We had a class discussion in my American society and pop culture class about the educational system in America in comparison with that in Korea. It was interesting to note how vehemently antagonistic the students' attitudes were toward their own education system. Apparently, despite ranking quite high internationally, there are (as expected of any country) some shortcomings.
Korea, as a nation, or perhaps, Korean mothers, are obsessed with educating their children. Often, women get married, have children, and become housewives, unlike the developed countries of the "West" where women return to the workforce soon after childbirth. Since the women have no work, they devote their lives doting (or perhaps obsessively monitoring) their children. These days, women only have one child... maybe two children... so they devote all the extra time and money on this(these) one (or two) child(ren). Not only do the children go to school, but they are socially compelled to attend complementary schools in the afternoon, called 학원s (pronounced: hogwuns). At these 학원s, students study everything privately from English to History to Science to Math to Art. You name a subject, there will be a 학원 for it.
Kids tend to attend not just one type of 학원 either. From what my students tell me, they attend at least three of these 학원s unless the family is really financially strapped for cash, in which case they will usually send their child(ren) to English 학원. In middle school, students usually go to these 학원s right after school, which end around 10:30p.m. They return home circa 11:00p.m. and do their homework until early morning, barely get five to seven hours of sleep and go to school the next morning.
High school isn't really better. The students don't (they are not allowed to) go to 학원 after school since they are forced to stay in school until at least 10:00p.m. Some students are known to stay in school until nearly midnight. They go back home, do some homework, get barely five to seven hours of sleep and go to school early the morning after. The question is... is it worth it?
While Korea's rapid development over the last few decades is astounding, I can't say that the 학원s are helping all too much. The average Korean child spends 15,548 hours studying ENGLISH before entering university. If you count the other subjects that students are forced to study at the 학원s, the number would be even ridiculously higher. For English alone, Korean families spend approximately $15,000,000,000 on private education (학원s, tutors, camps, intensive courses, etc.). Despite all of this time and money, the Republic of Korea ranks at around 90th in terms of national average TOEFL scores (77/120).
There are some students with outstanding English skills, but I realize now, although some of them may be able to speak understandably well, understand almost everything, and read more advanced text, in terms of writing ability, even at the university-level, they are still somewhat lacking. They may know all the grammar rules and terms, yet they don't quite know how to implement them into their writing. Perhaps the way they teach English is flawed since, after 15,548 hours of studying one language for several years should surely be enough to become an expert in said language. It's an interesting topic and cultural difference perhaps, a culture that I am still in the process of learning.
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