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The Changing of Educational Stratification in Taiwan area：
Yi-gean Chen
Abstract
An equal educational opportunity is a crucial academic issue.Most of past research on Taiwan''s equal educational opportunity was centrad upon the problem-- how variables of personal background influenced the pursuit of education. Less study with medium variables is to explain the cause and result which factors of personal background influence on the pursuit of education, Some study used to use social, cultural, and financial capital as medium, but most of them merely indicated local examples and their dependent variables were the grade of elementary students. As for domestic examples, their social and cultural capital was also incomplete and inaccurate. This is why the focus of study with medium variables is the analysis of domestic statistics (1997 social change survey-social stratification section). Resides, the study uses cultural, social, financial capital (including items of cram schools and making money to improve family economy) as medium variables to explore the connection between variables of background and dependent variables, educational achievement. They include how many years a person can continue further study after elementary schools and choices to attend public high schools or vocational high schools. Another concentration of the study is to find out how important of the medium variables. Finally, the example based on the year of birth is divided into three groups whose aims are to explore the change of the educational stratification.
The study demonstrates that the influence of personal background on the rate of continuing further schools and how many years a person can attend after graduated from junior high schools is also affected by following four medium variables：1.The social capital of a family. 2.How often a person attends cram schools. 3.Being a student, he or she should do part-time job to make money for his or her family. 4.The cultural capital of a family.
Besides, the study also shows that the influence that factors of people''s background in Taiwan area on how many years a person can receive formal education will reflect opportunity''s inequality. Whit the increase of learning years, opportunity''s inequality appears the shape of opposite of "U" which is upper in the beginning and lower at the end. The main influence of opportunity''s inequality comes from the rate of continuing further study. When the rate reaches 0.5, the influence of background is the largest; similarly, opportunity is most inequality, too. The influence of medium variables on how many years a person can receive education is affected by the rate of continuing further study, especially when the rate reaches 0.5 and medium variables change most.
As for continuing further schools after graduated from junior high schools, variables of personal background and four medium variables still have influence on the rate of continuing further study, but less influence on educational divisions which a person should attend public high schools or vocational technical schools. There is no clear distinction or inferiority and superiority between high schools and vocational technical schools. Compared with private high schools, some public vocational schools are probably more difficult to attend and also lead to a better future. As for the speciality of local educational stratification, father''s education is the most powerful factors of background in various time; the great influence of on how many various cram schools a person attends also becomes one of local characteristics.
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