High school education in the U.S. is localized; school curricular, budgets and policies for K-12 school are set by local school boards. This gives high schools and the students an opportunity to offer and take accredited courses of their choice. . This is not the case with South Korea, where until recently, students were required to study all the subjects provided in the school curriculum by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), and later on specialize in tertiary institutions. There are recommendations that students are allowed to specialize in subjects of their desire in their last two years of high school. Some schools have started implementing the policy.
The South Korean system is demanding such that students have little time engaging in co-curricular activities or even going out to social events. The focus is majorly on preparing students to achieve top grades and pass college entrance exams. Students spend very many hours in a day at school and tuition institutions. A typical day starts as early as five and ends late into the night. In the U.S. the system is less demanding and students have time participating in co-curricular activities and even taking part time jobs. A report on Schools and Staffing Survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 2008, states that on average a high school student spends about six to seven hours a day at school in the U.S. that is contrary to the South Korean system where students spend about 13 hours a day at school.
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The U.S. education system is student centered. Lessons are a double-way discussion with more interaction between the students and the teacher. Students are allowed to think for themselves, discuss, challenge statements and ask questions. Apart from the teacher led discussion, students are allowed to discuss topics and assignments in groups of their own. On the other hand, the South Korean system puts the teacher at the center. Lessons are more a top-down interaction where a teacher conveys information and the students listen actively and take notes. This system ignores the individual needs and abilities of each students and promotes memorization and reproduction of statements other than understanding the concept.
The South Korean education system has used relative grading to award grades to high school students for a long time. The student is awarded a grade based on their position amongst all others taking the course at that particular time on a rank of one to nine. It is more of a normal distribution curve with most students lying in between passing and failing. This system demands that students work hard to be ranked above the rest. Competition remains all through as the system has certain percentages of students in the class assigned a grade. The grading system differs with that of the U.S. where a student is individually graded based on what they score in the exams, Grade Point Aggregate (GPA).
For some time now, the U.S. education system has allowed students to be taught from home; either from their parents or employed personnel. That is not the case with South Korea where students have to personally go to school to attend lessons. High school education curriculum in the U.S. is not categorized into various schools as is seen in South Korea where there are: vocational and special schools other the conventional high schools (WENR, 2013).
Effects of the South Korean and United States education systems on university curriculum
With almost all students from high school graduating to tertiary institutions, the population of the students enrolling exceeds the resources available. The shortage of teachers, infrastructure and materials cannot meet the demands of the population. As a result, the government, through the Commission for Education Reform, has placed emphasis on constructing more tertiary institutions, improving the curriculum standards to international levels and promotion of science education in tertiary institutions (WENR, 2013). The system also teaches students to pay attention to detail and work on it to bring out the finest of products. At tertiary level, the students are prepared to doing the best in their areas of study.
In a way, the South Korean system prepares students for lectures in colleges and universities as they are already used to a one way mode of communication. This fits their centralized form of instruction where the teachers pass information and the students take down notes. However, this is limit to certain subjects such as mathematics that do not require logical reasoning and that understanding and knowing the formulas and methods required. In most cases, lectures and practical lessons in universities are teacher led.
The United States system prepares students to be more creative and think critically. At college level, most courses require individuals who can quickly think through problems and solve them. Students are more prepared for subjects such as law, research and emerging issues. The university curriculum is developed to accommodate the diverse students graduating from high school. Thus it is common to find very many courses in a given tertiary institution as compared to universities in South Korea. The curriculum comprises of fewer taught lessons as students are given materials and questions to research and write about them.
Advantages of the South Korean education system
It teaches students to be obedient and good listeners. In most cases, students are required to listen as the teacher conveys information during classes. As a result, students learn to listen and take notes effectively. With the tight schedule and the demands by the education system, most students study through high school and progress to tertiary institutions. Korea has the highest tertiary gross enrollment ratio in the world by 2015, 97.12 percent (UIS, 2O16). The dropout rate in schools is almost zero. This has led to many people acquiring secondary and tertiary education. According to (OECD, 2014), 66% of people aged twenty five to thirty four have acquired tertiary education qualification, the highest among OECD members whose average is 39%.
The cons of South Korean education system
Lessons in the South Korean system are more a top-down interaction where the teacher does all the talking and the student listen and take notes. This makes the students not to think critically and creatively in and outside the class. Most graduates will memorize notes and answers and reproduce them in examination but they do not solve problems in class for themselves and application of the same in day to day life. Such students may find problems that require autonomous thinking and application of knowledge tough to tackle. The one-way passage of information ignores the abilities of individual student and as much as they may memorize what they are taught, they might not fully understand the concepts.
Parents spend so much money on private tutors than public education. Most South Korean students have to attend private schools after their long days at public schools to further their studies. With so much competition and virtually everyone wanting to advance to tertiary institutions, parents offer to part with a considerable amount of money to sponsor their children to private schools where they are taught the same subjects as at school. Despite the government allocating funds to public schools, most parents and students still prefer using private schools to complement their studies especially in English language. The public schools are not fully utilized by the students and much of the government investment is going to waste.
Most emphasis by South Koreans is on excelling in College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). This may lead to students studying subjects to be tested more than the others. It also may contribute to less co-curricular activities by students as they spend most their time reading and studying either at public schools, with private tutors or discussing with classmates. Life is not all about grades, there are other life aspects that the youth need to develop so as to grow as all round individuals. Too many people with extra qualifications in the market mean fewer jobs. South Korea has a large number of graduates who are not employed. In South Korea, students spend so much time at school, on average about thirteen hours a day for two hundred and twenty days a year. Students have to wake up so early, stay at school up to evening, and then join private tuition schools to late night before returning home to sleep. On average, a high school student in Korea, especially in their final years of study, sleep for about 3-5 hours a day. They don’t have time to take part in co-curricular activities, an avenue that may create more jobs.
Advantages of the education system in the U.S.
The students develop, not only academically but in many other ways. They have to reason out, discuss and argue out concepts. This helps them understand the concepts learnt in class. They also learn to solve problems on their own in different situations. Students are also able to determine what they want to do, who they want to become and work on it in school. With time away from class, students are able to participate in extra-curricular activities and grow into all round persons. By the time they are out of high school, most of them can lead their own lives and make major life decisions own their own. The system being student centered gives the student a better chance to engage their teachers, share information with them including issues affecting them and helps teachers attend to each student and identify their potentials, talents, strengths and weaknesses. This enables the teachers to handle each student with care having known them personally and established their abilities.
Cons of the education system in the U.S.
In the U.S., a larger proportion of students drop out of school despite it being a requirement that every citizen attains K-12 education. This may be attributed to the education system that allows students to have more freedom and engage in several activities, some of which may lead to them quitting school. Youth social activities, dating and going may lead to use of drugs, violence, depression and unwanted pregnancies which contribute to the high rate of school dropouts and a lower tertiary enrollment ratio in the country. The close teacher-student relationship may as well hinder learning as students may take advantage and use their rights to disrespect the teacher, miss classes and even fail to take exams.
Comparison of the Engineering Education Curriculum in South Korea and the U.S
The education system in South Korea right from elementary through to tertiary schools is a tight schedule that prepares students for their pursuit of future courses, among them engineering. Over the past decades, the government agencies have promoted the need to have an educated population. Given its limited resources, South Korea has put emphasis on studying and development of engineering and technology (The Washington Post, 2012). This is not the same case as in the U.S. where school programs are generally not so tight and decisions on curriculums are localized to states and/or schools. As a result most students tend to take less engaging courses at tertiary institutions.
South Korea has established schools specifically meant to teach and foster engineering, the main one being the South Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The school admits best students to study for free and exempt them from the compulsory military service. The graduates would then go on to work in the government departments for three years. Overhauling the system in this and many other universities has led to tremendous improvement in quality of education and thus provision of competitive graduates over the years. The U.S. however has experienced a lag in production of engineers, though there has been slight improvement since 2007 (Forbes, 2014). As of 2012, one in four South Korean college students majored engineering and related courses and compared to one in twenty in the U.S. (The Washington Post, 2012). South Korea is a nation with less resources and the only way to grow was to educate its people in competitive fields to ensure the numerous high school graduates get employed. As a. Result they designed there engineering curriculum around technology; automobiles, telecommunication and industry. The U.S. is a rich nation with numerous opportunities for many professionals. This made them make a diverse curriculum with no specific emphasis on a given engineering course.
The education system in South Korea is highly centralized, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology bears the sole role of creating a curriculum that produces graduates to meet the needs of the country. The curriculum used in high schools is the same across the country. Colleges and universities offering engineering therefore do not have to give enrollment exams in before admitting students and mostly no extra courses or subjects are required before enrolling in the course. That is different from the U.S. where school management and local or federal government can formulate their own curriculum and teach as long as they are accredited. As a result, university departments need to set certain requirements to be met by students planning to join them and study engineering among others courses.
As noted by McKinsey, 2019 South Korea has invested so much in research, especially on emerging issues, entrepreneurship and technology. This has helped South Korea make major strides in developing a suitable curriculum for engineering and develop the industry for practice. Unlike South Korea, the U.S. hasn't put so much emphasis on research especially in the field of engineering. Despite having a great market for engineers, the U.S. relies on importation of qualified people to take up the jobs as well as to study (McKinsey, 2009).
Conclusion
Both South Korea and the U.S. have advanced educational systems that aim to produce professionals. The U.S. system is very diverse and student centered and aims to produce and all round, competitive graduates who can solve problems with ease as they are used to individual reasoning. They can offer leadership and alternatives in difficult situations. The South Korean curriculum is built to bring out hard working individuals who concentrates on their area of specialization and seems ignorant of the other factors within their environment that may affect them, their work or future conditions. However, the South Korean program prepares one to learn to get the details done thus production of quality at a cheaper price. The two education systems are complementary and an incorporation of various aspects form one into another would help refine the education systems in the two nations.
References
Forbes (2014). The Most In-Demand (And Aging) Engineering Jobs. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/emsi/2014/09/12/the-most-in-demand-and-oldest-engineering-jobs/amp/
McKinsey & Company (2010). South Korea: Finding its place on the world stage. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/asia-pacific/south-korea-finding-its-place-on-the-world-stage
Organization of Economic Corporation and Development (OECD): Education: Korea – Education at a Glance; Country Note. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://www.oecd.org/edu/Koea-EAG2014-Country-Note.pdf
The Washington Post (2012). South Korea Outpaces the U.S. in Engineering Degrees. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-ed/south-korea-outpaces-the-U.S.-in-enginnering-degrees/2012/07/17/gJQAOWagrW_story.html
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), “Public Schools Data File,” 2007-2008. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass0708_035_s1s.asp
UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS): Education; Gross enrollment ratio by the level of Education. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://www.data.uis.unesco.org/?queryid=142
World Education News and Reviews (2013). Education in South Korea. Accessed October 28, 2016 at: http://wenr.wes.org/2013/06/wenr-june-2013-an-overview-of-education-in-south-korea
