The 0.02% Learning Disability Rate in South Korea: Understanding Through Confucian Thought

Jung-ah Choi

doi:10.29333/ejecs/2687

Authors

Jung-ah Choi St. Peter’s University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-8739

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/2687

Keywords:

Confucianism, racial injustice, Learning Disability (LD), Confucian ideology, South Korea

Abstract

Learning Disability (LD) is a fairly unknown term among the general public in South Korea. Contrary to the U.S where one in five public school students have LD or attention problems. The LD population in South Korea is strikingly low (0.02%). This paper aims to make sense of a puzzling apathy of learning disability in Korea, and offers one possible explanation by zooming in on Korea’s cultural ethos heavily rooted in Confucian ideology. A deeper analysis of the philosophical grounds of Confucianism led to conclude that three elements of Confucianism contribute to Korea’s low prevalence of LD: Epistemological assumptions on knowledge, an emphasis of unity and harmony, and teachers’ morality.

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Author Biography

Jung-ah Choi , St. Peter’s University

Jung-ah Choi is an associate professor in the School of Education at St. Peter's University. Prior to St. Peter's, she taught at Grand Valley State University (2003 – 2007), Loyola University Chicago (2007 – 2008), Governors State University IL (2008 – 2010). She received her Ph.D and MA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; BA from Seoul National University, Korea. Her scholarship has focused on institutional, social and epistemological critical theory perspectives to bear on educational/social equity issues. Her works appear in British Journal of Sociology of Education, Urban Review, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Educational Foundations, Studying Teacher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, and Clearing House. Her present research focuses on Asian immigrants in terms of educational aspirations in the context of systemic racism.

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