Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

After-schooling

Reducing the financial burden on parents who feel compelled to send their children to cram schools has been one of the policy goals of President Roh Moo-hyun's administration. He once referred to this business as one of the two greatest public enemies -- the other being speculation in property.

As a remedial measure, he promised to replace the after-school private "academy" system with in-school extracurricular programs, pledging that his administration would not hesitate to issue treasury bonds to finance the new projects, if that was deemed necessary.

An increase in spending would hardly discourage the reliance on cram schools, if such expenditures are not followed by improvements in basic policy. But the administration neither made good on its promise to increase the budget significantly, nor changed its flawed education policy.

No wonder Roh's policy against the hagwon system has failed miserably, as evidenced by the National Statistical Office's survey of monthly household incomes and expenditures during the third quarter of this year. Spending on private tutoring, instead of falling, as Roh had promised, rose at a fast pace.

According to the survey, the average urban household spent 152,000 won on private tutoring per month during the third quarter of this year, up 11.9 percent from a year ago, when the total spending increased at a more modest rate of 8.3 percent.

Private tutoring is a thriving industry in the nation. Authorized private learning centers and cram schools are teeming with students from primary and secondary schools, as well as high school graduates preparing for admission to college for a second time. In addition, many others choose to take private lessons from college students or professional private tutors.

Critics may sound convincing when they claim that Koreans have an inordinate zeal for education. Indeed, Korea spent 7.1 percent of its gross domestic product on education in 2005, which is the third-highest among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Even more surprising is the fact that a little less than half the expenditure, or 24 trillion won, was privately financed.

Parents are willing to spend as much on the private tutoring of their children as they can afford. In extreme cases, this can mean more than half the family's income. But parents should not be dismissed as unreasonable folks when they devote such a large portion of their income to their children's private lessons. They are, in fact, being rational, insofar as the cram schools and tutors make up for serious deficiencies in cookie-cutter public education, especially when it comes to preparing students for admission to universities.

Few parents have confidence in public education. Instead, they believe that it is dumbing down students, rather than encouraging them to develop their academic capacities to the fullest extent possible. This system dumbs down schools, as well. Indeed, the administration has discouraged competition among schools by severely restricting school choice, and permitting little difference in tuition rates.

There is nothing wrong with parents making a great deal of sacrifice to send their children to one of the best universities in the nation. Diplomas from the better schools are virtually synonymous with upward mobility. According to a recent survey conducted by a job-placement agency, nine out of every 10 Koreans believe that what counts the most in Korean society are academic credentials.

In this regard, public attention should be directed to presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak's proposal to encourage competition by establishing 150 public prep schools, 100 private prep schools and 50 high-caliber technical schools. Lee, of the conservative Grand National Party, says that he can cut in half the spending on private tutoring by creating such new high schools, and taking other measures.

The other serious presidential candidates, Chung Dong-young of the liberal United New Democratic Party, and independent Lee Hoi-chang, are urged to disclose their plans regarding private tutoring, as part of their overall education policies. What the public demands is good education at a reasonable cost.

2007.11.22

[Juregen]

As long as there is the entrance exam, there will be an hagwon business.

Unless they force kids to stay 16 hours a day in school.

Why does a President not understand its people?

[MantisBot]

[Mr. Pink]

[Cheonmunka]

Whenever I am surprised by a student, I'll ask, "Where did you learn that?" I'll always get the reply, "From my hakwon," or "From my preparation institute."
Schools seem to be testing grounds rather than places of learning.

[mindmetoo]

[lastat06513]

English education was not even a "hakwon industry" until Kim Young Sam came to office in 1992. Until that point, it was illegal for institutes to offer private English lessons and the only people doing private English lessons were those who were in Korea as missionaries, dependents of US military personnel and the occasional backpacker who stopped in Korea on their way to China or Thailand......

To say the government couldn't ban private English education is really underestimating public opinion on the issue......And to say
"Well.....the people I've meet say that it can't happen because----" are truly fooling themselves.
From the articles I keep seeing and from the posts people keep writing, it looks like the government (both the current and the next) might be trying to turn back the clock to particular point as to control the influx of foreigners coming to Korea.

They keep on insttituting more regulations in the hope of;

1. Discouraging more foreigners from seeking employment in Korea.
2. Close down the current system of hakwons.

Although this is only speculation on my part, but I can see this happening and the stability that alot of jobs gave people in Korea might be in peril, yet it is only relegated to just a scenerio for now......

[pkang0202]

I'd say shut down the hagwons. If there are no hagwons then people would be fighting tooth and nail to get private tutors for their kids. I can then charge triple, maybe quadruple what I normally charge for tutoring.

When the day hagwons die comes, you'll be seeing many foreigners with F visas driving Mercedes and BMW's.

[Ya-ta Boy]

It really doesn't matter how great a job the public schools do at teaching English. The testing culture here is not designed to measure how much a person knows; it is designed to determine how much more one student knows than the student sitting next to him.

The number of teaching certificates and the number of law degrees, etc. issued each year is set. So if 50 people or 500 people take the test, it is irrelevant. Only 12 will get the license.

The result of this set-up is: your kid needs more after-school classes in English (or whatnot) so he can score higher than anyone else.

[Juregen]

[tsgarp]

[marlow]

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

[twg]

garykasparov, you should link your articles...

[twg]