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The $4 million dollar teacher.

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DrPizza said:
There are huge cultural differences between the US and Korea, especially in the importance that people see in education, and the difference in how much parents will push their kids to succeed. It would be a dream to have an entire classroom of students whose parents forced them to study, and who all also wanted to learn, because they know it's the only way they're getting into the next level of education.
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How much of the education is actually valuable vs. just being a "credential" to get you to the next level?

DrPizza said:
Does Korea have a lot of students who go home at 3pm, and have no adult supervision at all in the evening, because the kids are in a one parent household, and that parent is at a minimum wage job? (The list of things like this goes on, but I won't.)
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I am going to guess not many:
In 2007, 7,774 babies were born out of wedlock in South Korea, 1.6 percent of all births. (In the United States, nearly 40 percent of babies born in 2007 had unmarried mothers, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.) Nearly 96 percent of unwed pregnant women in South Korea choose abortion, according to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/asia/08mothers.html
 
Dari said:
It's not as great as it sounds. Parents and children invest a lot of time and money into education only to find out that not everyone is destined to get the best jobs or career. All that money 'wasted' can lead to very angry parents and suicidal kids. As a solution, South Korea is trying to de-emphasize education and make it socially ok to only have a high school degree.
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You don't think the difference in the value placed on education is incredibly different between the two countries?! Not sure where you went to school, but I often hear of classrooms where 50% or more of the students don't do their homework assignments.
 
DrPizza said:
You don't think the difference in the value placed on education is incredibly different between the two countries?! Not sure where you went to school, but I often hear of classrooms where 50% or more of the students don't do their homework assignments.
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That's how it is in all those countries in that region. It's great until all that money does not produce the desired results. These kids go to school. Then an after-school school. Then another school or program to learn something like piano. Parents can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars before college. There are extremely high expectations and when those are not met, things can be traumatic for everyone. Worse, because parents spend so much on education, it determines how many kids they have. That can have adverse economic affects.

Yes, we are different but, again, look at where they're sending their kids. The best come here...
 
Dari said:
...look at where they're sending their kids. The best come here...
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Sounds like they lack the economy to employ all those highly educated people.

Reminds me of a quote I once read about having the most highly educated McDonalds employees. I don't remember the exact quote but it was about the good ole US of A.
 
Udgnim said:
only 93% graduation rate?
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The other 7% commit suicide due to not being in the top 1% of exam scores.

Fenixgoon said:
this.

You can't just make a school perform better by thowing lots of money at it. You need to change the culture of the kids and parents of kids (as far as culture/importance of education)
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That is the actual problem. But, hey, the USA is much better at throwing money at problems than trying to change the culture. Culture, to me, is the biggest problem in the USA when it comes to almost any problem. It seems to be one that is insurmountable too. I think that's why we just try throwing money at the problem.

goog40 said:
Yeah, but who's going to pay for that extra $396 mil?
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Hahahahaha. On the topic of education as well. Classic.

Anyway, SK can go fuck itself. I've heard too many horror stories about their education system and culture surrounding it. I know people personally who work there and they have mixed feelings about it.
 
Korea74 said:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...9780253571520.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Interesting article. American teachers are always complaining that they don't get paid enough. Maybe it's because of the unions.

The hagwon system is a free market. You either adapt or you die. This system will make you a better teacher because of the pressure they put on educators to retain students. The market is fierce. In Seoul there are approximately 3-4 schools on every block, and they all compete for the same students. It's most definitely a dog eat dog environment.

What really struck me about this article was this line:



I think this is sad. :'(
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Finland has the best students (they are consistently #1 in math/science international standardized tests) and 99% of their teachers are unionized and they socialize a lot more services than the US does, eradicating poverty, explain that:

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3749880

Also, they don't have the suicide problem that korean students have.

"You either adapt or you die."

In south korea, this is literal.

This hagwon system is a waste of time, waste of money, waste of quality of life, and waste of lives. Talk about the law of diminishing returns.
 
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Don't forget - this is a private after-school tutor. There is certainly the free market opportunity for the same thing to happen in the US but supplemental learning is, apparently, not nearly as important in the US.

DrPizza said:
You don't think the difference in the value placed on education is incredibly different between the two countries?! Not sure where you went to school, but I often hear of classrooms where 50% or more of the students don't do their homework assignments.
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Or where so few kids show up that the day can't even count as a school day
 
Exterous said:
Don't forget - this is a private after-school tutor. There is certainly the free market opportunity for the same thing to happen in the US but supplemental learning is, apparently, not nearly as important in the US.
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Around my area (heavily Chinese), all the kids go to after school programs. I spend $1500 a month to send my kids as well. Sadly, they are forced to learn Chinese at these places as part of the curriculum (we are not Chinese).

BTW, I'm also a teacher and there are many days I feel underpaid. Then there are days where I feel lucky that people are willing to pay me to just hear me talk.
 
madoka said:
Around my area (heavily Chinese), all the kids go to after school programs. I spend $1500 a month to send my kids as well. Sadly, they are forced to learn Chinese at these places as part of the curriculum (we are not Chinese).

BTW, I'm also a teacher and there are many days I feel underpaid. Then there are days where I feel lucky that people are willing to pay me to just hear me talk.
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As a vietnamese kid in orange county, I went to after school tutoring programs back in the 90's along with the rest of my vietnamese brethren.
 
Vic Vega said:
This type of racism is so brazen and unchecked here, it makes me think Anand supports it.
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Nah, anti-Asian racism can be found anywhere that envious white people needing to justify their lack of skill can. See: any video of a young Asian kid playing a musical instrument with greater proficiency than the adult white males that make snide comments about there being "no emotion" to their playing or whatever else. It's far more prevalent/accepted than other forms of racism directed towards Western minorities.
 
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