Inevitably, Korean-Americans have had to suffer an ethnic identity crisis in living between Korean culture and American culture. Sometimes they ask themselves “Who am I? Where do I belong in between Korean society and American society? Am I a Korean or an American?” This is the Korean-American’s trouble and wrestling for ego synthesis in the middle of the American culture. There are bigger gaps between assimilated children and parents who are not readily assimilated into American culture. The author is very concerned about the outlook for the future of the Korean-American family situation, especially in the generation gap problem. As a possible answer to this circumstance, the author researches the missiological importance of Korean-American’s identity education through the use of the Jewish model, who successfully maintains their own identity despite their long periods of Diaspora history. In section 1, the author deals with the nations which have survived and will survive in the future, especially concentrating on Arnold Toynbee’s theory about challenge and response, and the three essences of the collapse of civilization. Another main focus of this section is Jewish education as an important identity keeping tool. In section 2, the author discusses the Jewish and the Korean-American in the viewpoint of assimilation models, especially based on the Gordon, Won-mu Hurh, and Kitano’s analysis about assimilation. In comparison with Piaget’s external assimilation and internal accommodation, Gordon’s social structural assimilation theory is applied to the Jewish model as a good model of the Korean-American’s identity education method, and Gordon’s cultural assimilation theory is applied to the African-American model. Won-mu Hurh’s four models are mentioned in this section. Kitano’s four cells also are dealt with in this section. In section 3, the author deals with Yong-soo Hyun’s vertical culture and horizontal culture as a good answer to the Korean-American's identity question. In section 4, the author handles the role of parents as important teachers of their children. In section 5, the author deals with the role of the Korean immigrant church as an important place of the Korean-American’s identity education. In all sections, the author compares the Jewish model with the Korean-American situation.

• 권오훈(목원대학교 강사)