Local perspectives of Korean shadow education

Abstract

While some scholars view the use of shadow education—supplementary lessons provided by parents outside of school—as a cause for the rapid development of Korea, others raise concerns related to its secondary effects, including educational stress and corruption and reinforced social inequality. In this paper, I analyze interview data with four mothers in order to contribute to the literature on Korean shadow education at the local level. This study illustrates the reasons, particularly social pressures and insecure feelings, behind their choices to pursue shadow education for their children which has not yet surfaced in the discourse development and education.