john chun

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  john commented on the article | about 2 years ago

  Pres. Obama, Korea is No Argument for Longer School Hours

  I found this blog after googling to find out how others are reacting to what POTUS Obama said regarding S. Korea's education.  I'm also a Korean-American but my argument is not from 'Korean-pride' but concern of the nation's education system.  My children will be living their lives here in USA.

  
  

  Clay has some good points but some are pretty off.

  
  

  Let me just lay out a fact.  S. Korea was one of the POOREST nations on the planet after the Korean War ended in 1953.  It's hard to imagine that when you live/visit S. Korea.

  
  

  And here's the point in my argument.  How did S. Korea achieve the economic success that it has since the end of Korean War?  Do they have oil?  Had S. Korea been modernizing at a feverish rate like Japan had been since late 1800's?  Is S. Korea a huge nation?  Just how did they do it, especially when they had to spend disproportionately large amt of budget AND man power (conscription army) because of N. Korea?  Here is the answer.

  
  

  E D U C A T I O N

  
  

  No matter what one might say about S Korea's education, if S. Korea hadn't paid attention to education (at national and personal level), there would be no S. Korea as a member of Top 10 - 15 nation economically.  Basically if S. Korea hasn't advanced as much as it has economically, yes you can ignore S Korea's education system.  But the fact is the nation has developed enormously since 1953, basically going from one of the poorest nations on the planet to being one of top 10 - 15.  Pick any really poor African nation of today and image that it will be one of top 10 nation economically in 50 years, WITHOUT the benefit of having rich natural resources.

  
  

  Yes, the Korean model is not the model USA should follow, at least not entirely.  BUT when you do realize that EDUCATION was the ONLY reason that S. Korea of today exists, you can't simply ignore the lessons of S Korea's education system.  Without improved/effective education in USA, I dare say USA might go from the most powerful/richest nation on the planet to not so relevant.

  
  

  BTW, the conclusions drawn by Samuel S Kim's are missing some points.  I believe the Drop Out Rate is of Korean students who went through K-12 IN S. Korea and than went to USA for college education?  That tells me that the Korean students who are products of S Korea's k-12 system just couldn't adjust to the CULTURE of American colleges.  The students were discouraged from asking questions and not encouraged to think creatively.  Is that reason enough to dismiss S Korea's system?

  
  

  Another reason for Kim drawing wrong conclusion from the stat is that S. Korea sends a higher PERCENTAGE of its students to foreign universities compared to China/India.  Recent survey shows S Korea ranks #3 in terms of foreign students studying in USA.  Considering how small S Korea's population is compared to China/India, there is higher chance of not so elite students going abroad to study.  Call it diminishing level of intelligence as you go from TOP students towards the bottom.  Happens everywhere.

  
  

  Lastly the reference to the point that only 0.3 percent of top officers in World top 500 enterprises are Koreans doesn't mean anything.  Are the Indians/Chinese top officers products of western nations or India/China?  No answer to that so that stat is meaningless.  Let me add other points why it's bad to draw conclusions from the stat.

  
  

  First India has had the 'benefit' of being under UK's rule for a long time so its elites and educated were already very used to the Western of way thinking/working/small-talks.  I assume most of the top 500 enterprises are really westernized institutions.

  
  

  China has seen its people spread all over the world quite some time compared to S. Korea.  And than there's the matter of size of China/India.

  
  

  S. Koreans have not started studying/living abroad that much until 1980's.  They were just too poor AND traveling broad was very restricted before that time.  And just look at the population size of S. Korea versus China/India.  Drawing the conclusions as Samuel S. Kim did is just silly.  Someone wasn't paying attention in a stat class.  And not as versed in history (political and social).

  
  

  Another wrong idea drawn from the 0.3 percent stat is this.  You are assuming a nation's education system isn't a worthy model because it hasn't produced enough leaders of large western institutions.  Well you can only have so many 'top leaders' in a group.  Most workers first need to be a good worker/follower.  Only than do you have great leaders who can do a great job.  Any the problem is USA public education, k-12, isn't doing a great job.  Not when DC system has a drop out rate of 40% - 50%.  I don't think S. Korea has ANY district that has the drop out rate of 40% - 50% in high schools.

  
  

  Surely the workers of Hyundai/Samsung couldn't be effective workers if they just learned to master tests.