An interesting article on education in South Korea

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/South-Korean-schools.gs?content=2427

 

I thought given that we were discussing it a bit here that some would find this interesting.

[Cleopatra]

Interesting article! We have a large number of Koreans where I live and quite a few left Korea to escape their school system. In Korea, children get up at 7 am. (or earlier) go to school until 5 pm. and then have to move on to the specialty schools, so they often arrive home at midnight or 1 am. My friend taught in one of the specialty schools for a year and she said she'd often have kids falling asleep in class. In her opinion, she didn't think the children received a good education because they were spread too thin, in subjects and time. While elementary/high school in Korea is rigorous, their universities are very laid back, which is another reason why they don't do well when they attend universities elsewhere; surprisingly they aren't prepared for the workload. All this information is from my Korean friends, so I believe it's quite accurate. I would not want to put my child through their school system. More doesn't necessary equal better in spite of what the standardized tests say.

[eumyang]

This is probably not a popular opinion, but I think it's kind of good that students in Korea spend more time in schools and hagwons and little time on social life -- less time for them to get in trouble. I am not saying, however, that all Korean students are model students -- there are problems with cheating, bullying, high school gangs and the like.

 

 

69

 

P.S. I am a Korean-American.

[DawnUK]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.....anyone know what a flexbook is??

 

--Dawn

[mcconnellboys]

More of the government run, special interest run, schools of indoctrination? I don't think so..... Why not model Finland, instead, which is higher in science and math than South Korea, but has the lowest school attendance of all industrialized countries?

[LisaKinVA]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting.....anyone know what a flexbook is??

 

--Dawn

 

Probably something like a Kindle, but pre-loaded with the child's textbooks, and they indicate multi-media use, internet links, etc.

[LisaKinVA]

This is probably not a popular opinion, but I think it's kind of good that students in Korea spend more time in schools and hagwons and little time on social life -- less time for them to get in trouble. I am not saying, however, that all Korean students are model students -- there are problems with cheating, bullying, high school gangs and the like.

 

 

69

 

P.S. I am a Korean-American.

 

Did everyone else miss the 44% university drop out rate? and the very high suicide rate for S. Korean students?

 

That doesn't sound like a model to follow. I'm not raising a robot, I'm raising a person.

[outtamyshell]

I didn't read the article yet But we have an exchange student with us this year from South Korea. I think their long school schedule has a huge impact on the family. She spent very little time with her family while attending highschool in South Korea. However, their highschool allowed for a lot of socializing with classmates. The lack of socialization in an American high school was one of her first surprises here.