Elementary School:
This is pretty normal. Kids start in first grade. Kids are usually 6-7 years old, and go to school from around 8am-3pm. All very normal. Except for after school programs. It's "the thing" to put your kids into private academies, called hagwons, for the after school hours. Whether your kid needs/wants it or not they will attend music classes, art, tae kwon do, English, Chinese, math, or other academic classes. These usually last an hour long, and the average Korean kid goes to 3-4 hagwons. This means the kid gets home around 6-8pm. Elementary school is grades 1-6.
Middle School:
Things get a bit more intense in middle school. School begins around the same time, but ends around 4:30, then it's hagwon time. Now the students are in academic academies: science, math, English, Chinese, etc. Students get home around 8 or later. Middle school is three years long.
High School/Hell:
School can start anywhere from 7-9am; whenever the student gets there to study or prep for the day. Students no longer attend after school hagwons because they stay in school until 10pm. Yep. 10pm. There are no hobbies, sports teams, or life outside of school. There is an overwhelming amount of stress placed on these teenagers for the three years it takes to complete high school. They are not offered any sort of outlet to relieve stress and society continues to make ridiculous demands of these kids. Many parents hate this system. They see what it does to their children. I asked my adult students last year why they conformed to this. Students aren't forced to stay in school until 10pm. They do it because they're pressured to and realize that if they want good scores and to have a good reputation then they must. The answer was, "it's just the Korean way." Societal pressure skips no one.
Sixty years ago, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and now it has one of the best economies. The Korean work ethic is unlike any other, but it comes with a price. Korea has one of highest suicide rates in the world, most of the victims being between the ages of 14-19. Pressure and stress caused by the education system is one of the leading causes.
So, while I was working my English summer camp for the past three weeks, my students broke my heart. They were 14 years old, one year away from high school, and we would talk about school and how much they hated it. They wanted to play outside, have art classes, play in a band or sing in a choir like they'd seen in American movies. They know they have to put those desires away. Studying is it. Studying is life. So when I would be with some my elementary school students for our drama club time (I know. Me? Drama club?) they would share creative ideas, draw some of the best stuff free handed, and explore in their new found creativity. As the weeks past and bonds were formed, these children would seek me out and their tiny hands would find mine. I melted.
They're kids. Children who don't really get to be children. South Korea would have been Peter Pan's hell. I could quote my child psychology classes or education theorist I've studied, but these links are so much more interesting and hands on.
A short documentary on Korean high schools. Watch it. It's truly eye-opening and heart crushing.
A tumblr set up by an English teacher who wanted to give his kids a way to speak their minds. It's wonderfully hilarious.
