ENGL 191 21 Final paper by Kaye Lee

What is like to go to high school and college in South Korea

Robert Compton, who created the documentary, ‘2 million minutes’ explored Asian countries and compared the secondary education systems in India, China and the U.S. worrying about the fact that American students learn 2-3 years behind Asians do. This is how I began to think of self-comparison between how I was taught in my country, South Korea, and how I have been learning in the U.S. college. Robert mentioned on his blog, “As the American public school system fails to adapt to this century, schools in China and India produce four times the number of high school graduates as the U.S. and educate these students to a much higher level.” [1] As a third person, it was interesting to find that Americans could have a thought like this about their education system whereas many Korean people think their education is going too beyond than what it really has to be. In other words, Korean teenagers are so much pressured to study and study for a long period of their lives.
Whether he was right or wrong is not an issue, but for those who have not experienced education system in Korea, or in Asian countries, I will introduce how Korean secondary and college education systems are like and its culture based on research, and my personal experience.

First of all, entering college for Korean high school kids is quite demanding compared to American youngsters entering college. Korea is often called an educational country because education is primarily emphasized and believed to be the most effective factor in one’s success. Many Korean parents tend to think seriously about their kids’ education, which is also relevant to high prenatal education rate among young parents in Korea.
Six years of Korean secondary education system is composed of 3 years of middle school (junior high school in America), and 3 years of high school (senior high school). After completing middle school, students choose what kinds of high schools they wish to go including special objective schools such as foreign language and science high school, vocational, or classical high school. Entering those special objective schools is as highly competitive like entering college in that they accept students via grades and other additional tests like TOEFL. It is hard for students to go through higher secondary education in Korea because students have to spend so much time to study and get good grades. It is not unusual for high school kids (especially those in the highest grade) to arrive at school in the early morning and stay until midnight. Schools also offer some after-school programs, but they are not as developed and encouraged as in American high schools because the test-oriented education system rarely allows students to spend time for extracurricular activities due to excessive work load. In addition, while U.S. students can choose classes they want to take each semester, Korean high school students do not have rights in choosing courses because they have been already decided. According to the website, StateUniversity.Com, “Until recently, precollege students had little freedom to choose specific courses for themselves. In high schools, students learn all subjects in small increments at each level rather than concentrating on a few chosen subjects at a time as in the United States. “ [2] Korean secondary education system (6 years) focuses mostly on students’ getting high grades on school exams and CSAT(College Scholastic Ability Test – college entrance exam; Korean language, math I and II, natural and social sciences, and foreign languages) which is held at the end of the high school year. After finishing 3 years of high school and taking CSAT, students start to apply for colleges. The results from CSAT usually determine which college and majors students go for. Since all Korean colleges are ranked as in a hierarchy, whether someone goes to prestigious school is considered more serious than in America and therefore, high competition since elementary school has always been usual in my childhood. However, I saw many American people going to college if they wish to without being under pressure.
Getting into majors is different from American college in that students apply for certain majors in certain college with the test results. In contrast, Americans enter college as general students and apply for their major after completing pre-requisite courses.
This challenging education system has always been an issue in Korea and the Education Ministry has been criticized for decades. According to a book, ‘The Koreas’ by Marry E. Connor, it is stated, “The Education Ministry has attempted to rectify the problems in the current education system….The ministry’s policies in 2000 were targeted at increasing the budget for key educational policy items, removing rote memorization from the center of education and giving more weight to the development of individual students’ creativity and ethical development.” (p. 178) [3]
Korean college students study as hard as American students, but the college life in Korea is somewhat different from Americans’. After secondary education, education is considered to be prolonged in college and among high school students, not going to college is often thought to be a taboo. To enter good college, numbers of high school graduates continue to prepare for the next entrance exam for extra years and they are very commonly seen in society. With high school degree, everyone is eligible to take CSAT every year and apply for college.
When taking classes in Korean college, unlike in American college, relative grading method is frequently used. This means every student in class has to compete with others to get higher grades on every single test, assignment, and project. As I mentioned, most students are generally familiar with educating themselves through competing with others since childhood although it is hard. The best performers get A+ (4.5/4.5 or 4.3/4.3) and the second best get A zero (4.0/4.5) while American college focus less on competition, but more on individual performance (absolute grading). In addition, since it is difficult to gain grades in Korean college, students have opportunities to retake the courses and the previous lower grades will be completely replaced with the new ones if higher. In contrast, here in American college, all grade points are shown in one’s transcript without exception even if s/he retakes some course. Since there is no second chance, I have to try hard enough to get good grades at once without mistakes. Furthermore, it is an interesting fact that when the registration days come in Korean college, some students stay up at night to register for classes they want to take, and within a few minutes, their classes are determined. This is because most Korean colleges are crowded and this phenomenon is called ‘Registration battle’.
In general, one class in Korean class has at least 60 students and more while the smallest class that I am taking at St. Cloud State has about 25~30 students. Also, I could see lots of international students on campus and study with many various Americans such as African Americans and Vietnamese Americans, but most Korean campuses are not as diverse as here in America. Consequently, learning diversity and racial issues is not considered the most serious at Korean universities although the number of international students studying abroad is gradually increasing. Personally, it was surprising to know that many classes here value students’ learning diversity and participating social activities. Despite of this great emphasis, one of the authors, Cameron McCarthy, in a book, Education (the opposing viewpoints), mentioned, “School districts and school principals must set diversity as an explicit goal and seek ways to integrate the notion in the organization of the curriculum and the institutional life or schools. Right now, multiculturalism is treated as a side topic, mentioned only during Black History Month and on International Women’s Day.” (p. 116) [4]
Unlike high school kids, college students in Korea can have better opportunities in engaging in club activities and they are called, Dong-a-ri (meaning, clubs). Club activities are similar to the ones in American colleges, but the difference is that Dong-a-ri plays a big role when there are a couple big festivals once or twice a year. Each of them prepares and sells certain types of Korean food and drink – there is no dry campus in Korean colleges - and plays a variety of games. Also, Korean celebrities are invited to perform until late night and the festivals last about a week. Students also compete with other departments or other college people when there is a sport competition such as baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and volleyball. However, In American colleges, it is hard to find any specific annual festivals or events where each department cooperates to compete with others for fun. In St. Cloud State, there is once-a-month event, called, 'Atwood Afterdark' and many cultural events such as Chinese night and South Korean cafe which are hardly seen in Korean college due to a lack of cultural diversity.
Social networking is especially regarded important in Korean society. Freshmen are supposed to attend as many social gatherings as possible to get to know their classmates and seniors. Korean people’s gathering –drinking together, so to speak- has somewhat different meanings from ‘parties’ in America because building good relationships with people is the most significant objective when attending socials. When drinking with older people, one should talk with them with extra caution because of ‘respect elders’ culture. Social norms will require you to speak and behave politely to elders such as your professors and seniors and in this situation, certain types of drinking manners are required such as avoiding declining the first glass of alcohol and taking the glass with both hands. In addition, the older are supposed to be offered alcohol first before the younger and their glasses should not be empty.
Having good relationships with seniors is necessary even after graduation in that you can actually encounter them in society – or, they could be your boss! -and it cannot be ignored that South Korea is a small, crowded country. Here is interesting news from Korea Time New York, regarding Korean drinking culture; “According to the rules of Korean etiquette, drinking plays a strong social role; upperclassmen and freshmen express their fellowship and become familiar with one another at drinking parties…. Students in South Korean universities have long experienced such excessive social drinking; what’s new is its spread to America.” [5] To get to know people closer, nothing is better than having some soju* together. (*soju; Korean traditional alcohol made from rice)
While drinking socials are dominant in Korean campus, college students are still under pressure as they were in high school. According to Suite101.com, “The typical image of Korean university students having a fun drinking night during summer vacation is long gone. Instead, university students are hitting their school libraries to study for language proficiency exams, computer licenses and civil service examinations…. Admittedly, this is not a situation uncommon throughout the world. What is different in Korea, however, is the degree to which the university students are dedicating their time and energy to focus solely on the job prospective.”[6] College life in Korea is as much hard as in anywhere.

To conclude, secondary education system in South Korea has many different aspects from Americans in that it is highly competitive and Korean students are more forced to study and go to good colleges than American students are. What they should learn from Western education can be; first, students can be given more options in scheduling as well as choosing their classes. More physical education classes should also be required to students and schools have to encourage students to participate in various after-school programs, or extracurricular activities by giving them more credits and so on. In addition, students’ staying at school until late is due to mandatory evening self-study sessions* and this can be illegalized as some cities already have. (*evening self-study sessions; students’ studying after classes at school, lasts until 9 p.m.) In college, different systems are used such as relative grading and Korean universities are much more crowded compared to American colleges, which explains why each class has to accommodate greater numbers of students. College festivals are developed as well as socials between juniors and seniors while individual performance is more emphasized and respected in American schools. Korean colleges can promote diversity by accepting more international students and also providing them Korean language schools.
In American colleges, graduate rate is lower than the average - United States ranked 14th in 2004 - among developed nations such as Korea, Japan, Germany, and United Kingdom, according to Perspective newsletter. [7] Unlike in other countries, more competition should be encouraged among American students and the drop-out rates should also be declined.
I recommend students to experience studying-abroad at least one time in their lives to broaden their perspective and learn about other cultures. Furthermore, although American campus is full of diversity, it is necessary for American students to go beyond America and know what is like to be a member of minority and sometimes feel cultural shock, which will make their college life even more exciting and dynamic.






*Pictures are NOT shown above.


References

[1] 2 million minutes website
Robert Compton 2009 Call me Bob. Retrieved from http://www.2mminutes.com/call-me-bob/

[2]
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1400/South-Korea-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html
South Korea - Educational System—overview (unknown author, date)

[3]
Marry E. Connor (2002). The Koreas, A Global Studies Handbook, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. (p. 178)

[4]
Mary E. Williams (2000). Education, Opposing Viewpoints. In Cameron McCarthy, Curricula and Textbooks Should Reflect Multiculturalism (pp. 109-117) San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc.

[5]
Jae-Ho Hong (2004, October 29). Korean college students’ drinking culture a problem. Korea Times New York. Retrieved from http://www.indypressny.org/nycma/voices/141/news/news_2/

[6]
MeeHyoe Koo (March 14, 2007) College Life in Korea; Competition is Fierce for Students in University. Retrieved from http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/recipe_for_success_or_not

[7]
U.S. College Graduation Rate Is below Average among Developed Countries 2004 Retrieved from Prospective Newsletter website: http://www.achieve.org/files/enewsletters/200504/Perspective-April2005.html



Picture 1.
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/wJStcbqh7Lx/Students+Face+Crucial+Exams+University

Picture 2.
http://10ball.net/data/attach/Z3gCyt6XY68Al1qRA.jpg

Picture 3.
http://www.pulug.com/news/news_view.html?n_idx=1013&n_ctgr=6

Food outline

Topic sentence; Chinese food has cultural diversity and meaning while being affected by other culture.

Introduction

- There are a variety of chinese food around the world
- Basics of Chinese food (staples)
- Roles of food in China

Body

1. Chinese food for celebration and social gathering
eg) Birthday, New Years, historical hero or tales

2. Chinses food influenced by other culture
eg) Chinese cuisin in America (Buffet) - modified for locals' taste

3. Nutritious facts in Chinese food

4. Food taboos in different regions in China
eg) Pork is not supposed to be consumed in some area.

5. Various meanings in food
eg) noodle for long and peaceful life in birthday.

Conclusion

Chinses food has various meanings in people's celebration and social gathering and has been largely influenced by other countries such as America. In some regions in China, port or beef should not be eaten and are considered as taboos. Chinses food have many different meanings and as global food, they possess many characteristics such as nutrition and taste.