Differences between American and Korean high school students

I was a high school teacher in Korea for five years, and I have noticed a few great differences between the school at which I taught in North Carolina and the ones in Korea. I am going to outline a few here.

Safety

One thing that really sets a different vibe in the whole high school experience in Korea is the fact that there are no guns and no drugs. Not just in schools – in the whole country. Teachers in America are always aware of the threat of these two things in their environment. Korean students have the same basic personalities of teenagers that you would find anywhere in the world, but they are happily inside a somewhat safe environment where some of the worst offenses are smoking in the school bathroom or not doing homework. Of course, they still have fights at times and there is teen pregnancy. But students live a life fairly free of physical threats to their safety.

Respect

 Korean students operate within parameters of respect that is set in them from an early age by their culture. Elders are very important, so only the bravest child will challenge the true authority of a teacher in a face-to-face confrontation. That didn’t stop my students from making dirty jokes in class – sometimes directed at me – which was something of a culture shock. American students might talk back to their teachers but they somehow didn’t have the inclination to make extremely inappropriate comments in the classroom.

Trust

Korean high schools trust their students as adults who can make their own choices. There was no such thing as a hall pass, and during free time between classes or after lunch, students could roam free to any part of the campus. They weren’t supposed to leave campus, however – which is something that high schools in other parts of the world even allow. But Korean campuses aren’t on lockdown like American schools. Korean students are treated as young adults who can determine how to use their own time, and can definitely be trusted to use the bathroom or run an errand without needing to prove they have permission. American schools treat students like prisoners in my opinion. They aren’t trusted to do the right thing. Maybe that’s because American culture has a strong tie to the idea that anyone can sue anyone for anything – especially parents feel that they can sue a school district for negligence. So we watch our students like big brother. 

Perceptions of Korean Education

I have been quiet on here for a while now because I spent all my energy and time applying for jobs. In my job search I came across a charter school in D.C. that says it’s modeling itself after Korean schools and “key Korean educational values” because the founder taught English in South Korea. I don’t know what grade level that guy taught or what he experienced, but I have never met an expat teacher in Korea who would agree that Korean schools are superior to American schools. Most families I have ever met in Korea where one of the parents is an expat moved, largely because they didn’t want to see their kids go through the depressing, soul-crushing experience of a Korean student.

Sure, some things about Korean education is great. Teachers enjoy more respect (although if you talk to one, they’ll tell you different), and teaching is seen as a good, stable job. Kids are generally well-behaved, as in teachers rarely feel in physical danger, and kids generally do what they’re told, but not anywhere near as much as you’d think from media coverage of it. Kids are wayyyy ahead in math of course, ridiculously so, and why? Because they are made to study at school and then after school, too, with private teachers who tutor them until dinner time. “Successful” Korean kids don’t have time to play. Is that what you’d call a good system? I’m talking about elementary here, but by the time they get through middle school they realize they are trapped in a crazy system where if you’re not a highly academic person who studies well, you’re a loser in society. And the successful ones have no teenage life, they study 16-18 hours a day, leaving just enough time to eat and sleep. They’re depressed and sometimes suicidal if they fail to meet expectations set by society, parents and teachers. They’re depressed anyway because they don’t get to determine who they are via hobbies, activities, letting their minds be free…

And the ones that didn’t get their soul crushed by the end of middle school and didn’t get sucked into the “study or die” system are outcasts in society. In Jeju they put all the academically disappointing kids, the “bad” kids, in high schools out in the country, kind of like they’re sweeping them out of sight. Only good students who study hard get to go to schools in the cities. So they end up having to ride an hour one-way to school on the bus. The only high school I saw in Jeju that was dedicated to anything creative was about two hours one-way on a bus, where kids went who wanted to have a career in beauty, cosmetics, and hair.

I always liked those kind of kids the best. The ones who didn’t get sucked into the soul-crushing system always seemed like the smartest ones.

I should also add that Korean education isn’t the best in the world, in my opinion, because so much of it is still based off antiquated rote learning. High school teachers I often saw would walk into class with nothing but the textbook, and not even use technology to teach a lesson. Kids were used to falling asleep in these lecture-style classes that involved no interactive activities. The best teachers, to them, were ones who at least made them laugh. They’d usually be asleep by the end of the first five minutes. Can you blame anyone for despising their educational system? The happiest kids I saw were in a vocational high school where they did hands-on activities in their major subjects like cooking, mechanics, baseball, and landscaping. And I realized that some of the happiest people were the ones who didn’t care about going to college, because they already knew their life passions and career paths.

My point here is that you shouldn’t believe it when people tell you Korean schools are “better”. Our schools have problems too, lord knows, but it’s not perfect in Korea. I’d rather have interesting kids and adults who know who they are and have interests and dreams, were always allowed to explore art and unusual hobbies, and sports for that matter. Do we want a society of boring people who got their soul crushed and don’t know that it’s okay to have it any other way?

And there are whole schools in America now dedicated to being like Korean schools. that’s mind-blowing to me. If I ever have a chance to found a charter school I will base it on the idea that education is best when it’s about student freedom, creativity, access to inspiring resources, and the belief that you aren’t a failure just because you don’t like to study. There ARE a good number of people who like to study and a lot of them are professors at universities. We don’t need to all be like them. They are important, but people who like learning about car engines or how to cook a souffle are also important and interesting.