The future of my students is rather grim. These poor kids go to school from around 8:00am to 9:30pm (or later!) five or six days a week. This is their life in elementary school. Now, let’s look what happens to them later in life.
Middle School (Korean Middle School grades 1-3 or US grades 7-9)
Korean middle school is competitive. It’s not like the academic wasteland of American middle school. These kids are already shaping their futures.
In Korean middle schools, students take a midterm and a final every term for each subject. This sounds pretty normal until you learn just how important these tests are. Also, the kids take around 10 different subjects at school. The midterms and the finals are definitely high stakes, high pressure exams.
A student’s middle school grades directly correlate to what type of high school they are able to attend. So, if a student has amazing grades, this student is eligible to go to one of the elite high schools. In turn, the high school they attend and the grades they receive in high school determine not only what colleges they can attend but, also, what majors they are eligible for. Then, their college and college major determine what types of companies and jobs this student can apply for. (Korean jobs are very alumni and “Old Boys Network” driven.) In short, the grades from middle school exams set students up on a life long path of success – or failure.
The students and their parents are well aware of all of this. So, when exam time rolls around, the students stop attending their academies. They use the time where they would normally be attending academies and doing academy homework to study for their middle school exams. When they come back from their exams, the poor kids look exhausted!
High School (Korean High School grades 1-3 or US grades 10-12)
High school in Korea is notoriously torturous. I have very little experience with high school students because high school students do not attend academies. They simply do not have time do this. If a student or their parents do choose to have the student attend an academy, the student must get permission from their school to do so.
A high school student’s day is extremely long. It is not at all unusual to see high school students walking home from school (school school not an after school academy) around midnight. Typically, they get home around 10pm. The reason for this is that they have a long, standard school day and then are expected to remain at school for some type of self-study or tutoring for several hours.
As I mentioned in another post, Korean high school seniors go to school on Sunday. All students in Korea go to school on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturday of the month. But, high school seniors also go to school on Sundays. I’m not sure if it is every Sunday or every other Sunday. Either way, this is completely unheard of in the Western world.
The reason that high school is so rigorous is the college entrance exam. Think back to your high school days, when you took the ACT or the SAT. If you were like me, you may have glanced at a prep book, got a good night’s sleep, took the test, and then proceeded with your Saturday. That is absolutely nothing like the Korean college entrance exam.
The Korean college entrance exam sounds like the most nerve wracking, anxiety ridden test in the world. It is NINE hours long! On top of this, it can only be taken once a year, during a student’s senior year. If a student fails the test, they have two options:
1. Forgo college altogether.
2. Repeat their senior year and take the test again.
Currently, a student only has these options. A former middle school student of mine told me that there is a proposal to allow the test to be taken twice in one year but, that his senior class will be the first class to have this option.
The college entrance exam is a huge deal here. It is such a big deal that flight schedules are rearranged as to not interfere with the listening portion of the test. Also, many Korean mothers drop their kids off at the testing center and then immediately head to church or to a temple to pray for the day. This test is definitely hardcore.
Once the test is over, a very unfortunate thing happens. Teen suicides spike in the weeks after the test. South Korea already has one of the highest rates of teen suicide in the developed world. It gets worse right after this test.
College (4 years)
College is surprisingly relaxed in South Korea. This is the one time when American students work harder than their South Korean peers. It is thought that college is so easy here because of all of the rigorous study that students must do to get into college. An easy college experience is their reward for such hard work in their early years.
South Korean parents also relax during this time. Most parents in Korea are pretty strict by Western standards. High schools are almost all single sex institutions and parents like it that way. Dating in high school is a huge no-no. Students are to be focused solely on school and anything that distracts from that is forbidden.
Once in college, Korean students are pretty much free to do whatever they want; even if they still live with their parents. The drinking age here is 18 (or maybe 19) and Koreans of all ages love to drink.
(There are some very serious and very difficult colleges in Korea but, most are pretty relaxed.)
Professional Life
Once a student leaves college and enters the working world, the relaxation time is over. Koreans have some of the most hardcore work ethics in the world. The average Korean only takes three vacation days a year. Now, these three days are in addition to whatever holidays or weekends that their job normally gives them but, still. Two weeks is standard in the US and four to six weeks is the standard in many European countries. Ten hour work days, five to six days a week are also standard in Korea.
Also, sick days don’t really exist in Korea. You are expected to go to the doctor before work, take some medicine, and then get yourself into work. I have taught with a stomach virus, a sinus infection, and the flu. My coworkers have done the same because there is no alternative. This system is terrible because all we do is teach pretty sub-par classes and infect students and coworkers.
You would think with all of the advantages that Korean education provides that, somehow, the work environment would be better. All I can think of is that since everyone does it, it is not special and, therefore, doesn’t get you anything extra. I really don’t know. Also, it is very possible that the benefits of all of this extra education just haven’t kicked in yet. Korea was quite poor a generation ago so, going from Third World to First World in a generation might also be the reward that the current workers have enjoyed. Only the future will tell what sort of work environment my students will enjoy.
One problem that I see with Korean workers is that differences are not celebrated. My students feel that only doctors, lawyers, and engineers can be rich. It blows their little minds to tell them that people with successful businesses have the potential to be far richer.
In Korea, having your own business is looked down upon. I had one student, Ryan (I wrote about him in a post from 2009). Ryan’s father is a veterinarian with a small shop that is a vet’s office/groomer/pet shop. I’ve been in there before. It is always packed with people dropping off and picking up their pets to be groomed. All Ryan’s dad, Dr. Choi, does is the vet work. He has a small staff that does the grooming and runs the shop. To me, Dr. Choi looks successful. He has his own business, a staff of three employees, and supports Ryan and his family quite comfortably. They go on nice, international vacations, Ryan’s mom doesn’t have to work, and Ryan and his brother each go to six (expensive) academies. Despite this, kids would make fun of Ryan’s dad. They called him “Shop Keeper” and said that Ryan’s family must be poor because Ryan’s dad doesn’t work for one of the big, multinational Korean companies.
The goal of most Koreans is to get a mid-level job with one of the huge Korean companies. They all want to work for LG, Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, or Daewoo. They feel that these jobs are their tickets to a comfortable life. As a result, it is extremely difficult to get a job with one of these companies. The hiring process is very competitive.
It really is hard to predict the future of my students. The first generation of students with a comparable type of education are just now going into college. It will be interesting to see how things play out for them.
Here are students walking into the exam center for the College Entrance Exam. One tradition is for the younger siblings of the test takers to cheer them on while they walk into the testing center.----------
A Coveted Job: Workers at a Samsung plant.----------
The Most Coveted Job In Korea: Kia's Executives celebrating their 10 millionth export----------
Wow!! With that incredible work ethic, which is hard to imagine, all they need is a little entrepreneurial spirit and they could take over the world!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: are there many parks and playgrounds where kids spend time with their families and friends? From your last two posts it would seem that the government would not need to spend on this, as very, very few have the time to enjoy leisure activity.
A 9-hour exam is probably longer than the bar exam in some U.S. states. The issue with the Korean workplace is (1) Low job satisfaction (2) Careers that do not match skills/knowledge gained at university (3) Pressure to conform (4) Personality-driven hiring/recruitment/management. Numbers (1) and (2) are also problems back home, but (3) and (4) are uniquely Korean.
ReplyDelete1. I find it very odd that owning a small, independent business is so frowned upon.... Is it pressure from a "big brother" gov't that makes them averse to branching out on their own? Or is it the culture itself? Doesn't asian culture stress the group vs. the individual?
ReplyDelete2. As an unemployed educator... How much do Korean teachers make? I mean, the kids aren't the only ones putting in 10-12 hr days...
3. Has the gov't jumped on that "college exam/spiked suicide rate" correlation? Is their answer really: "Let's allow them to stress themselves silly TWICE a year!" What other health issues come up? Is teen drug use high?
4. I'm curious; if college is notoriously easy, what do they study there? What kind of majors are available?
5. What does luiz mean by "personality-driven?" Does that mean that nepotism is rampant, or just "She's nice. Let's hire her!" Because if that is so, doesn't all that intense schooling produce zombies?
Too many questions, I know. =D
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for goal-driven, motivation students. It just seems that the quality of life is, for lack of better words, sub-par. There seems to be no place for genuine "enjoyment" of life...
By personality-driven, I mean that the entire work culture is far more relationship-oriented rather than task-oriented. So let's say there's a position for a bi-lingual (Korean) English teacher. There may be 3 applicants: one with a very high level of fluency in English, one with moderate fluency, and one with very limited English ability. They will often pick the one with lesser fluency (to teach English) because some of the other Korean-English teachers might be upset at having a co-worker with much better skills.
ReplyDeleteThere is a certain 'type' that is preferred. The 'type' is not necessarily qualified or hard-working, but rather very agreeable. I won't pretend to understand everything about it, except to say that it would baffle most Western hiring managers how important things like: Blood Type (actually on the application), Temperament (related to Blood Type according to Korean thought), Year of birth (related to Chinese astrology), and what you look like are.
There is no doubt that looks play a significant role in American business and life. However, not fitting in with the perceived archetype just means you have to work that much harder or find an industry where it is not a factor. Over here, ugliness for a man or woman may as well be a mental/physical disability--you won't get a decent job regardless of everything else.