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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Unposter
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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 Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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IMHO, hakwons exist becuase of the competitive nature of Korean society and has little to do with the "failures" of Korean public education.
Even if Korean kids went to school 16 hours a day and taught by super-robots, there would still be one family that would send their kids to a tutor for an extra hour or more, and then when that family talked to their neighbors, there would be more families looking for an advantage in competitive Korean society.
I know it is hard for some to understand but the current system exists in Korea because it "benefits" a significant amount of Koreans and though there is belly-aching by some, it is not enough to make cultural change. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| denverdeath wrote: |
| some waygug-in wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
Not sure about Commonwealthers, but I have a feeling if you took a bunch of Korean 6th graders, they'd outperform a large number of American NETs at either their 2nd language from schooling back home and/or their Korean skill here. Factor in the fact that most people back home learn a language similar to English like Spanish/French/German and not as dissimilar as Korean to English and it makes the claims about a "failed" Korean language system in comparison to ours seem a little bit hollow.
Course that might be as much a reflection on the American school system and lifestyle, as I'm pretty sure the Canadian and Saffa NETs could smoke both the Koreans and Americans at 2nd language with their commitment to French/Afrikaans, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Brits and Irish were as well. |
I agree with most of your post, but I think you are over estimating the abilities of Canadians somewhat. I can't speak about South Africans but I can tell you there are a lot of Canadians who struggle just as much with French as Koreans do with English. |
have to agree a bit about the cdn thing. although i am pretty good at french(took a lot of extra work and attending summer intensive programmes along w university french), i didn't start learning until grade 5. and that was only a once-a-week class. granted, i know things are a bit better these days, as in the acquisition is earlier and probably somewhat more effective; however, i've spoken to people(around my age) in downtown montreal who can't speak a word of french and have friends who hate french. c'est la vie, hien? a 6th grade korean who has been learning some english since kindergarten is likely going to speak better english than a similar aged albertan will speak french is what i think. |
lol... I'm a prime example of an Albertan barely able to speak French. I'd be willing to wager that 90% of Albertans/Canadians (except the ones who were in French Immersion) can barely string two sentences in French. That's despite being taught 2/3 hour a week from grade 3 to 12. Well, actually I dropped French the first opportunity I had, in grade 11.
God I hated French, even though I was fantasizing about some of my Quebecois French teachers.
And yes, Koreans probably do a much better job teaching English than Canadians teaching French to Albertans. |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
lol... I'm a prime example of an Albertan barely able to speak French. I'd be willing to wager that 90% of Albertans/Canadians (except the ones who were in French Immersion) can barely string two sentences in French. That's despite being taught 2/3 hour a week from grade 3 to 12. Well, actually I dropped French the first opportunity I had, in grade 11.
God I hated French, even though I was fantasizing about some of my Quebecois French teachers.
And yes, Koreans probably do a much better job teaching English than Canadians teaching French to Albertans. |
This is why we Quebecois think funny of Albertans. 
Honest joke aside, Korean students often forget what they learn in English class. And this is very depressing. They can't accept that learning a foreign language is also learning about foreign culture. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:06 am Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
IMHO, hakwons exist becuase of the competitive nature of Korean society and has little to do with the "failures" of Korean public education.
Even if Korean kids went to school 16 hours a day and taught by super-robots, there would still be one family that would send their kids to a tutor for an extra hour or more, and then when that family talked to their neighbors, there would be more families looking for an advantage in competitive Korean society.
I know it is hard for some to understand but the current system exists in Korea because it "benefits" a significant amount of Koreans and though there is belly-aching by some, it is not enough to make cultural change. |
Yes, there is that aspect as well. I thought about it more after I posted.
It's not so simple as I made it sound. The whole competitive nature has to do with the university system which in turn is controled by the chaebols
so it is tough for the average family to get ahead. |
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