Multiracial students

Cultural diversity should be accepted broadly 

Until a decade ago, many Koreans were not familiar with the term “multicultural.’’ And it was not easy to see students from multicultural families in schools.

More recently, however, the number of multiracial students has risen rapidly, offering both challenges and opportunities to our society.

According to a survey released by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the number of students from interracial families here reached 46,954 this year, up 21 percent from 2011. The figure represents a fivefold increase from 9,389 in 2006, when the ministry began compiling such statistics, and accounts for 0.7 percent of all primary and secondary school students.

If students at foreign schools and those not attending school are included, the number of multiracial students easily surpasses 50,000. The survey was conducted by the Korean Education Development Institute on 11,390 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide.

If the current trend continues, the education ministry says, multiracial students will represent more than 1 percent of the country’s primary and secondary school students by 2014.

According to the nationality of the students’ parents, China topped the list with 33.8 percent, followed by Japan with 27.5 percent, the Philippines with 16.1 percent and Vietnam with 7.3 percent.

It’s natural that multiracial students have been on a sharp upward curve in recent years, given that a growing number of Korean men marry foreign wives and more migrant workers settle here to take up jobs. The number of interracial families was tallied at about 250,000 last year.

If preschoolers are included, the number of children from multiracial families reaches nearly 150,000, and this explains why we should give top priority to integrating such children into our society without a hitch.

Yet it’s surprising to hear that nearly 40 percent of these multiracial students usually drop out of school. We assume that it’s because a considerable number of them are exposed to bullying and suffer an identity crisis due largely to poverty and language barriers.

Considering that a lot of heinous crimes have been committed by loners living in seclusion, leaving troubled interracial students unattended may be to sow the seed of crime for 10 to 20 years later. Such possibilities are all the more so, given that elementary school students still account for the lion’s share at 72 percent.

To counter the explosive rise in the number of multiracial students, the government has come up with a package of measures aimed at helping them adapt better at school. These include operating preliminary schools across the country to provide them with opportunities to learn Korean language and culture for six months before their regular schooling and adding Korean as a second language subject to the regular curriculum at schools. Tens of “coordinators’’ are also active in schools across the country.

But it’s doubtful if these measures are effective in addressing problems facing multiracial students. What’s needed most is to create a milieu in which cultural diversity is broadly accepted. At the same time, the government should strengthen education on multiculturalism for Korean families and students. <The Korea Times>

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