Korea’s Murderous Education Culture

I read this post on The Marmot’s Hole today. It comes from this story from the Korea Times (I’m not really pleased about using this as a source on this blog, but at the moment I don’t have time to search for a better Korean source). Please read both.

Essentially the story is about a high school student who killed his mother because he felt he couldn’t get the high grades she expected from him. The story outlines ways she would punish him for – as she saw it – underachieving.

“According to police, Park kept telling her son that he must enter a top-class university and should rank first in nationwide exams. When he obtained lower scores than her expectations, she didn’t give him food or forced him to stay awake at night to study.”

There are a couple of things to take form this. One, the pressure on some Korean kids is immense to perform exceptionally in exams. But moreover, that some parents really don’t understand what they’re talking about. Not eating or sleeping is not a good way to improve intelligence or performance in anything, exams, sports, whatever.

Unfortunately, with the way the education system in Korea is set up, cramming and rote learning can often be good methods to get high marks in Korean exams. These methods don’t often allow for good long-term retention or varied application, so we could make the claim that the very nature of the exams and the learning process within the education system are as much a aprt of the problem as parents like this one.

There were also some interesting comments on the post at the Marmot’s Hole. Notably, these from The Korean:

“4000th in the country is hardly “quite good”. Three digits and we will talk.”

This is referring to the fact that student in question was actually ranked 4000th in the country on a test – putting him in the top 1% of all students. This wouldn’t have been good enough for his mother, so he changed his grade to 62nd to avoid corporal punishment. The Korean’s comment is, in my opinion, typical of one of the major issues. However one looks at it, top 1% is good. It’s better than that, it’s outstanding, it’s better than virtually everyone else he will ever meet in his life in Korea.

Basic child psychology states that demeaning this achievement is the last thing that should be done. Sure, anyone, at any time, can always do better. But good achievements deserve praise. Something more along the lines of, “wow, that’s fantastic. Just imagine what you’ll be able to do next time.”

Besides, if someone does their best, works as hard as they can, but still falls short of what some people would hope for them, their attitude and dedication deserves praise. If someone is slacking off, not putting their all into something, then their attitude deserves criticism.

Another:

“I have many criticisms of Korean education system, but its drive toward achievement is not one. Koreans constantly drive their children to be better than they are now, and that’s a good thing.”

Heartfelt and admirable sentiments. A drive towards achievement is indeed a good thing. But how should we measure achievement? In Korea, and in this case, it’s test scores. And almost to the complete exclusion of everything else. As we’ve seen, this kid was in the top 1%, and that must have taken a lot of hard work and dedication, not to mention sacrifice. And yet none of that is taken into account. Someone with that sense of hard work and focus could surely also succeed in many other fields, such as sports or music. But they’ll be judged on test results.

Which leads me on to the next, related, point; how do we judge “better” when it comes to people? Is my parents view of what would make me “better” the same as my own? Am I a better person, a better son, a better whatever if I get a higher grade on an exam? How else should I be judged?

Again, unfotunately, I feel that far too often in Korea, young kids are judged not simply on their own performance in exams, but even more they are judged against others. This is a country that actually has a rank of every student in the country. As another commenter, Yangachi Bastardo, said, “how can they differentiate between say the 935th best student and the 936th?” How can they, indeed? But to my mind more crucially, why do they? When the culture demands an absolute ranking of every student, of course things like dedication, other passions and achievements, personality and so on do not get considered. Not when a number can be put next to your name to show how good you are. And so this is what it comes down to here all too often – not even the subjective “how good are you” but the even more ridiculous “how good do you appear to be compared to everyone else?”

That’s why we have the 엄친아 phenomenon. For those who don’t know, it’s a contraction of 엄마 친구의 아들 – mum’s friend’s son. It’s used to represent a phenomena so widespread that all Koreans recognise this term and its menaing. That is, one’s mum constantly comparing her own children negatively against those of a friend. It often goes something along the lines of “Did you know my friend’s son Minsu got into Seoul University? You didn’t, though, did you?” But these comparisons can be made about anything.

Sometimes I think Korea can be so caught up in comparing things that it misses the true value in them.

And so, what of this so-called “education fever?” Clearly, it can be destructive, harmful and dangerous. Pressure to do better than everyone else on exams leads to suicides of schoolchildren, incredible levels of stress and anxiety, and a warped childhood spent in hagwons, pouring over books or staring at a computer screen. All in the name of being better than the next guy on some exam. And this is how the vast majority of Korean children’s accomplishments from birth to 18 are measured – comparing exam results with 엄친아’s.

There’s so much more to life, especially during childhood, so much mkkore to succeed in, and so many more barometers of this success, that personally I can’t help feeling that the majority of Korean schoolchildren are missing out. And The Korean may well disagree with me, he may well dislike me saying this, but I know I wouldn’t want my own children going through this system with this education culture.

Sure, encouraging oneself and also one’s children to strive for success is a very good thing. But I won’t be measuring my children’s success against that of the kid next door. I’ll want them to do the best they can for themself. I won’t want them to feel like their life isn’t worth living if they can’t be the best out of veryone in the country on any given test.

And so I say Korea needs to take a look at how it measures success, and what people want from their life and from their children. I think it will take people saying “actually, I don’t really want to go to Seoul University. I don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer. What I want to do is … and this is they way I want to do it.” It will take people turning down the high-status jobs in favour of the ones that will make them happier, more fulfilled and give them a better quality of life. It will take a removal of these sorts of national systems of ranking everybody based on such narrow criteria and then saying “this is you, you are number 4,362.” It will take a widespread change of attitude to say tests aren’t what make the person.

Parents in Education – GEPIK Questionnaire

Today I saw a survey given to students in a GEPIK elementary school for their parents to fill out. The kids were told that they would be punished if their parents didn’t fill it out.

It’s a survey about what the parents think about me, the native English-speaking teacher at the school, and what they think about the projet of using people like me in general.

Before I get into any further discussion, here’s the survey:

 

원어민 영어보조교사 활용 수업의 효율성에 대한 설문조사
(학부모용)
“A questionnaire about the usefulness of the  Native speaking English assistant teacher’s classes”
(For parents of students)

이 설문은 원어민 영어 선생님 활용에 대한 학부모 여러분의 의견을 조사하고자 하는 것입니다.
해당된다고 생각하는 항목에 ‘V’표시를 하시기 바랍니다.
“This questionnaire is to survey the views of you the parents of the students about the use of the native English-speaking teacher.
Please mark a ‘V’ in the articles that you agree with.”

And now the questions:

1. 귀 자녀는 어느 학교에 재학 중 입니까? What school are your children currently attending?
     1. 초등학교 Elementary school
     2. 중학교 Middle school
     3. 일반계 고등학교 Regular high school
     4. 전문계 고등학교 Vocational high school
     5. 특수목적 고등학교 Specialist high school

2. 귀 자녀가 재학 중인 학교에서 실시하는 원어민 선생님을 활용한 영어수업에 만족하십니까? Are you satisfied with the English language classes that utilise the native speaking teacher at the school your children currently attend?
     1. 한국인 영어교사가 혼자 할 때 보다 훨씬 좋다. It’s greatly better than when the Korean English teacher teaches alone.
     2. 한국인 영어 교사 혼자 할 때 보다 조금 나은 면이 있다. There are aspects that are a bit better than when the Korean English teacher teaches alone.
     3. 한국인 영어 교사 혼자 할 때나 별반 차이가 없다. There’s no real difference from when the Korean English teacher teaches alone.
     4. 한국인 영어 교사 혼자 할 때가 조금 더 나은 면이 있다. There are aspects that are a bit better when the Korean English teacher teaches alone.
     5. 한국인 영어 교사 혼자 할 때가 훨씬 좋다. It’s greatly better when the Korean English teacher teaches alone.

2-1. 위 2번 문항에서 1, 2에 응답하셨다면, 그 이유는 무엇입니까? (해당되는 것을 모두 고르시오.) If you answered 1 or 2 to the above question 2, what is your reason? (Select all corresponding answers)
     1. 영어능력 향상 English ability has risen (presumably the ability of the child.)
     2. 외국인에 대한 두려움 극복 Conquering the fear of foreigners
     3. 외국문화에 대한 이해의 폭 증대 Increasing the breadth of understanding of foreign culture
     4. 영어에 대한 자신감 증진 Increase in confidence about the English language
     5. 영어에 대한 관심 고조 Increase in interest in the English language
     6. 기타사항 기재 Other comments

2-2. 위 2번 문항에서 3, 4, 5에 응답하셨다면, 그 이유는 무엇입니까? (해당되는 것을 모두 고르시오.) If you answered 3, 4 or 5 to the above question 2, what is your reason? (Select all corresponding answers)
     1. 교사자격증 미소지 Does not have teaching qualifications (NOTE: This could also mean capability or character)
     2. 교수 능력 부족  Not enough teaching ability
     3. 우리말 구사능력 부족 Is not fluent enough in our language (Yup, that’s what is says)
     4. 한국문화에 대한 이해 부족 Does not have sufficient understanding of Korean culture (Again, this is what it says)
     5. 한국의 교육 상황에 대한 이해 부족 Does not have sufficient understanding of the situation of Korean education
     6. 기타사항 기재 Other comments

3. 원어민 영어선생님을 활용한 영어수업을 통해 귀 자녀의 의사소통능력 향상에 도움이 된다고 생각하십니까? Do you think that your children’s comprehension/understanding  is helped through the English classes that utilise the native speaking English teacher?
     1. 매우 도움이 된다. It helps greatly.
     2. 도움이 된다. It helps.
     3. 잘 모르겠다. I don’t really know.
     4. 별로 도음이 되지 않는다. It doesn’t really help.
     5. 전혀 도움이 되지 않는다. It doesn’t help at all.

3-1. 위 3번 문항에서 1, 2에 응답하셨다면, 어떤 영역에서 도움이 되었다고 생각하십니까? If you answer 1 or 2 to the above question 3, in what area do you think it has helped?
     1. 듣기 Listening
     2. 말하기 Speaking
     3. 읽기 Reading
     4. 쓰기 Writing
     5. 모든 영역 All areas

3-2. 위 3번 문항에서 3, 4, 5에 응답하셨다면, 어떤 영역에서 도움이 되지 않았다고 생각하십니까? If you answer 1 or 2 to the above question 3, in what area do you think it has not helped?
     1. 듣기 Listening
     2. 말하기 Speaking
     3. 읽기 Reading
     4. 쓰기 Writing
     5. 모든 영역 All areas

4. 귀 자녀의 영어수업시간에 한국인 영어 선생님보다 원어민 선생님이 더 효과적일 것 같은 영어학습 활동은 무엇입니까? In what English language learning activities in your children’s English classes do you think the native speaking teacher will be more effective than the Korean English teacher?
     1. 영어 대화 연습 English conversation practice
     2. 영어 쓰기 English writing
     3. 영어 듣기 English listening
     4. 영어 연극 English plays (as in a play with acting)
     5. 영어 게임 English games
     6. 기타사항 기재 Other comments

5. 귀 자녀의 정규수업 이외에 원어민 영어선생님과 어떤 활동에 참여하고 있습니까? Outside of your children’s regular classes, what activities do they participate in with the native speaking English teacher?
     1. 방과 후 영어 관련 수업  English related classes after hours
     2. 영어 동아리활동 English group/club activities
     3. 온라인 활용 학습 Online study
     4. 영어캠프 English camp
     5. 쉬는 시간 및 점심 시간에 대화 시간 Conversation time during breaks or lunch time
     6. 기타사항 기재 Other comments

6. 귀 자녀의 학교에서 실시하고 있는 원어민 영어 선생님 활용 영어 수업이 사교육비 경감에 도움이 된다고 생각하십니까? Do you think that English classes the utilise the native speaking English teacher operating at the school help in reducing private education expenses?
     1. 매우 도움이 된다 It helps greatly
     2. 조금 도움이 된다 It helps a little
     3. 그저 그렇다 It’s the same
     4. 별로 도움이 되지 않는다 It doesn’t really help
     5. 전혀 도움이 되지 않는다 It doesn’t help at all

7. 귀 자녀의 영어 관련 사교육에 월 평균 얼마의 비용이 듭니까? On average, how much per month does your childs English private education cost?
     1. 해당 없음 Not applicable
     2. 10만원 미만 Under 100,000 Won
     3. 10만원 이상 ~ 20만원 미만 Between 100,000 and 200,000 Won
     4. 20만원 이상 ~ 30만원 미만 between 200,000 and 300,000 Won
     5. 20만원 이상 Over 300,000 Won

8. 앞으로 원어민 영어선생님의 활용 방안은 어떠해야 한다고 생각하십니까? In future, what do you think should be done regards the programme of using native speaking English teachers?
     1. 학급 수에 따라 뭔어민 영어선생님의 수를 더 늘린다. Increasing the number of native speaking English teachers according to the number of students per grade.
     2. 현행수준으로 유지한다. preserving the current numbers.
     3. 한국인 영어 선생님의 역량을 키우면서 원어민 영어선생님의 수를 점차 줄인다. Gradually decreasing the number of native speaking English teachers while raising the capability of Korean English teachers.
     4. 원어민 교사 제도를 폐지하고 대체 프로그램을 마련한다. Abolishing the native speaking teacher programme and prepare an alternative programme.
     5. 기타사항 기재 Other comments

9. 귀 자녀가 원어민 영어선생님과 수업을 하면서 만족하는 이유를 적어주세요. Please write down your reasons why you are satisfied with your childs classes with the native speaking English teacher.

10. 귀자녀가 원어민 영어선생님과 수업을 하면서 어려워하거나 불만족스러워하는 이유를 적어 주세요. Please write down the reasons why your children are dissatisfied or have struggled with their classes with the native speaking English teacher.

11. 원어민 영어선생님 활용 사업에 대한 의견이 있으면 적어 주세요. If you have any opinions about the scheme of utilising native speaking English teachers please write them.

설문에 응해 주셔서 감사합니다.
Thank you for answering our questionnaire.

//

So, that’s it.

Now, for my thoughts, for what they’re worth. Firstly, I think it’s ridiculous that parents are asked some of these questions. These are people who largely haven’t met me, they don’t know me or anything about me. They haven’t seen my classes. They don’t know how I teach. They don’t know what their children are like in class.

How is it possible that “is not fluent enough in our language” can be an answer for why classes that I do are no better or worse than the Korean english teacher on their own? Surely the reason me and thousands like me are here is that we are native speakers of English. Secondly, clearly I do speak reasonable Korean. But I’m banned from talking Korean in front of or to the students. Still, many of them do not know.

I don’t really want to get into too much of a rant about this. Suffice it to say that I think parents have far too much power in the Korean education system. For the reasons above, they just aren’t in a position to know what’s best with regards to education practices. And yet they get this detailed questionnaire to do. Is the purpose of it really to find ou what parents think about native speaking English teachers in order to act upon it? Or is it simply making a show of valuing their opinion and won’t actually be taken seriously?

If the results are considerably against or for native speaking English teachers, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the results appear in a newspaper somewhere.

It strikes me that schools in Korea, even public schools, are far too concerned with showing off to parents. There seems to be far too much focus on how to appear good in the eyes of parents than how to actually be good and effective educators. Too much time is wasted doing what parents say should be done than on what is pedagogically sound practice. Parents opinions of NESTs can be influenced by any number of outside sources; newspapers, the internet, gossip and rumour and so on. But how many actually have accurate knowledge or experience of the programmes that bring them here or the work they do? And who is it that the education office is asking for their opinion?

If this and other such surveys come back with a large number of parents saying they don’t want NSETs any more, will the policy-makers defy such a moniker and simply adopt that as policy?

I’ve heard far too often in my time working in a Korean school: “but the parents want…” “but the parents don’t like…” “but the parents say…” And what the parents want, they always seem to get, for better or worse.

Korean Students Abroad

I became inspired to write this post after reading this post from Brian in Jeollanamdo, and some of the comments on it, about the behaviour of Korean students in particular when they study abroad.

I’ve been a foreign student in Korea, and also in southern Africa, and I live with a Korean student in the Uk. From my experience there are a few factors which most often come into play here. The first is where the foreign student is from. If they’re from an unknown country where they’re studying, it’s a lot harder because people only see them as someone from that country. A German student has a much easier time in the UK, for example, than a Korean, because the British students know enough of Germany and Germans that they can just speak to them as they would anyone else. When it comes to speaking to Koreans, they don’t know much about Korea, and they don’t have much of a sense of the place, culture or people – through no fault of their own – and so this becomes the focus for whatever relationship they have. Korean students invariably get asked “Are you from North or South Korea? Do you eat dog?” This puts a strain on the foreign student, because they just want to make normal friends.

Another one is language, because everything is made easier when the native students can communicate freely. People often list this as a problem that distresses the foreign students, which of course it does, but it also makes native students less likely to invest in a relationship where conversation isn’t easy. Of course, culture and cultural differences are perhaps the hardest obstacles to overcome. And there are different levels to it. At first, the foreign student must understand the culture of the place where they study, and how it differs from their own, but after that they must learn to accept, and perhaps even follow those differences, and that is most definitely easier said than done. I’ll give an example to illustrate. A group of students are sitting in a pub, having a drink and chatting. The Korean friend of one of the students goes to join them. When he arrives, he waits ’til he has their attention, bows, introduces himself, says where he’s from and what he does. Sits down. Waits for someone to talk to him… There’s nothing hugely wrong with this, it would just appear awkward to the non-Korean students. It makes him actually less approachable, whereas in Korea such a little introduction would have completely the opposite effect. But events like these can build up, and can leave a foreign student feeling very isolated from the majority population, and also not really sure why. Maybe they think it’s just because of their English, but of course it’s not. And even for those who do understand, if they haven’t been in the culture for a very long time, they may have to be mentally regulating their own behaviour constantly to fit in, which will get frustrating for them.

I know I certainly felt like that when I first studied in Korea, and when meeting other Korean students. I was generally younger, and this made it even harder for me because I met more than a few people who thought it would be quite fun to have a 외국 동생, although for me this often meant I was expected to behave in a way which felt unnatural or uncomfortable towards someone who in my native country would be a friend of equal standing with me. We mustn’t forget that Koreans will experience the same when they go to study abroad. Time certainly improves these things, but I think in terms of friendships, in countries like the UK, America, etc we have very few strict unspoken rules regarding friendships and behaviour amongst friends. We don’t place much of a hierarchy on ourselves, we don’t start many of our conversations with the same few almost ritualistic phrases. We think nothing of being friends with someone 10 years different in age. But as we all know Korea is different. I’m not saying it’s better or worse at all, but in the same way that we may feel uncomfortable when we are thrust into a place where there are some guidelines regarding behaviour and relationships that seem more binding than our own, we may feel restricted – claustrophobic in our relationships, perhaps. But the opposite would therefore be true for Koreans in our environment, with more “free-flowing” relationships, and they may feel completely lost and unaware of their place in things – “western” social networks may feel very chaotic to some Koreans.

Also, in Brian’s post, there was a quote which said;

“In Malay, they are Asian, but in here, there are Whites, Blacks…I am just shrinking. In small community, Asian is not many, so Americans watch me, which makes me feeling bad. I wonder why they are watching me. I am daunted of myself.”

This is an important point. Korea is a fairly homogenous country. The CIA World Factbook (not my favourite resource but a convenient one) lists South Korea as “homogenous (except for about 20,000 Chinese).” The above quote was taken from a woman studying in America, which the same resource lists as being 79.96% white, 12.85% black. Now, obviously there are people from other countries in Korea, although it’s a transient population at the best of times, but typically, the majority of Koreans in Korea see very few if any non-Korean faces – certainly non-Asian. In America, according to CIA statistics (You hope they’d know be accurate) the vast vast majority are white or black. This student is not criticising that, she’s simply noting that she’s gone from being in a place where everyone looked to be of the same ethnicity and culture as her, to a place where she’s in a true minority, but also where the majority is also not perhaps as numerous as she would have expected. It’s a shock to her and it shows in the quote – she doesn’t really know what to make of it, and this makes her very uneasy, very self-conscious.

And as for Koreans not interacting with the native students when they study abroad, I think the biggest problem is their education. Not just that which they receive in school, but from their parents and the media as well. Among some Koreans there is a sense that they have a unique culture (as true of Korea as it is of anywhere else) that can only be understood by other Koreans. Add to this that some Koreans also think that Korean food is superior, as is Korean humour, and just general lifestyle, and you can see why some would seek to replicate this wherever they go. Some Koreans just feel it is too un-Korean to not drink soju with a group of Koreans, to eat the majority of your meals in a non-Korean fashion, forgoing rice, jjigae and soju, and so they stick together, feeding off the comfort of familiarity that is provided by being around each other.

Moreover, I think all people are naturally inclined to mix with people they have things in common with, who come from similar places. There’s been a lot of talk recently about the expat community in Korea, or lack of it. But then think, if you are an expat in Korea, do you not count among your best friends a single person who is a native speaker of your language, and from the same country, or at least a western country? On top of that, there is also this recent movement for expats in Korea to unite, and build a stronger, wider-encompassing community. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for this. All I’m trying to do is to offer up our own actions as a partial explanation for understanding some of the actions of Koreans in a similar situation to our own.