In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Deaf Education in South Korea Sung-Kyu Choi SOUTH KOREA is located in northern East Asia, bounded by North Korea to north, Japan to the east and south, and China to the west. South Korea has indicated remarkable economic growth during the past few decades; however, because of the financial crisis in 1997, its economic growth has slowed. The country has a population of 48.4 million (2007 figure), and approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas. South Korea is a democratic country. Its history goes back 5,000 years. The earliest trial country, Ancient Chosen, was founded by Dan Goon. And the Ancient Chosen was replaced by the Three Kingdoms—Silla, Backjae, and Goguryo in approximately 10 BC. The unification of the country was begun by the Silla kingdom in 668 AD. The Silla kingdom was replaced by powerful Koryo dynasty in the 10th century. The next country was the Chosen dynasty, which began in the 14th century. Japan invaded and subsequently controlled the Korea peninsula from 1910 to 1945. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, Korea procured liberty in 1945; however, the country was divided into two zones. The zone north of the 38th parallel was under Soviet domination , and the southern zone was under the Americans. After being divided into two zones, South Korea became the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea is a constitutional country comprising 15 administrative units: the metropolis of Seoul, six other metropolitan cities, and nine provinces. The capital of South Korea is Seoul, which held the Olympic Games in 1988 and is home to half of the population of South Korea. South Korea was traditionally an agrarian society until 1962 when the country initiated a series of 5-year economic development plans. The economy of South Korea is based on industrialization , producing electronics, autos, chemicals, ships, textiles, and clothing. The country has limited natural resources. The GNP in 2005 was US$16,291, which is ranked 10th in the world. The statistics data describing the religious affiliations of the total population (25,176,274) from 1995 to 2005 indicated that 10,726,463 (42.6%) of the population practiced Buddhism, 5,146,146 (20.44%) practiced Catholicism, 8,616,438 (34.2%) practiced other forms of Christianity, and 104,575 (0.4%) practiced Confucianism. Regardless of the religious statistics, however, South Korea is a single-culture society that is rooted in Confucianism . Most Koreans still believe that Confucianism expresses the traditional spiritual identification for Korea (Choi, 1995). In the traditional education system in Korea, Taehak, which means “great school,” is the first school founded by Goguryo in 372 AD. The name was later changed to Kukhak. The purpose of the school was to teach Confucian ideology and Buddhism to provide moral education to the public. A few private institutes were established to educate members of the succeeding dynasties; however, the private schools flourished during the Goguryo and the Yi 88 dynasties. The private schools, widespread in local areas, still existed after modern schools were introduced in the late 19th century. When Korea became independent in 1945, after being ruled for 35 years, South Korea replaced the Japanese colonial education system. The Korean government, the Republic of Korea, in 1948 enacted an education law to set the ground for democracy. A linear school system of elementary (6 years), middle (3 years), high (3 years), and university (4 years) was adopted. Since that time, South Korea’s education system has changed and reformed. In the 1960s and 1970s, the education system changed to contribute to national development. In the 1980s, the emphasis of education shifted from “education for economic growth” to “education for the sake of education.” The kindergarten school system comprises 1 to 3 years of preparatory education. Because of the new wave of globalization and the open-door trend in world educational politics, the education system in South Korea had to be readjusted again in the 1990s (UNESCO, 1998). The South Korean government began to secure 5% of the GNP for educational financing. In the 2000s, educational policy in South Korea adopted the systems of adequate yearly progress and teacher evaluation that are similar to those in the No Child Left Behind legislation in the United States. South Korea’s types of educational institutions include kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools (trade schools, trade high schools, civic schools, and civic high schools), special schools, and colleges and universities. The gross enrollment rate of institutions higher than...

Share