From Desks to Soaring Skies: Reconfiguring “Studious Korea” through Technological Participation

Abstract

South Korea is widely associated with intensive academic study, educational competition, and strong aspirations for educational achievement. However, the educational subject associated with this ethos has not remained static. This study examines how a historically constructed educational ethos has been rearticulated through competency-based, digital, and technology-oriented reforms. It further considers how national education policy has reshaped the educational subject and how meso-level institutions have mediated emerging opportunities for technological participation. It employs qualitative historical and policy discourse analysis of major Korean education policy documents from 1895 to 2023, supplemented by official records on contemporary drone education, competitions, and public programs. The findings suggest that the transformation of Korea’s educational subject is better understood as reconfiguration rather than replacement. Earlier ideals of self-cultivation, effort, ability, and national development remain visible, but are increasingly expressed through creativity, information processing, experimentation, problem solving, and technological practice. The drone cases illustrate how meso-level institutions organize participation infrastructures that extend educational activity beyond conventional classroom spaces. The study therefore conceptualizes technological education as an institutional reconfiguration of an existing educational ethos and highlights participation infrastructure as a meso-level mechanism connecting policy priorities with technological practice.