Koreans have been successful in educational achievement across different national
contexts. This is particularly true in China, where they have earned the title of “model
minority” (youxiu minzu) with the higher level of educational, demographic (lowest
population growth rate), cultural, and socioeconomic accomplishments. While past
research has recognized the potential problems with the model minority stereotype (e.g.,
the increasing widening achievement gap within the Korean student population and the
decreasing economic status among ethnic Koreans during China’s reform period), there is
a serious lack of research on how contemporary Koreans in China engage with the
meaning of “model minority”, and how this impacts their lives. This research is an
exposition of how the model minority stereotype affects Korean students’ self-perception
and impacts on attitudes and strategies to succeed in school. Fieldwork focuses on two
fourth-grade classes in a bilingual Korean school, which the researcher calls FLK School.
Alongside detailed observations, semi-structured individual and family interviews and the
use of secondary source data, the ethnographic study involves a range of community,
family, and school informants to cross-analyze the schooling experiences of Korean
students behind the model minority stereotype.
III
Based on the data, it is argued that ethnic Koreans in China construct a multi-faceted
meaning in reaction to the model minority stereotype that capitalizes upon a shared sense
of cultural superiority to other ethnic groups while at the same time, strongly emphasizing
their economic marginalization. This uniquely contributes to the diversity of Korean
family educational aspirations and Korean school politics. While Korean families
internalize the value of education, the way they consider how schooling nurtures their
children can be said to fall into three patterns: deep-seated ethnicity, distilled ethnicity,
and globalized ethnicity. The process of formulating school-level politics and practice
behind the discourses of “model minority” and “South Korean wind” positions Korean
schooling in the dilemma to provide a high standard of education which not only raises
awareness of Korean culture, but also raises Chinese language skills for upward social
mobility. The ethnic Korean students in this research negotiate with parental and
institutional demands of schooling and construct their educational aspirations and action
strategies. They do not have a shared self-perception, and so do not share a homogeneous
schooling attitude behind the stereotype with its cultural explanation, which tends to
essentialize ethnic Koreans as a monolithic group with shared educational levels and
attitudes. The research is one of the first comprehensive studies to concentrate on the
subjective experiences of Korean students in the context of their school and home in
Northeast China. It serves as a starting point to challenge the prevailing discourse of the
model minority in education and also views Korean education as a civic responsibility to
involve the multiple sectors in family, community and school for the well-being of Korean
children under the context of multiculturalism and equality in a harmonious society.