Pushing Boundaries: Students in South Korea

Are students pushed too far in Korea? Is the schooling system just too demanding? There are arguments both for and against, but after spending nine months in South Korea I’m just not sure which side of the fence I’m on.

You see, the average student starts their day at 7am, goes to a regular public school (which ends at 2 or 3 pm), and then it is off to their Hagwons (private schools). Even though these Hagwons are not compulsory, the fierce competition in Korean schools warrants them. Kids compete to get into the best middle schools, compete to get into the best high schools, and ultimately, compete to get into Korea’s best universities. Korea’s job market is now saturated with an overly qualified workforce and many people are only able to secure a job much below their capabilities.

As a result, from a young age, kids are keenly aware of the importance of schooling on their future. Students take their studies very seriously and work hard to achieve the best grades. If a student receives an 80% or below on a test, they become stressed and worried. It's simply not good enough.

When I first heard my students worry about their scores (which would be hailed as genius back home) I thought maybe the level of testing was lower than in Western countries, but that is not the case. Most Korean students in middle school are performing math and science problems well beyond what I was doing in high school, and students attending Hagwons are even further ahead. It amazes me what children can achieve.

So yes, there are definite pros. Children are pushed further and are very aware of how important their schooling is. Education is not taken for granted like it is by many Western students.

But at what cost?

I can hear the skeptics saying that Korean children are socially awkward and that what they earn in intelligence they lose in interpersonal skills, but to be honest, that is not the case.

Yes, there are kids that are very quite and shy and tend to stick to themselves. Yes, there are other children that throw themselves into the world of Star Craft and other computer games. But these children exist everywhere in the world. For the most part, the kids I have come into contact with are well rounded, happy children. They socialise whenever they can and behave just like children I have encountered anywhere else.

Are Korean students pushed to hard?

Other skeptics may choose to point out the high suicide rate in South Korea, but to make use of this argument your attention needs to focus specifically on high school students. Admittedly, this is where the system may be too much to handle. Their normal day starts at 7am and are likely to return home well after midnight (and still be required to finish homework and get ready for school the next morning).

A familiar saying amongst high school students is "Sa-Dang-Oh-Rak", which means "Four Pass, Five Fail". If a high school student sleeps four hours, as opposed to five, they are more likely to pass the university entrance exam.

Where does this leave us about whether the schooling system is pushing too hard in South Korea? In my opinion, I think young kids in the West are given too much slack and given excuses like, “there is still time,” or “he/she is still young.” I was shocked when I realized that some of the six year olds I was teaching in South Korea could read English better than many English speaking six year olds back home.

I now believe that kids from a young age should be pushed harder and have a better understanding of why schooling is important, but not to the degree they push high school students. Being a teenager is complicated enough with wild hormonal swings and the discovery of the opposite sex, but with barely enough sleep students here turn into zombies once in high school.

A balance is needed, especially for high school students, but I also think that younger kids are capable of a lot more than Westerners give them allowance for.