| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 社會學系 === 105 === The purpose of this study is to explore the factors influencing parents to choose for their children to attend private bilingual primary schools in Taipei. This comprises an analysis of the parents’ planning as regards their children’s education from the perspective of the following four aspects: credentialism; educational reform; socioeconomic background; and changes in Taiwanese society, globalization, and sub-replacement fertility.
Through in-depth interviews, supplemented by questionnaires, this study identifies the following four reasons:
1. Sociolinguistic segregation: As private schools have considerable tuition fees, it is usually the economically well-off families who are able to send their children to private bilingual primary schools; one of the main reasons for choosing private schools is parents’ desire to associate their children with socioeconomic peers, often with the intent of reducing the probability of deviant behavior by means of social segregation to eliminate negative influences from students of lower socioeconomic strata.
2. Global competition: In light of the increased pressure of globalization, parents hope to enable their children to be more competitive in the future, so as to be able to go abroad to study and obtain a diploma in an English-speaking country.
3. Distrust of educational reform: Taiwan is still in a transitional period as regards education reform. Parents do not trust the de facto policy of piecewise reform, fearing that sudden changes to evaluation methods may jeopardize their preparations for their children to advance to successive stages of study. In contrast, private schools’ system of direct ascent via affiliated junior schools is perceived as a more secure option.
4. Avoiding pressures related to credentialism: In contrast with the tradition of pursuing high exam scores, parents now pay more attention to the balanced development of their children. However, if they go the route of the general public school system, they will have to face the prospect of competing with other students over scores. This is another reason many parents choose for their children to attend private bilingual primary schools.
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