Three year trend on the happiness level among children and youths showed that the level was slightly decreased in 2011 but began to increase in 2013 again.
Elementary School Students Middle School Students High School Students
[Figure 13] Level of Happiness (3-year trend :elementary school, middle school and high school students)
that they don't want to go to school.
70.4% of the respondents said that "they don't like school class" so that they don't want to go to school (duplicate response). 57.5% of students said that "their physical condition is not good" and 40% said that "they are more interested in other hobbies", 37.3% said that "school rules are strict and not respect for freedom" and 24.4% said that their school record is not good.
By school grade, elementary school students tend to respond that "they are interested in other hobbies" and relatively high share of middle and high school students said school rules are strict.
② School Dropout Rate
23.2% of students have thought about drop-out of school for the past 1 year indicating that 1 out of 5 students had such a thought. 16.9% of middle school students, 29.2% of high school students (29.0% for general high school students, 30.3% for vocational high school students) have thought about dropping out of school, which is 3 out of every 10 students. In particular, those with lower school record and economic level tend to have thoughts about dropping out of school.
③ Rate of Experiencing Private Education
Regarding the question "have you receive private education to improve school performance or enter higher school for the past year?(tutoring, academy, academic paper)", 74.2% said that they experienced private education. 83.8% of elementary school students, 80.4% and 60.4% of middle and high school students have such experience. The experience rate among special purpose school is as high as elementary school students at 83.8% and the rate among vocational school students is the lowest at 28%. In the meantime, those with lower economic level or school record tend to have less experience of receiving private education.
④ Studying Hours on Average after School
More than half of elementary school students study more than 2 hours after school, 2.9 out of 10 study more than 3 hours
Except for the regular hours for class at school, the studying hours on weekday are divided
from less than 1 hour to more than 6 hours with 1 hour interval. 52.2%, 58.4%, 58.8%, 68.3%, 70.6% of elementary school, middle school, general high school, autonomous high school and special purpose high school students said they study more than 2 hours a day and the ratio of those who study more than 3 hours a day was 28.9% for elementary school students, 33.3%
for middle school students, 38.3% for general high school students, 51.3% for autonomous high school students. The ratio of those who study more than 4 hours a day was 15.1% for elementary school students, 15.7% for middle school students, 22.4% for general high school students, 30.5%
for special purpose high school students and 34.6% for autonomous high school students. The ratio of those who study more than 5 hours a day was 6.9%, 6.5%, 9.8%, 12.9%, 17.6% respectively and the ratio of those who study more than 6 hours a day was 2.7%, 2.4%, 9.8%, 6.1%, and 9.4% for elementary school, middle school, general high school, autonomous high school and special purpose high school students. It is indicated that the studying hours for elementary school students are as high as those of middle school students.
⑤ Leisure Activities during Holiday
The No.1 activity on holiday: elementary school students said "playing with friends", middle school and vocational high school students said "playing game"
and general high school students said "studying".
The no. 1 activity on holiday is playing with friends at 48.2% followed by watching TV at 46.6% and playing game (including internet game, mobile phone game) at 43.4% and resting at home at 38.8.%. What is noteworthy is that studying accounts for 23.5%. Watching cultural and art event (9.1%), reading (8.6%) and travel (5.1%) account for the lowest share (duplicate response for three activities). By sex, male students play more game and physical activities while female students talk over the mobile phone. By school class, elementary and middle school students play with their friends while high school students take a rest or watch TV alone.
In the meantime, when only no.1 activity on holiday is considered, the order is game (20.5%) followed by playing with friends (18.9%), watching TV (16.6%), studying (10.5%) and taking a rest at home (9.9%). By school grade elementary school students prefer playing with friends
(23.4%) followed by watching TV (18.3%) while middle school students prefer playing game (25.4%) followed by playing with friends (18.9%). General high school students prefer playing game (17.7%)→ studying(16.7%) while special purpose high school students prefer studying (28.1%)
→ watching TV (15.2%). Autonomous high school students prefer studying (25.3%) → playing game (16.8%) while vocational high school students prefer playing game (26.0%) → playing with friends (20.7%). The number 1 activities for general high school students including general high school, special purpose school and autonomous school were studying (17.9%), playing game (17.1%), watching TV (15.2%), taking a rest at home (13.9%), and playing with friends (13.8%).
The activity they mostly do during holidays was studying.
⑥ Participation of Youth's Group Activity
2, 0.6, and 0.5 out of 10 elementary, middle school and high school students participate in youth's group activities
Survey on youth's participation in group activity for the past 1 year (ex: boy scout, girl scout, Nuridan, Hanbyeoldan, Seaexplorers of Korea, Young Astronauts Korea, RCY, etc.) shows that 81.1% of respondents said that they are not a member of those groups and only 9.5% of students said that they are actively engaged in those groups. 9.3% of respondents said that they are a member but not active. Female students (10.2%) is more active than male students (8.9%) in terms of engagement in youth's group and the positive response rate becomes lower and lower as students' grade becomes higher (19.8% for elementary school students, 5.7% for middle school students and 4.7% of high school students) and those with higher school performance tend to be more engaged in group activities (12.7% for high grade, 9.6% for middle grade and 6.0% for low grade).
⑦ Participation in Club Activities
6 to 7 out of 10 students experienced club activities related to hobby or culture for the past 1 year
It is found that 70.1% of students have experience of participating in club activities (including
group activities (including all circles in and outside of school) for their hobby and cultural activities for the past 1 year. Female students (72.2%) is more active in club activities than male students (69.7%) and middle school students (73.1%) and general high school students (73.1%) are more active than elementary school students (67.5%) unlike participation rate in youth's group activity.
Those with higher school record tend to show relatively higher participation rate in club activities.
⑦ Support from Home and School for Youth's Activities
Level of support for youth's activities (group activities, club activities): 60.1%
from home and 69.5% from school
60.1% of respondents said that their family supports for their activities and two out of five families are found (39.95%)to have negative opinion on youth's activities. Elementary school students' activities are overwhelmingly supported (81.4%) while the ratio is decreased for middle school students (49.6%) and general high school students (54.8%). Overall, family with higher school record or economic level show higher support for youth's activities.
69.5% of respondents said that their activities are supported by school. The support level decreases with the school class increases (83.5% for elementary school students, 64.7% of middle school students and 63.7% of general high school students). In the meantime, only 57.5% of vocational high school students said school supports their activities implying that the promotion of youth activities at vocational high schools is low.