South Korean Education

As one of the richest countries in the world, 14 th in total GDP according to
2014 data in US dollars, according to the CIA fact book (Central Intelligence Agency,
n.d.), you would think that there would not be a lot of problems with schooling. I am
going to look at three things to find out if that is the case according to the following
criteria that the UN has set as priorities; lack of learning materials, foundations for
early learning, and shortage of classrooms.
Seeing how South Korea is home to one of the largest companies in the world
in Samsung, first we are going to look at the lack of learning materials. Given my
background in technology, I think it is important to use technology in the classroom,
so that is where I am going to focus in this area. South Korea was supposed to be
completely digitizing every textbook by 2015. But South Korean officials are looking
to take a step back from that idea, due to problems with addiction to internet.
(Strauss, 2012) South Korea has a 100% broadband internet rate in their schools
(Trucano, 2013). Whether they continue to try to digitize all of their textbooks or not
this is a huge leap over other countries where there is limited internet at all. Where
this can help is that not everyone is going to see a huge boost from using
computers in the classroom, but South Korea can use a more individualized
approach to education rather than a one size fits all approach.
South Korea takes their early childhood education very seriously. According to
the (Center on International Education Benchmarking, n.d.), South Korea passed a
law in 2008 beginning the Head Start program. This program helps the younger
students to work on everything from social skills, improving language skills, and
helping them develop emotionally to be ready to start elementary school on an
even playing field with their peers. (Center on International Education
Benchmarking, n.d.) There are also several projects helping students with special
needs as well. There is the Wee (We+Education+Emotion) Project for children with
ADHD which helps with access to consultation and therapy, and at least one special
school in each province that serves the special needs students who would not
survive in a mainstream classroom because of severe handicaps. Children with mild
or moderate needs are encouraged to remain in a mainstream classroom. There is
much focus on intervention and detection of special needs as well. (Center on
International Education Benchmarking, n.d.) Because of all of this recent activity, I
believe that South Korea receives high marks on their educating of children,
especially with the special needs, and pre-elementary schooling.
There is no shortage of classrooms in South Korea. According to (Clark & Park,
2013) there are a total of 3,299,133 students in the Primary grades, from 1-6, and
1,979,656 students in Middle school grades, 7-9 which is the end of free compulsory
education. There are a total of 5,855 schools in the primary grades, of which 77 are
private schools, and 3,144 schools for middle school students of which 658 are
private. (Clark & Park, 2013) If we assume that there is at least fifty classrooms in
each school, there would be less than the almost 30:1 classroom size that we see
here in the US. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD, 2012) in 2010 that number in primary school is under 30 with
lower secondary education slightly above 30 students in each class. In a growing
economic powerhouse like South Korea, I think that they are doing very well in this
area.
Overall, according to the data that I was able to find, I think that South
Koreas educational system is very much improving. It may have taken until 2008 to
start a Head Start program, but a late start is better than no start at all and the
special education improvements are nothing to sneeze at. While the class sizes
could see improvement, they are on average with most of the world. The
technological advances in the classroom can be traced to South Korean schools, but
even they know that there can come a time when you need to step away from the
screen, and I think it is commendable. There is really nothing I found in my research
on these three topics that is scathing or bone jarring, but this is just a small sample
of the educational system in South Korea.
References
Center on International Education Benchmarking. (n.d.). South Korea. Retrieved
from Education For All Student Support Systems:
http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-educationbenchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/south-koreaeducation-for-all/
Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). East & Southeast Asia:: Korea, South. Retrieved
from CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/ks.html
Clark, N., & Park, H. (2013, June 1). Education in South Korea. Retrieved from World
Education News & Reviews: http://wenr.wes.org/2013/06/wenr-june-2013-anoverview-of-education-in-south-korea/
OECD. (2012, November 9). How does class size vary around the world? Retrieved
from Education Indicators in Focus: http://www.oecd.org/edu/skills-beyondschool/EDIF%202012--N9%20FINAL.pdf
Strauss, V. (2012, March 26). South Korea's surprising stand-down on digital
textbooks. Retrieved from The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/south-koreassurprising-stand-down-on-digital-textbooks/2012/03/25/gIQA6djvbS_blog.html
Trucano, M. (2013, February 5). Broadband for Schools? Retrieved from The World
Bank - Edutech: http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/broadband

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