Education in South

Korea

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Education in South Korea is provided by

both public schools and private schools.
Both types of schools receive funding
from the government, although the
amount that the private schools receive is
less than the amount of the state
schools.[8] In recent years, Incheon Global
Campus [9] (with start-up support)[10] has
kick-started, and Yonsei University opened
an international college [11] to embrace the
full English teaching environment scheme.
 Education in
South Korea

Budget 5.1% of GDP[1]

Primary languages Korean

Total 99.9%

Male 99.9%

Female 99.9%

Primary 3.3 million[2]

Secondary 4.0 million

Post secondary 3.6 million

Secondary diploma 98.0%[3][6][7]

Post-secondary 69.8%[3][4][5]
South Korea is one of the top-performing
OECD countries in reading literacy,
mathematics and sciences with the
average student scoring 519, compared
with the OECD average of 493, placing it
ninth in the world.[12][13] The country has
one of the world's highest-educated labour
forces among OECD countries.[14][15] The
country is well known for its obsession
with education, which has come to be
called "education fever".[16][17][18] The
resource-poor nation is consistently
ranked amongst the top for global
education.
Higher education is an overwhelmingly
serious issue in South Korea society,
where it is viewed as one of the
fundamental cornerstones of South
Korean life. Education is regarded as a
high priority for South Korean families, as
success in education is necessary for
improving one's socioeconomic position in
South Korean society.[19][20] Academic
success is often a source of pride for
families and within South Korean society
at large. South Koreans view education as
the main propeller of social mobility for
themselves and their family as a gateway
to the South Korean middle class.
Graduating from a top university is the
ultimate marker of prestige, high
socioeconomic status, promising marriage
prospects, and a prestigious and
respectable white collar career path.[21] An
average South Korean child's life revolves
around education as pressure to succeed
academically is deeply ingrained in South
Korean children from an early age. South
Korean students are faced with immense
pressure to succeed academically from
their parents, teachers, peers and society.
This is largely a result of a society that has
long placed a great amount of importance
on higher education as those who lack
formal university education often face
social prejudice as well as face significant
life-long consequences such as a stagnant
and lower socioeconomic status,
diminishing marriage prospects, as well as
possibilities of securing a respectable
white collar and professional career
path.[22]

In 2016, the country spent 5.4% of its GDP

on all levels of education – roughly 0.4
percentage points above the OECD
average.[4] A strong investment in
education, a militant drive for success, as
well as the passion for excellence has
helped the resource poor country rapidly
grow its economy over the past 60 years
from a war-torn wasteland.[23] South
Korea's zeal for education and its students'
desires to get into a prestigious university
is one of the highest in the world, as the
entrance into a top tier higher educational
institution leads to a prestigious, secure
and well-paid professional white collar job
with the government, banks, or a major
South Korean conglomerate such as
Samsung, Hyundai and LG Electronics.[24]
With incredible pressure on high school
students to secure places at the nation's
best universities, its institutional
reputation, campus facilities and
equipment, endowment, faculty, and
alumni networks are strong predictors of
future career prospects. The top three
universities in South Korea, often referred
to as "SKY", are Seoul National University,
Korea University and Yonsei
University.[2][25][26] Intense competition and
pressure to earn the highest grades is
deeply ingrained in the psyche of South
Korean students at a young age.[26] Yet
with only so many places at universities
and even fewer places at top-tier
companies, many young people remain
disappointed and are often unwilling to
lower their sights with the result of many
feeling as underachievers. There is a major
cultural taboo in South Korean society
attached to those who have not achieved
formal university education, where those
who don't hold university degrees face
social prejudice and are often looked
down by others as second-class citizens,
resulting fewer opportunities for
employment, improvement of one's
socioeconomic position and prospects for
marriage.[27]

International reception on the South

Korean education system has been
divided. It has been praised for various
reasons, including its comparatively high
test results and its major role in ushering
South Korea's economic development
while creating one of the world's most
educated workforces.[28] South Korea's
highly enviable academic performance has
gotten British education ministers actively
remodeling their own curriculum's and
exams to try to emulate Korea's militant
drive and passion for excellence and high
educational achievement.[28] Former U.S.
President Barack Obama has also praised
the country's rigorous school system,
where over 80 percent of South Korean
high school graduates go on to
university.[29] The nation's high university
entrance rate has created a highly skilled
workforce making South Korea among the
most highly educated countries in the
world with the one of the highest
percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary
education degree.[3][4] Large majorities of
South Korean students go on to enroll in
some form of tertiary education and leave
higher education with a tertiary
qualification. In 2017, the country ranked
fifth for the percentage of 25 to 64 year
olds that have attained tertiary education
with 47.7 percent.[3] 69.8 percent of South
Koreans aged 25 to 34 years old have
completed some form of tertiary
education with 34.2 percent of South
Koreans aged 25 to 64 having attained a
bachelor's degree which is one of the
highest among OECD countries.[3][4]
The system's rigid and hierarchical
structure has been criticized for stifling
creativity and innovation;[30][31] described
as intensely and "brutally" competitive,[32]
The system is often blamed for the high
suicide rate in South Korea, particularly the
growing rates among those aged 10–19.
Various media outlets attribute the nations
high suicide rate on the nationwide anxiety
around the country's college entrance
exams, which determine the trajectory of
students' entire lives and careers,[33][34]
though teenage suicide rates (ages 15-19)
still remain below those of the United
States and Canada.[35] Former South
Korean hagwon teacher Se-Woong Koo
wrote that the South Korean education
system amounts to child abuse and that it
should be "reformed and restructured
without delay."[36] The system has also
been criticized for producing an excess
supply of university graduates creating an
overeducated and underemployed labor
force; in the first quarter of 2013 alone,
nearly 3.3 million South Korean university
graduates were jobless, leading many
graduates overqualified for jobs requiring
less education.[37] Further criticism has
been stemmed for causing labor
shortages in various skilled blue collar
labor and vocational occupations, where
many go unfilled as the negative social
stigma associated with vocational careers
and not having a university degree
continues to remain deep-rooted in South
Korean society.[22][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]

History

Pre-division period …

Education has been present throughout

the history of Korea (1945–present).
Public schools and private schools have
both been present. Modern reforms to
education began in the late 19th century.
Since its early history, Korean education
has been influenced significantly by
Confucian values particularly in its
emphasis of formal learning and
scholarship through China more than
fifteen centuries ago. Confucianism
instilled facilities like governance of men
by merit, social mobility through
education, and the civil examination
system based on the system that was
developed in China during the Tang
Dynasty. As a result, written word and
mastery of Chinese classics and literacy
became the primary method in choosing
individuals for bureaucratic positions,
gaining them a respective social status
and privileges.[45]
The Chosun period was significant in
shaping the dynamics and foundation of
the Korean education system in that it
established schools that ingrained loyalty,
orthodoxy, and motivation for official
recruitment into its students. The primary
means to receive an education during the
Chosun period were through village
schools (sodang; sojae) and through
private tutoring. The sodang was the most
common method of formal education in
Korea until the late twentieth century, and
was usually available only to a handful of
neighborhood boys starting at around age
seven. In the middle of the sixteenth
century, however, the role of official
schools gradually declined with the
emergence of private academies (sowon),
which usually functioned as rural retreats
and centers of learning until the majority
of them were closed in the 1870s in an
effort to centralize authority.[45]

Preparing students for competitive

examinations were pronounced during the
Chosun era as a means of social mobility
and selection of official positions, and
remained a basic tenet in Korean
education throughout its history. However,
this extreme emphasis on education and
meritocracy was contrasted by hereditary
aristocracy during the Chosun period,
where bloodlines and kinship were
particularly pronounced. Due to Confucian
influences, however, education was able to
maintain a fairly equalizing presence over
society because of its belief in each
individual being capable of benefitting
from formal education and achieving
enlightenment. Education was also
dominated by the exalted scholar-teacher
relationship, where teachers held almost a
sacred status and were seen as a principal
source of ethical counsel. This convention
also engendered the tradition of
remonstrance, which obligated the scholar
to criticize the actions of the government
and even the king in order to avoid
threatening the Confucian-inspired
concept of the moral order of the
universe.[45]

The dynastic period did not prioritize

special or technical training, and thus a
preference for a non-specialized and
literary education has remained in Korea.
Many of these developments were
pronounced towards the end of the 19th
century when the Chosun dynasty began
implementing a Western-style education
system as a result of the intrusion of
foreign powers into Korea. By 1904, public
education was largely confined to Seoul,
which was generally resisted by the public
as well as government officials. This
maintained the dominance of sodang and
other traditional institutions as the primary
means to receive a formal education.
However, as a result of financial support
from members of the royal family and
American missionary activities and
schools, the number of schools began to
increase in the early 1900s. As a means to
promote basic literacy among its citizens,
Korea also introduced mixed script of
Hangeul and Chinese characters into its
instruction.[45]

During the Japanese occupation (1905-

1945), Korea was able to establish a
comprehensive and modern system of
national education through centralization
and deliberate planning of integrating
Japanese occupational professionalism
and values. However, there were severe
restrictions like the lack of access to
education beyond the elementary level for
Koreans and the manipulation of
education to indoctrinate Korean subjects
to be loyal to the Japanese empire, which
led to turmoil and discontent among
Koreans who were forced to assimilate.
The Japanese emphasized low-level and
non-professional track schooling for
Koreans which was pronounced by the
Educational Ordinance of 1911, where
Japanese residents had fourteen years of
schooling available while Koreans only had
eight years available to them, unless they
were civil servants wherein eleven was the
maximum. Schooling was primarily based
on Japanese values, literacy, and history
as an attempt to make young Koreans
loyal to the Japanese state and indirectly
wipe out Korean culture and history. As a
minor development, the Educational
Ordinance of 1922 was enacted, which
reopened the Seoul Teachers' School,
extended elementary and secondary
education, and added college preparatory
or advanced technical training to the
curriculum.[45]
Higher education became a central issue
for upper-class and upwardly mobile
Koreans, who were provided very limited
access to these institutions as well as
positions of administration and teaching.
Furthermore, with the introduction of the
Educational Ordinance of 1938, Korean
schools were to be identical to Japanese
ones in organization and curriculum, which
made education a highly militarized and
regimented tool for forced assimilation
and militarization.[45] These last few years
of Japanese rule pronounced the
discontent of Koreans whose social and
political climates had been deeply
affected.
Post-war years …

After Gwangbokjeol and the liberation

from Japan, the Korean government began
to study and discuss for a new philosophy
of education. The new educational
philosophy was created under the United
States Army Military Government in
Korea(USAMGIK) with a focus on
democratic education. The new system
attempted to make education available to
all students equally and promote the
educational administration to be more
self-governing. It also emphasized a
decentralized education which local and
community control in order to maintain
educational autonomy from authoritarian
policies. Specific policies included: re-
educating teachers, lowering functional
illiteracy by educating adults, restoration
of the Korean language for technical
terminology, and expansion of various
educational institutions.[46] This system
did not instigate radical change, however,
to the extent that it maintained the
centralized and authoritarian
administration created by the Japanese
with no meaningful changes. It did,
however, abet in the Koreanization of
South Korean education through the
initiative of Korean leaders by promoting
Hangeul, removing Japanese instruction
practices, and emphasizing Korean history,
geography, and literature. Aside from
these developments, the most striking
feature of the U.S. military occupation was
the significant expansion of schooling and
the student population.

Following the Korean War, the government

of Syngman Rhee reversed many of these
reforms after 1948, when only primary
schools remained in most cases
coeducational and, because of a lack of
resources, education was compulsory only
up to the sixth grade. In 1948, the
prevalent debate in South Korean
education was whether to maintain an
elitist multitrack path based on the prewar
Japanese colonial model, or adopt an
open American system that avoided early
tracking and did not terminalize primary or
secondary education.

During the years when Rhee and Park

Chung Hee were in power, the control of
education was gradually taken out of the
hands of local school boards and
concentrated in a centralized Ministry of
Education. In the late 1980s, the ministry
was responsible for administration of
schools, allocation of resources, setting of
enrollment quotas, certification of schools
and teachers, curriculum development
(including the issuance of textbook
guidelines), and other basic policy
decisions. Provincial and special city
boards of education still existed. Although
each board was composed of seven
members who were supposed to be
selected by popularly elected legislative
bodies, this arrangement ceased to
function after 1973. Subsequently, school
board members were approved by the
minister of education. In high school they
would call it year one grade (9th grader)
and year 2 would be (10th grader) and so
on. Therefore, a multitrack and single
secondary school system prevailed, largely
due to the fact that administrators did not
want to divide institutions, and parents
were not receptive to the idea of two
entrance exams. The outcome the 1950
MOE proposal for a uniform system was a
6-4-3-4 academic schedule, which entailed
6 years of primary school, 4 years of
middle school, 3 years of vocational or
academic high school, and 4 years of
college or university. A complex system of
technical and vocational training was also
added to educational policy, where
children were able to decide on an
academic versus a vocational route early
on in their academic career. Many
opposers of this policy actually viewed it
as positive because they believed that the
academic route would seem more prolific
and parents and students would be willing
to pursue it more than the vocational
route. Furthermore, even though a few
local school boards were established
toward the late 1940s, they were not
appreciated by many Koreans because
there was a widespread notion that a
uniform and centrally controlled system is
best. A rigorous and uniform national
curriculum was established in the mid-
1950s and there were significant efforts to
make school accessible for everyone,
especially in the context of Rhee's
declaration of compulsory universal
literacy and basic education. While
universal basic education eliminated
disparities between classes, competition
became very fierce due to restricted entry
into higher academic tiers, which
contributed to the predominant "education
fever" that is still prevalent in South
Korea.[45]

In the 1960s, there was a difficulty in

harnessing the demand for education
towards the needs of an industrializing
economy, which caused a growth in
private foundations in order to supply the
public demand for schooling. Furthermore,
the 60s and 70s were characterized by a
large demand to direct educational
development to economic development,
which necessitated a greater emphasis on
vocational and technical training rather
than academic training in order to help
citizens gain skills that would supply the
country's economic needs. Even though
there were major criticisms on behalf of
the public for this emphasis on vocational
training due to a clashing with Confucian
values, the state continued to strengthen
vocational education, especially after the
shift in industrialization to heavy chemical
and machine industries in the 70s. The
1960s and 70s experienced turmoil in
education systems due to public
resistance and the uncooperativeness of
private schools with the state as they
attempted to supply public demand. While
the state was able to fulfill many of its
economic goals, it came at a great social
and political cost like the depopulation of
rural areas and President Park's
assassination [45].

Most observers agree that South Korea's

spectacular progress in modernization and
economic growth since the Korean War is
largely attributable to the willingness of
individuals to invest a large amount of
resources in education: the improvement
of "human capital." The traditional esteem
for the educated man, now extends to
scientists, technicians, and others working
with specialized knowledge. Highly
educated technocrats and economic
planners could claim much of the credit
for their country's economic successes
since the 1960s. Scientific professions
were generally regarded as the most
prestigious by South Koreans in the 1980s.

Statistics demonstrate the success of

South Korea's national education
programs. In 1945 the adult literacy rate
was estimated at 22 percent; by 1970
adult literacy was 87.6 percent[47] and, by
the late 1980s, sources estimated it at
around 93 percent.[47] Although only
primary school (grades one through six)
was compulsory, percentages of age-
groups of children and young people
enrolled in secondary level schools were
equivalent to those found in industrialized
countries, including Japan. Approximately
4.8 million students in the eligible age-
group were attending primary school in
1985. The percentage of students going
on to optional middle school the same
year was more than 99 percent.
Approximately 34 percent, one of the
world's highest rates of secondary-school
graduates attended institutions of higher
education in 1987, a rate similar to Japan's
(about 30 percent) and exceeding Britain's
(20 percent).

Government expenditure on education has

been generous. In 1975, it was 220 billion
won,[47] the equivalent of 2.2 percent of
the gross national product, or 13.9 percent
of total government expenditure. By 1986,
education expenditure had reached 3.76
trillion won, or 4.5 percent of the GNP, and
27.3 percent of government budget
allocations.

The 1980s and 90s marked an era of

democratization and economic prosperity
in South Korea, partly due to the
"education fever". In 1991, for the first time
in thirty years, the country elected
provincial and city councils in order to
localize education, and leaders like Kim
Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung were able
to enact major overhauls to the education
system in order to accommodate
democratization through methods like
abolishing on-campus ROTCS training and
political mobilization of students,
legalization of teacher unions, and
removing anti-Communist texts[45]. The
MOE began to shift away from a uniform
curriculum by allowing school boards to
implement some minor variations in
instructional content. Literacy became
virtually universal in South Korea while it
rose up in international ranks in math and
science, especially.

Despite South Korea's transition to

democracy, traditional and Confucian
values remained very strong. Overall, the
huge strides in educational development
came at the cost of intense pressure
among students, high suicide rates, and
family financial struggles through
investment in schooling and private
tutoring.

Student activism …
Student activism has a long and honorable
history in Korea. Students in Joseon
secondary schools often became involved
in the intense factional struggles of the
scholar-official class. Students played a
major role in Korea's independence
movement, particularly in March 1, 1919,
which was a protest based on students'
growing resentment towards restrictive,
discriminatory, and hostile Japanese
occupation and instruction practices.
Students were also heavily involved in
repeated national efforts and
demonstrations against Japanese policies,
with instances like the Gwangju Student
Movement in 1929 and the June 10, 1926
funeral line protest.

Students protested against the regimes of

Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee during
the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Observers
noted, however, that while student
activists in the past generally embraced
liberal and democratic values, the new
generation of militants in the 1980s were
far more radical. Most participants
adopted some version of the minjung
ideology but was also animated by strong
feelings of popular nationalism and
xenophobia.
One of the most extreme and landmark
movements was the Kwangju Massacre in
1980, where students were driven by a
strong will to rebel through Marxist
influences against the martial law
government. This radicalism was
paralleled by the communist sympathizing
and radicalism of students in the 1940s
and 50s as a result of American
occupation.

The most militant university students,

perhaps about 5 percent of the total
enrollment at Seoul National University
and comparable figures at other
institutions in the capital during the late
1980s, were organized into small circles or
cells rarely containing more than fifty
members. Police estimated that there
were 72 such organizations of varying
orientation, having the change of
curriculum and education system of South
Korea people have been enriched in an
imaginary way that makes them propel in
all their studies.

Reforms in the 1980s …

Following the assumption of power by

General Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, the
Ministry of Education implemented a
number of reforms designed to make the
system more fair and to increase higher
education opportunities for the population
at large. In a very popular move, the
ministry dramatically increased enrollment
at large.[19]

Social emphasis on education was not

without its problems, as it tended to
accentuate class differences. In the late
1980s, a college degree was considered
necessary for entering the middle class;
there were no alternative pathways of
social advancement, with the possible
exception of a military career, outside
higher education. People without a college
education, including skilled workers with
vocational school backgrounds, often were
treated as second-class citizens by their
white-collar, college-educated managers,
despite the importance of their skills for
economic development. Intense
competition for places at the most
prestigious universities—the sole gateway
into elite circles—promoted, like the old
Confucian system, a sterile emphasis on
rote memorization in order to pass
secondary school and college entrance
examinations. Particularly after a dramatic
expansion of college enrollments in the
early 1980s, South Korea faced the
problem of what to do about a large
number of young people staying in school
for a long time, usually at great sacrifice to
themselves and their families, and then
faced with limited job opportunities
because their skills were not marketable.

Great recession …

With a slowing economy, a rigid and fast-

changing job market as a result of the
Financial crisis of 2007–08 and the
demise of the Industrial Age, many young
South Korean high school graduates are
now realizing that high entrance
examination and test scores for the
promise of future career success did not
carry the same weight as it once did.[48] In
2013, 43,000 South Koreans in their
twenties, and 21,000 in their thirties lost
their jobs.[23] According to a 2013 survey
conducted by the Korea Research Institute
for Vocational Education and Training,
nearly four out of every 10 young workers
in their 20s and 30s said they were
overeducated.[49][50] In 2013, fewer young
South Koreans chose go on to university
after finishing high school as the
unemployment rate for university
graduates continues to soar, falling
income for college graduates continues to
decline and the value of a college degree
has now becoming increasingly in
doubt.[51] Educational reforms initiated by
the South Korean government have
become more dynamic and that university
is no longer the only guarantee of a
career.[52][53] Government measures have
also been prompted to encourage young
unemployed college graduates to look at
other employment possibilities such as
starting a business or seeking
employment opportunities at smaller and
medium size businesses.[54] Former
President Lee Myung-Bak urged young
unemployed job seekers to start looking at
other employment possibilities with small
and medium-sized businesses beyond
large conglomerates.[54][55]
An oversaturated and overqualified labor
market has resulted in shortages of skilled
blue-collar labor and a lack of qualified
vocational employees for small and
medium-sized businesses, young South
Koreans now realize that a college degree
no longer guarantees a job as it once
did.[52] With the nation's high university
entrance rate, South Korea has produced
an overeducated and underemployed labor
force with many being unable find
employment at the level of their education
qualifications. In addition, a subsequent
skills surplus has led to an overall decline
in labour underutilization in vocational
occupations.[50][56][57] In the country, 70.9
percent of high school graduates went on
to university in 2014, the highest college
attendance rate among the Organization
for Economic and Cooperation and
Development (OECD) member
countries.[58] In the third quarter of 2016,
one out of three unemployed people in
South Korea were university graduates,
largely attributed to the combination of a
protracted South Korean economic
slowdown and so-called academic
inflation.[59] Many young unemployed
South Korean university graduates are now
turning to vocational education such as
skilled trade and technical schools and
have simply opted out the national college
entrance examination test in favor of
entering straight into the workforce.[60]
With dire employment prospects for
university graduates, enthusiasm for
tertiary education has also been waning,
as less than 72 percent of South Korean
high-school students went on to university
in 2012, a sharp drop from a high of 84.6
percent in 2008. Other factors that
attribute to this include demographic
change and the current economic climate
as well as financial burdens – particularly
the cost of education has gone up
dramatically with income growth for
college graduates stagnating. According
to 2012 employment trend research
conducted by Statistics Korea reveals that
college graduates' earnings are lower than
those of high school graduates. Many
traditional Korean families still continue to
believe that a university education is the
only route to a well paying job despite
mounting evidence to the contrary
according to a McKinsey report, noting
that the net present value of a university
education now trails the value of a high
school diploma, due to huge private
education costs.[61][56][57] The cultural
norms of South Korean parents continue
to pressure their children to enter
university and have even disregarded the
phenomenon for declining income of
college graduates where the income for
university graduates has fallen that below
of high school graduates as well as the
fact that the unemployment rate for
college graduates is higher than that of
high-school graduates.[62][2][63] The country
has also produced an oversupply of
university graduates in South Korea where
in the first quarter of 2013 alone, nearly
3.3 million South Korean university
graduates were jobless, leading many
graduates overqualified for jobs requiring
less education.[37][64] Further criticism has
been stemmed for causing labor
shortages in various skilled blue-collar
labor vocational occupations, where many
of which go unfilled. With labor shortages
in many skilled labor and vocational
occupations, South Korean small and
medium-sized businesses complain that
they struggle to find enough skilled blue-
collar workers to fill potential vocational
job vacancies.[65] Despite strong criticism
and research statistics pointing alternative
career options such as vocational school
often with good pay and greater
employment prospects that rival the
income and prospects of many
professional jobs requiring a university
degree, a number of South Korean parents
still continue to pressure their children
regardless of their aptitude to enter
university rather than go to a vocational
school.[2][63][66] In 2012, 93% of South
Korean parents expected their children to
attend university, but as societal attitudes
change and reforms in the South Korean
education system reform underway, more
young South Koreans are starting to
believe that they have to do what they like
and what they enjoy in order to be happy to
achieve success.[23][67][66]

With South Korea's bleak economic and

employment prospects for its youth,
former President Park Geun-hye went out
internationally to countries such as
Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to
address South Korea's more glaring
employment needs including tackling the
country's high youth employment rate and
as well as reforming South Korea's
education system.[68][69] In early 2015,
Park Geun-Hye traveled to Switzerland to
study the European apprenticeship
system. By summer, the South Korean
government mandated that all students in
vocational high schools must also have an
opportunity to be an apprentice. The
government has also mandated an
"employment first, university later" policy
to encourage vocational graduates to work
in industry and put off higher education
until later.[70][71] Drawing inspiration from
the vocational schools and apprenticeship
models of Germany and Switzerland, many
Meister schools have been established in
South Korea to prepare students for
careers earlier. The schools offer to teach
students specialized industrial skills and
job training to tailor the needs of
respective South Korean industries such
as automobile and mechanical
manufacturing and shipbuilding.[72] Dual
apprentice schools have also been
introduced where students can work and
study at the same time. High school
students can go to school for a couple of
days a week or a set period of the year or
study at school for the rest with a stronger
emphasis gaining employment skills than
rather going to college. Many young South
Koreans are now choosing their jobs
tailored to their interests rather than
blindly accepting career choices imposed
by their parents and choosing jobs outside
the conventional classroom.[70][73][74] With
the changing dynamics in the global
economy in the 21st century as well as the
implementation of vocational education in
the South Korean education system as an
alternative to the traditional path of going
to university, a good education from a
prestigious university no longer
guarantees a comfortable life, and one's
status in society is no longer necessarily
guaranteed by educational background.
Since the rise of Meister schools and
modern reforms in the South Korean
education system, many young South
Koreans are now realizing that one doesn't
necessarily need a college degree to be
successful in the workforce and enter the
middle class, but instead the right skills.
The establishment of Meister schools now
shows South Koreans that there can be
multiple pathways to socioeconomic and
career success and that vocational school
graduates can still be professionally and
financially successful in South Korean
society.[60] Educational reform modeled
from Switzerland and Germany offers
career alternatives besides the traditional
university route allowing South Koreans to
express occupational diversity and as well
as redefine what is real achievement in
South Korean society is.[75][22][43][44]

School grades
Note: All ages are in Western years,
bracketed are according to age system in
Korea.
 Level/Grade Typical age
Infant School
Nursery School 0–3 (1–4)
Kindergarten 4–6 (5–7)
Primary School
1st Grade 7 (8)
2nd Grade 8 (9)
3rd Grade 9 (10)
4th Grade 10 (11)
5th Grade 11 (12)
6th Grade 12 (13)
Middle School
7th Grade 13 (14)
8th Grade 14 (15)
9th Grade 15 (16)
High School
10th Grade 16 (17)
11th Grade 17 (18)
12th Grade 18 (19)
Post-secondary education
Ages vary (usually
four years,
Tertiary education referred to as
(College or Freshman,
University) Sophomore, Junior
and
Senior years)
Membership Ages also vary as they
Training in Korea do for Tertiary
education

Kindergarten
The number of private kindergartens have
increased as a result of more women
entering the workforce, growth in the
number of nuclear families where a
grandparent was often unavailable to take
care of children, and the feeling that
kindergarten might give children an "edge"
in later educational competition. Many
students in Korea start kindergarten at the
Western age of three and will, therefore,
continue to study in kindergarten for three
or four years, before starting their 'formal
education' in 'grade one' of primary school.
Many private kindergartens offer their
classes in English to give students a 'head-
start' in the mandatory English education
they would receive later in public school.
Kindergartens often pay homage to the
expectations of parents with impressive
courses, graduation ceremonies, complete
with diplomas and gowns. Korean
kindergartens are expected to start
teaching basic maths, reading and writing
to children, including education on how to
count, add, subtract, and read and write in
Korean, and often in English and Chinese.
Children in Korean kindergartens are also
taught using games focused on education
and coordination, such as "playing doctor"
to teach body parts, food and nutrition,
and work positions for adults. Songs,
dances, and memorization are a big part
of Korean kindergarten education.

Primary education
Elementary schools (Korean: 초등 학
교, ????, chodeung hakgyo) consists of
grades one to six (age 8 to age 13 in
Korean years—7 to 12 in western years).
The South Korean government changed its
name to the current form from Citizens'
school (Korean: 국민 학교, ????, Gukmin
hakgyo) in 1996. The former name was
shortened from 황국 신민 학교, ??????
(Hwangguk sinmin hakgyo), which means
school of the people who are subjects of
the Empire (of Japan).

In elementary school, students learn the

following subjects. The curriculum differs
from grades 1-2 to grades 3-6.[76]

Grades 1–2:

We Are First Graders (Korean: 1학년 1??)

(grade 1 only)
Korean (listening, speaking, reading,
writing)
 Mathematics
Disciplined Life (Korean: ????)
Sensible Life (Korean: ??????)
Enjoyable Life (Korean: ?????)
Above three changed a few years ago
into "Spring(봄,Bom)","Summer(여름,Yeo-
Reum)","Fall(가을,Ga-eul)","Winter(겨
울,Gyeo-Ul)"
Physical Education

Grades 3–6:

Korean (listening, speaking, reading,

writing)
English
Moral Education
 Social Studies
Mathematics
Science
Art
Music
Practical Arts
Physical Education

Usually, the class teacher covers most of

the subjects; however, there are some
specialised teachers in professions such
as physical education and foreign
languages, including English.

Those who wish to become a primary

school teacher must major in primary
education, which is specially designed to
cultivate primary school teachers. In
Korea, most of the primary teachers are
working for public primary schools.

Because corporal punishment has been

officially and legally prohibited in every
classroom since 2011, many teachers and
some parents raised with corporal
punishment are becoming more
concerned about what they see as
worsening discipline problems. Some
teachers continue to use corporal
punishment discreetly.[77]

Secondary education
In 1987, there were approximately
4,895,354 students enrolled in middle
schools and high schools, with
approximately 150,873 teachers. About 69
percent of these teachers were male.
About 98% of Korean students finish
secondary education.[78] The secondary-
school enrollment figure also reflected
changing population trends—there were
3,959,975 students in secondary schools
in 1979. Given the importance of entry into
higher education, the majority of students
attended general or academic high
schools in 1987: 1,397,359 students, or 60
percent of the total, attended general or
academic high schools, as compared with
840,265 students in vocational secondary
schools. Vocational schools specialized in
a number of fields: primarily agriculture,
fishery, commerce, trades, merchant
marine, engineering, and the arts.

Competitive entrance examinations at the

middle-school level were abolished in
1968. Although as of the late 1980s,
students still had to pass noncompetitive
qualifying examinations, they were
assigned to secondary institutions by
lottery, or else by location within the
boundary of the school district. Secondary
schools, formerly ranked according to the
quality of their students, have been
equalized, with a portion of good,
mediocre, and poor students being
assigned to each one. The reform,
however, did not equalize secondary
schools completely. In Seoul, students
who performed well in qualifying
examinations were allowed to attend
better quality schools in a "common"
district, while other students attended
schools in one of five geographical
districts. The reforms applied equally to
public and private schools whose
enrollments were strictly controlled by the
Ministry of Education.
In South Korea, the grade of a student is
reset as the student progresses through
elementary, middle and high school. To
differentiate the grades between students,
one would often state the grade based on
the level of education he/she is in. For
example, a student in the first year of
middle school would be referred to as
"First grade in Middle School (중학교 1학
년.)".

Middle schools are called Jung hakgyo (중

학교) in Korean, which literally means
middle school. High schools are called
Godeung hakgyo (고등학교) in Korean,
literally meaning "high school".
Middle school …

Middle schools in South Korea consist of

three grades. Most students enter at age
12 or 13 and graduate at age 15 or 16
(western years). These three grades
correspond roughly to grades 7–9 in the
North American system and Years 8–10 in
the English and Welsh system.

Middle school in South Korea marks a

considerable shift from primary school,
with students expected to take studies
and school much more seriously. At most
middle schools regulation uniforms and
haircuts are enforced fairly strictly, and
some aspects of students' lives are highly
controlled. Like in primary school,
students spend most of the day in the
same homeroom classroom with the
same classmates; however, students have
different teachers for each subject.
Teachers move around from classroom to
classroom, and few teachers apart from
those who teach special subjects have
their own rooms to which students come.
Homeroom teachers (담임 교사, RR: damim
gyosa) play a very important role in
students' lives.

Most middle school students take seven

lessons a day, and in addition to this
usually have an early morning block that
precedes regular lessons and an eighth
lesson specializing in an extra subject to
finish the day. Unlike with high school,
middle school curricula do not vary much
from school to school. Korean, Algebra,
Geometry, English, social studies, and
science form the core subjects, with
students also receiving instruction in
music, art, PE, korean history, ethics, home
economics, secondary language,
technology, and Hanja. What subjects
students study and in what amount may
vary from year to year. All regular lessons
are 45 minutes long. Before school,
students have an extra block, 30-or-more
minutes long, that may be used for self-
study, watching Educational Broadcast
System (EBS) broadcasts, or for personal
or class administration. Beginning in 2008,
students attended school from Monday to
Friday, and had a half-day every 1st, 3rd,
and 5th (calendar permitting) Saturday of
the month. Saturday lessons usually
included Club Activity (CA) lessons, where
students could participate in
extracurricular activities. However, these
classes were also not used well either.
Many schools have regular classes except
having extracurricular activities because
schools and parents want students to
study more. However, from 2012 onwards,
primary and secondary schools, including
middle schools, will no longer hold
Saturday classes. However, still many
schools have Saturday classes illegally
because the parents want their children to
go to school and study.[79]

In 1969, the government abolished

entrance examinations for middle school
students, replacing it with a system
whereby primary school students within
the same district are selected for middle
schools by a lottery system. This has the
effect of equalizing the quality of students
from school to school, though schools in
areas where students come from more
privileged backgrounds still tend to
outperform schools in poorer areas. Until
recently most middle schools have been
same-sex, though in the past decade most
new middle schools have been mixed, and
some previously same-sex schools have
converted to mixed as well. Some schools
have converted to same-sex due to
pressure from parents who thought that
their children would study better in single-
sex education.

As with primary schools, students pass

from grade to grade regardless of
knowledge or academic achievement, the
result being that classes often have
students of vastly differing abilities
learning the same subject material
together. In the final year of middle school
examination scores become very
important for the top students hoping to
gain entrance into the top high schools,
and for those in the middle hoping to get
into an academic rather than a technical or
vocational high school. Otherwise,
examinations and marks only matter
insofar as living up to a self-enforced
concept of position in the school ranking
system. There are some standardized
examinations for certain subjects, and
teachers of academic subjects are
expected to follow approved textbooks,
but generally middle school teachers have
more flexibility over curricula and methods
than teachers at high school.

More than 95% of the middle school

students also attend independent owned,
after-school tutoring agencies known as
Hagwon, or "cram schools", in order to
receive extra instruction from private
tutors. The core subjects, especially the
cumulative subjects of Korean, English
and math, receive the most emphasis.
Some Hagwon specializing in just one
subject, and others offer all core subjects,
constituting a second round of schooling
every day for their pupils. Indeed, some
parents place more stress on their
children's Hagwon studies than their public
school studies. Additionally, many
students attend academies for things such
as martial arts or music. The result of all
this is that many middle school students,
like their high school counterparts, return
from a day of schooling well after sunset.
The average South Korean family spends
20% percent of its income on after-hours
cram schools, more spending per capita
on private tutoring than any other
country.[80][81][82][83][84]

High school …
High schools in South Korea teach
students for three years, from first grade
(age 15–17) to third grade (age 17–19),
and students commonly graduate at age
18 or 19. High school students are
commonly expected to study increasingly
long hours each year moving toward
graduation, to become competitive and be
able to enter attractive universities in
Korea that almost all parents and teachers
want students to enter. Many high school
students wake and leave home in the
morning at 5 am. When the school is over
at 4 pm, they go to a studying room in the
school or to a library to study instead of
going home. This is called 'Yaja', which
literally means 'evening self-study'. They
don't need to go home to eat dinner since
most schools provide paid dinner for
students. After finishing yaja (usually ends
at 11:00 pm, but later than 12:00 pm at
some schools), they return home after
studying, then return to specialty study
schools (which are called Hagwon) often
till 3 am, from Monday to Friday. In
addition, they often study on weekends.

The Yaja had not been really 'self' study for

more than 30 years; all high school
students were forced to do it. From the
2010s, the Ministry of Education has
encouraged high schools to free students
of yaja and to allow them do it whenever
they want, and many normal public high
schools near Seoul are now no longer
forcing students do it. But private high
schools, special-purpose high schools
(such as science high schools, foreign
language high schools), or normal schools
far from Seoul are still forcing students to
do yaja.

It is a commonly known saying in Korea

that 'If you sleep three hours a night, you
may get into a top 'SKY university;
(National Seoul University,Yeonse
Unibersity, Korean University)' If you sleep
four hours each night, you may get into
another university; if you sleep five or more
hours each night, especially in your last
year of high school, forget about getting
into any university.'. Accordingly, many
high school students in their final year do
not have any free time for holidays,
birthdays or vacations before the CSATs
(College Scholastic Ability Test, Korean: 수
능,Suneung), which are university entrance
exams held by the Ministry of Education.
Surprisingly, some high school students
are offered chances to travel with family to
enjoy fun and relaxing vacations, but these
offers are often refused on the first
suggestion by the students themselves,
and increasingly on later additional trips if
any, due to peer influences and a fear of
'falling behind' in classes. Many high
school students seem to prefer staying
with friends and studying, rather than
taking a break. The idea of 'skipping
classes' for fun is extremely rare in Korea.
Rebellious students will often stay in class
and use smartphones connected to the
internet to chat with friends behind the
teacher's back during classes.

High schools in Korea can be divided into

specialty tracks that accord with a
student's interest and career path or a
normal - state high school. For special
high schools, there are science (Science
high school), foreign language,
international and art specialty high
schools to which students can attend by
passing entrance examinations which are
generally highly competitive. These
schools are called special-purpose high
schools. And there are autonomous
private high schools, which are relatively
free of the policy of the Ministry of
Education. Also, there are schools for
gifted students. Tuition of many special-
purpose high schools, autonomous private
high schools, and schools for gifted
students are highly expensive (the average
of tuition of special-purpose or
autonomous private high school is
US$5,614 per year.[85] One of schools for
gifted students is US$7,858 per year[86]).
There are few schools that require more
than what's calculated in the article as an
average, CheongShim International
Academy, Hankuk Academy of Foreign
studies, Korean Minjok Leadership
Academy, Ha-Na academy are known for
their expensive tuition, But at the same
time, these schools are also known for its
students high academic achievements and
college results mostly sending more than
50% of their students to SKY university
yearly. Other types of high schools include
public normal high schools and private
normal high schools, both with or without
entrance examinations. These high
schools do not report to specialize in a
field but are more focused on sending
their students to top and popular colleges.

However, since the appearance of special-

purpose, autonomous private and
international schools and schools for
gifted students, almost every normal high
school have sent few students to top and
popular college. Because those schools'
infrastructure, teaching ability of teachers,
and other activities provided by them
which improves students' school record so
that they can enter top colleges were
absolutely better than normal schools'
ones. This means those schools won the
competition of sending students to
universities; if you are normal high school
student, it's hard to enter SKY. So excellent
students and their parents avoid to enter
normal high school and tried to enter
special-purpose, autonomous private, and
schools for gifted students. Therefore,
only students whose grade is normal or
too low to enter vocational school entered
normal high school. Then excellent
students avoid entering the normal high
schools because the academic level of
students in normal school is low. This
vicious cycle continued, and normal
schools got slumisim so the cycle got even
more vicious. As a result, since the
admission committee of top universities
don't like to admit students from normal
schools which got slum, they started to
prefer to admit students from special-
purpose, autonomous private, or
international schools or schools from
gifted students mainly. So the cycle got
worse. This made the competition of
entering special-purpose, autonomous
private, and international schools and
schools for gifted students so hard that
the competition got as hard as one of
entering top colleges.
On noting the schedule of many high
school students, it is not unusual for them
to arrive home from school at midnight or
even as late as 3 am after intensive "self-
study" sessions supported by the school
or parents. The Korean government has
tried to crack down on such damaging
study habits in order to allow a more
balanced system, mostly by fining many
privately run specialty study institutes
(Hagwon) for running classes as late (or
as early) as 2 am. To solve this problem,
the Korean government made a law that
bans hagwons from running classes after
10:00 pm, which is often not conformed
to. Some such institutes also offer early
morning classes for students to attend
before going to school in the morning.

The normal government school curriculum

is often noted as rigorous, with as many as
16 or so subjects. Most students choose
to also attend privately run profit-making
institutes known as hagwon (??, Korean: 학
원) to boost their academic performance.
Core subjects include Korean, English and
mathematics, with adequate emphasis on
social and physical science subjects.
Students do not typically ask questions in
the classroom, but prefer to memorise
details. It is critical to note that the type
and level of subjects may differ from
school to school, depending on the degree
of selectivity and specialisation of the
school. Specialty, optional, expensive,
study schools help students memorise
questions and answers from previous
years' CAT tests (since August 1993) and
universities' interview questions.

High school is not mandatory, unlike

middle school education in Korea.
However, according to a 2005 study of
Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) member
countries, some 97% of South Korea's
young adults do complete high school.
This was the highest percentage recorded
in any country.[87] However, this is mainly
due to the fact that there is no such thing
as a failing grade in Korea, and most
graduate as long as they attend school a
certain number of days.

As it stands, the Korean secondary system

of education is highly successful in
preparing students for teacher-centered
education such as that often used to teach
mathematics since the transfer of
information is mostly one way, from
teacher to student. However, this does not
hold true for classroom environments
where students are expected to take on
self-reliant roles wherein, for the most part,
active and creative personalities seem to
lead to success.[88]

It is becoming ever more evident that

active student use of the English language
in Korean high schools is increasingly
necessary for the purposes of helping the
students enter top universities in Korea as
well as abroad.[89]

Vocational …

South Korea once had a strong vocational

education system that it rebuilt its
shattered economy after the Korean War.
For students who do not wish to enter
university, vocational high schools
specializing in fields such as technology,
agriculture or finance are available, such
that students are employable right after
graduation. Around 20 percent of high
school students are in vocational high
schools.[90] The treatment to those who
graduate from vocational high schools is
nearly always degrading, with graduates
often being treated as second-class
citizens. In vocational high schools,
student spend half of the time on general
courses along with vocational courses as
the other half. General education teaches
academic core courses such as Korean,
mathematics, science, and social studies
while vocational training offers courses
related to agriculture, technology, industry,
commerce, home economics, fishing, and
oceanography.[91] Agriculture, fishery, and
oceanography high schools have been set
up in rural areas and harbor cities to
combat the shortage of labor due to an
urban sprawl. Agricultural high schools
have a focus on scientific farming and is
designed to produce skilled experts in
agriculture while fishery and oceanography
high schools utilize maritime resource to
focus on navigation technology. Since the
1980s, vocational high schools have
offered training in various fields to create a
labor force that can adjust to the changes
across South Korean industry and society.
Due to needs of manpower across the
heavy and chemical industries in the
1970s. the need for vocational education
was crucial. By the 1980s. due the great
changes in technology, the objective of
vocational education was to create a
supply of well trained technicians. When
graduates of vocational high schools are
done, the student receives a vocational
high school diploma and may choose to
enter the workforce or go on to higher
education. Many vocational high school
graduates end up choose to go to junior
colleges to further their education.[91]
As the university degree grew in
prominence to employers during the
1970s and 1980s, the shift towards a more
knowledge-based rather than an industrial
economy resulted vocational education
being pushed back in favor of the
university degree for many young South
Koreans and their parents. In the 1970s
and 1980s, vocational education in South
Korea was less than socially acceptable,
yet it was another pathway to succeed in
obtaining a steady job with a decent
income as well as elevate their
socioeconomic status, yet many
vocational graduates were scorned and
stigmatized by their college educated
managers despite the importance of their
skills for economic development.[92][93]

With South Korea's high university

entrance rate, the perception of vocational
educational still remains in doubt in the
minds of many South Koreans. In 2013,
only 18 percent of students were enrolled
in vocational education programs as it
was due to the prestige of university—
affluent families that were able to afford
the tutoring that is now required for
students to pass the notoriously difficult
college entrance exam and be able to
attend university. With the pervasive bias
against vocational education, vocational
students are labeled as "underachievers",
lack a formal higher educational
background, and are often looked down
upon as vocational jobs are known in
Korea as the "3Ds" dirty, demeaning, and
dangerous. In response, the South Korean
government increased the number of
spots in universities and the rate of
university enrollment was 68.2 percent, an
increase of 15 percent over 2014. As a
result, to boost the positive image of
vocational training, the South Korean
government has been collaborating with
countries such as Germany, Switzerland,
and Austria to examine the innovative
solutions that are being implemented to
improve vocational education, training, and
career options for young South Koreans as
alternative to the traditional path of going
to university.[92][94]

According to a 2012 research report from

The McKinsey Global Institute reckons
that the lifetime value of a college
graduate's improved earnings no longer
justifies the expense required to obtain the
degree and have called on the need for
more vocational education to counteract
the human cost of performance pressure
and the high unemployment rate among
the country's university-educated youth.
The South Korean government, schools,
and industry with assistance from the
Swiss government and industry are now
revamping and modernizing the country's
once strong vocational education sector
with a network of vocational schools
called "Meister Schools". The purpose of
the Meister schools is to reduce the
country's shortage of vocational
occupations such as auto mechanics,
plumbers, welders, boilermakers,
electricians, carpenters, millwrights,
machinists and machine operators as
many of the positions go unfilled.[95][96]
Meister schools have been developed to
revamp South Korea's vocational
education system that is specifically
designed to prepare youths to work in
high-skilled manufacturing jobs and other
fields. The schools are based on the
German-style Meister schools, to teach
youngsters to become masters of a skilled
trade. Meister schools were set up to
tackle the nations high youth
unemployment rate as millions of young
South Korean university graduates remain
idle instead of taking up a trade while
managers of small and medium
businesses complain of skilled trade
shortages.[97] Many of these Meister
schools offer a wide range of skilled
trades and technical disciplines that offer
near guarantee of employment to
graduates with an industry-supported
curriculum design, with focus on
developing skills required by various
trades.[98] The government of South Korea
has taken initiatives to improve the
perception of vocational training and
combat the negative stigma attached to
skilled manual labour and technical work.
In addition, vocational streams have been
integrated with academic streams to allow
a seamless transition to universities in
order to allow further advancement if a
young South Korean chooses to pursue a
university degree. Meister schools offer
apprenticeship based training which takes
place at vocational high schools,
community and junior colleges. Meister
schools also offer employment supportive
systems for specialized Meister high
school students. The South Korean
government has established an
"Employment First, College Later"
philosophy whereas after graduation
students are encouraged to seek
employment first before making plans for
university.[19][95] With changing demands in
the Information Age workforce, global
forecasts show that by 2030, the demand
for vocational skills will increase in
contrast to the declining demand for
unskilled labor largely due to technological
advances.[98]
Negative perception and stigmatization of
vocational education continues to be the
largest challenge in South Korea. The
government is encouraging younger
students to visit and see the programs for
themselves firsthand to change their
perception. Those in doubt on the quality
of vocational education are encouraged to
spend time working in industry during
school vacations so they are up-to-date on
current industry practices. Meister schools
are continuing to be proving to be a good
influence in changing the opinion of
vocational education yet only 15,213 (5
percent) of high school students are
enrolled in Meister schools with a lack of
places unable to meet the demand despite
a 100 percent employment rate. Meister
students are now using these schools as
an alternative path besides going to
university; if a student works in industry
for three years after graduating from a
Meister school, they are exempt from the
extremely difficult university entrance
exam.[92] Nonetheless, the perception of
vocational education is changing and
slowly increasing in popularity as
participating students are working in adult
jobs and learning real skills that are highly
valued in the current marketplace as
vocational school graduates have been
swamped with job offers in an otherwise
slow economy.[92] The initiative of Meister
schools has even helped youth secure jobs
at conglomerates such as Samsung over
their peers who graduated from elite
universities.[52] South Korea has also
streamlined its small and medium-sized
business sector along German lines to
ease dependence on the large
conglomerates ever since it began
introducing Meister schools into its
education system.[99]

In spite of the country's high

unemployment rate during the Great
Recession, Meister school graduates have
been successful in navigating the
workforce as they possess relevant skill
sets that are in high demand in the South
Korean economy.[100] Graduates of Meister
high schools have been successful in the
job market and are flooded with full salary
job offers from companies. Boosting
employment for young people through
high quality vocational education has
become a top priority for the Park
administration, since youth unemployment
is roughly three times higher than the
national average.[101] Graduates from
vocational high schools have been
successful in navigating through South
Korea's highly competitive and sluggish
job market. Many graduates both
quantitatively and qualitatively have found
more employment opportunities in a
number of industry sectors across the
South Korean economy. Despite promising
employment prospects and good pay
offered by vocational education that rival
the income of many university graduates,
negative social attitudes and prejudice
towards tradespeople and technicians and
vocational high school students are
stigmatized, treated unfairly and are still
looked down upon. There have been
concerns about discrimination against
people with lower educational
backgrounds, a long-standing tendency of
South Korean employers. The negative
social stigma associated with vocational
careers and not having a university degree
also remains deep rooted in South Korean
society.[22][19] Many South Koreans still
have the enduring belief that a university
degree from a prestigious university is the
only path to a successful career, as much
of South Korean society still perceives
vocational schools as institutes for
students who weren't smart enough to get
into university.[102] The skills acquired from
vocational schools gives students lots of
practical skills and experiences. As more
vocational schools take hold, more young
South Koreans are realizing that their
interests and abilities far outweigh the
importance of the names of the schools
and majors.[102]

Higher education
Higher education in South Korea is
provided primarily by universities (national
research universities, industrial
universities, teacher-training universities,
broadcast and correspondence
universities, cyber universities, graduate
schools, open universities, and national
universities of education) and colleges
(cyber colleges, technical colleges,
colleges in company, graduate school
colleges) and various other research
institutions.[103] The South Korean higher
education system is modeled after the
United States with colleges (namely junior
colleges and community colleges)
awarding apprenticeships, licenses,
citations, certificates, associate degrees or
diplomas while universities award
bachelor's, master's, professional, and
doctoral degrees.[104]

History …

The history of higher education in South

Korea traces its roots back the 4th century
AD, starting with the founding of Daehak
(National Confucian Academy) in the
Goguryeo kingdom in 372. Modern higher
education traces its roots in the late 19th
century, as missionary schools would
introduce subjects taught in the Western
World and vocational schools was crucial
for the development of a modern
society.[105] The development of higher
education was influenced since ancient
times. During the era of King So-Su-Rim in
the kingdom of Goguryeo, Tae-Hak, the
national university, taught the study of
Confucianism, literature and martial arts.
In 551, Silla which was one of three
kingdoms including Goguryeo founded
Guk-Hak and taught cheirospasm. It also
founded vocational education that taught
astronomy and medicine. Goryeo
continued Silla's program of study. Seong-
gyun-gwan in the Chosun Dynasty period
was a higher education institute of
Confucianism and for government
officials.

Today there are colleges and universities

whose courses of study extend from 4 to 6
years. In addition, there are vocational
colleges, industrial universities, open
universities and universities of technology.
There are day and evening classes,
classes during vacation and remote
education classes.[106] The number of
institutes of higher education varied
consistently from 419 in 2005, to 405 in
2008, to 411 in 2010.

Private universities account for 87.3% of

total higher educational institutions.
Industrial universities account for 63.6%
and vocational universities account for
93.8%. These are much higher than the
percentage of public institutes.[107]

University …

University is the traditional route pursued

by South Korean students as it is by far the
most prestigious form of higher education
in South Korea. In 2004, nearly 90 percent
of general high school graduates achieved
university entrance. In 2017, over 68.9 of
South Korean high school graduates
advanced to a university.[102] Competition
for university spots is fierce as many
students vie for the most coveted spots at
the country's most prestigious universities,
many of which are key national research
universities offering bachelor's, master's,
professional and doctoral degrees.[108] The
three most prestigious universities in
South Korea, known as "SKY" are Seoul
National University, Korea University, and
Yonsei University.[103] Other well known
universities that have an international
reputation in South Korea include Pohang
University of Science and Technology,
Sungkyunkwan University, and Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology.[108]

Unlike the usage of grade point averages

and percentages used in countries like the
United States and Canada as a yardstick
for eligibility, entrance to South Korean
universities is based largely on the scores
that students achieved on the CSAT, which
accounts for 60 percent of the admission
criteria while the remaining 40 percent is
dependent on grades from comprehensive
high school records.[109] In addition to the
CSAT scores, universities also take
volunteer experience, extra-curricular
activities, letters of recommendation,
school awards, portfolios into
consideration when assessing a
prospective applicant.[103][110]

Bachelor's …

Bachelor's degree's in South Korea are

offered by universities such as four-year
colleges and universities, industrial
universities, national universities of
education, the Korean National Open
University, technical colleges and cyber
universities. Bachelor's degrees typically
take four years to complete while some
degrees related to medicine, law, and
dentistry can take up to six years.
Students typically major in one or two
fields of study in addition to a minor. A
bachelor's degree requires up to 130 to
140 credit hours to complete.[111] After all
course requirements are met, the student
receives a bachelor's degree upon
graduation.[104]

Master's …

Master's degrees are offered by four-year

colleges and universities, independent
institutions affiliated with a four-year
college or university, universities of
education or the Korean National Open
University.[112][113] In order to gain
acceptance into a master's degree
program, the applicant must hold a
bachelor's degree with a GPA of 3.0 (B) or
greater from a recognized institution,
submit two recommendation letters from
professors, and an undergraduate record
showing their GPA.[114] Qualifying
examinations must also be taken in
addition to an interview. Master's
programs have 24 credit hours of
coursework in addition to a thesis that is
generally has to be completed within two
years. In a master's degree program, the
student must achieve a GPA of 3.0 (B) or
higher, pass a comprehensive examination
as well as a foreign language examination,
as well as completing and defending a
master's thesis in order to graduate.[113]
Upon successful completion of a master's
program, the student receives a master's
degree.[113]

Doctoral …

In order to gain acceptance into a doctoral

program, an applicant must hold a
master's degree, have a research
background related to their field of study,
as well as have professor
recommendations. Doctorate programs
are sometimes administered in
conjunction with master's programs with
the student needing to complete 60 credit
hours in conjunction with the master's
degree, with a final GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher
which takes up to four years to
complete.[114][113] Doctoral students must
also pass a comprehensive examination,
two foreign language examinations, as
well as completing and defending a
doctoral dissertation in order to graduate.
When successfully completed, the student
receives a Doctoral Degree.[113]

Vocational …
Though South Korean society places a far
greater emphasis on university rather than
vocational education, vocational schools
remain as another option for those who
choose not to go take the traditional route
of going to university. Negative social
attitudes and prejudice towards
tradespeople, technicians, and vocational
school graduates are stigmatized, treated
unfairly and are still looked down upon as
the negative social stigma associated with
vocational careers and not having a
university degree continues to remain
deep rooted in South Korean
society.[102][22][19] Vocational education is
offered by industrial universities, junior
colleges, open universities, and
miscellaneous institutions.[115]

Industrial universities …

Industrial universities in South Korea are

also known as polytechnics. These
institutions were established in 1982 as an
alternative route to higher education for
people already in the workforce. Industrial
universities offer both diplomas and
bachelor's degrees.[116]

Junior colleges …

Junior colleges, also known as junior

vocational colleges offer professional
certifications in trades or technical careers
and programs related to the liberal arts,
early childhood education, home
economics, business administration,
technology, engineering, agriculture,
fisheries, radiation, clinical pathology,
navigation, and nursing.[114][111] Most of
the programs take two to three years to
finish. Many of the predecessors of junior
colleges were vocational high schools
established in the 1960s to train mid-level
technicians. Admission criteria to a junior
college is the same as a four-year
university though it is less competitive. 50
percent of the admission quotas are
reserved for graduates of vocational high
schools or applicants with national
technological qualifications. When
successfully completed, junior college
graduates are awarded a diploma or an
associate degree.[111]

Junior college graduates may choose to

enter the workforce or transfer to a four-
year university to further their studies.[116]

Miscellaneous institutions …

Highly specialized programs are offered by

miscellaneous institutions which grant two
year diplomas or four year bachelor's
degrees.[112]
Government influence

Ministry of Education …

The Ministry of Education has been

responsible for South Korean education
since 25 February 2013. Its name was The
Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology (often abbreviated into "the
Ministry of Education") since 25 February
2008 to 24 February 2013. The former
body, the Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Development, was
named by the former Minister of
Education, who enhanced its function in
2001 because the administration of Kim
Dae-jung considered education and human
resources development as a matter of the
highest priority. As a result of the reform, it
began to cover the whole field of human
resource development and the minister of
education was appointed to the Vice
Prime Minister. In 2008, the name was
changed into the present one after the Lee
Myeong Bak administration annexed the
former Ministry of Science and
Technology to the Education ministry. Like
other ministers, the Minister of Education,
Science and Technology is appointed by
the president. They are mainly chosen
from candidates who have an academic
background and often resign in a fairly
short term (around one year). (Ministry of
Education has no more work on science
and technology because President Park
restorated the Ministry works for science
and technology)

Teachers' union …

Although primary- and secondary-school

teachers traditionally enjoyed high status,
they often were overworked and underpaid
during the late 1980s. Salaries were less
than those for many other white-collar
professions and even some blue-collar
jobs. High school teachers, particularly
those in the cities, however, received
sizable gifts from parents seeking
attention for their children, but teaching
hours were long and classes crowded (the
average class contained around fifty to
sixty students).

In May 1989, teachers established an

independent union, the Korean Teachers
Union (KTU — ????????(???), Jeongyojo).
Their aims included improving working
conditions and reforming a school system
that they regarded as overly controlled by
the Ministry of Education. Although the
government promised large increases in
allocations for teachers' salaries and
facilities, it refused to give the union legal
status. Because teachers were civil
servants, the government claimed they did
not have the right to strike and, even if they
did have the right to strike, unionization
would undermine the status of teachers as
"role models" for young Koreans. The
government also accused the union of
spreading subversive, leftist propaganda
that was sympathetic to the communist
regime in North Korea.

According to a report in The Wall Street

Journal Asia, the union claimed support
from 82 percent of all teachers. The
controversy was viewed as representing a
major crisis for South Korean education
because a large number of teachers (1,500
by November 1989) had been dismissed,
violence among union supporters,
opponents, and police had occurred at
several locations, and class disruptions
had caused anxieties for families of
students preparing for the college
entrance examinations. The union's
challenge to the Ministry of Education's
control of the system and the charges of
subversion had made compromise seem a
very remote possibility at the start 1990.

Political involvement in the

education system
…
South Korea still has issues with North
Korea after the Korean War. This has
contributed to South Korea's
confrontational stance against North
Korea in the education field. For instance,
on July 7, 2011, the National Intelligence
Service was criticized for the search and
seizure of a civilian think tank, Korea
Higher Education Research Institution
(?????????).[117] This incident was carried
out through a warrant to investigate an
alleged South Korean spy who followed an
instruction from North Korea with a
purpose of instigating university student
rallies to stop the ongoing tuition hike in
South Korea.
English education
Korea, which is considered the most
difficult Asian nation of people to
communicate with in English, has an
extensive English education history dating
back to the Joseon Dynasty. During this
time, Koreans received English education
in public institutes, where translators were
instructed for conversion of Korean into
foreign languages. The Public Foreign
Language School established in 1893,
educated young males to perform tasks to
modernize Korea. This school, unlike
facilities such as Yuk Young Gong Won
(1886), disregarded social statuses,
welcoming more students into the institute
and introducing the first Korean foreign
language instructors into the field of
English education (Chang, 2009).

English was also taught during the Joseon

Dynasty in missionary schools, which were
established to spread the word of the
Christian faith to Koreans, although these
schools did not equip its students with the
necessary tools to read, write,
comprehend and speak the language.
Direct Method teaching was uncommon,
as instructors were often unqualified as
English teachers and the textbook was
limited to the Holy Bible. During the
Japanese Imperialism Period, Koreans
were forced to prioritize the learning and
speaking of Japanese. English was
offered only as an elective course, though,
the instructors were often Japanese,
hindering proper English pronunciation.
After the liberation of Korea from Japan in
1945, the first national curriculum was
established in 1955, launching greater
pursuit of English education and returning
the nation to speaking its native tongue.

The relevance of early English education

and globalization were brought to the
attention of South Korea during the 1986
Asian Games and Seoul Olympic Games,
as many came to realize the value of the
English language. English is taught as a
required subject from the third year of
elementary school up to high school, as
well as in most universities, with the goal
of performing well on the TOEIC and
TOEFL, which are tests of reading,
listening and grammar-based English. For
students who achieve high scores, there is
also a speaking evaluation. Universities
began lecturing in English to help improve
competence and though only few were
competent enough themselves to lead a
class, many elementary school teachers
were also recommended to teach in
English.
In 1994, the university entrance
examination moved away from testing
grammar, towards a more communicative
method. Parents redirected the focus of
English education to align with exam
content (Park, 2009). English Language
Education programs focus on ensuring
competency to perform effectively as a
nation in an era of globalization using
proficiency-based language programs that
allow students to learn according to their
own abilities and interests and driving
Koreans to focus more on oral proficiency
(Chang, 2009 & Park, 2009). With the new
focus placed on oral expertise, there has
been an "intense desire to speak native-
like English" pressuring parents to take
measures to ensure the most beneficial
English education (Park, 2009).

Because of large class sizes and other

factors in public schools, many parents
pay to send their children to private
English-language schools in the afternoon
or evening. Families invest significant
portions of household incomes on the
education of children to include English
camps and language training abroad.
Usually different private English-language
schools specialize in teaching elementary
school students or in middle and high
school students. The most ambitious
parents send their children to
kindergartens that utilize English
exclusively in the classroom. Many
children also live abroad for anywhere
from a few months to several years to
learn English. Sometimes, a Korean
mother and her children will move to an
English-speaking country for an extended
period of time to enhance the children's
English ability. In these cases, the father
left in Korea is known as a gireogi appa
(Korean: 기러기 아빠), literally a "goose dad"
who must migrate to see his family.[118]

There are more than 100,000 Korean

students in the U.S. The increase of 10
percent every year helped Korea remain
the top student-sending country in the U.S.
for a second year, ahead of India and
China. Korean students at Harvard
University are the third most after
Canadian and Chinese. In 2012, 154,000
South Korean students were pursuing
degrees at overseas universities, with
countries such as Japan, Canada, the
United States, and Australia as top
destinations.[119]

Korean English classes focus on

vocabulary, grammar, and reading.
Academies tend to include conversation,
and some offer debate and presentation.
Due to recent curriculum changes, the
education system in Korea is now placing
a greater emphasis on English verbal
abilities rather than grammatical skills.
With influence from the government,
English education began to focus on the
communicative competence of Korean
students emphasizing fluency and
comprehension through listening
materials. Universities require all first year
students to take an English conversation
class in their first year and some
universities require students to take
conversational English classes throughout
the entirety of their university life.
According to a 2003 survey conducted by
the Hong Kong-based Political and
Economic Risk Consultancy, despite being
one of the countries in Asia that spends
the most money on English-language
education, South Korea ranks the lowest
among 12 Asian countries in English
ability.

English as a subject discipline, that is, the

study of linguistics, literature,
composition/rhetoric, or pedagogy is
uncommon except in top-tier or graduate
programs in Korea. As a result, despite
efforts to recruit foreign faculty in Korean
universities, opportunities for tenure are
fewer and professorial privileges and
salaries are lower than for foreigners
contracted to teach major disciplinary
courses in English (content-based
instruction). Overall, more native English
speakers are being employed as educators
in Korea to improve the English education
process. Koreans have come to believe
native English speakers are the best
teachers of the language and to be
proficient in the English language gives
their children an advantage over others
and is an "educational investment that
promises surplus"(Han, 2007).

Controversy and criticism

Students' health …

South Korea's scarcity of natural resources

is often cited as a reason for the
rigorousness and fierce competition of its
school systems; the academic pressure on
its students is arguably the largest in the
world. In an article entitled "An Assault
Upon Our Children," Se-Woong Koo wrote
that "the system's dark side casts a long
shadow. Dominated by tiger moms, cram
schools and highly authoritarian teachers,
South Korean education produces ranks of
overachieving students who pay a stiff
price in health and happiness. The entire
program amounts to child abuse. It should
be reformed and restructured without
delay."[120] In a response to the article,
educator Diane Ravitch warned against
modeling an educational system in which
children "exist either to glorify the family or
to build the national economy." She argued
furthermore that the happiness of South
Korean children has been sacrificed, and
likened the country's students to "cogs in a
national economic machine".[121] A 2014
poll found that over half of South Korean
teenagers have suicidal thoughts, with
over 40% of respondents reporting that
school pressure and future uncertainty
dismayed them the most.[122] Furthermore,
suicide is currently the leading cause of
death among South Korean youth.[123]

Lee Ju-ho, the Minister representing the

Ministry of Education & Science
Technology, announced a plan on
February 8, 2011 to dispatch un-hired
reserve teachers overseas for extra
training despite the opposition from the
Korean Teachers Union and other public
workers in the city-level and the
provincial level.[124]
South Korean schools have a strong
tendency to neglect physical education
due to the over-emphasis of classroom-
based education.[125]
81% of middle and high schools forbid
relationships among students.[126]
A citizen group under the Unification
Church gives out sexual virginity awards
under an uncertain standard.[127]
The low emphasis on vocational
education and stigmatization in Korea
with regards to skilled trade or
vocational careers (often dismissed as
DDD jobs, 'dirty, dangerous, and
demeaning' with low social standing). It
has been additionally been criticized for
producing an oversupply of university
graduates in the country which means
that university graduates often have
difficulty in finding jobs while many
vocational occupational positions
sometimes go unfilled.[128] According to
Jasper Kim, a visiting scholar of East
Asian studies at Harvard University,
"There are a lot of highly educated,
arguably over-educated people, but on
the flip side, the demand side, they all
want to work for a narrow bandwidth of
companies, namely the LGs and
Samsungs of the world". Kim also states
that many highly educated South
Koreans who don't get selected often
become second-class citizens, with
fewer opportunities for employment and
even marriage.[129]
There are concerns of overload of
schoolworks and exam preparations
that could threaten the students' health
and emotions.[130]
The South Korean education system
does not allow any leeways for students'
rights. The Superintendent of Seoul
Metropolitan Office of Education Kwak
No Hyun made a remark how "it is very
embarrassing to discuss verbosely
about the poor development of students'
rights within the South Korean society"
during his seminar on March 3,
2011.[131]
There are concerns about the severe
lack of community spirit among South
Korean students that comes from
examinations as the main educational
direction and from an analysis
according to Dr. Lee Mi-na from SNU
Sociology: "harsh competition-oriented
and success-oriented parenting among
the parents".[132]
The Korean Federation of Teachers'
Associations (??????????) announced
that 40% of teachers are not satisfied
with the loss of teachers' powers in
classroom due to the new Teachers'
Evaluation System.[133]
The Ministry of Education and Science,
the Ministry of National Defense, and
the Korean Federation of Teachers'
Association signed an MOU on May 25,
2011 to a verbose national security
education to younger kids, in which it
potentially violates the UN Children's
Rights protocol.[134]
OECD ranked South Korean elementary,
middle, and high school students the
lowest in terms of happiness compared
to other OECD countries.[135] This survey
also echoes similar results to students
in Seoul according to SMOE.[136]
Dr. Seo Yu-hyeon, a brain expert from
Seoul National University Faculty of
Medicines criticized South Korea's
private educations among toddlers due
to the forceful nature of these
educational pursuits that could
deteriorate creativity and block any
healthy brain development.[137]
The Korean Educational Development
Institute reports that the majority of
university students lacks the ability to
ask questions to instructors mainly due
to the education system that promotes
examinations and instructors having too
many students to handle.[138]
 A survey from the Korean Federation of
Teachers' Associations found out that
79.5% of the school teachers are not
satisfied with their careers; a growing
trend that has been for three years
straight.[139]
The accounts of sexual abuses in
school are increasing.[140]
The government banned coffee in all
schools in a bid to improve children's
health. The ban came into force on 14
September 2018.[141][142]

Academic elitism …

The South Korean political system has a

strong academic elitism. Conservative
politician Jeon Yeo-ok openly opposed the
nomination of the former president Roh
Moo-hyun who did not graduate from a
higher level institution, but passed the
state-run judicial examinations.[143]

See also
Education in North Korea
Gifted education#Republic of Korea
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education
Student and university culture in South
Korea

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Further reading
Jambor, Paul Z. "The 'Foreign English
Teacher' A Necessary 'Danger' in South
Korea" , United States of America;
Department of Education - Education
Resources Information Center, 2010
Jambor, Paul Z, 'Sexism, Ageism and
Racism Prevalent Throughout the South
Korean System of Education'
Department of Education - The United
States of America: Educational
Resources Information Center, 2009
(Accessed in 2009)
Jambor, Paul Z, 'Protectionism in South
Korean Universities' Academic
Leadership, Volume 8, Issue 2
Jambor, Paul Z, 'LEARNER ATTITUDES
TOWARD LEARNER CENTERED
EDUCATION AND ENGLISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE KOREAN
UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM' The
University of Birmingham: CELS, March
2007 (Accessed in 2007)
Jambor, Paul Z, 'Slide and prejudice' ,
Times Higher Education, December 10,
2009
Jambor, Paul Z, 'The Reluctance of
Korean Education in the Face of
Change' Academic Leadership, May 25,
2010
Jambor Paul Z, 'Lingua Frankly' Times
Higher Education, February 11, 2010
Jambor Paul Z. "English Language
Necessity: What It means for Korea and
Non-English Speaking Countries" ,
United States of America; Department of
Education - Education Resources
Information Center, 2012
Johnsrud, Linda K. "Korean academic
women: Multiple roles, multiple
challenges." Higher Education 30, no. 1
(1995): 17-35.
Kim, Terri. "Internationalisation of higher
education in South Korea: Reality,
rhetoric, and disparity in academic
culture and identities." Australian
Journal of Education 49, no. 1 (2005):
89-103.
Card, James. "Appetite for language
costs S Korea dear" . The Guardian
Weekly, 15 December 2006. Accessed 4
July 2009.
Lee, Brian. "Korea's endless grapple with
English" . JoongAng Daily, February 14,
2008. Accessed 4 July 2009.
Lee, Jeong-Kyu. Korean Higher
Education: A Confucian Perspective
(2002). ISBN 0-9705481-5-X
Lee, Jeong-Kyu. Historic Factors
Influencing Korean Higher Education
(2000). ISBN 0-9705481-1-7
Lee, Jeong-Kyu. Korean Higher
Education: Perspectives of Religion and
Culture [Korean](2010). ISBN 978-89-
268-0999-0
Lee, Jeong-Kyu. Higher Education in
Korea: The Perspectives of Globalization
and Happiness (2012). ISBN 978-89-
268-3670-5
Lee, Sungho H. "The academic
profession in Korea." The international
academic profession: Portraits from
fourteen countries (1996): 97-148.
Park, Hyunjoon. "South Korea:
Educational expansion and inequality of
opportunity in higher education." (2007).
Tang, Hei-hang. Scholarship
reconsidered in an era of
entrepreneurialism: academic
professions in Hong Kong and South
 Korea. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of
Hong Kong, 2013.
Yang, Eunjoo, Sang Min Lee, and Sung-
Sik Ahn. "Career centers in higher
education in South Korea: Past, present,
and future." Asian Journal of
Counselling 19, no. 1 (2012): 2-53.

External links
Ministry of Education, Science, and
Technology
Kuhn, Anthony. "Korean School Preps
Students For Ivy League" . All Things
Considered, July 2, 2009.
Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone , Time
Magazine, Amanda Ripley, September.
25, 2011. On the problem of the hagwon
cram schools.
Information on education in Korea,
OECD - Contains indicators and
information about Korea and how it
compares to other OECD and non-OECD
countries
Diagram of Korean education system,
OECD - Using 1997 ISCED classification
of programmes and typical ages.
Also in country language
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Education_in_South_Korea&oldid=939632641"

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