<p>I meant these students only, pretty obviously. Thats what the topic’s on, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Im sorry if i hurt any feelings.</p>
<p>The very first post after the OP started with “Screw the Korean education system”. It’s obvious people have digressed and started generalizing way more than they should very early on, instead of focusing on this one school which is very different from most other Korean schools.</p>
<p>although this system may seem a bit ridiculous, i do understand somewhat why they do this. for korea to continue economic growth, they need this kind of intense schooling to compete with countries like America who can pull out qualified workers from a population of 300 million when korea only has 1/6 of that number. i read somewhere that republic of korea had the same per capita income in the 1960s as afghanistan and with help from a rigorous school system, koreans were able to pull themselves out of poverty.</p>
<p>overall, you must understand the context under which the people live. this system would never work out in America but Korea seems to have functioned for years with it.</p>
<p>looking on the bright side these koreans actually have it easy, compared to their Taiwanese counterparts…check out the link below</p>
<p>[CommonWealth</a> Magazine](<a href=“http://english.cw.com.tw/article.do?action=show&id=10046]CommonWealth”>http://english.cw.com.tw/article.do?action=show&id=10046)</p>
<p>“student rankings in each subject, for each class, for each floor of the school building, and for the entire school…students were grouped in fours and pitted in competition against one another, with a spirit of mutual aid lacking as they fear that if they help someone else, they might be overtaken”</p>
<p>sounds like some apocalyptic revelation</p>
<p>not really. it sounds similar to most other Asian countries. competition is cutthroat. my dad worked 15-hour days in mainland China in order to get into a university. it’s hell wherever you go.</p>
<p>That’s definitely not the case in Hong Kong. Your class rank is listed only on your report card. College admission there doesn’t even look at your grades within your high school; they don’t believe in them and only look at the grades of the college entrance exam. People do study in groups to prepare for it.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting angle:
A couple of my peers’ parents are considering sending their children back to Kroea so they can apply to US schools as internationals. They’re competing internationally, so its easier apparently. My mom was actually commenting about doing that to me (I’m a Korean-American born and raised all 16 years in America) too. My father and I disagreed. We felt that yes these robots do get accepted in a lot of schools (mostly because they are rich), but then because these people did not originally have what it takes to be successful in life end up failing out. I don’t think there’s a point to get into a school you will be unhappy with and end up failing out. </p>
<p>i agree with the trace?keys blogger:
they just want their kids to get INTO famous schools, and it doesn’t matter how they DO at them. </p>
<p>^^ interesting comment. My Korean parents have interesting morals. Its ok to cheat. As long as I get the 100 and don’t get caught. If I cheated and got caught. Its my fault for being dumb enough to cheat when I wasn’t even able to be secretive. </p>
<p>Here’s another example: I’ve frequently lied to my teachers about cutting class in order to keep my 100% attendance record clean. My parents are cool with that because my dad is a firm believer in no tardies = lots of commitment apparently? I don’t get that. I’ve also forged my parents signatures on several documents because I forgot to give it to them. My morals say I should at least explain/get their permission before doing so. </p>
<p>Another example:
I have the copies of the entire year’s load of math tests. So I have the option of knowing all the answers before entering that exam room. I did for the first couple of tests (still failed to get that 100), but then I got a 75 due to that one test I didn’t have. That was a huge wake up call for me. So then I started to take notes, do homework, and participate. </p>
<p>In terms of ethics I hold similar beliefs in terms of its ok to suffer now because I won’t remember it anyway. I would really give anything to go to KMLA with all those high-achieving superstudents. They would give me a boost. </p>
<p>In my opinion I think USA should have ranks. In Korea they rank them by class and grade. If I was ranked I could set goals based on how I measure up to the rest of my grade. </p>
<p>Contrary to what everyone else probably thinks about my obsession to wanting KMLA so bad is because KMLA so beautifully integrates western education with Korean tradition. Something that doesn’t exist in America. I wanted to desperately learn about my own culture. </p>
<p>Go Koreans!</p>
<p>freeshirtorg,</p>
<p>Some schools do have ranks.</p>
<p>freetshirtshog, could u do us all a favour and explain the gibberish thats your post?</p>
<p>^^^ i think its perfectly clear.</p>
<p>NY public schools don’t. Stuy used to. I don’t go to stuy btw. Everything is clear (I guess this is debateable, but… in terms of ideas yes I believe it is clear). Thank you Elastine.</p>
<p>I am a Korean myself, and five years ago, my parents got me to go to an international school in a different country just because they were so fed up with Korean education system. My dad often comments on how he resented the way he had to learn as a student, and how his inner talent and creativity failed to be found while he was victimized by such system. I once wished to go to such preparatory school as KMLA, just because doing so would make my life easier - of course, the workload would be immense, but all I have to do would be doing what that they arrange for me to do, and I would be successful in getting into top-tier colleges at the end. However, my parents believed that I would have to carve out my own future, and most importantly, “learn”. I gradually came to appreciate their views, and I am so glad that my parents are not one of those Korean parents that pressure their children to be superior than other kids no matter what. I am learning a lot from the school I am currently attending - not only academically, but also in many other aspects as well. I would never have been educated this way had I chose to go to one of the schools in Korea. I AM striving to get into good colleges, but I would have to say that my purpose in doing so differs from that of those Korean students who are brought up to be prestige whores. Korean education system and mindsets of the Korean parents seriously need to be revamped.</p>
<p>This is crazy. I feel so relieved to go to school in the states where I can study 1/10 as much as these kids and still get into the same caliber colleges.</p>
<p>I found out, on facebook, that I’ll be going to college with at least one of these Daewon superhumans</p>
<p>I’m their antithesis</p>
<p>This should be interesting</p>
<p>Haha lol.
For those of you who are wondering.
These “superhumans” are actually those kids are pretty rich. I think. </p>
<p>For the foreign language schools. All that is required for admission is one test. Their school curriculum itself is not very rigorous. </p>
<p>If they speak English more fluently than you would think possible, it is due to tutors (who are mad expensive btw). My cuz has her kiddies like ages 3 &5 or something like that, English tutored for like ~1000 per week or something. Her hubby’s pretty loaded. My dad said they speak English pretty fluently. </p>
<p>Hence being able to pay for everything is “fair play” in Korea. XD</p>
<p>I’m asian, and I admit that most of Asian countries try to make their students study all the things(everything from easy to hard). When I come to US, during the first year I didn’t have to study anything because I know most of them already. It seems like Asians want to study more to catch up with the technology in developed country.</p>
<p>Umm, you do know that South Korea is a developed country…</p>
<p>Funny how people seem to totally overlook this sentence in the article.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>but we cannot ignore or neglect their efforts… they’re doing extremely hard in everything;;;; eventhough they cannot catch up american guys in college;;;;because of language barrier;;;–a</p>
<p>nerds party harder lolz.</p>