A few days ago I read an article published by The Wall Street Journal titled Should the U.S. Follow South Korea's Education System? In the article, the writer talked about a Korean "super teacher" Kim Ki-hoon calling him a $4 million dollar teacher and crediting his wealth to his more than 20 years of teaching, tutoring and lectures.
The article then goes on to describe how he is paid in accordance with his skills, eventually suggesting the idea of teachers in Korea who are paid on the level of athletes or lawyers to teach students.
This part of the article, along with the constant reminder that Korean teachers make a lot of money really bothered me. The article as a whole is fine, and brings up many decent points usually not discussed in detail in western media.
It's the statement about teachers and other similar statements that while I don't think were intentionally written incorrectly, were lacking the proper research to give a more balanced opinion.
While its true that teaching, or anything in the educational field is a stable job and source of reliable income in Korea, the number of teachers who make anything close to "rock star" status income is very small. Kim Ki-hoon, while successful and more likely than not deserving of every bit of income, is an outlier.
A majority of teachers in Korea, both public and hagwon make a basic salary comparable to other mid to high level jobs. In fact, may teachers starting out their teaching careers for the first time make less than I do, and still have to pay many of the living fees such as rent and utilities that are provided to me for no cost.
Many starting teachers who work at private schools and hagwons are also often being offered one year contracts which ensures one year of employment and possibly succeeding years based on their performance. You could eventually make a lot of money teaching this way, however this comes through a higher position than an entry level teacher.
The end of the article also suggests that the U.S. borrow some ideas from Korea for its own education system. While some of the ideas are solid, some do not take in regard the differences between states and cities that would make some of these techniques hit or miss. The article fails to mention that the geography and population of the U.S. are very different compared to Korea. What works in one school district, in one state can very well fail in another. The geography, population and economic stability all play a part in providing differing experiences.
Another point the article does not bring attention to is the side effects of such high pressure on success and education. Students are taught that success is all that matters and that failure isn't a chance to learn from your mistakes, but rather a sign that you have missed your opportunity. Korea is sometimes called a "one shot society" meaning that everything from job interviews to language tests relies on that one window of success.
Such a high stress environment can sometimes create unbearably high pressure for students and create a day in, day out regimen of classes, studying, followed by more studying. Such a high emphasis on specific subjects for testing also leaves very little time for learning about non academic things like humanities, culture and society. From an early age, students are taught that these things do not matter nearly as much as getting into a good university.
While I feel the article is an interesting look for western readers at the Korean education system, much more consideration needs to be put into effect before we start clamoring for our own rock star teachers.
Borrowing from an overall effective system? Great. Taking things without regards to how it can fit into a culture and society different from the original one? No so much.
You can read the original story here
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