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weatherman
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea
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 Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:33 pm Post subject: Koreans overeducated? |
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Based on this article they are.
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Overeducation in Korean society is reaching a dangerous level. As of the end of last year, nine out of 10 employees with master��s degrees fall under the status of ��overeducation,�� having lower-level jobs compared to their educational background. Surveys show that about half, or 49.5 percent, of four-year university graduates are in charge of work that can be sufficiently covered by those with a high school diploma. The same is true with Ph.D.s; nearly half (44.8 percent) of whom are reportedly getting lower-level jobs. Such facts are identified in the ��Analysis Report on the Actual Conditions of Overeducation Caused by Educational Inflation,�� which was released by the Ministry of Labor��s Korea Labor Institute (KLI) and recently obtained by the Dong-A Ilbo.
The report is based on the ��Educational Requirements by Occupation�� and the ��Employment Structure Survey by Industry and Occupation�� produced by the Central Employment Information Office (CEIO) using the National Statistics Office (NSO) data in 2002 and 2004.
Kim Young-min (34), who received a Ph.D. in law at a prominent private university in Seoul, quit his job as an instructor when several private institutes he was working for went bankrupt right in a row. He worked for a home-delivery service near Namdaemun-ro and Mugyo-dong in Jung-gu, Seoul. After suffering a few motorcycle accidents, he is currently working as a repairman at a bicycle repair shop in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu. His earnings are nothing but some 450,000 won a month, which often is not given as scheduled. He applied for a messenger post at elementary school several times, but was rejected every single time for being ��overeducated for the job.��
Lee (29), who graduated from a four-year university in Busan, passed the Incheon Regional Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Office (IRMAFO)��s special recruitment test last year and is working as a lighthouse keeper in Palmi Island, Incheon.
Such realities of overeducation and downward employment are also shown in the number of students entering vocational training schools this year. Vocational training schools are one-year skills-building training courses designed to help job seekers with less than a high school diploma.
This year, among 6,461 new students in 21 vocational training schools nationwide, 876 were four-year college graduates and 1,334 two-year junior college graduates. Highly-educated students with more than junior college degrees account for 31 percent of the total number of students.
That percentage is on the sharp rise each year, reaching five percent in 2000, eight percent in 2002, 13 percent in 2003 and 18 percent in 2004.
One 29-year-old, a new student of the Chungju Vocational Training School this year who is identified only by his initial, L, graduated from the electronic engineering department of a prominent national university in the non-metropolitan area three years ago. ��It was of no help in job seeking that I graduated from a four-year university. It seems to me that I only wasted time and money,�� he said.
Last year, 82.1 percent of Korean high school graduated entered universities and junior colleges, which is among the world��s highest levels.
The number of this year��s February graduates with more than junior college degrees amounted to some 490,000 (220,000 from two-year junior colleges and 270,000 from four-year universities), up by a whopping 53 percent, or 170,000, from 320,000 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, so-called ��decent jobs�� for college graduates are on the decline. In 1997, right before the Asian financial crisis, the number of new employees in the top 30 large businesses, state-owned enterprises and financial institutes were 1.58 million. That figure has progressively shrunk down to 1.30 million last year, down by a staggering 280,000 employees.
Excess education inevitably leads to wasted national strengths and inefficiencies in society as a whole.
Last year��s KLI estimate shows that costs for graduation from two-year and four-year colleges were somewhere between 67 and 120 million won. Accordingly, social costs calculated on the basis of unemployed college graduates alone reach over 20 trillion won.
��Small and mid-sized enterprises and college graduates are having a hard time recruiting employees and finding jobs, respectively, as students ��blindly�� choose to enter college without considering industry demands at all,�� said Park Cheon-soo, CEIO��s trend analysis team manager. ��Korea��s human resources management system is stuck in the ��trap�� of overeducation.�� |
I think this problem could be helped if so many employers didn't require a college degree, when one isn't needed. Tied into this is the overemployment in large companies and low productivity of the work force. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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"Overeducated"?
Underemployed !
Korea has the human resources and infrastructure to develop even more advanced technologies and a stronger economy.
Potential... |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Korean kids are certainly overworked what with having school on bloody saturdays and having private sector (Hakwon) education too. They deserve great credit for being so nice and having such enthusiasm in spite of being completely overworked. Good for them. |
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BigBlackEquus
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| It would help if the education they were getting wasn't worth a turd. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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| True in the case of English certainly. Dreadful shower. |
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Dan
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Sunny Glendale, CA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:05 am Post subject: |
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Actually, the desire to learn in Koreans is much stronger than your average American, myself included. I'm pretty happy with my BS, and might consider going for a masters down the road, but most of my Korean friends take it as a given that you must get a masters degree.
It ties into the belief that a higher education nets you a better job, better marriage prospects, better life, etc.
But I think there is something to be said for the desire to learn. |
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BigBlackEquus
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:33 am Post subject: |
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Of course, it has rubbed off on me.
But being black with a better degree doesn't bring in much more green in this country. I just try to get more hours any way I can. |
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Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:56 am Post subject: |
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| I don't know about others but thats why I am here. Over educated, under paid back home. Its something they have to deal with here in Korea. |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| Dan wrote: |
But I think there is something to be said for the desire to learn. |
Learning to make you a better person and because you're interested in the process, yes; learning as a competative edge, no. |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 3:37 am Post subject: |
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| Actually, the desire to learn in Koreans is much stronger than your average American, myself included. I'm pretty happy with my BS, and might consider going for a masters down the road, but most of my Korean friends take it as a given that you must get a masters degree. |
I think Americans would all have Master's degrees, too, if they could cheat, plagiarise, whine, sleep and bribe their way through "school" like Koreans do. The reason your Korean friends all need Master's "degrees" is that their first "degrees" aren't worth the paper they are written on. Their desire to have letters after their names is strong. Their commitment to actually learning how to do anything, like conjugate the verb "to be" or make a cellphone that lasts more than a year, is highly questionable. |
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inkoreaforgood
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Location: Inchon
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 4:58 am Post subject: |
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Quote from article in OP:
Kim Young-min (34), who received a Ph.D. in law at a prominent private university in Seoul, quit his job as an instructor when several private institutes he was working for went bankrupt right in a row. He worked for a home-delivery service near Namdaemun-ro and Mugyo-dong in Jung-gu, Seoul. After suffering a few motorcycle accidents, he is currently working as a repairman at a bicycle repair shop in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu. His earnings are nothing but some 450,000 won a month, which often is not given as scheduled. He applied for a messenger post at elementary school several times, but was rejected every single time for being ��overeducated for the job.��
Here we have a purportedly intelligent individual, with a high degree of education working as a mechanic. So many things just don't add up in this situation. Someone with a PhD who doesn't have any network of people to help find him a decent job? In Korea? Went to "a prominent private university in Seoul"? I find this impossible to believe. Truly impossible. I know people working on their Masters and PhDs here (Koreans) who are at least teaching as part time lecturers. They make more than 450k won a month too. They got the jobs because they have contacts there, true, but why doesn't this guy have any contacts? And how does he know how to fix motorbikes? I call BS on this shite.
Plus he could make more working in a factory here too. |
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teachmeenglish
Joined: 14 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| Considering the poor state of education here, lets look at it as if BA-High school, MA = BA and PhD=MA. What would the numbers look like then? If you think this is too tough, think about how hard you worked for your degree at home. I bet 90% of Korean undergrads would fail out of a western uni in the first year. It is not about ability, but effort, and there is not much effort by too many students here. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:13 am Post subject: |
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[....]
Last edited by Moldy Rutabaga on Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Devil's Harvest
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Location: House of Knives
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:19 am Post subject: |
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As far as I know, a degree from any Korean university is as valuable as toilet paper in any western nation.
Last edited by Devil's Harvest on Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Canucksaram
Joined: 29 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:40 am Post subject: |
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| Hmm. Koreans are overeducated, eh? I guess that's the balancing factor for them being so under-cultured. |
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