BusinessWeek has a piece on Korean hagwon, or cram schools. Just to give you a basic intro to the state of the industry:
Koreans will endure just about any hardship to make sure they get into a top university. A degree from a leading school isn’t just the key to a good job–it’s a prerequisite for finding the right spouse and establishing high-powered connections that can last a lifetime. That has fueled rapid growth in the cramming industry, which takes in some $15 billion annually. The best schools charge upwards of $1,000 a month per subject–a small fortune in a country where the average annual income is $16,000. “I spend about half of my income on after-school cramming for my kids, and I’m no exception,” says Kim Hyon Chol, the father of two high school students, after attending the Megastudy event, an information session designed to give parents tips on college admissions–and woo new students.
The article focuses on one school in particular—Megastudy—which has been kicking ass with its online business model. To attract top teaching talent, it gives teachers a 23 percent cut on online video sales, a that helped one popular English teacher (no, he doesn’t appear to be Isaac, but rather Kim Ki-hun) take home 2 million U.S. dollars last year.
For the record, despite its myriad of much-publicized problems, there is much I like about the Korean education system. Unlike the U.S. public school system, at least there is something approximating learning going on in the Korean classroom—click here to see what I mean. The hagwon system, however, is one of those features I would NOT like to see adopted in the United States.
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“that helped one popular English teacher… take home 2 billion U.S. dollars last year.”
Did I read that right?
With all the complaints about the Korean educational system, why don’t more people criticize the government and top companies for preferring students from the top schools? That is the root of the problem, as far as I can tell.
If Korean government and companies hired people who were… I dunno … actually smart and motivated, the companies could perform better, and that would force the schools to get better. Some of my fiercest ire is reserved for human resource departments in Korea.
Hold on cotton pick’n minute there.
S.Korea is number one in the world in “problem solving”? Did I read that correct? Of all the talks about Koreans learning nothing but memorization techniques that lead to no imagination and absolutely zero problem solving capability, how is that even remotely possible?
Anyone?
In case I was not being clear… What I meant was, all this crap with hagwon and the obsession over university entrance is rooted the extremely crappy hiring processes most companies seem to have here, which biases the top universities.
Because hiring is so biased toward the top schools, that creates the huge push to attend those top schools. Which is silly, because I can easily find hundreds of sharp, great young people who graduated from “lesser” universities. And oodles of idiots from Seoul, Yonsei, Korea universities.
Better hiring practices would lower the pressure to get into a top school, which would lessen most of the related insanity placed on high school students (and their families and families’ checkbooks). Then hagwon and private tutoring would naturally decline in importance.
No, it says US$ 2 million, which is around 2 billion Korean Won.
That guy sure won’t have to worry about his retirement fund.
Unless, he gets greedy and decides to invest in an apartment and/or stocks.
Another big problem in “hiring practices” here in Korea is the Penis Club rule, meaning men are preferred to women when it comes to senior level management in the great majority of cases, irregardless of capability, simply because they are men. I have heard much about this from more than a few women here and their opinions were quite harsh, regarding their male counterparts. Personally, I would welcome the chance to do business with more Korean women in management positions, rather than men because, many times I have found the women to be more logical, reasonable to deal with and more capable in making business decisions than Korean men. This is within the corporate environment, in general.
This discrimination may very well change with the advent of younger generations of men and women but it will take time to change. Meanwhile the ignorance and missed opportunities march on.
this problem is deep rooted in the korean psyche and will not let up anytime soon. i would like to know what percent of students actually get into the top universities and land the job and spouse after all that money is poured into the system
how many make it compared to how many end up with a normal set of life choices regarding job? spouse?
it seems koreans would see the trend and wise up to the reality that the system is flawed
I don’t know the numbers myself, but I do know a lot of SKY(Seoul, Korea, Yonsei) graduates who have yet to find a job and/or a spouse. Why?
Simply put during their years in college, they become snobs. And they get this idea that they deserve the best jobs in the country along with the hottest girls.
Of course in real life it doesn’t happen that way, because most companies don’t like snobs, and most girls do not look like the actresses that appear everyday on Korean TV.
So, eventually all those snobs, uppe the ante, by going to graduate school and/or “yuhak”, thinking if they have a foreign and/or higher degree, that they will become more acceptable.
But, it’s the same thing over again, because the companies will find the higher degrees “burdensome”(read, they don’t want to shell out more wages) and the girls will find the much older grads less desirable.
In the last throes of hopelessness, these guys will select the last card. The civil service exams. Of course, passing is an another matter.
This is the Korean human resource development system in a nutshell. Pathetic.
also as i have always said the amount of students in the US compared to other countries in these studies is a problem in saying the US finishes in the bottom half of all countries involved
lets say they study all 9th and 11th graders in each country
how many 9th and 11th graders in US high schools compared to korean high schools of finnish high schools
in some cases there are probably more freshmen and juniors students than entire populations of those countries
also as i have always said the amount of students in the US compared to other countries in these studies is a problem in saying the US finishes in the bottom half of all countries involved
lets say they study all 9th and 11th graders in each country
how many 9th and 11th graders in US high schools compared to korean high schools of finnish high schools
in some cases there are probably more freshmen and juniors students in the US than entire populations of those countries
This was a good comment on the Businessweek site:
Nickname: Kim Kap Dol
Review: Well written article but it doesn’t really describe Koreans’ super over zealous drive for education. Koreans will do anything to get their children into a good university (or high school). In reality Korean parents are trying to “buy” their kids’ way into a good university. They believe a better tutor will get their kids into a better university. Fraud, bribes, and forcing kids to study are very normal for many parents. Mothers sometimes prostitute themselves to earn money to pay for expensive tutors. Forget good old “do your homework and study hard” – Koreans have taken university entrance beyond anything human. Every aspect has to be manipulated. And it isn’t working. Try talking to Korean high school students (forget English as few can utter a sentence) – they have been turned into dumb vegetables.
Date reviewed: Dec 4, 2006 1:44 PM
Chung Dong-young, the telegenic former Unifiction Minister, was an SNU grad.
I would say that hagwons and overzealous mothers, rather than Korean schools, are the reason Korean kids do so well in standardized tests. There is a reason that so many parents want their kids to study in the States or Canada (and its not just English).
BTW, the “Penis Club rule” contributes to this somewhat as it means that A) More men get the higher-paying jobs and can support stay-at-home moms and B) more intelligent, ambitious women choose to stay at home. This means that most Korean kids have a mother at home ready to get on their cases about studying. That is as important as anything else in helping Korean students succeed.
If only 3D (skilled labor) jobs were considered a little more prestigious and higher paying… Anywho, I would have just loved to have gone to a hawgwon or hawgwons when I was a kid. I wouldn’t have been able to go hunting and fishing with the old man or had any free time. What a nightmare that was!! It would have been awesome to end up a big ball of nerves by the end of grade twelve. What I missed out on!
I would never trade my childhood freedom and experiences for admission to Harvard, and I hope most others wouldn’t either. Childhood is a great time to have fun, and well, be a kid. I pity all those kids in Korea who never have a chance to enjoy a normal, relaxed childhood.
One look at what the PISA considers problem-solving tells me they haven’t done much themselves, nor would they be able to recognize and evaluate the ability in others.
http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/38/30/33707234.pdf
That said, the emphasis this organization gives to evaluating the effectiveness of school systems shows me they haven’t recognized the most influential aspect of a child’s education: the parents. That lack of parental oversight and the accosting of a child’s rearing by the social system is what is killing the US.
There are about 660,000 Koreans of age 18 (or 19). The 3 SKY universities accept between them perhaps 17,000 to 20,000 freshmen per year, giving a Korean about a 2.5 to 3% chance of attending one of those schools. But that’s ALL Koreans. If you reduced the sample population to only those teens who are actually making a sincere run at one of those schools, well, their chances may be as high as a whole 10 or 15%.
BTW, the participation rate of men in the workforce is slowly declining, and for women slowly increasing – about1% over the past 5 years for each.
http://www.nso.go.kr/eng2006/e01___0000/e01b__0000/e01ba_0000/e01ba_0000.html
Robert, normally I agree with you, and I agree with you now, on some of it. I agree, the hogwan system sucks big, green donkey dicks…. But to say that there is ANYTHING good about the public school system is just wrong. I have been teaching in that same system now for 5 years and I find nothing, absolutely nothing good about it.
As to why the Korean students scored so well on the tests? 1) They are multiple choice tests and all students are taught, yes taught, how to take a multiple choice test. I learned how to take a multiple choice test when I studied for the GRE in the States. Did I actually know the subject matter? No. Of course not. Did I score well enough to get accepted into a grad program that only accepts 13 students per year? Yes. 2) In the States students are not given pre-tests, practice tests, and practice, practice tests. They are simply told that it is Test Day when they arrive at school. Translated: They are not “Taught” the test. That might make a bit of a difference. 3) Please explain to me how the Yank kids can do so “Badly” on the standardized test yet still be the leading inventers in the world? What exactly has Korea invented, not counting movable type, which Gutenberg is still really pissed about….. And please don’t say gimchee…. The red peppers are from South America…..
I am going to suggest that the problem is not only the hogwans but also the public schools. The teachers are mostly lazy, there are no performance evaluations… therefore no reason to improve or even worry about their teaching skills. The children are parentless, and if there is a parent in the picture, she (normally the wife) is too busy worrying about appearences to actually think about the child. The teachers don’t give a damn… The principals and vice-principals are only concerned with their promotions….
Micheal Breen had an editorial on the corruption, moral decay, if you will, in Korea. http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200611/kt2006113017484454330.htm. I am going to suggest that the problem begins in kindergarten.
Oh, and “cm” there is no such word as “irregardless.” Please look it up.
OOps, “cm” disregard, R. Elgin: please look up irregardless….
Gillian: most US states have teacher evaluation systems in place. Finland hasn’t. Neither has the Netherlands, or Hong Kong. Only the US, Japan, Great Britain and Australia (and Korea) have implemented such programs in their public systems. I suggest you keep looking for that panacea.
Re: teachers who don’t care, and a general “moral decay”?? No, I will not.
Here’s a word for you to look up: projection
Gillian: most US states have teacher evaluation systems in place. Finland doesn’t. Neither has the Netherlands, or Hong Kong. Only the US, Japan, Great Britain and Australia (and Korea) have implemented such programs in their public systems. I suggest you keep looking for that panacea.
Re: teachers who don’t care, and a general “moral decay”?? No, I will not.
Here’s a word for you to look up: projection
Dammit, caught editing. I didn’t want to be told to look up the rules for the negation of auxiliary verbs …
Ouch, . . . thanks for the reminder Gillian.
Haisan, but how would a big company’s HR department tell which guy/gal is more qualified other than see what school they went and what GPA they earned?
Except for people in technical/professional fields, it doesn’t seem like Korean people go goo goo over SNU degree anymore. (point in proof, the election of President Roh Moo Hyun)
It just seems like if you have to choose from a goof off from Korea University as opposed to a goof off from a regional university, you are better off hiring a goof off from Koryodae.
Haisan said:
I didn’t find “oodles of idiots” among the students I taught at Yonsei and Korea, but I did encounter a few in every class and wonder, “How the heck did you get in here?” I have met oodles of sharp, great young people who graduated from “lesser” universities.
Virtual Wonderer said:
Why hire either one with so many unemployed university graduates looking for work?
Well, the way it was explained to me once before is that out of all the school systems in the world, the US is the only one that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about their international standing. In fact, if US students get poor international rankings, that’s a way for the educational system to get more funding. So, in some cases, mediocre or poor students are encouraged to take the Math standardized tests while Math club students don’t even know it exists.
It sounds like it could be true, and if so, I’m glad. I love being part of a country that DOESN’T compare itself to other countries incessantly.
Being receptive to immigrants also helps. A number of Nobel Prize winners from the US were naturalized citizens. I recall reading an article a couple of years ago about how Germany and Japan have tried to attract Indian high-tech talent but have been unsuccessful because Indians consider the US a more desirable place to live owing to its great ethnic diversity and more relaxed green card and citizenship requirements. University Colleges of Science and Engineering and hospitals rely heavily on hiring foreign-born talent.
The US doesn’t give a rat’s ass about its international standing because public school teachers are too focused on their students passing state tests.
VR said:
Go to Hyundai or the Ministry of Finance and Economy and see how their new hires break down. Last I checked, it was ridiculously stacked in favor of the big schools. Far more disproportionate than what you would see in the West (where there are dozens of first-rate schools across the United States, let along respectable schools in other countries).
How should HR departments hire? How do HR departments in the West choose new hires? There is a whole academic field dedicated to HR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Resource_Management
Certainly HR Departments should not be asking stuff like “Why did your parents get divorced?” or “When you studied abroad, did you live with a relative or by yourself?”, as friends of mine were asked in Korea (at chaebol interviews). Getting rid of photos and age requirements on job applications would be steps in the right direction, too.
Sonagi – I think you are splitting hairs. “a few in every class” * number of classes = oodles.
well, it wasn’t too long ago that many of the chaebols had a fortune teller sitting in on interviews, according to more than a few executives i’ve spoken with.
HR is improving rapidly in some areas, but nothing changes in others. unfortunately, HR does not have the strength to determine more than rough hiring guidelines that boil down to upper level managers (oftentimes simply older dogs) making the call on what questions and behavior are appropriate.
of course, there is an upside to all of this. acting innapropriately initiates the new recruits in innapropriate behavior and the korean HR bokanovsky process continues successfully-stability reached.
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