
South Korea’s education system: The great decompression - r0h1n
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588373-there-are-perils-country-having-all-your-children-working-too-hard-one-big-exam
======
altoz
This is an example of policy devoid of cultural context. East Asian societies,
and Korean societies specifically have a history of examination as the main
way to move up in class. During many dynasties of the past, if you could do
well enough on various exams, you could potentially go from being low-born to
serving in the court of a king. It is in this context that the current system
developed. Thus, a simple policy change will very likely not work. It's a
cultural shift that needs to take place.

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ronaldx
An informative article, which is worth reading, but the conclusions seem
bizarre and lacking in logic.

Why should perhaps the best education system in the world pull back into a
period of decompression? South Korea have created a generation of talent which
is internationally competitive and fuelling a strong economy. Human capital is
now one of the country's best assets. Even if you could identify an obvious
cause, you certainly shouldn't seek to mess that up.

Why should the chaebol, who monopolise industry talent, be required to do the
same in other industries?

~~~
keithpeter
My reading of the article suggested to me that "perhaps the best education
system in the world" is focussing on the wrong things.

The pressures of an ageing workforce and the demands for recognition elsewhere
in the economy will force a correction at some point I suppose.

~~~
ronaldx
Measurably the first or second best education system in the world
([http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-
europe-11939566](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11939566) ;
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356)).

You are apparently describing a correction in the sense that the quality of
education will be reduced. I would be happy for you to clarify otherwise, but
why should any country seek that out? Education is perhaps the primary reason
for the continuing strength of South Korea's economy. What reason is there for
South Korea to go in a different educational direction than it has,
consistently and successfully, since its formation?

As you note, the article indicates that there's an ageing population due to
low birth rate due to the expense of education. I find that an extremely long
stretch and I've never heard this link made regarding a Western country. Why
does this logic apply to South Korea if it doesn't apply in the UK?

~~~
kijin
The benchmarks you cited measure scholastic ability. It is measured by such
metrics as test results and graduation rates, as the second link says. The
benchmarks have little implication for the general quality of life for
students, graduates, and educators. Especially since getting into a top
college doesn't guarantee success anymore.

Meanwhile, South Korea has the hightest suicide rate among OECD countries [1],
and suicide is also the leading cause of death among people aged 15-29 [2].
Teenagers killing themselves to escape from academic pressure are so common
they don't even make the news anymore. South Korean students might have the
highest grades, but neither students nor educators seem to be even remotely
happy about what they've got at the moment.

We're talking about a country where competition for standardized tests is so
great that people pay thousands of dollars for leaked SAT tests [3]. I'm
talking about the American SAT, not the Korean equivalent. Competition for the
Korean SAT (suneung) gets even more serious.

In the past, when some foreign leader cited Korea's academic achievements in a
public speech, Koreans felt immensely proud. Nowadays, Obama mentions Korea
all the time when he talks about education policy and we're like "Err,
whatever."

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_South_Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_South_Korea)

[2] [http://www.voicesofyouth.org/en/posts/rising-suicide-
rates-i...](http://www.voicesofyouth.org/en/posts/rising-suicide-rates-in-
south-korea)

[3] [http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/05/28/group-of-
south...](http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/05/28/group-of-south-
koreans-barred-from-sat/)

------
im3w1l
Sounds like an opportunity for someone with a different perspective to hire
all the late blossomers...

~~~
innino
That's what I always think when I read about these sorts of problems in Japan
and Korea. There's a tremendous amount of pressure generated by the
overwhelming influence of the big companies, and the shame felt by those who
aren't given validation in this system must be acute (or at least it sounds
like that for Korea, I don't know as much about Japan.)

Anyway the most common reaction may be to accept the judgement that you feel
has been passed on you - that you are worthless - but at some point someone
has to come along who refuses to accept that, and realises that the whole
system is founded on narrow-minded bullshit. Then that person can build a
challenger to the chaebol - one fueled by fresh thinking and real inspiration.

I mean look at LG and Samsung. Where's the passion and love in their products?
Raw technical competence and business acumen might lead to limited success,
but these companies seem completely soulless. At the end of the day, the world
will never love a Samsung like they do an Apple. No matter how big they get,
they'll never be able to make it to the next stage, where they actually
inspire people and have devoted, passionate fans. So the space for alternative
approaches within Korean culture seems (from an outside perspective) huge,
even if the first steps are going to be very hard.

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runawaybottle
Is this what Japan was like before their youth burn out?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori#Japanese_education_s...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori#Japanese_education_system)

~~~
redcap
There's still a lot of societal pressure to pass exams to enter a "good"
university in Japan (here "good" is an in-country measure - only a worldwide
basis there are a lot of universities measured as better than almost all of
the "good" Japanese universities).

Your university degree has usually been the measure of your worth to enter a
big Japanese company, but there are presumably a few more foreign companies in
Japan, and conditions there are better (not as much overtime). Companies like
Rakuten have made English the company language, so there are changes afoot in
Japan.

------
cbsmith
Did anyone else think about how we kind of have the equivalent for athletes
here in the US?

