A topic that we have learned a lot about so far and a topic that is very relevant to my work here in Korea is Education in Korea. The education here is considered by many to be among the top systems in the world. They consistently rank very high in reading, math, and sciences, while the U.S. rarely ranks in the top 10. I have realized, however, that the attitude from the outside and the attitude from the inside is very different. Many Koreans wonder why President Obama mentions the Korean education system as something to admire. Many Koreans also send their students abroad to study simply to avoid the education system here, something that I never knew. I'll explain why.
The system here is very strict and very competitive. Children focus on five main subjects: Korean, Math, Science, English, and History. Starting at early ages, they are pushed to compete and put studies above everything, which in itself is not an issue. However, once they hit middleschool, and especially highschool, the lifestyle becomes very intense. A typical student will study from 7am until 8pm, and then the vast majority will attend some sort of afterschool until as late as midnight. This will go on six days a week, then, on many occasions, will be followed up by afterschool on Sunday. Parents in Korea spend, on average, more money on education than any other country in the world. If your student does not attend a Hagwon or private academy, it can put them at the disadvantage. During their senior year of highschool, all Korean students take a test which basically decides their future. A high score on this test means a good college, good future, and a good marraige. Whereas a low score can be just the opposite and can make it difficult to find a spouse.
More people in Korea have a PhD than any other population. The amount of degrees here is astounding. This means, however, that when 300,000 students graduate with degrees in who knows what, and there are only 30,000 jobs, you now have a lot of very intelligent people sitting around with no job. The concentration on getting the highest degree possible also means that no one is staying back to run the farms or do the blue-collar jobs. So, in a nutshell, Korea has a very large amount of people with PhD that have nowhere to work because of the same amount of degrees out there. Therefore, a lot of Koreans do end up working abroad.
The system does produce some of the brightest students in the world, but it comes at a cost. Parents get concerned about the stress that students receive from the consistent studying and also the lack of extracirricular activities that don't happen due to all of the studying. I know that back in the U.S., we sacrifice studies to play sports or do some kind of club, which is definitely not good, but here, it's nearly the exact opposite. Another small detail, sexes never interact in schools until the college level. That's right, you won't see a coed highschool at any public school in Korea.
A shocking fact that I never knew is that the suicide rate among Korean students is double that of the second ranked country in the world. I forget the statistic exactly, but it is quite surprising to see. Also, parents will send children abroad (many times along with the mother) to study in a less stressful environment. The government now is trying to get families back to Korea because of this. Recently, there was a movement to make it mandatory for schools to take Saturdays off. However, it was realized that parents, in order to keep their students competitive, would just hire private tutors for the free time, making the new law pointless.
Another interesting idea that originated here in Korea is an English village. If you speak good English in Korea, getting a job becomes much less difficult. So, like I mentioned earlier, students would go abroad and learn English in the process. To try and keep students here, the government has created English Villages, which are basically entire towns that operate in only english. Restaurants, signs, medical services, everything is in English. Students can stay for as short as a week all the way up to several months. This provides the unique opportunity to stay in Korea but be immersed in a western culture environment.
I look forward to learning more about the education system here. After learning all that I have learned, I am happy to be teaching younger children rather than the stressful upper grades. As I continue to learn more about how the system works, i'll be sure to post. Until then, check out the links below, especially the video, which has some really good information on the topic.
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