Global Education Executives
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea (hereafter Korea) holds one of the most remarkable stories of national development, going from a country devastated by war and poverty in the 1950s to a booming economy of culture, progress, and intellect. Despite being one of the poorest countries at the time, after the Korean War, the newly-formed government decided to strategically invest in human capital development, pulling Korea from an agricultural society into one that saw a well-received, quickly-advancing expansion of education. This, combined with Korean households across the nation eagerly investing in their children’s educational advancement alongside the government, has propelled Korea into the position of one of the world’s most educated countries today.
With this much emphasis on and investment towards education, and with a nationwide determination to produce high-performing members of society, it is no doubt that the quality of education in Korea is considered to be top-tier. Education in Korea begins with primary school and is compulsory and free up through middle school, where students are taught nine different subjects (including foreign language classes—typically English). However, because Korea—much like other Asian countries with high-performing graduates—also follows a school system that preps their students for the benchmark test at the end of high school, the CSAT (“College Scholastic Ability Test”), most students finish secondary education (while paying for the fees) and proceed onto tertiary education. In fact, today Korea sees the highest enrollment rate for tertiary school in the entire world, especially as one’s university education will largely affect their social status moving forward. Additionally, Korea is home to the largest number of after-school study classes (called hakwon 학원) in the world, where students will spend up to 16 hours in a whole day on studying—half at school, and half at hakwon.
Though the ambitious pursuit of quality education that both the government and parents endorse is admirable, there is always a flip side to the coin: pressure causes stress and unhappiness, and stress leads to a decrease in the quality of life. Korea unfortunately holds the world’s highest suicide rate, a large number of which are students who cannot bear the academic stress and social pressure any longer. High school students do not get enough sleep because they over-study at hakwons; many families go into debt by pouring all their money into private tutors or hakwons, sometimes with unfavorable results. Additionally, there were concerns that the type of education in Korea only produces robotic academics and not emotionally-functioning members of society. Reforms towards the education system have been called for and slowly implemented; for example, the government has enforced a 10:00pm curfew on hakwons and new reform proposals that seek to lower the competition between institutions and open up the graduate job market.
Every system is not without its flaws, and Korea is not exempt. However, considering their progress in the last short 70 years alone, their journey from impoverished to one of the most advanced, educated countries in the world is commendable. It cannot be denied that the quality of their education is top-tier, and will continue to remain so based on the demands of society.
Reference:
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Mani, Deepti (Oct 16, 2018). Education in South Korea. WENR. https://wenr.wes.org/2018/10/education-in-south-korea