"Supoja" is a new term that has recently emerged which refers to students who refuse to study math and give up, causing them to underachieve. This study was set out to analyze the experiences of these students who regarded themselves as Supojas and interpret their experiences from the perspective of...
"Supoja" is a new term that has recently emerged which refers to students who refuse to study math and give up, causing them to underachieve. This study was set out to analyze the experiences of these students who regarded themselves as Supojas and interpret their experiences from the perspective of sociology of curriculum. The issue of Supojas is connected to the social functions of education, which means that their reasons for giving up math should be analyzed sociologically, beyond their underachievement in math to the personal level in order to find more profound solutions to the pressing issue.
Sociology of curriculum is a useful methodology for analyzing the macroscopic perspective, which covers the impacts of social institutions and culture on schools, and the microscopic perspective, which covers interactions between teachers and their students in lessons according to the classroom culture. The investigator intended to interpret Supojas' experiences of giving up math from the perspective of sociology of curriculum and provide implications to solve problems in math education. The study raised the following questions:
First, what do the students, who admit that they have given up math, experience while studying math?
Second, how are their experiences of giving up math interpreted from the perspective of sociology of curriculum?
Third, what implications do their experiences of giving up math have for the improvement of math education in the nation?
In an effort to answer these questions, the investigator interviewed 15 high school students who identified themselves as Supojas in K City in Gyeonggi Province with a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed their responses with the constructive grounded theory.
The findings show that they had the following experiences of giving up math: first, the Supoja students began to study math through private education, forced by their parents. In elementary school, they had no idea what math was about. As they had to solve excessive amounts of problems by repeating simple calculations, they developed a disliking to math. Meanwhile, they continued to study math through private education since they enjoyed boasting their superior math scores to their friends. In this process, they learned the ideology of education for college entrance, which states that one should be good at math starting in elementary school in order to be recognized for their intellect and advance to great schools of higher level.
Second, when they advanced to middle school, they experienced math that was different from what they studied in elementary school. Unlike in elementary school, they had to use letters in math questions, learn new terms in new context, such as functions, and were forced to memorize formulas. They failed to adjust themselves to this strange new math much different from what they studied in elementary school, and got poor grades even though they studied similar or greater amounts of math than elementary school. Because of their poor math grades, they were branded as underachievers in classes. These experiences drove them to giving up math.
Finally, the students that gave up math in middle school experienced alienation in high school lessons and exams: they were in the same space as their peers, but they lived in a different world. They refused to participate in math lessons despite their experience of alienation because they believed this subject of math defeated them. Recognizing that math grades were needed to be admitted in college, they made another attempt at math study. They, however, failed to finish the advance learning lessons and obtain grades that would make their hard work worthwhile, giving up math once again. Once they gave up math completely, they choose to pursue liberal arts despite their interest in natural sciences, or followed a path that required no math grades such as art, music and physical education. The Supojas were aware that the goal of studying math was not to develop mathematical thinking skills but to grade and rank students, but they believed that they gave up math because they lacked efforts and internalized that they were inferior to other students.
After attempting to interpret the Supojas' experiences of giving up math, the study found the following facts: all societies ask adolescents to pass a bottleneck test so that they can have access to social status and wealth. In South Korea, the college entrance exam is an important bottleneck test. Math is one of the critical means of classifying students. As the bottleneck grows narrower, the competition based on math grades becomes even fiercer. Since parents have a role of helping their children pass the bottleneck, they force them to study math through private education at an early age. Students themselves try their best to excel in math, but some are selected and others are excluded in the education system, which means that a majority of students experience alienation except for a few that are selected for their math grades.
There are two cultures formed in the math classroom: one is the culture of "math study" involving a good number of difficult questions. The other is the culture based on "the need for math" to answer the question "Are math grades are needed for my career?" Students are categorized into four types according to whether or not they are able to participate in these two cultures: the "top math students" that are able to participate in math study and realize the need math for their careers, and the "good Supojas that are poor at math" who are not able to participate in math because of their poor math learning skills but feel the need math for their careers; the "Supojas who didn’t need math" who do not need math grades for their careers regardless of math study; and the "true Supojas" that are not able to participate in math study and need no math grades for their careers. The analysis results show that all the types were Supojas except for the top math students and that Supojas who didn’t need math and good Supojas who were poor at math ended up becoming true Supojas.
The findings of the study have the following implications for the improvement of math education in the nation: first, the emergence of Supojas is a concern of the education system rather than a lack of personal effort. Second, education should provide a community for students getting together instead of creating a battlefield of life or death to solve the Supoja issue fundamentally. Third, selection based on evaluation should move from the old screening approach to a new approach of regarding students of certain scores or higher as having the same abilities and selecting them all. Fourth, the goal of studying math should convert from classification to math itself. The most urgent improvement for the math curriculum is to connect the elementary and middle school math curriculum. Math is a study of researching patterns (Jo Bolar, 2016) and a journey of finding answers in a logical thinking process by converting given questions to mathematical scenes. This journey should ensure the participation of all students instead of a few that get good math grades. It is urgent to change the social environment around lessons, curriculums, and education so that "equality of math" will be realized which helps students enjoy math according to their abilities and aptitudes.
"Supoja" is a new term that has recently emerged which refers to students who refuse to study math and give up, causing them to underachieve. This study was set out to analyze the experiences of these students who regarded themselves as Supojas and interpret their experiences from the perspective of sociology of curriculum. The issue of Supojas is connected to the social functions of education, which means that their reasons for giving up math should be analyzed sociologically, beyond their underachievement in math to the personal level in order to find more profound solutions to the pressing issue.
Sociology of curriculum is a useful methodology for analyzing the macroscopic perspective, which covers the impacts of social institutions and culture on schools, and the microscopic perspective, which covers interactions between teachers and their students in lessons according to the classroom culture. The investigator intended to interpret Supojas' experiences of giving up math from the perspective of sociology of curriculum and provide implications to solve problems in math education. The study raised the following questions:
First, what do the students, who admit that they have given up math, experience while studying math?
Second, how are their experiences of giving up math interpreted from the perspective of sociology of curriculum?
Third, what implications do their experiences of giving up math have for the improvement of math education in the nation?
In an effort to answer these questions, the investigator interviewed 15 high school students who identified themselves as Supojas in K City in Gyeonggi Province with a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed their responses with the constructive grounded theory.
The findings show that they had the following experiences of giving up math: first, the Supoja students began to study math through private education, forced by their parents. In elementary school, they had no idea what math was about. As they had to solve excessive amounts of problems by repeating simple calculations, they developed a disliking to math. Meanwhile, they continued to study math through private education since they enjoyed boasting their superior math scores to their friends. In this process, they learned the ideology of education for college entrance, which states that one should be good at math starting in elementary school in order to be recognized for their intellect and advance to great schools of higher level.
Second, when they advanced to middle school, they experienced math that was different from what they studied in elementary school. Unlike in elementary school, they had to use letters in math questions, learn new terms in new context, such as functions, and were forced to memorize formulas. They failed to adjust themselves to this strange new math much different from what they studied in elementary school, and got poor grades even though they studied similar or greater amounts of math than elementary school. Because of their poor math grades, they were branded as underachievers in classes. These experiences drove them to giving up math.
Finally, the students that gave up math in middle school experienced alienation in high school lessons and exams: they were in the same space as their peers, but they lived in a different world. They refused to participate in math lessons despite their experience of alienation because they believed this subject of math defeated them. Recognizing that math grades were needed to be admitted in college, they made another attempt at math study. They, however, failed to finish the advance learning lessons and obtain grades that would make their hard work worthwhile, giving up math once again. Once they gave up math completely, they choose to pursue liberal arts despite their interest in natural sciences, or followed a path that required no math grades such as art, music and physical education. The Supojas were aware that the goal of studying math was not to develop mathematical thinking skills but to grade and rank students, but they believed that they gave up math because they lacked efforts and internalized that they were inferior to other students.
After attempting to interpret the Supojas' experiences of giving up math, the study found the following facts: all societies ask adolescents to pass a bottleneck test so that they can have access to social status and wealth. In South Korea, the college entrance exam is an important bottleneck test. Math is one of the critical means of classifying students. As the bottleneck grows narrower, the competition based on math grades becomes even fiercer. Since parents have a role of helping their children pass the bottleneck, they force them to study math through private education at an early age. Students themselves try their best to excel in math, but some are selected and others are excluded in the education system, which means that a majority of students experience alienation except for a few that are selected for their math grades.
There are two cultures formed in the math classroom: one is the culture of "math study" involving a good number of difficult questions. The other is the culture based on "the need for math" to answer the question "Are math grades are needed for my career?" Students are categorized into four types according to whether or not they are able to participate in these two cultures: the "top math students" that are able to participate in math study and realize the need math for their careers, and the "good Supojas that are poor at math" who are not able to participate in math because of their poor math learning skills but feel the need math for their careers; the "Supojas who didn’t need math" who do not need math grades for their careers regardless of math study; and the "true Supojas" that are not able to participate in math study and need no math grades for their careers. The analysis results show that all the types were Supojas except for the top math students and that Supojas who didn’t need math and good Supojas who were poor at math ended up becoming true Supojas.
The findings of the study have the following implications for the improvement of math education in the nation: first, the emergence of Supojas is a concern of the education system rather than a lack of personal effort. Second, education should provide a community for students getting together instead of creating a battlefield of life or death to solve the Supoja issue fundamentally. Third, selection based on evaluation should move from the old screening approach to a new approach of regarding students of certain scores or higher as having the same abilities and selecting them all. Fourth, the goal of studying math should convert from classification to math itself. The most urgent improvement for the math curriculum is to connect the elementary and middle school math curriculum. Math is a study of researching patterns (Jo Bolar, 2016) and a journey of finding answers in a logical thinking process by converting given questions to mathematical scenes. This journey should ensure the participation of all students instead of a few that get good math grades. It is urgent to change the social environment around lessons, curriculums, and education so that "equality of math" will be realized which helps students enjoy math according to their abilities and aptitudes.
주제어
#수포자, 수업 소외, 교육과정 사회학 Abandon math class, Class alienation, Sociology of Curriculum
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