Should U.S. educational system adopt some things from Korea?

As a person who dislikes debating over so many political issues, I often avoid watching news on TV. Due to this behavior, I sometimes miss important topics that I am truly interested in discussing but failed to do so until several months later. My apology for those who are truly interested in politics. However as someone who is deeply interested in the kind of impact that different educational systems can bring, I noticed a surprising comment from President Obama. [It may have only been so particularly interesting the fact that I am greatly engaged in educational system aspect in general.] At a speech given at Hispanic Chamber of Commerce meeting, he quoted,

“Our children _ listen to this _ our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year,” Obama told a gathering at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here. “That’s no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy.”

First of all, it is not all that surprising that a president uses a reference from Korea considering that the Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools is Michelle Rhee, a Korean American. [On a private note- kudos for her effort on reforms.] Unlike many angry educators out there, I kind of see where Obama is coming from.

My experience with both Korean and U.S. educational systems have positioned me in rather awkward situations several times. Like other Asian immigrants, I eventually settled well and "doing just fine". But often times I did wonder why I witness so many Asian immigrants graduating with valedictorians from their high schools. For a lot of us, we had to catch up on much information before attempting to excel such social studies or even English. So my guess is that Obama wants to look into Korea or generally in Asian countries to understand this phenomenom.

Let me tell you this: Asians, most of all, have hard core study ethics which generated from more on cultrual side than anything else. Unlike the U.S., Asian counties historially struggled through numerous political revolutions and wars. Many of them still undergo severe proverty and political corruptions (trust me, U.S. economy is not that bad). It is believed that only rigorous education can lead oneself to earn respectable and prestigious jobs if that ensures a better life in general. I concur that the idea itself is correct and logical response to series of negative historial events. But the Americans and Obama must understand that Korean educational system can only work in Korea due to the cultural suitability. [Note: Don't take "only" so literally]. Due to such a extremist move in educational standard, parents in Korea are often forced to hyper-invest in their children's education.

Let me explain the general educational trends in Korea:

Private tutoring is a must. Students are up out until 1 or 2am everyday at tutoring centers. At school, physical abuse is a necessity if that will force students to study and be able to solve math problems on a board with everyone staring at you. As for high school students, the intensity for the standardized college entrance exam (like SAT in the U.S.) builds up so monumentally. As a result, some students become suicidal. Why suicides? This is how the entrance exam works: it is a 10 hour, one-time given, comprehensive exam (which includes math, social studies, foreign language, science, etc - far more advanced materials than what normal U.S. college students would see in general) held sometime in November. Like U.S. universities, each Korean university has its grade cut. Unlike here though, there are no other factors considered in admissions. If Seoul University (the top notch in Korea) sets 1600 as its cutoff score, then anyone below that score will not be admitted. Same story applies to the majors within the university. With this kind expectation, parents prepare their children as early as they are born.

I would not say that Korean students are robots. However, this type of study ethic was planted in since they were born. When these students migrate to U.S. to study, the materials they encounter (typically like math) is much easier than what they are used to learning. Meaning, the concepts taught in U.S. are so much easier.

I agree that there are several aspects of reforms needed to prepare them for a 21st century competition. I also have to admit that our students are way behind with education compared to other countries. The reason I say this is from my experience in tutoring with college students. So many times, I encounter "college" students not knowing that multiplicaton table which is commonly understood as a foundation in other countries. Not knowing four functions of math severely limits them to learn beyond basic concepts. Yes, calculator exists and is there to assist. But, we must educate our students with a higher degree of expectations or else there will be no improvement.

The advantage for Korean educational system is that it teaches all basic concepts at young age and expect to thrive based on that. It provides the idea of self-studying and work ethic that no other countries can seem to follow. Although not agreeing with the abusive behavior, it still gives students a motivation to excel. We feed these students often into professional fields such as law or medicine which are high in demand. This type of system can contribute to the socity and brings out the competitiveness.

The downside of all this is that sometimes it blocks creativity and leadership. Education is much more than just knowing math and science - it's also knowing how to apply in real world and discover ways to improve others. Korean students are also questioned on the retention of knowledge after K-12 (strictly happens in Korea, I think) based on this system. This was led to a speculation that students often forced themselves to memorize the concepts and not understand.Education should not limit itself in book studying - it is all about feeding in knowledges through different expereiences. In my belief, U.S. educational system has a pretty good understanding about using various approaches to students. In Korea, school becomes very difficult for students with learning disabilities or people simply not good in test-taking method. Hence, this is why my brother received inadequate education in Korea and forced us to move to the U.S.

My point is that the U.S. educational system is not all that bad. It has its flaws which I think comes mainly from trying to accept diverse backgrounds of students. In many ways, it is attractive and is obvious by the noticable number of immigrants searching for "better education". Perhaps the system was too lenient overall and has never been adjusted to the current status (or failed to). Anyways, I know that I am in no position to judge either systems and is completely opinionated by personal experiences. I know teachers and administrators of either countries might comment otherwise, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the actual trend in Korea is.

As a supplemental comment to his quote, the length of classroom time is not the main issue of our educational system. It is more crucial to recognize the flaws occuring in the learning/teaching process and knowing what to fix.

To answer my question to the title: Yes, I think there are improvements that the U.S. system can make by looking into what other countries are doing with their education. Most importantly, the government has to re-evaluate current status of our students and consider the cultural apsects as well. I just hope that Obama administration will simply use Korean system as a reference and not as a tool to adopt. Because it is this unique setting of education hardly seen in other countries what makes it attractive and worthy to maintain.

PS- I can cover so much more and forever, but I'm going to stop. If you would like to debate about this, I will glady accept your invitation. [I am not spell checking nor editing, so I apologize if you notice some errors.]