If education is a process of teaching and learning knowledge and skills that should be acquired by humans to live life while keeping human dignity, academic achievement is the result of teaching and learning and serves as the basis for determining whe...
If education is a process of teaching and learning knowledge and skills that should be acquired by humans to live life while keeping human dignity, academic achievement is the result of teaching and learning and serves as the basis for determining whether education is well performing. Thus, shedding light on decisive factors behind academic achievement is nut just prerequisite for successful education but also is the first step to live a life with human dignity.
The study aims to illuminate decisive factors behind academic achievement at university. To this end, the study decided to focus on research subjects described as follows: first, impact of family-related variables (such as father's educational background, mother's educational background, income level and tutoring cost) on academic achievement at university; secondly, impact of variables regarding high school performance (such as high school GPA, class attitude, time spent to study alone) on academic achievement at university; third, impact of university-related variables (such as satisfaction with university facilities, contentment with curriculum, time spent to study alone, time spent to study with colleagues, satisfaction with subject, satisfaction with university) on academic achievement; fourth, gender-based impact of variables regarding family, high school and university on academic achievement.
Based on the data of Korea Education Employment Panel: KEEP) led by Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training from 2016 through 2019, the study set apart variables regarding academic achievement at university, family, high school and university as dependent variables to perform t-text and regression analysis.
The result shows: first, whereas family variable (such as parents' educational background) impacts high school academic achievement in some way, it has proved to be irrelevant to academic achievement at university; second, under the circumstances where family-related variable is under control, it has proved that the higher GPA of 2nd grade of high school is, the better class attitude is, the more time spent to study alone there is, the better academic achievement at university is; third, under the circumstances where variables regarding family and high school are under control, it has turned out that the more time spent to study major alone there is, the higher satisfaction with major is, the better academic achievement at university is; fourth, gender-based analysis of any difference among academic achievement at university, family variable, high school variable and university variable shows that as far as satisfaction-related variables in general are concerned, male students tend to have higher satisfaction and female students tend to score higher in variables regarding tutoring cost, time spent to study and academic achievement; fifth, while the biggest factor behind male students' academic achievement at university is time spent to study alone, the biggest one for female students is satisfaction with major, followed by time spent to study alone at university, time taken to study alone at high school and GPA of high school; sixth, gender-based analysis of impact of variables regarding family, high school and university on academic achievement at university shows that while time taken to study together with colleagues works out positive result for male students, the opposite is true for female ones, with impact of satisfaction with major on academic achievement being far stronger for female students than for male ones.
These results evoke conclusions described as follows:
First, while impact of family variables on academic achievement at university is untangible, impact of high school GPA and time taken to study alone at high school on academic achievement at university has proved great, suggesting that of the family variables impacting high school academic performance (high school GPA), parents' educational background is most likely to have the greatest impact on academic achievement at university. Second, acquiring proper class attitude and getting used to studying alone during high school period contributes to upgrading academic achievement at university. Third, increasing time spent to study alone and satisfaction with major contributes to improving academic achievement at university. Additionally, satisfaction with major closely correlates with one's own choice of favorite major, suggesting importance of thoughtfully considering one's own major at the time of entering university. Fourth, decisive factor behind male students' academic achievement at university is time taken to study alone, suggesting importance of forming the habit of studying alone. As far as decisive factors behind female students' academic achievement at university are concerned, it has proved that satisfaction with major ranked 1st, followed by time taken to study alone at university, satisfaction with major, time taken to study alone at high school and high school GPA. In particular, both satisfaction with major and time taken to study alone have turned out to have the greatest impact and equally be influential. This suggests importance of forming the habit of studying alone as well as of thoughtful selection of academic department and opting for well-suited major. Fifth, while impact of time to study together with colleagues on academic achievement at university has turned out to have positive effect on male students, the opposite has proved to be true for female student, with impact of satisfaction with major on academic achievement at university being far greater for female students than for male ones. This suggests that while male students desirably should seek to study together with colleagues, female ones contrastingly should restrain themselves from studying together for better academic achievement at university. Additionally for female students, for whom satisfaction with major is the most decisive factor behind academic achievement at university, it is most important to thoughtfully select academic department and opt for well-suited major at the time of entering the university.