Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Blog #11: In S. Korea, the Best Education Means a Sacrifice for Parents


In South Korea education is highly prioritized. However, in order for children to go to the most elite schools, they have to be sent away and usual their mom comes with. This means families have to be separated in order to get elite education. Usually the social class that can afford the elite schools and willing to have separated families is the higher class. Nowadays families separating for the sake of education have become a common practice and more people are partaking in it. In America in today’s society, we view people who can speak both English and Spanish an excellent tool. However, in Korea if you can speak English it shows you come from the “right” family and it’s a luxury. Education is highly valued in Korea even to the point where students overly study and this has become more of a trend. According to the article, most Koreans start learning in English in kindergarten and by the time they’re teenagers they’re deprived study-holics This is having an effect on kids because they’re not enjoying and free time and they’re studying hard constantly. According to the article, Korean students rank among the highest among the world’s unhappiest and suicide rates have increased. However, some parents do like the separation part because they say it helps their marriage. On the other hand, children will become distant with their fathers and can lose that relationship.

This is a social global issue because Korea is having students cram and study too much. Education is great to have and smart children are what we need, however, having children study to the point they want to commit suicide is unethical. The separation of families isn’t very wise either because families need one another. Having a strong family that supports you can get you through a lot of times in your life. However, if you’re away from some of your family and you’re studying all the time and cramming it only hurts you in the long run. The fact that suicide rates have gone up and Korea is now ranked as having the world’s unhappiest kids is not a good thing. If children are killing themselves because school is too much and it’s taking over their life the population is going down. We need the young people to balance out the economy, and with birth rates already falling we don’t need children to be dying; especially not purposely dying. Being smart and studying is excellent, but it shouldn’t be to the point where it controls your life and makes you unhappy.

11/7/12 1:27 p.m.

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