Essay About Education In Korea

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Education in Korea, which originally was the purpose to achieve self-cultivation and knowledge by privileged classes, has changed greatly over the past few decades. Korea’s passion for education has its roots in the country’s history and mentality, that is largely based on the “age-old Confucian believe that man is perfectible through education and that only the most learned should govern the country and society” (Kim-Renaud 5). This phenomena, also often called the “education syndrome” (Kim-Renaud 5), had its starting point almost two decades ago. In the year 2000, when modern education already became accessible to everyone, “South Korea’s literacy rate was nearly one hundred percent” (Kim-Renaud 5) as a result of this government movement. This not only result in “Koreans [being] among the most educated people in the world” (Kim-Renaud 5) but also their society putting more and more meaning into one’s educational background. Another indicator that reinforces the idea of South Koreans being especially diligent when it comes to education is the amount of money that parents are willing to spend on private tutoring and cram schools for their children that go to middle or high school. The …show more content…

Despite the societal pressure, “26 percent of the examination takers in the 5 November 2003 entrance exam were repeaters [that either] chose to spent another year preparing to take the exam again rather than accept admission to a non-prestigious school” (Seth 5) or did not pass the test at all. Although still highly competitive, “getting into university is not as difficult as it has been in the past” since the number of high school graduates entering university has almost doubled since

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