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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:12 am Post subject: New trend: Mothers getting Ed. degrees to teach their kids |
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According to my wife, there was a news story about this. She also knows a lady who is in the process of doing it...
Korean mothers are now so desperate for their children to get the best scores possible, that the MOTHERS are now enrolling in school to get Ed. degrees. This new crop of mother/students are not planning to teach a class in a public or private school. Their sole purpose for spending thousands on educating themselves is so that they can educate their own children after public school and hagwon classes are finished.
Some mothers are specifically seeking courses on how to teach TOEIC, etc..
Public schools certainly aren't good enough. Sending the kids to hagwons isn't enough -- now they will have to slave away with mom all evening after they return from the previous two schools.
Another thing one of her friends did was to seek out one of those after-birthing rest hospitals in a rich area with the express purpose of befriending mothers there and seeking out "the right" class of people in which her child should mingle and grow up with.
It's really getting nutty, and my wife is appalled. |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:14 am Post subject: Re: New trend: Mothers getting Ed. degrees to teach their ki |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
It's really getting nutty, and my wife is appalled. |
It is nutty--mothers shouldn't need to do this. The education system here is off track and has been gutted by private interests. Mothers should be constructively protesting.
Hopefully those that do embark on BEds will learn a thing or two about quality versus quantity. Studying efficiently for a short time is so much better than rote memorization all day long. I wish Koreans could figure out what the West already has in that department. |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:26 am Post subject: |
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Better them than me!  |
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Xuanzang
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Sadang
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:41 am Post subject: |
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| Korea, what could possibly be next with regards to education? |
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meangradin
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Considering how easy Korean univeristies are, this is laughable.
IMO, it's a crime how easy it is to attend and graduate from many Korean Graduate Schools |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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Attendance is not mandatory at a K-university - the student 'passes' automatically.  |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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are you serious? is that for real?
what about science programs? |
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cruisemonkey
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Location: Hopefully, the same place as my luggage.
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| moosehead wrote: |
| what about science programs? |
Easy... just make up data. |
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rooster_2006
Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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This actually makes some degree of sense.
Cost to get a degree in education when the roof over your head, food, etc. is already free: about 16,000,000 won (remember, many Korean universities are quite cheap, and tuition is often about 4,000,000 won a year).
The average Korean family supposedly spends between 300,000 and 400,000 won per month to send their kid to hagwons and tutors -- that's over 50,000,000 won over the course of a child's academic career!
So in doing so, she gets an extra degree (with a marketable skill, she can now teach), keeps her mind fit, and saves the family 34,000,000 won over the course of her child's (or children's) educational career(s).
The husband is happy because his wife isn't sitting around watching dramas all day like some parasite while he's out doing a 70-hour week.
I'm not saying I'd have my wife do this if I were the head of a Korean family, but let's not bash it too much, there are some merits to it.
It obviously doesn't make economic sense for a one-child family in which the child is already a high schooler, but the more kids in the family and the younger they are, the more potential savings. |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 3:55 am Post subject: Re: New trend: Mothers getting Ed. degrees to teach their ki |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
| bassexpander wrote: |
It's really getting nutty, and my wife is appalled. |
It is nutty--mothers shouldn't need to do this. The education system here is off track and has been gutted by private interests. Mothers should be constructively protesting.
Hopefully those that do embark on BEds will learn a thing or two about quality versus quantity. Studying efficiently for a short time is so much better than rote memorization all day long. I wish Koreans could figure out what the West already has in that department. |
If the mothers do learn this in their education courses, then this could turn into an extremely positive development for Korea. |
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Beej
Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Location: Eungam Loop
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:41 am Post subject: |
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| rooster_2006 wrote: |
This actually makes some degree of sense.
Cost to get a degree in education when the roof over your head, food, etc. is already free: about 16,000,000 won (remember, many Korean universities are quite cheap, and tuition is often about 4,000,000 won a year).
The average Korean family supposedly spends between 300,000 and 400,000 won per month to send their kid to hagwons and tutors -- that's over 50,000,000 won over the course of a child's academic career!
So in doing so, she gets an extra degree (with a marketable skill, she can now teach), keeps her mind fit, and saves the family 34,000,000 won over the course of her child's (or children's) educational career(s).
The husband is happy because his wife isn't sitting around watching dramas all day like some parasite while he's out doing a 70-hour week.
I'm not saying I'd have my wife do this if I were the head of a Korean family, but let's not bash it too much, there are some merits to it.
It obviously doesn't make economic sense for a one-child family in which the child is already a high schooler, but the more kids in the family and the younger they are, the more potential savings. |
I believe this education ala mom isnt instead of hogwon but in addition to it. |
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Teelo
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Wellington, NZ
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Daaaaaamn, korea ain' ever gon' sell any mor' consoles for the kidz! |
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Faunaki
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject: Re: New trend: Mothers getting Ed. degrees to teach their ki |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
| bassexpander wrote: |
It's really getting nutty, and my wife is appalled. |
Mothers should be constructively protesting.
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I have said this to my husband more than once. Mothers here need to form a huge alliance and change a number of things. For instance, twice a year my husband's company send their employees off for a little weekend get together, no family invited. Bascially the company is asking married people to go off for the weekend, get drunk and hang out with a bunch of other people who are away from their families. Let's just promote cheating here. Mothers need to tell companies no more bullshit, husbands need to spend time at home, not just in the office.
K mothers need to wake up and smell the coffee. They only care about their own families, that is why the state of education is the way it is. If they decided to care for the general education of all children, they could bring the level of public education here up to first world standards.
Public school in K is a joke and so are the companies that steal husbands and fathers from their families. |
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jackson7
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: Kim Jong Il's Future Fireball
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: New trend: Mothers getting Ed. degrees to teach their ki |
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| Konglishman wrote: |
| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
| bassexpander wrote: |
It's really getting nutty, and my wife is appalled. |
It is nutty--mothers shouldn't need to do this. The education system here is off track and has been gutted by private interests. Mothers should be constructively protesting.
Hopefully those that do embark on BEds will learn a thing or two about quality versus quantity. Studying efficiently for a short time is so much better than rote memorization all day long. I wish Koreans could figure out what the West already has in that department. |
If the mothers do learn this in their education courses, then this could turn into an extremely positive development for Korea. |
The problem here is, Asian learners are characterized by the tendency to preserve knowledge rather than create it, as is done in the West. In Western education, analysis and critical thinking skills are stressed, while unique and creative ideas are rewarded. In Asia, the group-mentality is that it is best to fit in as much as possible.
I've never seen such a lack of creativity or imagination than in my students and Korean friends. It's no wonder that Korea is famous around the world for it's long study and working hours, while not being famous at all for brilliant minds (although hard-working Asian students are a well-known stereotype) or innovation. Even in the large corporations, I remember reading an article stating that Korea must develop more Western-like "T" thinking, innovating in two directions at once, rather than the conventional Korean "I" style thinking, which results in continuing along the same path over and over (i.e., thinner and thinner cell phones). |
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Chamchiman
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Location: Digging the Grave
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| Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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Considering the cost and the stress on the kids, I don't know why more mothers don't teach their own children, especially when they are in elementary school. Maybe:
1. They don't feel like it.
2. They don't want their kids around.
3. They think the hagwon system provides better education than they could provide themselves.
But how hard can it be really? English phonics? Fifth grade math? A certain Simpsons episode comes to mind:
Marge: "I'm going to teach Bart and Lisa how to play the piano."
Homer: "But Marge, you don't know how to play the piano."
Marge: "I just have to stay one lesson ahead of the kids." |
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