Korea's rigorous education system has delivered growth, but it is literally killing the country's youth
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I am receiving a quick-fire education in the Korean society, culture economy and media industry, courtesy of a joint Walkley Foundation – Korea Press Foundation journalist exchange.
The first part of that education took place on our bus trip from the airport, where our guide Christina (her name for inept English speakers who cannot get their tongues around her actual name) gave us an insight into everyday Korean life.
Christina is the mother of a boy at a critical point in his schooling. You see, he is about to go into grade five (of elementary school) and will soon face important tests that will determine his success in life, or at least so is the attitude here.
For the level of mathematics ramps up in years five and six of elementary school, and if your performance lags behind then you will not make it to the top schools. Fail to make it to the best schools, and your chances of entering the best university all but disappear.
And if you are not in the best university, you will never get a job with Samsung or Hyundai, the global corporate heavyweights that the vast bulk of South Koreans aspire to work for.
To some parents in Australia, and their children, this will sound familiar. In states that have selective schools, such as New South Wales, many children are under at least some pressure to do well in the entrance test and get into the best public high schools, perceived as giving them a better shot at a top university entrance mark, and potentially saving their parents a small fortune in private school fees.
However, while it is not uncommon for Australian primary school aged children to do some tutoring for these tests, and even more common for high school students to get private tuition for their final exams, in Korea it is the almost universal practice.
Students spend an average of 14 hours a day studying
Many children spend almost as much time in Hagwon, private tuition classes or cram schools, as they do at their actual school.
We were told by three university professors that it is typical for Korean school students to spend an average of 14 hours a day studying. We were also told with some regret that university is seen somewhat as a place for a break and some fun after all these years of hard work.
It is common for middle class families to spend around $800 per child per month on this private out-of-school tuition. It is no wonder then that most Koreans generally choose to have only one or two children.
However, it is this shift to having fewer children that many blame for the intense competition and pressure to succeed academically that Korean children face.
As one person we spoke to put it, when you had five children in the past at least one or two were likely to turn out to be a social success – defined in Korea not so much by income or wealth, but by the status and respectability of your job.
However, when you only have one child all the expectations fall on them, all the investment goes into them, and the child knows results are expected.
On the one hand, this means Korea has one of the best educated populations in the world, with around 70 per cent of people completing tertiary education.
Pressure is literally killing Korea's youth
No doubt this highly educated workforce has contributed to the country’s meteoric economic ascent from a war ravaged agricultural society in the 1950s to its position just outside the world’s top ten biggest economies, with a population of only 50 million (much smaller than many of the other G-20 members).
However, there is also little doubt here that all the pressure is literally killing Korea’s youth. The nation has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, a rate which spikes amongst young people when exam results are released.
Koreans realise this problem. Christina spoke with sadness that she had refused to buy her boy a mobile phone for fear of the distraction it would cause him in his studies.
As with any deeply loving parent, she was worried he was being ostracised by his friends who all had mobiles.
However, everyone we have spoken to so far says Koreans feel trapped in their world leading education system – no one wants to be the first parent not to push their children and send them to Hagwon, only to watch their career aspirations be trampled by the students who push harder.
Competition and hard work has got Korea’s economy where it is in record time, but perhaps something else will be needed to take it to the next step, and more school education and tuition is certainly not that thing.
Michel Janda is visiting South Korea as part of a joint Walkley Foundation – Korea Press Foundation journalist exchange.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, globalisation---economy, economic-trends, education, korea-republic-of
