Inclusion of Children in South Korea - Essay Example

Inclusion of children in South Korea I. Introduction A. Inclusive Education in Korea Korea is a nation of people that holds excellence in a very high regard and are very passionate about education. It is not uncommon to notice Korean students excelling in their fields of expertise. Their constant quest for excellence drives them to continue to seek education. Koreans know very well that success in life can be determined by how a child is trained during his formative years, thus they start them young. Generally, every child has the right to a proper education. Society is very much aware of the presence of children who are disabled or impaired. Special education is focused on providing education to children or individuals with special needs. In the past, Koreans used to have a negative opinion towards people with disabilities. (Americans with Disabilities Act, Ohio State University) They used to think that having a family member who has disabilities is something to be ashamed of. (Kim and Kang) For them, disability was a problem that was for the individual to overcome for himself, all by himself. Over the years, with a number of developments in Korea's legislation that have provisions for the rights of the disabled, this negative concept has made a 180-degree turn. With this very positive development, and their keen interest in how to improve their education system, Koreans are very much intent to leave no stones unturned. At present, the government's support goes as far as providing free compulsory education and going out of their way to support disabled students. For children who have minor disabilities, the Korean education system has embraced inclusive education. Inclusive education is defined as system of education or a school system wherein all children, regardless of their abilities or disabilities are all considered active components of the school community. Inclusive education aims to provide an academic environment where all students are given equal opportunities and therefore leaves little or no room for discrimination. (Kim) Students who have minor disabilities are recommended to attend regular schools. Koreans believe that in doing so, disabled children are being equipped to lead full, independent lives, much like their able-bodied counterparts. (Kim) B. Vulnerable Children defined A vulnerable child, in general, is defined as a child 18 years old and below who lost their parents or guardians. This could be a permanent situation, as there are those who lost both parents through death, and some were temporarily displaced because of certain unfortunate events and are in need of care. (Smart, 2003) In general, this includes orphans, street children, children who have certain medical conditions, children with certain disabilities and others. (Unicef, n.d.) C. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model Urie Bronfenbrenner is considered as one of the world's leaders in the study of developmental psychology (Wikipedia, 2006). One of his most significant contributions is the development of the Ecological Systems Theory. Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory discusses the major factors that affect a child's development. According to his concept, relationships and environment play a major role in a child's development. As child matures, the more knowledge, culture and values he acquires from his education, cultural heritage, parents and peers. His interactions in his affinities and his environment form in him a set of what he considers "norms'. A child's needs vary as he goes through the cycle of life. These transitions that he will encounter will slowly reveal how his influences affect the development of his personality as he deals with them head on. Bronfenbrenner has identified four levels of systems that make up the Ecological Systems. These are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. These so-called systems are actually environments and situations that have a great influence in a person's development. (The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, n.d.). They may be related to or act as links to each other. D. Bronfenbrenner's theory and Korean culture Koreans are a nation of people who value interdependence with one another. They highly regard the importance of being a part of a collective group rather than the individual. (Im, 1999, page 54) Bronfenbrenner articulates in his theory that one's environment and his relationships play a great part in moulding a person's character. This is very much evident in the Korean culture in that the people hold relevant their relationships with one another. To them, the multiple facets of an individual's personality are revealed only when exposed to particular situations or stimuli. (Im, 1999, page 54) This aspect of Korean culture is very conspicuous in the way government manages their support for education, with regard to disabled students in particular. The government portrays an active part and takes a keen interest in the education of children, making education compulsory. Aside from this, students who have multiple disabilities that render them unable to go out of their homes to go to school given a home schooling program where instructors go to the homes of students who need this service. (Kim, page 1). Indeed, the factors mentioned above can greatly affect a child's outlook in life. E. The typical Korean child Koreans are a highly competitive people with an insatiable thirst for education. Therefore, the value of excellence and the importance of a proper education are inculcated in the Korean child very early on in his life. In school, science subjects are treated as very important. There is pressure to get good grades in these subject matters. Parents are highly involved in their children's education by monitoring their academic performance. Being a collectivist people, Koreans cherish the relationships they have and form with their families, friends and significant others. Great emphasis is given with regards to respect for elders and peers. They take pride in their cultural heritage and have a deep appreciation of their ancient traditions. II. Main 1. Macrosystem Bronfenbrenner defines macrosystem as the most extraneous region of an individual's environment where he is able to acquire influences in culture, beliefs and becomes aware of laws. This system may pertain to the government, religion, culture and others. (Pacquette and Ryan, page 2). What is in the Macrosystem of South Korea Perhaps dictated by their culture of aspiring for excellence, Koreans used to have an unpleasant perspective of people with disabilities. It used to be a disgrace to have a disabled family member. As a result, disabled members of the society felt like outcasts. They weren't treated as active members of society who could make a contribution. They were discriminated upon. Adolescents who already had their hands full dealing with identity issues were burdened all the more by this predicament. They had a very unhealthy sense of self-worth. They had to work very hard in efforts to prove them selves in order to gain the acceptance of their families and their peers and to be considered a "normal", functioning member of society. (Kim and Kang) The government didn't have measures to protect this sector of the society. As a result, it was very difficult for the disabled to fit in. a. Social Inclusion It took a piece of legislation called the "Special Education Promotion Act, 1977" to put disabled Koreans in their rightful place in society (Korean Society of Persons with Disabilities & RI Korea, 2005). With this, the people became aware of the plight and the struggles of their less-favoured counterparts. The Koreans became more sensitive and compassionate towards disabled individuals and began to take interest in and assert their rights. They began to realize that just like any other human being those who had impairments were entitled to their rights, and more, as well. The "Special Education Promotion Act, 1977" was probably among the Korean government's first steps in promoting social inclusion issues. This act spelled a great difference in the lives of disabled Korean youth who were of school age. For the first time in many years, it was perhaps one of the most liberating experiences for them. They were no longer "outsiders"; they finally had a sense of belonging. In the following years, the government exhibited further how zealous they were in taking this further. Soon, Korean legislation saw other breakthroughs with the implementation of other laws that all aimed to improve the welfare of the disabled. (Korean Society of Persons with Disabilities & RI Korea) 2. Exosystem The exosystem is defined as that section of a child's environment that he does not or may not actively participate in. In spite of this, this system still affects the behaviour and development of the child in that there are events that may occur in this system that will trigger certain situations that might bring about either positive or negative effects to the child. (Pacquette and Ryan, page 2) B. What is in the Exosystem of South Korea Children, on account of their level of maturity, may not be fully aware of government policies and their repercussions on their young lives. However, once implemented, they as students are able to unconsciously experience the benefits or ill effects because they are under the control of the Korean government and are thus subject to whatever policies are mandated towards the educational system. For example, things that they may not be aware of such as the amount paid for tuition fees, curriculum prescribed for their year level, and the length of time they have to spend in an academic level are part of their exosystem. They may not have direct contact with those items since their parents are responsible for them but they are affected. In modern Korea and in the modern world, perhaps among the largest influences in one's life is mass media. Mass Media encompasses all means of circulating news and information, such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Consciously or unconsciously, our everyday choices, no matter how simple or how trivial are influenced by what is in media. A perfect example would be something as mundane as making the choice of which brand of shampoo or toothpaste to buy. Most people would choose the more popular brand. Very few people would buy something that is not well known. The reason for this is that advertisements seen in print, television and other media are subliminally sending us messages that what is more popular must be the better choice. Of course, most of us know better but the lure of media is sometimes so powerful that we find ourselves succumbing to its spell. In the matter of media, children are not directly involved in the media environment but they are exposed to it single day. When they turn on a television set to watch their favourite shows, for them it is just their way of unwinding after a long day at school. What they don't know is that they are subconsciously being influenced or worse, being manipulated by what they are watching. This is especially true with the kind of television programs and movies that they watch. Acknowledging the youths' tender minds and obvious lack of maturity, they may be prone to easily believe everything that they watch and they make react adversely. In such case, the home is an environment that parents have control of. It is the duty of the parents to make sure that what their children are watching is not doing anything to corrupt and mislead their fragile minds. Mesosystem Bronfenbrenner's defines the mesosystem as that part of the ecological system that are composed of the events or connections between environments that a child or individual is in (Marentette). This may include a child's interactions with his friends, teachers, parents, siblings, and his performance in school, among others. What is in the Mesosystem of South Korea Given the cultural makeup of Korea, the educational system is also subject the effects of the Korean characteristic of giving importance to relationships they forge. In a study to establish a correlation between student-teacher interaction and academic achievement, Sun-Geun Baek and Hye-Jeong Choi state that "in Korea to a great extent, the classroom teacher plays a more important role in counseling and supporting students than the subject-matter teacher, thus he/she has a significant effect on students and classroom environment. " The authors also articulated that "the 'teacher support' subscale represented the classroom teacher's help, interest, trust, and friendship toward his/her students." (Baek and Choi, 2002) This showcases another example of the high value Koreans place on relationships. However, in the school setting, this does not necessarily translate to an ideal classroom environment that is conducive to learning. This is evident in the following findings by Baek and Choi that "On the whole, high school students in Korea characterized their classroom environment as being of a very strong task-orientation with warm relationships not only with peers but also with teachers. However, emphases on innovation and teacher control were very low". The quality of teaching that the students are receiving may not be optimized but is rather compromised. The teacher may be a bit too lenient with the students just to preserve the relationship. In like manner, the parents' role is also a major contributing factor in a child's education. As their culture dictates, Korean parents like to be strongly involved in their child's schooling such that they are consistent in monitoring their offspring's performance in school. An incident described in an article by Shin Chul-ho in The Korea Times entitled "Frantic Education by Korean Parents "is a perfect example. Shin wrote "I feel uneasy whenever I see this blind zeal for education among parents They have a particularly keen interest in their children's examination scores. In many cases, scores achieved by elementary school students are actually the work of their mothers. Their mothers seem ready to invest any amount of money. But they are so myopic that they do not know the scores they cherish so dearly can be cardboard houses on the seashore that will be swept away when their sons and daughters go to middle school and then to high school." (Shin) Shin is particularly concerned that such actions of the parents drive the students to be clingy and dependent on them. He fears that if this should continue, students may not be properly equipped for the real world. 3. Microsystem Bronfenbrenner defines microsystem as the immediate surroundings of a child or individual. This includes the persons that he has relationships with and environments that he is exposed to directly. For a child this includes his family and the relationship he has with each family member and his school and the relationships he has formed with his circle of friends, playmates, teachers and other peers. a. Children and Parents/Family The Korean parenting style is characterized to be very rigid and strict. This authoritarianism has lead to students experiencing so much pressure to excel in academics. Korean parents are also known to invest considerable sums of many to have their children privately tutored just to ensure that they get good grades. They are driven to put this seemingly unnecessarily burden on their children's shoulders because of their belief that education is the only way that one can succeed in life. Although their scorecards are impressive, there is a considerable decline in the student's self-esteem. Aside from this, the child may develop distaste for studying. This in turn, causes unnecessary strain in their parent-child relationship. In this case, the kind of interaction between the parents and the children produced a negative result. b. Students and Teachers/Caretakers In the school setting, Baek and Choi state in their findings that, "teacher control and task-orientation were related positively to the level of English achievement in the classroom where teacher support and affiliation were perceived as being very strong." The healthy relationship between teachers and students led to better understanding of both their goals. This further brought the students to be highly motivated and they thus had the self-initiative to do better because they know they will appreciate the consequences of their achievement. Comparing the two microsystems, it would seem that the harmonious interaction between students and teachers is a better source of motivation than fear and the pressure of getting high scores in a very stringent environment. C. The role of the socio-cultural environment in learning In a journal by the Oulu University entitled, "Education about and through technology: In Search of More Appropriate Pedagogical Approaches to Technology Education" Lev Vygotsky, a Soviet developmental psychologist who also had a socio-cultural theory. (Wikipedia, 2007). It states that "a child's cognitive development is difficult to understand without reference to the social world in which the child lives (Rogoff 1990, Harvard 1998). " (Oulu University Library, 2000). In his development of the Social Learning Theory, Albert Bandura associates attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation as essential process that influence an individual's when learning process. (Thom, 2002) In understanding a child's learning curve, it is important to consider several factors. These in include his level of intelligence, the way he interacts with people and events around him, factors that bring about his reactions. Aside from these, the living conditions of the child, the socio-economic status of the family, his relationships with people in the environments that he participates in are also important components. Howard Garner states the following in his theory of multiple intelligences "In the heyday of the psychometric and behaviourist eras, it was generally believed that intelligence was a single entity that was inherited; and that human beings - initially a blank slate - could be trained to learn anything, provided that it was presented in an appropriate way. Nowadays an increasing number of researchers believe precisely the opposite; that there exists a multitude of intelligences, quite independent of each other; that each intelligence has its own strengths and constraints; that the mind is far from unencumbered at birth; and that it is unexpectedly difficult to teach things that go against early 'naive' theories of that challenge the natural lines of force within an intelligence and its matching domains (Gardner 1993: xxiii)". (Smith 2002). Gardner's theory is very much in contrast to the concept of intelligence in the past. The old concept of intelligence was that it was dependent on or similar to that of an individual's ancestors. The previous noted that human beings are generally born with very little intelligence and that whatever intellectual quotient a person has when he comes of age was accumulated information and is mostly or all a product of acquired knowledge (Smith 2002). In his theory, Howard Gardner acknowledged the existence of a "multitude of intelligences". Contrary to the old concept, Gardner states intelligence is unique and "has its own strengths and weaknesses". According to his theory, no human being was born without any innate talents or capabilities. Furthermore, he states that it is not possible to teach anyone who does not have an existing level of intelligence. In each human mind, there exist seven types of intelligence. These are linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, spatial intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. Although different in essence, each of these are dependent on each other. Each person has a unique combination. Gardner further states that "the big challenge facing the deployment of human resources 'is how to best take advantage of the uniqueness conferred on us as a species exhibiting several intelligences' (ibid.: 45)" (Smith 2002). Educators should bear these theories in mind when they go about teaching. These concepts can eventually help them in understanding the learning capabilities of each student. They may even be able to help each pupil discover their talents. Also, these concepts would be able help the teachers determine the proper approach to teaching. With the proper teaching strategy, teachers may find it easier to impart knowledge to the students. In like manner, the students will find themselves looking forward to each class because they actually appreciate and understand what is being taught. Each person has a different aptitude for each category of intelligence. If one is deficient in a specific area, it does not mean that he is unintelligent. It is possible that his expertise lies in another area. (Smith 2002). In dealing with vulnerable children, teachers should be skilful and tactful in communicating with them and in determining their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, teachers should be patient and compassionate, always keeping in mind that these children have gone through an ordeal that rendered them vulnerable so to speak. They should be more sensitive to the needs of such children. Going back to Howard Gardner's theory, special education teachers should remember that if a student is weak in one area of intelligence, he may be very competent in another. Teachers may want to find out what competencies each learner with special needs has and concentrate on helping improve that area. As those responsible for moulding the minds of these young people, teachers should bear in mind the level of responsibility as their influence will make an indelible mark in their students' lives. In effect, they constantly check themselves if they are proper examples for their students in terms of their own behaviour. Chronosystem The Chronosystem is the time element in the ecological system. Factors may be internal or external. An example of an internal factor would be the time of the month where a young girl gets her period. An example of an external factor could be the timing of the divorce of a child's parents. The time factor also plays an essential part in understanding the learning process of an individual as it would coincide with certain events that are trigger certain emotional states that would affect an individual's assimilation of information. (Pacquette and Ryan, 2001, page 2) Uniqueness of children and learners with Special Educational Needs in South Korea In a nation of highly competitive people like Korea, children are often subjected to stringent standards. Traditional values such as valuation of the importance of education, respect for elders and the high regard for cultural heritage are some of the reasons why Korea ranks among the most developed countries in Southeast Asia. However, to children or individuals with disabilities, these traditional values have proved to be too strict and too cold leaving them to struggle in efforts to belong in society. Koreans are known to be constantly in the quest for excellence. Impairments were once thought of as something to be ashamed about and socially unacceptable. With the creation of laws upholding the rights of individuals with certain disabilities or impairments come the social inclusion of this group of people. This is specially seen in the field of education where laws have been created to provide for their special needs. This has made a positive change in Korean society such that they are now recognized as functioning individuals who have the equal opportunities for growth and for making relevant contributions in society. III. Conclusion In educating children, the understanding of a child's environments, their connections, and the relationships he forges with his family, friends, peers and educators is essential in order to achieve success in this field. These factors have a lot to say with the way children react to certain situations. Education is not the supreme road to success in life. Family plays an important role in spelling out the success of an individual. Parents should remember that they, first and foremost, should make sure that their children's needs are met and that should problems arise, they should be the ones who will lead their children to making the right decisions. This includes the fact that it would be better if they prioritize their child's development by helping him identify his strengths and helping him develop these strengths to their full potential rather than subject their children to unnecessary pressures just to comply with cultural traditions. With regards to a child's weaknesses, parents should help him figure out what went wrong and what needs more attention. Special care needs to be taken in dealing with vulnerable children as they have needs which are different and more specific than those who grew up in a normal environment. They have certain limitations that constrain them in playing an active role in society. It is the responsibility of the government and the academic sector in making sure that their rights are acknowledged and upheld. It is the duty of every citizen to be aware that everyone is entitled to the same rights regardless of age, nationality, and social status. It is one's obligation to alert authorities of any abuse of misconduct that they have experienced or witnessed. In the case of vulnerable children, they too are entitled to the right of a proper education. Society and government must work hand in hand to make sure that the interests of this sector, who are in every way very much like us, are protected. Reference List Baek, Sun-Geun and Choi, Hye-Jeong 2002. The Relationship Between Students' Perceptions of Classroom Environment and Their Academic Achievement in Korea. Available from:http://aped.snu.ac.kr/prof/aper/aper%20data/3-1/11-1.pdf [cited 13 January 2007]. Im, Janice H. 1999. An Ecological Examination of Ego and Ethnic Identity Formation within second generation Korean-Americans. Available from: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-060299-120016/unrestricted/Etd.pdf page 6. [cited 12 January 2007]. 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Available from: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm#multiple_intelligences. [cited 13 January 2007]. Read More