Education Series, Part 1: Korean School
In the past several years, while moving back and forth between New York and Korea, I’ve attended schools in various education systems. Even before my first big move to Korea in 7th grade, I had moved several times. I was born in Rhode Island, but have lived in Massachusetts, New York, and Vancouver, Canada. But before moving to Korea, life had been for the most part very normal.
Moving to a Korean school was a big change for me. In New York, I barely spoke with my parents in Korean. They would talk to me in Korean, and I would respond back to them in English. I only spoke, read, and wrote in Korean about once a week at Korean School. Korean School was 1~2 hours each week on Sunday afternoons, and several other Korean students would come to learn about and improve their skills in their parents’ language. Looking back, it was barely helpful or immersive. I suppose I did learn more about the Korean culture though.
My next few posts in the education series will be reflections on my experience specifically to Korean schools. I will share what I’ve learned about the Korean culture, the pros/cons of the education system, how it has influenced me, and short anecdotes.
I attended a highly competitive middle school in Seoul, Korea. My parents had suggested that I apply, and if accepted, attend school in Korea for a few months while my dad was visiting a university in Korea for a few months. I didn’t really want to go in the middle of my 7th grade year, but decided that I shouldn’t think too much of it. At that time, I thought I would only have to attend the school for a few months. It couldn’t be that bad.
Those “few months” eventually turned into two full academic years.
I will begin my account of these two years with some very basic information about education in Korea.
Competition in Korean schools is crazy. I’m sure that most people are already familiar with how high Koreans performing Koreans are in school. However, Korea also has a very high rate of students who commit suicide from stress, depression, or other very sad reasons for young people to die. In Korea, there are specialized academies called “hagwons.” Hagwons are all over the place, and there are hagwons for everything. Literally everything, ranging from hagwons for pre-school students to K-12 students, to adults preparing for jobs and interviews.
Beginning in elementary school, there is already competition. They sell workbooks, lectures, and do classes at hagwons to help elementary school students boost their grades and do well in school. There’s nothing wrong with this of course, but in Korea’s it’s almost, if not, unusual if you don’t attend hagwon past middle school student. If you don’t receive tutoring or go to these academies, you are put at risk for falling behind, or feeling like you are falling behind. The crazy thing is, there were even hagwons that helped elementary school students fill out applications for prestigious middle schools.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with wanting to improve and receiving help if it is needed. But I think that there is a problem that so many students need to receive hours of external help or instruction to do well in school. This does not promote self-studying skills, but emphasizes studying for the sake of receiving high scores. There is no cultivation of creativity in this- it is just test-preparation and memorization.