Korean Study

The Korean education system is very effective. The latest generation to graduate from high school have had a very intense educational experience and in comparison to the US, Australia or the UK, Koreans are learning more at school. But at what cost? The average Korean student will study for a minimum of 12 hours a day. Stressful exams start for these students in grade 1 of primary (elementary) school.

As you can imagine, studying for 12 hours a day would be very tiring work. This of course takes its toll on the students. My students will fall asleep if I give them more than a 30 second break in between activities. I kid you not. I have an average of 5 students falling asleep in classes with no breaks.

Ok, so the Korean education system is very effective and produces some excellent results...but is it efficient? Definitely not. Students are studying all day but are only running at 20% as they have a lack of sleep and are constantly over worked. So students sit in class all day but pay attention 20% of the time.

The average Korean middle school student will arrive at school at 8:10am in the morning and stay at school until about 4:10pm. Next it is time to go to their first academy. Most students attend several academies with dinner in between and won't make it home until after 10pm.

Do the students like this? Would you? Sure studying all day makes you intelligent but also unhappy. Not to mention the amount of stress that is put on these kids. It is no surprise that Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.