Korean Schools

Just the other day, my Korean-American friend and I were talking about Korean schools. And I found out some REALLY interesting things. As you know, Korean schools are KNOWN to be extremely tough and demanding. Want evidence? My friend's cousin came over from Korea and looked at her Biology and Geometry books. "Oh, this is easy! I could do these in 10 seconds!" she said. She also mentioned how they have calculators, but they dont use them. WHAT? Also, there is apparently a hard way of graphing that they do. Hmm. Being me, this is one of the reasons why I REALLY want to go to Korea (you know, other than seeing my kpop biasts... but that's besides the point). To me, in America, the schools are VERY lazy. Some of the  teachers are not 100% committed to teaching, majority of the students in a public high school couldn't care less about learning, and the students are VERY disrespectful. I want to get into a good college (hopefully Yonsei!) and have a successful career. To me, Korean schools will prepare me for that! Before I read this article, it was my ultimate DREAM to move to Korea and possibly get a job there. And I was extremely jealous of the students who actually had the ability to dedicate their entire lives on getting a better education and having a successful life. However, once I read this article, my perspective changed slightly. 



Here's the article: http://asiasociety.org/education/learning-world/south-korean-education

If you read it, PLEASE read the comments as well. That is where my eyes changed. 

If you are one of those busy bees, here's the article in a nutshell. It basically talks about the South Korean curriculum, the school schedule, and the stress the students are put into. The basic stuff. Once I finished reading the article, I thought "Hmm. Maybe I should read the comments too while I'm at it." And I've got to say--that was the most eyeopening thing I could have read. Here's the comment:

"Okay. I respect how you guys think about Korean education. I have read all the comments but there is a significant point that all of you are missing. To briefly explain about myself, I used to be at Korean public school and I graduated middle school there. However, I recently moved to international school to prepare for my dream of going to universities in America. Now let me get to the point. As a student who experienced both Korean education and American education, they are very different. Korean education is more focused on memorizing and it is a type of an education that was taught to the laborers in early days. It is very limited and although the studies show that the students from South Korean rank the first in mathematics skills, they cannot think out of the box. The education we receive is very limited and it teaches us to become a problem solving machine that can only operate when they receive problems. However, American education focuses more on practical skills and active learning. We need to search the sources for our homework or project and this process by itself develops the students to think effectively and actively. Compare to this, Korean education demands the students to know what's in the textbooks and they just need to study the materials that are only covered in the textbooks which limit their imagination and ability of searching by themselves. I really want you to know that Korean education is not always the best or the thing to be admired. As one of Korean students myself, I'm really sad and depressed how students in Korea are receiving old and ineffective education."

After reading this, I'm like, "Dang. Maybe schools in America actually CAN be good at times." I feel really bad for the students in S. Korea since they have to memorize everything and the brain can only hold so much.

But, I still have mad respect for Korean students, but I can see that I have it pretty good myself in America. :)


I know, this isn't K-pop related, but I figured you might want to know about the culture where our idols came from, right?