South Korea launches happy education policy to shorten study hours
What does the average 12-year-old Australian child do after school finishes at 3pm? Chances are they'll spend a couple of hours on homework, an hour or so on their chosen sport and a couple of hours playing video games, watching TV or surfing Facebook.
It's a very different story in South Korea.Here, students clock off at the same time as their Australian counterparts, but the school day is far from over.
Most students head to a private institute, or hagwon, for extra tutoring, where they'll study for hours, sometimes until midnight.
"Private tutoring in South Korea is really popular and because of that the gap between high class students and low class students is really big," explained Eunkyoung Park, a researcher with the Korean Educational Development Institute.
South Korea takes education very seriously, and the diligence and high work ethic of its people have seen the nation transform from an impoverished country shattered by war to an economic powerhouse - the 13th largest economy in the world. But policymakers are worried that intense work ethic translates to an exceedingly harsh pressure on children and teenagers.
"The general consensus is that students here have a high level of stress," said Ms Park, who has a PhD in education. "They literally have no time to play or hang out with their friends."
Enter the "Happy Education" policy, an initiative from South Korea's President Geun-Hye Park. The idea is to stop students from measuring their success only in terms of academic performance, and allow them to pursue other areas such as music and the arts. Mother of one Claire Kang knows all too well the pressure students are facing. She lives just outside Daechi-dong in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Known as "the Mecca of private education", Daechi-dong is an area famous for its high number of hagwons - close to a thousand.
"It is a crazy district," Claire Kang said. "Some students in sixth grade are studying high school math already."
Parents spend thousands of dollars a month on hagwon fees, ensuring their children go above and beyond what's taught at school, cramming late into the night. Hagwons are supposed to have a 10pm curfew, but many break the rules and stay open later. Sometimes the police are called to force them to shut for the night.
Claire wanted her daughter Celine to experience a different kind of schooling, so she sent her to the US for a year when she was 10 years old.
"I thought 'I want to make her as free as possible, I want her to enjoy her childhood,'" Ms Kang said. Celine stayed with family friends and attended a Christian school in Indiana.
"Before she went to America she was frustrated with her math; all her friends here were so far ahead and it was making her stressed," the interpreter explained.
"But when she got to America her teacher said, 'wow you are so advanced!'"
Now 12 and back in Seoul, Celine is working hard, but spends less time with private tutors than her classmates. "She said to me 'mum, if I stayed in America I might have been relaxed and happy but I would have been behind my Korean friends'," recalls Claire.
Claire Kang welcomes the "Happy Education policy, which places a one semester ban on exams for 13 year old students. But she's not sure South Korea will ever shake its obsession with education.
"When I was at school there was a saying: 'If you have only slept four hours you will get into university; if you have slept five you will fail."
Source: (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-24/south-korea-launches-happy-education-policy-to-shorten-study-ho/5840152)
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VOCABULARY:
1. Average (adj.) - having qualities that are typical of most people or things
2. Clock off (v) slang – be dismissed
3. Impoverished(adj) – reduced to poverty; poor
4. Consensus (n) - general agreement
5. Curfew(n) - a specific time in the evening after which certain regulations apply, especially that no civilians or other specified group of unauthorized persons may be outdoors or that places of public assembly must be closed.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do average Australian students do after school?
2. What do private tutoring centers (hagwons) offer?
3. What was the prescribed curfew for Hagwons in Korea?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. When are students supposed to start taking schooling seriously?
2. What are the benefits of tutoring and/or advanced lessons?
3. What is a good measure of academic achievement?
4. Is it possible that too much tutoring might actually cause a decline in academic performance of students?
5. Can education be a happy experience and at the same time improve competence?
6. Do you think Happy Education is a way for better education in Korea?
