2008 Volume 26 Issue 2 Pages 49-56
The influence on high school students' educational aspirations exerted by the expansion of special admission examinations was reviewed by focusing attention on the academic levels of each high school. As a result, it was found that students at medium to low academic level schools had a strong desire to proceed to higher education due to special admission examinations, particularly expansion of Admissions Office examinations. It was also clarified that the students' aspirations were intensified with regard to national and public universities. However, many of the students changed their choice of university when faced with examinations based on academic ability, and a tendency was also seen that students were not academically prepared to cope with examinations based on academic ability. As the background to this, it was suggested that there were differences in reasons for taking a special admission examination and situating the examination according to each academic level of each high school.
