Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hanson]

Something Homer mentioned in another thread got me thinking: Can Koreans get admitted to decent universities (not necessarily 'SKY') without having attended a hagwon growing up? In other words, can the average Korean kid get the necessary skills/knowledge without extended time spent in a hagwon?

If the answer is 'no', doesn't that imply that Korea's education system is massively failing its kids?

I'd like to think that a bright Korean kid could succeed without much hagwon time. I'd like to think that a poor, hard-working kid can succeed in school without the help of the hagwon system. But I may be a bit skewed because of my cultural blinders.

And for the sake of being specific, I'm talking purely about academic skills/knowledge, not the social, shared experience of attending a hagwon that sometimes seems to be almost equally as important as what is being studied...

Edited for my bad... I originally wrote: "If the answer is 'yes', ...

[Xuanzang]

From my limited experiences as an elementary school teacher. I think if normal, average kids relied on their school teachers to become proficient in a subject - they wouldn't succeed. My class certainly isn't going to produce the next great American author. It's very much edutainment. Part of this failure comes from the joke textbooks/curriculum and apathy from the Korean native teachers.

Their math and science books barely have any problem sets in there. It's not very challenging either. That's why parents get their 과악 or 수학 hagwons - to fill in the gaps or make their kids more advanced than PS level. Same goes for English. No trust in public education to do anything.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[giraffe]

my wife didnt do any hagwon time and got into one of the good national universities... She got into university3-4 years ago soo this is fairly recently too sooo... Many of her class mates didnt do any hagwon time before university either. They do however NOW go to hagwon after classes since it's their last year of university and they want/need to get a good english score for jobs...

[winterfall]

For the most part. I'd say no. There are exceptional cases. But, the public system seems to revolve around memorizing huge amounts of information. Not understanding how to do it. Even though that's what the National Exam and Universities test for.

The older National Exam and University tests used to revolve around memorization. But, that was 20-30 years.

Though once they get into University they're guarantee to graduate. Class years go by what year they entered college, not what year they graduated.

At least that's all from my understanding of it.

[UknowsI]

[Ukon]

My co-teacher was valedictorian and went to the best education school in the country....No hagwons and she's not sending her future kids to one either. Her parents were rich too.

[thurst]

in america people routinely fail out of school so graduating isn't necessarily a forgone conclusion.

when you were saying the books didn't have problem sets, were you talking about the hs books? bcuz i've glanced over my kids' math books and they have plenty of problem sets, i was actually somewhat surprised that they had--what looked to be--geometry considering they're only in 5th grade.

[Hanson]

[ThingsComeAround]

You should really survey a Korean parent, or Korean teacher/parent.

I too have little faith in the hagwon system, but here the hagwon & school system is becoming more and more like Kimchi and rice. If I ever have kids, I'll send them to school somewhere else

[Konglishman]

In previous generations, I think the hagwons existed because Korea was working as hard as it could to get ahead. However, now, I think people simply have this idea in their heads that kids need to go to hagwons to succeed. Now, I don't think hagwons are inherently bad, but clearly anything taken to an excess becomes detrimental.

If I ever end up settling down in Korea with a wife and kids (I am single right now), I am certainly not going to send them to hagwons unless it is for genuine enrichment (piano lessons, tae kwan do, etc.). And if any of the hypothetical kids end up having trouble in school, then I would tutor (for free of course) them myself instead of wasting money.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Hanson]

[redaxe]

It's about competition. The fewer people go to hagwons, the fewer people will have to go to hagwons to be successful. If everyone else is going and you're not, you'd better be a little genius or you're not going to get very far.

[Hanson]