Disparities in Dream Capital Among Adolescents: Focused on the Role of Arts Education in Schools of South Korea

Abstract

This research explores the role of arts education in schools in relation to the regional disparities in adolescent dream capital. A total of 142 adolescents, who received either intensive arts education or general education, were surveyed in South Korea. Based on previous studies, the authors focused on four dimensions of dream capital capacity—imagination, hope, optimism, and resilience—as well as its subindicators, self-confidence and authenticity. Research findings indicate that most subdimensions of dream capital for adolescents in small and mid-sized cities were markedly lower than those in large cities. However, dream feature disparities, such as optimism and authenticity, were not found among those who received intensive arts education. This study extends the current discussion on the inequality of dream capital caused by regional disparity and offers new insights into the role of arts education in schools in alleviating these gaps.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2020S1A5B5A16083555]. Data analyzed in this study was collected from the “Research on the Development Direction Through the Analysis of the Performance of 2021 School Arts Education Activation Project” organized by the Korea Science and Creativity Foundation. We acknowledged contribution in providing the data for this research.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 There is a stark difference between adolescents and youth who have just entered the workforce in South Korea. Problems of unstable social status and polarization are prevalent among youth and have become a critical societal issue. A representative case is the term “triple give-up (sampo) generation” to describe the South Korean youth of the 21st century who had long been suffering from economic hardships and a tough job market. The term refers to a generation who inevitably gave up on courtship, marriage, and childbearing—the most basic rights and stages of early adulthood—and motivated society’s interest in the younger generation’s social instability. Along with the word’s popular use, journalists reproduce the discourse through various media. Within this trend, new variations of the term have emerged, such as “quintuple give-up (opo) generation” or “septuple give-up (chilpo) generation,” or even “N give-up (n-po) generation.” This implies that the generation gave up most opportunities that had earlier been socially taken for granted.

2 In South Korea, the size of a city is generally defined by its population. This study follows the Korean Local Autonomy Act 175, which defines large cities as cities with a population of 500,000 or more. Mid-sized cities are defined as all other sites except large cities, and smaller counties (eup, myeon) refer to towns with a population of less than 10,000.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2020S1A5B5A16083555]. The data in this article were collected from “Research on the Development Direction Through the Analysis of the Performance of 2021 School Arts Education Activation Project,” supported by the Korea Science and Creativity Foundation in 2021 [2021 OAA0001].