The Life of a Korean Student
When I think back to my school life I always thought life was hard with all the school work at times, but looking at my school life after being here in Korea for a while I realize I had it easy. In Canada elementry to high school you go to school from around 9:00 AM to about 3:00/3:30 PM and that's it. If you were on a school team you might stay after school for an hour or two and if you took piano lessons or some other instrument you would go to that. However, here in Korea, students go to school at 7:30 AM or so and finish around 3:30 PM if you are in elementry school. If you go to high school you might stay until 10:00 or 11:00 or later. After school students go to various acadamies. It could be art, piano, English, math, Chinese, taekwondo, or some other subject that I have no knowledge about. They might go to 3 or 4 of these after school. It's so crazy!
I've been told that the reason for this pushing for learning is because if one parent finds out that their child is behind in a subject because they don't attend an acadamy, they feel ashamed and embarassed. It's something that a parent can take pride in to know that their child is near the top of the class in a subject, but also because they are getting there through extra schooling. I think that parents probably hand out about $600 or $700 a month on all these different acadamies.
Getting into college is also a huge deal here. Depending on the university that you go to will depend on what kind of job you can get after. The better and well known universities are the best and will help you to get a good job. If the person hiring you for a job went to the same university as you, that's even better. So when it comes time to write the tests for university, the students are very stressed and there is a high rate of suicide because of the pressure. I'm glad that education is not pushed on students in Canada the way it is here in Korea. Don't get me wrong, there is pressure in Canada to get good grades, but it's not as extreme as it is here in Korea.
I wonder what life would be like for these children if they didn't have to study so hard and had the time to play and have fun after school. I wonder if the students would be happier and less stressed as they are now with things, or if it wouldn't change and they would continue to feel sad and oppressed.
posted by rosalee23 at 9:36 p.m.
3 Comments:
The Taiwan school system is the same, the amount of pressure on students is so huge. They are always preparing for some sort of test. They need to pass tests to get into the best Jr. High, and again to get into the best High School. If they didn't go to the best high schools, they probably don't have a chance of attending the best universities. Many students in smaller towns begin living away from home in Jr. High or High school so they can attend a better school in the city. My high school students asked me yesterday if I had to go to cram school when I was in Jr. High, and I told them that Canada doesn't have cram schools (hagwons), they were like "You are SO lucky!"
9:40 a.m.
Hi Rosalee, Are the schools not set up with certain standards? That would give each child the same chance. Each grade here has a standard and if you do not meet that you do not pass to the next grade. It is so sad to here that the children are under so much stress. I guess the crime rate there for children would be less as they do not have time to get into trouble. Maybe we need to concider more activities for the children here and not long holidays so that the children do not have time to get bord and into trouble. It was nice to hear from you last night. Have a great weekend. With love Mom.
7:51 p.m.
Hi Rosalee, I surfed here through Char's blog and I got back in MArch from Korea. Your blog brings back many memories. Where are you teaching? and how long have you been there? My pictures are at bks.frickles.com. Feel free to view them. Hope you are enjoying your time there.
1:31 p.m.
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