• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.217-245
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• 2010

This study attempts, using qualitative research methods, to identify a series of complex processes and mechanisms that turn the differences in the parents' education levels and occupational statuses into the gaps between their children's academic achievements. The highly educated parents with high occupational status are obsessed with top universities while the less educated parents with low occupational status tend to be less interested in educational capital. The highly educated middle-class parents themselves have strong educational aspirations. They also try to inspire educational aspirations and academic enthusiasm in their children by the early and deep involvement in a long-term educational strategy. They repeatedly teach their children to have aspirations toward higher professional status as well as a competitive attitude in academic performance. In contrast, the less educated working class parents do not emphasize the importance of high education and 'a good educational background' to their children. The differences in the educational aspirations and parenting practices between the two social classes primarily derive from their varying life experiences in the social structure. The middle class interviewees said that their obsession with 'a good education background' was closely related to their sense of fear that their children could fall from the middle class. In contrast to the middle class interviewees, the working class parents had no memories of painful experiences related to their lack of higher education. They claimed that they rarely ever felt inferior and that they rarely regretted their lack of high education. In addition, they did not believe that their lives were more difficult due to their 'low education'.