By S.C. | HONG KONG
The Economist - Oct 29th 2013
AS THIS week’s special report on the Koreas points out, South Korea’s education system is both inspiring and intimidating.
The country’s 15-year-olds ranked fourth in science (excluding Shanghai
and Hong Kong), second in maths and first in reading in the 2009
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Its youngsters
(aged between 16 and 24) did equally well in the OECD’s international survey of adult skills, released this month.
But South Korea’s enthusiasm for education has also been likened to a “fever”. Students spend long hours in hagwon,
private cram schools, trying to outdo their peers in crucial exams and
tests that have lasting consequences for their subsequent careers. In
principle these tests are simply a measuring device, allowing
universities and employers to rank students according to their
underlying abilities. But the measure is fair only if everyone spends
the same amount of time preparing for them. If one student spends his
every waking hour (and some half-waking ones) preparing, then everyone
else has to do the same, if they are to preserve their position in the
rankings. Some of this competitive swotting no doubt improves students’
knowledge and abilities, to the benefit of society and themselves. But
some of it is also a socially wasteful zero-sum game.
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