Schools have traditionally been social organisms aiming to help adolescents harmoniously develop their intellectual, emotional and physical qualities, and to cultivate well-rounded people of abundant knowledge and good character. Schools have performe...
Schools have traditionally been social organisms aiming to help adolescents harmoniously develop their intellectual, emotional and physical qualities, and to cultivate well-rounded people of abundant knowledge and good character. Schools have performed two essential functions: an educational function by acquiring and teaching knowledge to students, and a socializing function by helping students learn new life styles by delivering the existing cultural heritage to them.
However, since current school education systems focus more on delivering knowledge than on cultivating well-rounded characters, it is not too much to say that these education systems neglect to perform their original, essential functions.
School-supported club activities can be a way to solve such problems as these activities cultivate well-rounded personalities and help to control students' feelings of frustration and alienation.
This case study has explored, based on previous studies' research, through participant observation and in-depth interviews, how the basketball club has been operated and what the relationship among teachers, students and club members has looked like in an academic climate influenced by concern for the university entrance examination.
Based on such explorations, this study also investigated the cultural meaning and educational meaning of students' experiences in the basketball club .
Participants in this study were 11 students attending Hanbit High School, a boys' academic high school located in A city, Kyungsangbukdo, and 2 teachers of the same high school also acted as supplementary participants. The data for this study was collected using participation observation, in-depth interviews and relevant document research. A textual analysis of the collected data was performed. Detailed data was analyzed systematically by going through the stages of transcription, the development and application of codes for each subject, and subject and meaning creation.
The analysis of the basketball club activities, performed to understand the club culture in boys' academic high schools, showed the following results: adolescents belonging to the basketball club, though they were of impressionable ages, revealed their own hierarchical order, and followed the school rules for the club's continued existence. The analysis also revealed that the adolescents, regardless of conflicts with the school, had built elementary manners and a sense of cooperation through emotional bonds with other club members.
The cultural meaning of students' experiences in the basketball club can be described as follows: such experiences allow students to establish their identities; help them gain the vitality and confidence for their lives; and provide them with the opportunity for continuing education. The educational meanings of their experiences are as follows: students can learn experiential knowledge by building individuality and creative power (which cannot be built through regular curricula), and they can have opportunities to teach and learn at the same time through interactions with other members.