An Analysis of the Relation between Changes in High School Institution and Political Elite Recruitment: Focusing on Candidates for 22nd Congressmen in Two Major Parties

This study investigate how high schools that candidates for 22nd congressmen had attended have changed according to changes in high school institution, assuming the high school connections are important in political elite recruitment. We divided three periods, before high school equalization policy(HSEP), after HSEP , after introduction of special-purpose high school policy(SPHSP). We analyze how these different high school institutions affect political elite recruitment. The result indicates that HSEP have made political elites from more diverse schools and also suggested the possibility that political representation more wide and inclusive. In other aspect, HSEP also made private high school graduates become more political elite, which can imply that private schools with intense school identity with the same teaching staff and stable leadership more actively organize students’ school lives. After SPHSP, political elites are recruited more from SPH, which can disturb reversely democratic diversity in political elite representation. This study shows that HSEP have made political representation diverse and indirectly implies its importance in democratic politics. High school institution can not only be judged in terms of excellence and equality but also it should be treated in terms of its political implications.