For more than two decades, it has been held up internationally as the model of a successful, humane education system: fewer teaching hours, minimal homework, an emphasis on equality, state and limited reliance on private tutoring.
On the other side of the world, however, a completely different educational model has also led to very high student performance and is ranked at the top of international assessments: that of . On the contrary, success there is based on an extremely competitive and demanding mechanism, which, according to international reports, seriously burdens children and their families. As a result, there are growing voices in the country who wonder if the cost of this model has become too heavy.
An exhausting everyday life
As the New York Times describes, the everyday life of many families revolves around transporting children from school to so-called “hagwon” – private preparatory schools that function almost like a second school.
South Korean Lee Kyong-min, a mother of two daughters in Seoul, describes in the American newspaper how she spent years waiting for her daughters late at night in coffee shops full of parents who did the same: the children left school only to continue directly with math, English and Korean classes as they prepared for the notoriously competitive university entrance exams.
According to government figures cited by the NYT, 80% of school-aged students receive private after-school education, with the market expected to reach $20.3 billion by 2024, despite a continuing decline in the student population.
In some parts of Seoul, children as young as four take exams to enter English-language kindergartens, while some elementary school students spend up to 40 hours a week in extra education, including medical school preparation programs.
The Washington Post reports that in South Korea, nearly half of children under the age of six now receive private education, mostly in English, while some programs promise to put children “on a path to medical school” as early as kindergarten. In affluent areas of Seoul, families even pay more than $1,400 a month for such lessons.
Admission to some of the top private programs in question requires exams that, according to a documentary by the Korean network KBS, reach the level of knowledge of high school students. As parents tell the Washington Post, children now “make friends in preschools, not playgrounds.”
The dark side of success
The Diplomat, an American magazine specializing in Asian affairs, reports that childhood in South Korea has turned into a “training ground for survival in academic warfare.” Despite the excellent performance of many students in international assessments such as PISA, the data on their mental health is worrying: the
percentage of students who get enough sleep is steadily decreasing, while rates of depression and suicide attempt among teenagers are increasing. The country has the highest suicide rate among the 36 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a figure analysts attribute to the fact that pressure and stress start at a very young age, while social worth is strongly linked to educational success.
At the same time, the current state of South Korea’s education system also deepens social inequalities: high-income families can invest many times more in tutoring, creating an educational advantage that lower income groups find difficult to follow.
The New York Times also chronicles the impact on families. Mothers are giving up their careers to oversee children’s education, while tensions between couples are rising over costs and expectations. Despite all this, parents say they feel “trapped” in a system they consider “inevitable”. Admission to top universities is still considered a key factor in professional and social advancement, in a country with limited second chances in the labor market.
