OVERVIEW:
South Korea has a very rigid, hierarchical and intense education system but also very successful. The gist of their system is short term unhappiness for long term happiness, meaning students work very hard in their school years in order to get a bright future, as a college entrance exam is regarded as a make or break a student's future. Primary education is from grades one to six and basic core classes are taught by one teacher. Middle school is from grades 7 to 9. Students have an extra period before and after school for self study, and extracurriculars are usually discouraged by parents because it takes time away from studying. More than 95% of students attend after school tutoring programs so students get home way after sunset. In high school, studying and prepping for college gets so intense that students are often sleep deprived. Students take as many as 16 subjects in school and prepare for their college entrance exams, or CAT (National College Scholastic Aptitude Test). Students go to so many preparatory after school programs to excel in the subjects the exams cover. Because of the rigorous education system, national anxiety and depression is very high.
A Closer Look: CAT
While China's education system might have sounded intense, South Korea's is even worse. However, South Korea's system seems to be working as they are ranked number one in many areas. South Korea's education system basically prepares their students for their CAT's which are their college entrance exams. Students work very hard all year, sacrificing sleep, extracurriculars and other distractions in order to study. Sleep deprivation is a very typical thing and a common saying in South Korean is that three hours of sleep will get you into a top college, four hours for a decent college, and five hours will get you nowhere. Because of the importance of this exam, students usually do not ask questions in classrooms but just prefer to memorize everything in order to prepare them for their exam. Students are sometimes offered vacations or breaks but most reject them in order to stay in school and not fall behind. Skip days are unheard of as students prefer to stay in school. At most, students would just sneak onto their phones in class. National anxiety is very high because of this exam and a high number of students contemplate suicide. This vigorous education system is successful though as South Korea is very advanced and produces a high number of qualified graduates as well as boosting a very good economy.