Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ABC KID]

I've heard the stories about sleep-deprived Korean children going to X number of academies especially by the time they go to high school.
I've heard the stories about the Korean students that tell their parents they scored 95% in exams, only to be scolded for not getting 100%.
I've heard the stories of Korean students committing suicide because the pressure was too much...

Well today I was in a glasses shop (안경 나라) with my Korean mother-in-law. While she was having her eyes examined and choosing a pair of new glasses I happened to cast an eye over one of the Korean newspapers on one of the tables. Now I have no pretensions to being a genius of Korean but nevertheless my Korean is quite solid and I think I've got the story right...

Basically in the recent university entry exams if students got as much as one question wrong in some subject areas they could not get in the top grade band. In other subjects it was two questions wrong and they had blown it. Now I'll compare this to my country England for a moment - Until recently (and probably still now) somewhere around 70% was enough for the top grade A, in our university entry exams (A-Levels). I don't know about USA and Canada but I'm guessing it is nothing like the non-existent margin for error that Korean students have.

It is easy to understand why some foreigners are content for their children to study in Korean elementary schools but not beyond. Even if Korean children withstand all the pressure and get the stunning results needed they usually end up at universities ranked far behind numerous western universities in the World League Tables.

So the next time people come on to Dave's to post about the Zombie-like state or seeming lack of interest for English among their high school students please stop and try to empathize with them for a few moments.
They are under unbelievable pressure and yet most of them are pretty decent human beings if you get to know them even a little bit.

[RACETRAITOR]

The most important marketable skill in this country is filling in dots.

[aaabank]

I teach English at a highschool and I do and always have empathized with my students. They have a very rigorous life filled with long hours at school usually followed up with academies late into the night, with typical bedtimes at ~1-2am. (Although most students do make up for this lack of sleep by sleeping through nearly every class throughout their day at school).

Regarding the college entrance exams and the pressures to attain perfect/near perfect marks, in contrast to western countries where perfection is usually not expected: In Korea, test scores correlate very closely with which university a student will go to and that university where a student goes correlates very closely with future employment/income potential. In the west, the university a person attends, while important in determining future employment, does not disqualify or guarantee any future employment opportunities.
Simply speaking, if a student gets into a SKY university, they basically have it made and can coast through the rest of their life if they so choose. Therefore, getting as a high of a score as possible on the college-entrance exam is perhaps the most important aspect of a Korean's life.

[VanIslander]

[mikekim]

If you study all day, you should get perfect scores.

[blaseblasphemener]

[Boodleheimer]

i teach at a comprehensive high school. the students in the uni-prep classes aren't the sharpest knives in the drawers. their parents want them to go to uni, so they will go. Lord only knows when they stopped caring. i've seen several SLEEP THROUGH MIDTERM EXAMS. not even fill in a single freaking dot!!

meanwhile, i've got 1-2 clever kids in each of the vocational classes who clearly should be going on to university - but their parents don't want them to for some reason (more than likely money). they're going to learn 'vocational skills'.

korean parenting really annoys me to no end.

[Scotticus]

[jvalmer]

You guys do realize even though high school students stay at school until 10pm or whatever time. Half the time is spent socializing, playing games, chatting and sending text messeges to their significant others and whatever...

So I kind of feel bad for them... yet not really...

[pkang0202]

When I was in high school, the minute I got home from school I dropped my bookbag at the front door. I didn't touch it until the next morning when I had to go to school.


I feel bad for Korean students. Koreans learn about parting, sex, and freedom when they are in University. back home, we learned all that in high school. I remember me and my friends all got freedom the minute we turned 16 and got our driver's license.

In Korea, there are still University students living with their parents, never knowing what its like to sleep in the bed of the opposite sex after a night of drunken debauchery.

[RACETRAITOR]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

The marking system for this year's CSAT was completely screwed up. Hopefully that won't be repeated, and hopefully the new curriculum being fully introduced in 2009 will lead to students studying more effeciently. ...hopefully.

[jajdude]

A day would need 35 hours to accommodate the unrealistic expectations Korea has for its youngsters.

[venus]

[curlygirl]

Grrrr...how can a multi-choice, fill in the dots exam possibly be compared to the New Zealand (or any other Western country's) exam system. While 95% might seem like an impossibly high benchmark, it's way more difficult to compose WRITTEN answers to exam questions than it is to memorise a bunch of pre-set questions and answers then fill in the dots. I'm supervising high school exams this week and most of my kids finish their 50-minute exam inside of 20 minutes. When I think back to my own high school days I remember me and my fellow students writing at breakneck speed to try to complete all the questions within a 2-hour period. Yes I have sympathy for the kids trying to work their way to the top within this ridiculous system, but as has been pointed out already, they spend an awful lot of their time either sleeping or mucking around in class. Time spent in school and hagwons does not equate to hours spent studying.