This study examined how Coleman's social capital exists in elementary students and how it affects their living and study under the current circumstances where education level or academic achievement plays a key role in acquiring social status. The pur...
This study examined how Coleman's social capital exists in elementary students and how it affects their living and study under the current circumstances where education level or academic achievement plays a key role in acquiring social status. The purpose of the study was to help elementary students to grow desirably and to achieve academic success by clarifying the relationship between social capital and academic success and building and utilizing social capital. To this end, the following research questions were established.
First, examine social capital that exists in home.
Second, examine social capital that exists in school.
Third, examine social capital that exists in community.
Through a variety of methods such as the observation of students in various real-life and class situations, interviews with parents, and analysis of other information, ethnographic research methods that enable in depth investigation were applied.
The study found that social capital exists in various forms in home, school and community.
First, social capital in homes exists in the following forms: parent interest in education, parent expectation on education, parent-child interaction and a method of parent intervention in child education, deficiency structure of home, student expectation on their education, and a method to utilize after school hours. Students showed outstanding academic achievements under the following circumstances: parents had higher interest or expectation on child education; students had higher expectation on their own education; structure of home was normal; interaction between parents and children went smoothly; and after school hours were spent effectively.
Second, social capital in school exist in the form of perception of friendship, the structure of school norms concerning students are elected a class president or an officers, a favorable relationship with teachers and school, a relationship with home and community. Students produced outstanding academic results when they made consistent efforts to outperform friends with similar academic results, received attention form teachers and friends as a class officer and maintained a favorable relationship with their teachers.
Third, social capital in community exist in the form of social interaction among parents, coherence of relational structure, norm and punishment in community, relative relationships, and parents' information sources on education. Children performed well when parents had close relationship with community, interacted smoothly with members of community, had information sources on education and had relatives who played as a desirable growth model.
After all, the degree of these social capitals are reflected in elementary students' academic results. In other words, the more abundant social capital is and the better social capital is utilized, the better elementary students perform.
As revealed in the study, Coleman's social capital exists in elementary students' home, school and community and have positive an influence on their academic success. It is natural for home, school and community to exert various efforts to create social capital for students' academic success. To this end, both adults and children need to make efforts. Adults should build social capital to assist child development. Establishing social capital among adults is essential for interaction between generations on norms and expectation. Adults actively participating in organizations of social life can be a role model that encourages children to involve in socially constructive activities. Therefore, the development of social capital needs to be initiated from homes and neighborhood and for maximum benefit social capital of community should be linked with that of home and neighborhood. That is, adults should encourage children to involve in various organizational activities through school, workplace and cultural activities outside their home. School is the organization that creates conditions facilitating the development of residents' social capital. Therefore, various programs which create social capital in connection with school and community should be developed.