Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

AFP Nov 12 - Education-obsessed South Korea rescheduled rush hour and airline flights as hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren sat a college entrance examination seen as crucial to their future.

Government offices nationwide opened one hour later than normal and private firms were advised to do likewise to reduce traffic congestion, as students headed to 1,124 centres to sit the College Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Flight takeoffs and landings were to be banned for two separate periods totalling about 30 minutes when students take oral examinations as part of the overall test.

The Korea Airports Corp said 94 domestic flights would be rescheduled or cancelled, and two international flights were also expected to be re-timed.

Cars were banned from sounding their horns near test centres during the same periods.

Even the stock and foreign exchange markets opened one hour later than usual.

Extra bus and subway services were laid on to get students to centres on time for the day-long exam, an annual ritual in a country where entry to a prestigious university is seen as the key to lifetime success.

Swine flu was an added complication this year. Examinees who have either tested positive for the (A)H1N1 virus or are suspected of being infected will take the test in separate rooms.

Electronic devices including mobile phones were banned to avoid hi-tech cheating.

Critics say the test assesses rote learning at the expense of creativity, and encourages expensive private tutoring to supplement the state education system.

After the official school day ends, many parents force young children to study until late in the evening at cram schools, with the aim of getting a head start in the college test.

An estimated 200 stressed students commit suicide every year, according to police statistics.

Central bank figures show household spending on private education rose to 20.9 trillion won (16.4 billion dollars) in 2008 from 20.04 trillion won a year earlier, despite the economic slowdown.

President Lee Myung-Bak's government is pushing for curbs on the cram schools, which are blamed for driving poor households into debt as well as stressing out young children.

A reform package announced earlier this year includes measures to normalise public education and to limit the opening hours of the private cram schools.

http://www.france24.com/en/node/4923218

[Xuanzang]

Every year the same article comes out.

[tatertot]

Why are they rescheduling and canceling flights? Don't they know long in advance when the test is going to occur? It seems to me that the flights shouldn't have been scheduled for that time in the first place.

[BoholDiver]

Is it because of the noise of the airplane?

[redaxe]

[craash]

S p A r K l I n G !

[Old Gil]

[davesucksnfl]

planning at all is a difficult concept for Koreans. Not sure why. never really seen anything like it. traffic plans. school plans. government plans (sejong city!). and executing plans is equally as difficult for them; think of the chaos the what side to walk on caused.

[nautilus]

[Joe666]

nautilus wrote:

[Gillian57]

In one of my classes last week we did a "rough calculation" on how much money their parents, on average, spent on the student's private/hagwon education prior to entering my school (I work at a foreign language high school in Jeollanam-do).

Turns out the AVERAGE amount was 43,000,000 won! Gads! That is what my entire 7 years of university (4 degrees) cost! And this is BEFORE the kids ever hit HIGH SCHOOL!

There is just something so very wrong with this picture.

[steveinincheon]

It seems to me that the obsession with test scores and the inability to really plan and execute plans go hand and hand. Generations of students have learned to cram and memorize tons of information to get higher test scores, only to forget everything they've learned when the tests are done. This fosters a very short term outlook, where information is only needed to be stored for a very short time and then forgotten. Is it any wonder then that any plans that require time and a long-term approach to solve have trouble getting executed?

[nautilus]

[Juregen]

[fermentation]