There is no doubt that when it comes to schooling in South Korea the competitiveness between teenagers can reach extreme levels to include high rates of suicide. This latest scandal is just another example of some of the negative affects of the hyper competitiveness with education in Korea:
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, walks out of Incheon International Airport under protection of an acquaintance on Friday. (Yonhap)
Two weeks ago, a South Korean “math prodigy” made headlines across the country after claiming that she had been accepted into two prestigious American universities, Stanford and Harvard.
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson high School for Science and Technology in Virginia, rose to fame after media reported that the top-tier universities had competed to recruit her to their undergraduate programs and ended up creating a special shared program only for her to study at both schools.
According to the reports, the 18-year-old girl secured a rare chance to study at both schools and choose where to graduate from. Kim showed acceptance letters from the schools to back her claims.
Kim was featured on radio talk shows while her father contributed to the hype by conducting interviews with local news outlets.
The reports on Kim’s achievement sparked envy among Koreans who have been living in a climate where admission into top universities is seen as key to elevating their social status.
But about a week later, her whole story was unraveled, with both Harvard and Stanford universities denying the acceptance of the Korean student. The universities confirmed that there was no such joint program allowing a student to study at both schools, calling the acceptance letters provided by Kim forgeries.
Kim, who appears to have masterminded the whole furor herself, immediately went from being idolized to ridiculed, with her father apologizing last week for causing a stir and promising to take care of her mental health.
Putting aside the reason behind her scam, the scandal appeared to leave a bitter aftertaste here, as it bluntly illustrated the country’s avid obsession with academic elitism and a competitive media industry prone to lapses of judgment.
A 28-year-old student said he could sympathize with her as he understands what it feels like to fail to enter top-tier universities and to be treated like a “loser” in Korean society. [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but the teenager came up with the lie initially probably to get her parents off of her back, but the dad then publicized it in the media. If he had not publicized it then this would have just been a family issue when the lie would have eventually been exposed. So the adults, the dad and the journalists who ran the story are more at fault in my opinion than the teenager. You would think before publishing a story the journalists would have picked up the phone to call the universities to make sure the claims are accurate.
As far as the over competitiveness within the Korean education system; I think it is better than what we see in many US schools where there is an extreme lack of educational competitiveness from both the kids and the parents.
Actually, those joint programs among top-tier universities do exist, as I graduated from one.
Mine was actually a TRIPLE international university study program, also with a choice of which university to graduate from after completion of the degree.
It was a little-known program between Harvard, Oxford, and Hickman County Community College.
While it was a tough choice, I think taking my degree in general studies from HCCC was a slick move… as Harvard and Oxford men are a dime a dozen…
…but how many Hickmen men do you know?
Liz
9 years ago
[i]”As far as the over competitiveness within the Korean education system; I think it is better than what we see in many US schools where there is an extreme lack of educational competitiveness from both the kids and the parents.”[/i]
I don’t know, GI Korea. I think the kids have a much better quality of life here. And it’s not exactly uncompetitive here either. It’s actually competitive enough to create an education bubble. The last class admitted to the University of Florida had an average of 4.25 GPA. 4.0 won’t get them in anymore. So the pressure is on even in the 9th grade. OTOH, if they wait and go the community college route first they save a lot of money, and if they perform well they are sure to get in.
There’s a Veblen good aspect to getting into the “right” university right away. “Good parents” pride themselves on where their kids go, and don’t want to say “Junior is in the community college”, when actually in terms of value community college might be the right choice.
I’m not immune, I’m hoping our oldest gets into a good university (he just retook the SAT…in my day 650/650/650 would get him into most good universities but now it has to be higher so he took it again, we’d like to see something in the 700s). But if he doesn’t, I’m not going to freak because I know he can be successful either way and it should be about him, not me.
Side note: Funny CH. 😀
Jigoku
9 years ago
I feel sorry for the kid, she is just a kid and kids be kids.
What would the Korean education system and it’s students be like without the hagwon system?
Liz
9 years ago
I agree, Jigoku, I feel badly for her too. 🙁
I doubt she has ever had a chance to be a kid really. A happy life is a collection of happy moments.
That level of stressful existence offers little quality of life.
setnaffa
9 years ago
CH, you don’t strike me as either a “hick” or an Ivy League sheep.
They were the ones who supported the Progressives who ran the countries whose flags adorned the Charlotte Shooter’s jacket. Cecil Rhodes started Apartheid and the Rhodes Scholarship earned by Bill Clinton. There’s a point in there. The same folks who created “Jim Crow on steroids” now blame the folks who want to dismantle the bureaucracy.
You seem a rather cosmopolitan type who accepts anyone up to the point where they refuse to take yes for an answer. A Classic Liberal (Jefferson, Locke, Russeau, etc.) , rather than the current crop of SJWs who have stolen and misapplied the label…
C’est la vie. History repeats itself because, like a dog returning to its vomit, people fall for the cult of personality over and over and over and…
setnaffa
9 years ago
And yes, I feel sorry for the kid and her parents. But more for the kid.
Liz, without a doubt there is competitiveness in certain schools.
Korea’s educational system does need to step a back from its hyper-competitiveness but students in my opinion do need to feel some pressure to succeed. As the world gets more connected students in the US are no longer just competing against their peers they are also competing against global competitors willing to take US jobs. US students will need to be hyper-skilled to compete for the high paying jobs of the future.
The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.
JoeC
9 years ago
Again, it’s the unrealistic expectations of the parents and their social groups that may be hurting these kids.
Many people in the west have a stereotypical belief that all asian kids excel academically. But after being here for a while you realize that’s not true. By definition, all kids can’t be exceptional. All asian kids won’t qualify for the most elite schools any more than all black kids can qualify for the NBA. Almost none of Koreans I know went to the best schools. Most were marginal to middling students at best, but they have happy or content lives.
Parents have to know that, but in their drive to push their kids they sometimes lose perspective.
TagumCityTim
9 years ago
The U.S. certainly needs a little more of the Korea-style pressure to succeed in the school system. As GI said the system as it stands now is just not sustainable. As for the pressure the kid felt, I understand having lived in Korea for over 12 years what pressure the whole system puts kids under. I remember the police escorts for students to get to their college exams on time, the students who were just coming home as I headed in for my midnight shift, and the kids huddled together on the street corners near the hakwons at street vendors eating whatever they could on their breaks.
Ted Cruz
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Samuel Alito
Clarence Thomas
John Roberts
Paul Wolfowitz
Bobby Jindal
Liz
9 years ago
“As the world gets more connected students in the US are no longer just competing against their peers they are also competing against global competitors willing to take US jobs. US students will need to be hyper-skilled to compete for the high paying jobs of the future.
The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.”
I agree it’s unsustainable. But it’s also unrealistic to expect a significant portion of our population to become hyper-skilled in intellectual fields (hard sciences, math, ect). The vast majority of people simply aren’t smart enough.
Healthcare is a growing field (and doesn’t require geniuses, for the most part), but that too is an unsustainable system as the costs skyrocket due to mounting inefficiencies even though this shows up as “growth” on the GDP. It is not plausible for Americans to prosper as a whole by getting sick and charging ever more inflated sums for care.
Liz
9 years ago
Just to add, I think it’s also unlikely to see a person like Steve Jobs come from an environment like that.
guitard
9 years ago
“The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.”
I don’t blame this on the “system.” If you opt to get a degree in 16th century German poetry – you only have your self to blame when you graduate and can’t find a job.
setnaffa
9 years ago
Leon, you left off Al Gore and Barack Obama. 😉
setnaffa
9 years ago
Neither Bill Gates not Michael Dell have an earned academic degree. Neither have an earned technical or professional certificate. But they’re worth more than many small countries. And together they’re responsible for more private sector jobs than all of the elected officials in North America combined. 🙂
Actually, those joint programs among top-tier universities do exist, as I graduated from one.
Mine was actually a TRIPLE international university study program, also with a choice of which university to graduate from after completion of the degree.
It was a little-known program between Harvard, Oxford, and Hickman County Community College.
While it was a tough choice, I think taking my degree in general studies from HCCC was a slick move… as Harvard and Oxford men are a dime a dozen…
…but how many Hickmen men do you know?
[i]”As far as the over competitiveness within the Korean education system; I think it is better than what we see in many US schools where there is an extreme lack of educational competitiveness from both the kids and the parents.”[/i]
I don’t know, GI Korea. I think the kids have a much better quality of life here. And it’s not exactly uncompetitive here either. It’s actually competitive enough to create an education bubble. The last class admitted to the University of Florida had an average of 4.25 GPA. 4.0 won’t get them in anymore. So the pressure is on even in the 9th grade. OTOH, if they wait and go the community college route first they save a lot of money, and if they perform well they are sure to get in.
There’s a Veblen good aspect to getting into the “right” university right away. “Good parents” pride themselves on where their kids go, and don’t want to say “Junior is in the community college”, when actually in terms of value community college might be the right choice.
I’m not immune, I’m hoping our oldest gets into a good university (he just retook the SAT…in my day 650/650/650 would get him into most good universities but now it has to be higher so he took it again, we’d like to see something in the 700s). But if he doesn’t, I’m not going to freak because I know he can be successful either way and it should be about him, not me.
Side note: Funny CH. 😀
I feel sorry for the kid, she is just a kid and kids be kids.
What would the Korean education system and it’s students be like without the hagwon system?
I agree, Jigoku, I feel badly for her too. 🙁
I doubt she has ever had a chance to be a kid really. A happy life is a collection of happy moments.
That level of stressful existence offers little quality of life.
CH, you don’t strike me as either a “hick” or an Ivy League sheep.
They were the ones who supported the Progressives who ran the countries whose flags adorned the Charlotte Shooter’s jacket. Cecil Rhodes started Apartheid and the Rhodes Scholarship earned by Bill Clinton. There’s a point in there. The same folks who created “Jim Crow on steroids” now blame the folks who want to dismantle the bureaucracy.
You seem a rather cosmopolitan type who accepts anyone up to the point where they refuse to take yes for an answer. A Classic Liberal (Jefferson, Locke, Russeau, etc.) , rather than the current crop of SJWs who have stolen and misapplied the label…
C’est la vie. History repeats itself because, like a dog returning to its vomit, people fall for the cult of personality over and over and over and…
And yes, I feel sorry for the kid and her parents. But more for the kid.
Liz, without a doubt there is competitiveness in certain schools.
Korea’s educational system does need to step a back from its hyper-competitiveness but students in my opinion do need to feel some pressure to succeed. As the world gets more connected students in the US are no longer just competing against their peers they are also competing against global competitors willing to take US jobs. US students will need to be hyper-skilled to compete for the high paying jobs of the future.
The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.
Again, it’s the unrealistic expectations of the parents and their social groups that may be hurting these kids.
Many people in the west have a stereotypical belief that all asian kids excel academically. But after being here for a while you realize that’s not true. By definition, all kids can’t be exceptional. All asian kids won’t qualify for the most elite schools any more than all black kids can qualify for the NBA. Almost none of Koreans I know went to the best schools. Most were marginal to middling students at best, but they have happy or content lives.
Parents have to know that, but in their drive to push their kids they sometimes lose perspective.
The U.S. certainly needs a little more of the Korea-style pressure to succeed in the school system. As GI said the system as it stands now is just not sustainable. As for the pressure the kid felt, I understand having lived in Korea for over 12 years what pressure the whole system puts kids under. I remember the police escorts for students to get to their college exams on time, the students who were just coming home as I headed in for my midnight shift, and the kids huddled together on the street corners near the hakwons at street vendors eating whatever they could on their breaks.
A few noteworthy Ivy League sheep:
Ted Cruz
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Samuel Alito
Clarence Thomas
John Roberts
Paul Wolfowitz
Bobby Jindal
“As the world gets more connected students in the US are no longer just competing against their peers they are also competing against global competitors willing to take US jobs. US students will need to be hyper-skilled to compete for the high paying jobs of the future.
The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.”
I agree it’s unsustainable. But it’s also unrealistic to expect a significant portion of our population to become hyper-skilled in intellectual fields (hard sciences, math, ect). The vast majority of people simply aren’t smart enough.
Healthcare is a growing field (and doesn’t require geniuses, for the most part), but that too is an unsustainable system as the costs skyrocket due to mounting inefficiencies even though this shows up as “growth” on the GDP. It is not plausible for Americans to prosper as a whole by getting sick and charging ever more inflated sums for care.
Just to add, I think it’s also unlikely to see a person like Steve Jobs come from an environment like that.
“The current educational system is manufacturing many US students studying worthless degrees, going $100,000 in debt, and can’t find a good paying job to pay off all that debt. This system is unsustainable.”
I don’t blame this on the “system.” If you opt to get a degree in 16th century German poetry – you only have your self to blame when you graduate and can’t find a job.
Leon, you left off Al Gore and Barack Obama. 😉
Neither Bill Gates not Michael Dell have an earned academic degree. Neither have an earned technical or professional certificate. But they’re worth more than many small countries. And together they’re responsible for more private sector jobs than all of the elected officials in North America combined. 🙂
14. Sorry, I didn’t think you liked those guys.