Educational inequality in Korea: Recent trends and persistent structure

This paper analyzes how and to what extent inequalities in educational opportunity in Korea have changed during the second half of the twentieth century. Educational inequality is defined by social class differentials in both the quantity (success) and quality (path) of school transitions made at the secondary (middle to high school) and tertiary (college) levels of schooling. The extent of educational stratification as examined by the probability of transition to a higher grade has not been visibly alleviated over multiple generations. We also find that the extent of educational stratification is stronger in the secondary levels than in the tertiary schooling transition. The results also show that the long-term trend of stratification in the Korean educational system has decreased inequality in terms of scale, but increased the qualitative inequality of educational achievement between social classes. Even during the period of educational expansion and rapid economic development, social inequality in educational opportunity has resisted change. Such inequalities tend to reproduce themselves between successive cohorts, especially when quantitative socioeconomic opportunity remains limited.