<p>Let’s not be so quick to make blanket statements about the U.S. and South Korea…</p>
<p>While SK is graduating more competent students, said students are studying 20 hours a day to pass the CSAT and get into a good college. Prestige is everything; sleeping in class is acceptable if the coursework isn’t relevant to the test, and if you don’t get into a top school you’re usually treated as a second-class citizen. The vast majority of work and learning is done at hagwon, not in class. Even though the government has tried to crack down on hagwons being open past the nightly curfew, hundreds of them still operate until 2 or 3 in the morning. </p>
<p>More students commit suicide and crack under the intense pressure that makes CC look like a fairytale playground. There’s a reason why middle school entrance exams have been abolished and Saturday classes have been cut back - the government is realizing that kids are miserable, yet driven by success that has lifted South Korea up from total poverty in less than 50 years. There isn’t anything wrong with success, of course, but in SK it’s taken to the extreme.</p>
<p>You can argue that the vast majority of students in American schools fall into the other extreme - lazy, unmotivated, difficult, challenging (like the kid who told his teacher off for “packet teaching”) - but neither extreme is or should be the dominant attitude in schools.</p>