reported during a forum at the National Assembly on Tuesday that according to the Korea Educational Development Institute, the inequality index of academic performance based on income difference in 2020 reached 177.7 among high school juniors.
The index pegs the year of 2010 at a value of 100, and compares the income differences between those from the lowest to the highest income tier. A score exceeding 100 indicates worse inequality.
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducts on high school freshmen every year showed that the basic academic performance among Korean students has deteriorated, and it has become more reliant on the wealth or the socioeconomic status of their parents.
Yoo Kyu-oh, a producer at the state-run Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) who also participated in the forum, said that PISA showed the proportion of Korean students falling below the basic level of academic performance surged from 6 percent in 2000 to 14.5 percent in 2015.
The estimated value of family background influencing academic achievement jumped from 22.9 points to 42.8 points over the same period, easily surpassing the OECD average of 29.7.
Professor Kim said that parents’ wealth is spent on their children’s private education, allowing them access to opportunities of additional forms of education.
The experiences of the parents educating their children throughout the course of exerting their financial capability may have influenced their children’s learning behavior, he added.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
