University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2007 The Diaspora of Korean Children: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Educational Crisis in Contemporary South Korea Young-ee Cho The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Cho, Young-ee, "The Diaspora of Korean Children: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Educational Crisis in Contemporary South Korea" (2007). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1244. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1244 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DIASPORA OF KOREAN CHILDREN: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF THE EDUCATIONAL CRISIS IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH KOREA By Young-ee Cho B.A Economics / East Asian Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, 1986 M.B.A. International Marketing, Indiana University, 1988 Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Montana Missoula, MT Summer 2007 Approved by: Dr. David A. Strobel, Dean Graduate School Dr. Roberta D. Evans, Chair School of Education Dr. C. LeRoy Anderson Dept of Sociology Dr. John C. Lundt Dept of Educational Leadership & Counseling Dr. William P. McCaw Dept of Educational Leadership & Counseling Dr. John C. Spores School of Social Work © COPYRIGHT by Young-ee Cho 2007 All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Cho, Young-ee, Ph.D. August 2007 Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (IIP) The Diaspora of Korean Children: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Educational Crisis in Contemporary South Korea Chairperson: Dr. Roberta D. Evans The diaspora of Korean children first started after the Korean War in the 1950s. Abandoned by their impoverished mothers and shunned by society, many orphan children were sent abroad for adoption, which was the best, if not the only, available solution at the time. Half a century later, South Korea today is no longer a desperately poor country, and yet an increasing number of young children are still being sent abroad. The exodus of children, termed as the diaspora of Korean children in this study, is an out-of-country solution chosen by both students and parents in response to an educational dilemma in Korea, which signifies the urgent issues of public education in the increasingly globalized world today. By anchoring the educational crisis in contemporary South Korea in historical and cultural contexts, a primary purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to explore the seeming contradiction between the remarkable successes of Korean education, in particular its role in Korea’s remarkable social and economic transformation, and its fundamental weaknesses. Its historical and cultural background, including the experience of war, provides context for understanding the phenomena of Korean society manifested in the expressions such as parachute kids, wild geese families, cuckoo mommies and penguin daddies. This study also investigates the relevance of Confucian values in explaining Korea's educational crisis today. It places Korea’s cultural underpinnings and complex historical experience in the context of the quest for modernization. Some critics blame Confucianism as the main culprit for the educational crisis today. But others disagree and argue that, despite its excesses and rigid applications in the past, Confucianism holds promise for addressing some of the problems of modern society. By reevaluating the efficacy of Confucian values in contemporary Korean society and in particular its complex and even conflicting interpretations in justifying competing models of education, this study addresses the question that many societies are facing today, including the United States, “At what cost, education?” iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the following women who devoted their lives for others. Their patience with the heavy weight of tradition and quiet suffering in the tragedy of the war have been a constant inspiration for my life and the motivation for this work. Choi Seo-un, my grandmother. Park Gye-soon, my mother. Cho Young-sook, my sister iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” certainly applies to me. Indeed, completing the dissertation took more than a village—an international community of loving support and encouragement by many individuals. Without the help and guidance of my professors, colleagues, my family and friends, both in Korea and in the United States, this arduous journey would have been harder, if not impossible. I am deeply grateful to my dissertation committee, Professors Bobbie Evans, Roy Anderson, John Lundt, Bill McCaw, and John Spores, who have been generous with their time and advice. I would like to thank especially Dr. Anderson and Dr. Spores for their detailed comments on my earlier draft, and Dr. Lundt and Dr. McCaw on the later version. Their suggestions significantly improved my dissertation. I am truly indebted to Dr. Evans, the model of an ideal committee chair and mentor, who has been supportive and encouraging at every stage of this project. Her meticulous and perceptive readings of many drafts have shaped the development of this dissertation. Without her firm guidance and advice, I would have been lost in the universe of intellectual pursuit, and because of its immensity, going everywhere and ultimately nowhere. I am very thankful to my boss, Dr. Steve Running, Director of Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) at College of Forestry and Conservation. It is largely because of his management style of allowing flexible working hours and a trusting environment that I was able to fulfill my role as a mother, a graduate student and a university employee. Working at NTSG, I have gained not only confidence but also new appreciation for scientific knowledge of our environment and the urgent issues of global warming. More importantly, however, I have acquired many life long friends--all of my NTSG colleagues past and present--who have been enthusiastic about my ‘non- science’ pursuit. I am also grateful for the love and support I received from my family and friends both in Korea and in the U.S. My brother, Ki-bok, and Professor Suh Ji-moon at Korea University have provided me with a continual supply of invaluable information and research materials from Korea. The staff at the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Mansfield Library, Megan Stark in particular, has been a great help in finding materials in a timely and professional manner. v My Korean soul has been sustained by wonderful friendship and comforting presence of a small community of Koreans in Missoula. The Reinhardt family, Chin-won and Howard, and their daughter Elizabeth, has been the main spring for growing my roots in Montana. Their endlessly interesting conversations over Chin-won’s fabulous soul (Seoul) food are always nourishing, as well as stimulating, to both my body and mind. It is my good fortune to have crossed paths with them. Also, I thank Dr. Woodam Chung and his wife, Sun-young Park, Dr. Changwon Yoo and his wife, Soo-young Kwak, for their love and support. They are all an integral part of my enriched life in Montana. The seed for this study might have been planted long ago in Bloomington, Indiana. I am grateful to my good old friends, June and Larry Onesti and Karen and Bill Hicks, who included me in their family lives of intimacy, affection, trials and triumphs among their fourteen adopted children from Korea. They showed me a beautiful process of how families were created. Nita Levison, coordinator for international students at Indiana University, knows what to do and how to help foreigners who are new in this country. I wish to thank to my two children, Daniel and Juni. Their intelligence and abundant talents never cease to amaze me. Their fearless independence inspires me to face life with confidence. As I try to stand still and listen to their march, I am often reminded how lucky I am to be their mother. Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my always cheerful husband, Phil West. He has been a steady source of intellectual and moral support. His breadth and depth of knowledge in Asian history not only helped me to sharpen my analysis, but his contagious passion for learning about the ‘other’ has also broadened the significance of my work in many crucial ways. He read and reread virtually every word of this dissertation and his expert comments have enhanced every aspect of this study. But most of all, I am grateful for his unfailing optimism that pulled me out for countless times from dark moments of my discouragement. For that, I couldn’t have asked for a better life partner, and I feel evermore blessed. Summer 2007 Missoula, Montana vi TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT……………………………………………………………………………..ii ABSTRACT…….………………………………………………………………………..iii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………iv ACKNOWLEGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………v TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………..vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Context of the Study………………………………………………1 Statement of the Problem…………………………………6 Purpose of the Study……...……………………………...12 Research Method…………………………………….......12