Suchergebnisse

Can education improve Korea's self-cultivating society which has left its people untrusting of others? Reforming public education, particularly eliminating rote-based learning and encouraging horizontal and participatory classes, will enhance peer relationships, trust and cooperation to ultimately contribute to reversing the decline in social capital. - The significance of social capital, which is formed of interpersonal relationships and interaction, is recognized throughout society. - Amid the growing popularity of the "each to his own" mentality, Korea is experiencing a continuous decline in mutual trust. - The low degree of happiness in Koreans is due to the lack of social capital. - In Northern European countries that apply horizontal collaborative methods, people with higher education show stronger social trust. But, this is not the case for Korea and East European countries wherein one-sided lectures are more dominant. - How children are taught is more signifiant to the cultivation of social capital than what is taught. What is critical to fostering social capital is how to teach, not what to teach. - A high proportion (81%) of Korean respondents described high school as a 'battlefield.' - Korean undergraduates have low public trust and prefer self-help methods to collective solutions. - Korea has the lowest percentage of those who believe that the general public and government officials will meet social norms. - Korea shows low willingness to make donations and has weak solidarity. - About 73% of Korean respondents preferred a secluded residential environment for privacy protection over communication and interaction. - Korean undergraduates believe that as the level of education increases, the level of cooperative sprit decreases. - Social capital increased further among students who were more frequently exposed to PBL activities. - Students who received a horizontal-type education showed more increases in their network of friends and better perceptions about social capital at the end of the semester. - Peer relationships fostered in the course of horizontal interactions were found to improve perceptions and attitudes about social capital. - Having experienced random grouping in class, students became more receptive to cooperating with others who are unfamiliar. - Horizontal interaction could be enhanced by adopting constructivism through, for example, PBL and flipped classroom programs. - It is necessary to extend evaluation systems to an appropriate degree, such as team-based, absolute, student participatory and processfocused formats. - An innovative education environment such as bottomup changes in classes should be developed and HR systems for faculty need to be redesigned to go hand in hand with educational innovation. - Transforming teaching methods to be more horizontal and participatory is an important agenda that will contribute to not only enhancing social capital but also to fostering those with skills needed in the future.

- Need to assess equity and efficiency of investment of time, effort, and money into Koreans' development of English ability from standpoint of economic resource allocation - One-third of all primary and secondary school students' private tutoring expenditures go toward English study; college students and adults also invest substantial time and effort in English learning - Equity Issue: So-called "English gap" between income classes and across regions - There exist large disparities in private education investment between income groups and differing degrees of English exposure across regions despite similar income levels - Large class- and region-based differences in English scores on National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA), College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), and Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) - English ability more strongly influenced by environment than other subjects and used as screening device for entrance to colleges and companies, indicating significance in terms of equality of opportunity - Three questions associated with efficiency of resource allocation for English education: (1)To what extent are people rewarded in the labor market for their English education investments? (2)Is it desirable to have English-related experience used as a device for screening and signaling? (3)Are employees' English abilities matched with the needs of their position? - English experience beneficial in job applicant screening and interviews, but TOEIC score found to be more important in determining full-time employment status, workplace scale, and salary - Wage premium for English proficiency may be associated more with worker's other capabilities than English-related productivity improvements ·No connection observed between premium and job demands for English proficiency ·College students found to sacrifice studies and activities in other areas due to their perception that companies value English-related experience - Mismatch between workplace English demands and employee proficiency by job type ·Lower frequency of use in business/clerical positions relative to high levels of investment and proficiency owing to demands for related experience in application process ·Far lower investment and proficiency than needed for positions in sciences and medicine/pharmaceuticals ·Need for rethink practice of using English as a screening device for gauging the abilities of liberal arts (as opposed to science) students - Rational, ongoing efforts required from primary/secondary schools, universities, companies, and government to enhance equity and efficiency of investments in English education - Schools: Promote practicality of English teaching and prevent English gap from growing - Universities: Prevent English study from interfering with development of other student capabilities - Companies: Demand appropriate level of English proficiency for position - Government: Promote equity and efficiency of investment through improvements to public education and hiring practices

Cases of policy decision-making processes that fail to fully recognize the foreseeable problems facing younger and future generations indicate that current policy governance is vulnerable in terms of intergenerational equity and sustainability. Hence, it is vital to design an effective policy governance system for resolving intergenerational problems; one in which policymakers can consider the long-term impact of their decisions not only on different living generations but also on future generations. To fulfill this task, a participatory policy governance system has been proposed as a way of promoting the input from different generations, and on behalf of future generations in policy decision-making processes in the legislative and administrative sectors. Creating a civic culture for future responsibility at the community level should be also emphasized. Institutionalizing the participatory policy governance system and the culture for future responsibility could help to alleviate increasing generational conflict in Korea during the coming era of slow growth and aging population. - Generational conflicts are increasingly likely to grow stronger in the policy decision-making process as well as in voting. - Indeed, some policy cases even failed to take into account of the fully expected problems and are simply centered on present generations. - Most respondents in all age groups agree on the need for an institutional mechanism that could strengthen younger people's political influence. - Positive responses to the willingness for intergenerational communication and discussion outnumber the negative responses, while 20s remain laid-back. - Efforts to seek intergenerational equity and sustainability encounter challenges such as deepening generational heterogeneity resulting from rapid changes in Korean history, rapid aging of the population, weak social trust, and poor capacity to resolve conflicts. - Efforts are needed to appoint representatives of younger and future generations to the National Assembly through the proportional representation system, to establish a permanent committee for future generations, and to lower the voting age. - Other efforts include establishing a presidential committee for future generations, creating a system of participatory budgeting that includes young people and adolescents, gathering public opinion through direct democratic methods, and enhancing access to policy information. - Improving civic awareness and capabilities through civic movements could serve as a basis for pursuing broader participation, deliberation, and consensus building in governance.

People's concern about their relative status is regarded as an explanation to the Easterlin paradox, which reports that happiness has not increased despite continued growth in average income. The strength of concerns about relative position varies across people. First, we examine the socio-demographic characteristics and values that lead to a strong relative concern. And then we comprehensively investigate differences in financial outcomes, health, happiness, and behaviors by the degree of relative concern. In particular, Korea is an appropriate country for this study as Koreans have experienced rapid economic growth and there exists severe status race in their education system and labor market. Using data from our experimental survey of 3,000 Koreans, we examine their preference for positional goods and behaviors regarding herding, status seeking, and altruism. Our results show that those who have stronger relative concerns are more likely to live in upscale districts and place economic values above non-pecuniary values, and, in reality, they have better financial outcomes. They also exhibit higher tendencies of overconsumption and conspicuous consumption. Their health, however, is worse than others, specifically in regards to psychological health. Moreover, overall happiness and satisfaction in every dimension are proved to be lower for those who have stronger relative concerns. In a series of hypothetical situations of our survey, they consistently show higher inclinations toward status race and herding but lower degrees of altruism or sympathy. As for policy implications, we discuss the following issues. First, we show Koreans' diagnoses of the reasons for their unhappiness and examine how relative concern affects such diagnoses. Second, we discuss government intervention to remedy positional externalities based on our survey results about people's perceived positionality of selected goods that have a negative influence on others' welfare. Third, we show that Koreans' relative concerns do not necessarily arise from their materialistic values and they are undergoing transformation of individual values toward post-materialism, which makes a room for remedial change of institutions that have led excessive social comparisons and competitions. Fourth, we discuss policy directions for reducing negative effects of social comparison in the context of contemporary Korea focusing on the education system and labor market reform. Last but not least, we suggest some examples of nudge ideas using people's relative concern for the whole society and the motivation of self-improvement via social comparison, which implies that relative concern can be made good use of as well.