Korean Job Discussion Forums

[billybrobby]

i think some of it has to do with the slow pace at which many koreans become independent from their parents. some of my friends back home were sent packing when they turned 18. but for a korean to live with mommy and daddy till their 30 isn't unusual. and while their doing that, why not get a higher degree? and then the problem just becomes one of supply and demand. the market is flooded with higher degrees and their value goes down. but then again, more people with higher degrees should create more businesses looking to hire people. but only to a certain extent. hasn't the bachelor's degree in the america become devalued? it used to be almost a guarantee of employment, but now it's just a baseline requirement for getting an interview.

anyways, it's too bad these guys can't just be ESL teachers.

[fusionbarnone]

Devil's harvest, that's really sad about the lady with the engineering degree. Her degree is not valid in the US? Would like to get the name of her alma mater and check this out.

That's something all students have to be wary of everywhere, that their degree is recognized. Read too many stories also of people who worked really hard on their doctoral research and thesis only to find after graduation their uni was not accredited,or worse, a diploma mill that charged $10,000 and made them work hard too.

Once saw a web site calling itself a "document replacement service" which listed a substantial number of now-defunct Korean universities on it's "degree replacement" menu. Seemed to me at that time that a lot of Korean unis may have the half-life of a chocolate sponge in the sun.

[lastat06513]

Thats the problem with education in Korea- too little content and too much hype.

Thats why so many people are trying to get into the "best" universities in Korea, in the hopes that the name alone on the degree will help them get a decent enough job.
Koreans tend to view college/ university as a time to relax after 12 years of cramming or 2 grueling years of military service.
Yet once they finish school, they are up against 15,000 or so people who are trying to get the same position as they are (IE, the KNP hiring drive in the spring last year)

Thats why a sizable number apply for universities and colleges elsewhere outside Korea, hoping to avoid the rat-race (no matter how fruitless it has become) to get into one of the many decaying conglomerates in the country.

I think one of the best things to do would be to cut the industrial trainee program and tell Koreans that it is not bad to take these jobs.

Money is money, it shouldn't matter where it comes from, if a man has the ability to provide for his family, then where he works shouldn't matter.

As someone has mentioned...Korea has a long way to go before they even start to think that way, again.

[Dan]

[The Man known as The Man]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[Dan]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

This thread is entitled, "Koreans over-educated?"

You responded, "Koreans are more motivated to learn than Americans."

I said, "Korean university degrees are very easy to get."

You said, "Asians make up 5-% of the US but 25-30% of US college students."

I said, "Are we talking about Americans or Koreans?"

You clearly take "Korean" to mean anyone with Korean blood, not just Korean citizens.

Yes, Korean-American parents push children to get degrees but when they do they push them into real schools. When Korean parents send children to university, the kids don't study, cheat, plagiarise and sleep through class. Korean universities have a poor reputation outside Korea for these reasons.

[paperbag princess]

if koreans are over educated, than come how there seems to be NO critical thinking going on anywhere in this place?

[joe_doufu]

You guys have to clarify your meaning for "educated". Do high school students "go to work" from dawn until midnight? Yes. Do they learn as much or more than "slacker" American high school kids who go home at 2:30? Not even. Do a large percentage of Korean kids sit through four years of university? Yes. Do they choose their major based on their interests or abilities, apply themselves, and learn? No!

I heard that the prevalence of masters' degrees is partly due to the fact that you just get your BA in whatever happens to be the most prestigious program you can test into, and then after four years you've earned your "ticket" and can enroll in the university you want and study what you want (at least, what your parents want you to want, which is close enough.)

[Freezer Burn]

All that 'ahem' education and they still can't drive.

I was talking to a student the other day and he was telling me about how their high school system works, how they have to study enough to get into a good high school so they don't have to go to a technology school.
All that does is segregate and disqualify a slacker in middle school from getting any real shot of a good future in education if the kid decides to pull finger in high school, by then it's too late your stuck in a terrible high school that won't teach you the basics neccessary to make it through a university course.
The same education should be available to all students up till university level that way everyone gets a shot at getting a good future instead of a 3D job.

[Dan]

[babydriver]

Is someone really arguing that Korean students can get a good education if they really try hard? What planet are you living on?

Korean hs students study day and night in order to memorize enough information to do well on the entrance exam. They have to go to university to get even a marginal job, because all employers know that it is impossible to fail in Korean public schools. If you show up regularly in high school, you graduate. So a hs diploma is worthless. Bright students know this, and they also know they don't know how to think, but they have no choice. That's the system, and changing it is something most people can't even contemplate.

It's depressing, unless you subvert from within, and encourage your best and brightest students to go abroad to study.

I read somewhere that the amount of money Korean parents pay every year in hagwon and private tutoring fees is more that the national education budget.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[Hollywoodaction]