Back to School? Korean Kids Never Leave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to School? Korean Kids Never Leave

Posted Sep 03, 2008 07:15pm EDT

by Aaron Task in Products and Trends

Related: KEF, KF, MAKOX, XKFDX

 

I saw a lot of amazing things on my recent trip to Seoul, Korea. In addition to interviewing President Lee at the Blue House and touring the DMZ, I also got to experience another culture.

One of the most incredible phenomenons is hagwons, or cram schools.

 

Hagwons are so successful in helping Korean students perform better on standardized tests, they've multiplied to become a booming cottage industry that rivals the nation's public school system.

 

"There are hagwons for everything," a Seoul-based mom told me. "There are hagwons for arranging hagwons, and hagwons to enhance appreciation for arts for kids too, so anything goes here."

 

Unlike in America, though, where parents choose between paying for private school or using the public system, the majority of Korean kids attend both. The result: 12-14 hour days are typical for Korean schoolchildren. But there's a high price to pay for all this academic success, as you'll see in this accompanying video.

 

The segment is the first in a series of pieces on life in Korea. Upcoming:

• Korea's PC game room craze: Why the trend is way beyond Xbox 
• Why Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world. 
• An interview with citizen journalism trailblazer Oh Yeon-Ho, also the founder of OhmyNews.

 

 

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/52955/Back-to-School-Korean-Kids-Never-Leave?tickers=KEF,KF,MAKOX,XKFDX