Older students in South Korea tend to be less content in school compared to their younger counterparts, a government report showed Sunday.
On average, High school students gave a score of 7.02 out of 10 in the survey conducted for a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. This figure was lower than the 7.2 recorded for middle school students and 7.64 for elementary school students.
In terms of age, those aged 12-17 scored 7.17, while those aged 9-11 scored 7.67.
The survey was conducted on 3,300 children across the country in 2023.
The disparity among students due to age was largely attributed to academic pressure and relationships with teachers and friends. High school students gave the lowest scores out of three groups in both relationship categories: 3.82 for relationships with teachers and 3.96 for relationships with friends.
Elementary school teachers had the highest scores in both categories, giving 4 points to relationships with teachers and 4.03 to relationships with friends.
When asked about factors affecting their satisfaction with school life, high school students were most affected by academic stress, with an average score of 2.14, while those in middle school gave 2.07 and elementary school students gave 1.7.
However, the report indicated that middle school students were most affected by school violence, giving the category a score of 7.83. The average scores for elementary and high school students were 7.7 and 7.71, respectively.
By gender, female students recorded lower satisfaction (7.25) than male students (7.4). This marked a contrast to the 2018 report, which showed that boys (7.28) were less satisfied than girls (7.37).
The 2018 report also revealed that older student groups of 12-17 were less satisfied with school life (7.21) than their younger counterparts (7.54).
The recent report also showed that the students of parents with higher incomes were generally more satisfied with their school life. Those from a family whose income is 150 percent of the national median income scored 7.63, while students from families earning between 100 percent and under 150 percent of the median income scored 7.35.
Students whose parents made less than half of the median income scored 6.84 on the satisfaction scale for school life.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
