The present study is an attempt to describe and analyze cultural features of an evening high school(called here "Shinna Girls' High") and its students, Student culture of the school under study can be distinguished by the values and norms shared among...
The present study is an attempt to describe and analyze cultural features of an evening high school(called here "Shinna Girls' High") and its students, Student culture of the school under study can be distinguished by the values and norms shared among the group. Especially, the evening high school is an educational system which provides its students who have failed once to pass an entrance examination of regular high school with some second chances to climb up the ladder of academic career. So to speak, the evening high school formations as a track for the 'failures'. The present study is specifically concerned about discovering the features of such an educational system, focusing on the following questions:
1. How are the self-identitys of Shinna High students formed and varied?
2. What kinds of subgroups do consist of Shinna Girls' High?
3. What are cultural themes which dominate the life of Shinna High students?
4. Through this research. what. can we discuss about the meaning of Korean evening high schools in general?
In keeping with these research questions, the researcher has conducted a series of ethnographic interviews and observations during 0 months in the above-mentioned high school.
Major findings of the present study can be as follows:
First, entering the evening high school, the students gradually learns how to recognize and adapt to the harsh "reality", They give up some "ungrounded" hopes to enter the college and just wish to graduate the high school uneventfully
Second, the students seem to classified with three subgroups(the grade-seekers, the go-betweens and the anti-schoolers) according to two criteria: either commitment to future-oriented academism or to present-orlented hedonism.
Third, through out the research, we can find four major cultural themes from the students' ways of living : they recognze 'teacher as an enemy'; they make a rule of cheating for various tests given to them to break school ideology of meritocracy ; they resist the norm of student-ship ; and they make every effort to find easier ways to enter the college, mostly in vain.
In short, evening schools in Korea accommodate some 'failures' to provided them with rosy hopes. Actually, however, the schools function for the most part as an institution of 'labelling' and 'cooling-out' the failures. Consequently, many students in those schools formulate a counter-school-culture and seek pleasure out of school contexts.