The details are different but the intent is the same. Heavy EC padding, preference in admissions, even better grades once in college. The wealthy do seem to figure out how to rig the system to help their kids all over the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/world/asia/south-korea-cho-kuk-gold-spoon-elite.html
Too bad, paywalled…
I mentioned in a thread a while back about this recent Korean drama called, “Sky Castle,” which has become the highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history. Like Rick Singer in the Varsity Blues, it has the central character who masterminds the admissions frauds and ultimately ends up in prison. I watch lots of Korean dramas, and this is one of the best I’ve seen. As long as you’re willing to put up with the ads, it looks like you can watch the series here for free with the English subtitle:
https://www.viki.com/videos/1144682v-sky-castle-episode-1?locale=en
@TiggerDad Yes, NYT. The gist:
Paper’s lead author lead was a high school student, child of the justice minister who has now been forced to resign.
It describes parents forging certificates and awards and faking internships to get their kids into med school, elite colleges and the like.
The previous president of Korea was kicked out of office for a very similar thing: academic favoritism shown to a friend.
This, of course, is nothing new in Korea’s history where classism and social stratification have always played a profound role throughout. In South Korea, the competition to get into its top colleges makes the competition in the U.S. look like a child’s play. The competition is brutal because the select top colleges are seen as their only gateway to higher social mobility. There’s a predominance of culturally shaped “tribalism” where the wealthy and the powerful play favoritism through socio-economic and political connections. Their elite corporations and top politicians are largely made up of the graduates of Seoul National University, its undisputed top university. They groom their own kind up the social mobility. Korea is also extremely “brand” conscious nation, and SNU is certainly its top academic brand for which the wealthy and the powerful will get their hands on one way or another. The reason why the aforementioned drama, Sky Castle, became a smashing hit with the people of South Korea is because they can really relate to the chasm between the “gold spoon” fed and the “dirt spoon” fed.
@TiggerDad, I assume the Sky in Sky Castle comes from the SKY acronym - Seoul National, Korea University and Yonsei, South Korea’s version of HYP?
That’s an interesting read, and you could have very well hit the mark on this. The way I like to interpret it, though, is that the “Sky Castle” symbolizes its inhabitants’ pipe dream that inevitably crashes down, just as it did for all the participants in the Varsity Blues. So much work and scheming and mental anguish went into building the Sky Castle, yet in an instant, it blew out of the blue sky, leaving nothing but emptiness and meaninglessness.
@doschicos SKY is more or less something from a while back. KAIST is way ahead of Korea U and Yonsei nowadays, though internally I’m sure traditional Koreans still find SKY schools prestigious, and SNU is still the top dog. All of our Korean friends went to school here in the US which also might tell you something.
Several decades ago, it used to be that the majority of students coming from South Korea to this country as foreign students was college grads seeking grad degrees. Then, gradually over the past decade, we started seeing a large flux of high school students seeking to earn college degrees. Now, there are many kids coming to this country for even K through pre-high school education. These families are typically well off. Dads of these families stay behind in South Korea to keep producing the necessary income while moms come along with their children to manage their education. Such dads are known in South Korea as Gireogi appa (기러기 아빠). It’s estimated that there are approximately 200,000 such families in South Korea today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gireogi_appa
For these Gireogi families, it’s worth the family separation, money and sacrifice to avoid the college preparation hell. For those without the financial means, they resort to hooking up their kids with relatives in this country, even friends. We were once asked to host a child of our family’s friend. Although a close family friend, we had to politely decline for various personal reasons.
When I was preparing my sons’ colleges, a lot of work went into it for years. I never once complained, though, because I always had the images of those in South Korea going through hell and mine’s been a nice leisurely walk in the park in comparison.