Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghostrider]

"01/04/2014 - Students from Singapore and Korea have performed best in the OECD PISA first assessment of creative problem-solving. Students in these countries are quick learners, highly inquisitive and able to solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar contexts.

"85,000 students from 44 countries and economies took the computer-based test, involving real-life scenarios to measure the skills young people will use when faced with everyday problems, such as setting a thermostat or finding the quickest route to a destination."
http://www.oecd.org/education/singapore-and-korea-top-first-oecd-pisa-problem-solving-test.htm

It may be true, but in a hierarchical culture creative problem solvers learn to keep quiet and do what they are told unless they are in a position of authority.

[amo_jh]

No way! Surely those at OECD must've been bribed and high on soju because Koreans have 0 creative thinking skills. Korean students only learn by remote memorization and they actually have zero understanding of any scientific principles, whereas western students excel in anything and everything creative but some can't do 10x12 in their head and need a calculator.

[Rockhard]

That's a common assumption but no one has any proof that it's actually true.

Perhaps we just seem more innovative because we have had this huge head start in economic development and an enormous population of 700 million (USA, Canada, Western Europe). There was bound to be some geniuses emerge out of that.

But take a random selection of Korean kids and pit them against a random selection of American kids and I feel bad for the American kids because they will get butt-hurt in any mental challenge.

[radcon]

[Weigookin74]

I was surprised to read the story. Knew of some engineers from Geoje and all the companies down there had to bring in foreign engineers because the Korean ones lacked creativity. Much of the economy here has been built not on originality but on copying,

I believe there is creativity but rote memorization, always obeying your ajossi, and not doing anything that upstages your ajossi or makes him lose face tend to nip it in the bud.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

I hope some creative ones go into architecture.

[wanderkind]

[Fox]

[caniff]

Wtf is "remote memorization"?

[cj1976]

I personally don't believe that young Koreans are any less creative than their foreign counterparts. It's the oppressive social conditions and archaic Confucian ideals that prevents them from expressing themselves. There aren't many young hotshots in charge of older guys out here. Past generation values still dominate.

[Steelrails]

95% of people aren't very creative. That 95-5 number is normal for children and people in general. People say an education system should be fostered around creativity, I'm not so sure. Creativity should definitely not be squelched and encouraged, but at the same time its important to give people a base of skills and to remember that the overwhelming number of people are not creative and won't be, and that to diminish their education for the sake of the creative because "creative sounds nice" and you want to rack up Nobel prize winners is a poor decision.

[Rockhard]

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Rockhard]

[Fox]