TY - JOUR
T1 - When Different Types of Education Matter
T2 - Effectively Maintained Inequality of Educational Opportunity in Korea
AU - Byun, Soo Yong
AU - Park, Hyunjoon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © 2016 SAGE Publications.
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Using longitudinal data for a nationally representative sample of ninth graders in South Korea, we examine socioeconomic differences in the likelihood of making transitions into different types of high school and college with a goal of testing the validity of the effectively maintained inequality hypothesis. We find significant socioeconomic disparities in the likelihood of attending an academic high school and a 4-year university. However, the predicted probabilities suggest that even disadvantaged students typically choose an academic high school relative to a vocational high school. Furthermore, although disadvantaged students likely end up with a 2-year junior college, those disadvantaged students graduating from an academic high school typically choose a 4-year university, after controlling for academic achievement and other variables. We discuss the relevance of the effectively maintained inequality hypothesis for South Korea and broad implications for elsewhere where postsecondary education is increasingly available for the majority of population.
AB - Using longitudinal data for a nationally representative sample of ninth graders in South Korea, we examine socioeconomic differences in the likelihood of making transitions into different types of high school and college with a goal of testing the validity of the effectively maintained inequality hypothesis. We find significant socioeconomic disparities in the likelihood of attending an academic high school and a 4-year university. However, the predicted probabilities suggest that even disadvantaged students typically choose an academic high school relative to a vocational high school. Furthermore, although disadvantaged students likely end up with a 2-year junior college, those disadvantaged students graduating from an academic high school typically choose a 4-year university, after controlling for academic achievement and other variables. We discuss the relevance of the effectively maintained inequality hypothesis for South Korea and broad implications for elsewhere where postsecondary education is increasingly available for the majority of population.
KW - educational transitions
KW - Effectively maintained inequality
KW - qualitative differences
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011672162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0002764216682810
DO - 10.1177/0002764216682810
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85011672162
SN - 0002-7642
VL - 61
SP - 94
EP - 113
JO - American Behavioral Scientist
JF - American Behavioral Scientist
IS - 1
ER -