Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Are you preparing your students for work? Is your class more important than the weekend "MT"?

Do Koreans really go to university to train and prepare for work? Do Koreans more often go to university to build relationships that will help get a job?

The survey, released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), showed that nearly 87 percent of polled CEOs at 67 foreign firms doing business in Korea said that Korea's higher educational system seldom offers relevant teaching that is useful or applicable to the base of knowledge and skills required for today's job market.

Only 13.4 percent said Korean universities provided sufficient levels of education for entry-level employees. In response as to whether CEOs felt it necessary for multinational companies in Korea to train brand-new, entry-level, university-educated Korean employees from scratch, nearly half, or 49.3 percent, agreed that such on-the-job training was necessary.

The respondents also expressed dissatisfaction with the Korean labor market in terms of a lack of flexibility, which was cited by 28.8 percent of all respondents; unstable labor-management relationships (27.1 percent); an insufficient source of professional workforce (18.1 percent); and the lack of basic English proficiency (17.5 percent).

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

What if you took this all the words that say "KOREAN" and replace them with "AMERICAN" or "CANADIAN".. I'm wondering if the other facts would be pretty be about the same?

well.. except maybe for the last line.. thats debateable if americans/canadians would be lacking basic English proficiency ... or.. or.. just a minute.. IS IT? (enter suspenseful twilight zone music here)

Wait a second! What kind of trick topic is this!! You actually searched and replaced all the American or Canadian references and put in Korean!! Then we were suppose to be flabbergasted!! Right? Right?

Then once we all shred apart the ol' Korean education system.. then down it comes.. the old WHAMMO!! hahaha.. its not "Korean" after all trick.. its the Americans/Canadians! OH MAN! GOOD ONE!!

SMART MAN!! You almost got me there! Heh heh...... heh... oh man oh man... heh heh... good one!

Dan · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Sunny Glendale, CA

absolutely it does not. but i think the system is just completely antiquated. wait, that's not the right word..... what's that word that means run out of usefulness? starts with ob...

anywho, korean college professors get like $300-400 per class per semester. that is just completely disgusting. i'm sure the curriculums aren't exactly state of the art either. there's just so many problems with the korean educational system and i see it in my students every day.

obsolete! there we go

i think this system works for somethings like Math and Science, but in areas of language, business, etc, free and creativity thinking is more important.

ever teach a child that can recite his ABCs, but pick out a letter, ask him to say it, and he has no idea. i try to teach away from this method as much as possible, but the society is not helping out at all.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Is your class more important than the weekend "MT"?

"MT" (Membership Training: an orientation trip to strengthen relationships between members of a club or a department), drinking, games, singing rooms, studying, and club activities.

How important are classes? How important is the weekly English class with the foreign professor? How much influence do you have at your university?

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Generally, I find that the classes I sat in on during university wasn't what taught me for the real world.

Generally, university life is what teaches you about the world. How to go about doing just the right things, taking the right classes, meeting the right people, doing this and doing that.. that is what university teaches you..

Plus it teaches you how to better socialize.. these are the things that universities do for people..

But I don't think the actual classes themselves were anywhere near as important as the 'how to exist within an institutional setting'

The classes themselves.. hmm.. y'know what? I took classes like statistics and math along with other stuff.. then I decided maybe grad school is a good choice.. I bought a GRE Study Book.. and found out that I don't remember anything from any of the math classes except that at that time I knew how to do the formulas and junk..

Anyhow, looking back on university.. there are only a few things I remember from my actual classes.. but there is A TON of things I remember socially.. almost everything..

Anyhow, thats how university prepares people for the real world - 4 years of advanced social skills, and teaching you how to think and how to analyze and look at things in every kind of different way and stuff like that..

The classes themselves? nah.. not unless you actually studied engineering or something that was actually used for your post-college life.. but i sure didn't..

jsmac · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Gangwon-do

University is not and never was supposed to prepare students for a job. That is what technical colleges and trade schools are for. It has recently become true (esp. of industrialized nations) that the most desirable and prestigious jobs are only open to those who have attended and succeeded at university, but that is not its raison d'etre, nor has it ever been.

Aside from this, I have heard that Korean universities are especially poor in world or asian rankings. This may be related: the Korean university system was only invented after the Korean war: when the aristocracy was killed off, the society desperately needed a new way to make class distinctions, and in the absence of blue blood there was only money and education. So if the uni system here was born not out of a search for higher education but higher social status, it should come as no surprise that this is what it truly succeeds at.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

one thing to point out is although korean universities may lack comparitively to the west, the K-12th grade system defintely overcompensates. I think most korean by the time they graduate from High School have studied more than most Westerners have throughout university. Or so it seems..

When I was in High School, I don't ever recall every bring a book home. In fact, I was quite proud of that fact. The classes were SO easy and every teacher I had gave ALOT of in-class time to either do homework or study..

kimcheeking · Guest

[quote="Tiger Beer"] I think most korean by the time they graduate from High School have studied more than most Westerners have throughout university. Or so it seems..
quote]

Studied yes, learned something NO! memorization does not include sythesis of knowledge.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Circus Monkey · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: In my coconut tree

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Circus Monkey · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: In my coconut tree

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

*Bump*

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Students say going to top local colleges no longer guarantees success
Compared to the Korean college entrance examination, the SAT is considered by most Koreans to be a cake-walk. Hwang scored a 1500 with a perfect math score and though he has little opportunity to work on his English at his science school, he scored a 700 on the verbal section.

But he is battling other challenges of the American college admissions game. On Christmas Eve, he is contemplating how to answer an essay question by Johns Hopkins University: "If you had just $10 to plan a day's adventure, where would you go and who would you go with?"

"I have no idea what to write. I asked my mom, but she doesn't know either."

Korean born and bred, Son studied at both Seoul and Yonsei, became a judge, and then went on to become one of the leading labor lawyers in the country. Though he saw the best of the best of what Korea has to offer, a brief stint at UCLA law school convinced him that an American education was radically different, and far superior, than anything offered here. "Having gone to the States for an education is beneficial in getting a job. Companies these days prefer U.S. diplomas," says Lee.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/12/27/200312270041.asp

Expenses amounted to an average of 3.25 million won for primary students, 4.07 million won for middle school students, and 5.08 million won for high school students. South Koreans individually paid 17.5 percent of the education fees for elementary and middle school, more than double the OECD average of 8.3 percent, according to the research.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200401/kt2004010718400611990.htm

Two 'Exceptional' Students Are Harvard Bound
Both students did not apply to any domestic university and regarding this, Lee said he did not want to take one good chance of admission away from his friends, while Kim said she has been skeptical since middle school about Korean education only emphasizing class ranks.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212160016.html

One out of four applicants accepted to Seoul National University based only on College Scholastic Ability Test grades this year failed either the English-language ability test or the mathematic skills test that the university requires. Last year, 31 percent of the students failed to meet the English language standard and 14 percent failed the math skills test. The Chinese character examination conducted by the university was "a comedy" according to some who witnessed it.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200312/28/200312282250457939900090109011.html