Families Typically Highly Value Top School Performance

South Korea is well-known for its emphasis on education, with its students ranking among the highest in international education tests. “This obsession with education helps put South Korea consistently atop the global school rankings. In last year’s national rankings of students’ math and science scores by the Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea came in second place worldwide, after Singapore. The organization also found that ‘over 70% of high school graduates go to four-year universities.’” (Diamond, 2016)

“Face Saving” is Vital

Face-Saving is traditionally very important in Korean Society. ) A student must work hard to save the family from the shame of poor grades. A parent does not show pleasure in the child’s good report card, for fear of spoiling their child. “Behind the ostensible intent of face-saving tactics lies the essence of a self-effacing culture: the intrinsic intent of face-saving strategies is to protect others from the consequences of loss-of-face.” (Kim, 1993) In practical terms, this may mean that a Korean student is more likely to take a major based on parental input, and work hard to succeed in that path, even if a different major might be a better fit.

Stress Among Teenagers is Highest Reported in World

A difficult aspect of this emphasis on education, combined with the need to save face, is that stress and suicide rates are elevated in South Korea. “[F]ailure to conform to social requirements or ethical codes and failure to meet the family’s expectations are considered a loss-of-face which in turn results in suicide.” (Kim, 1993) [It should be noted that the suicide rates of Koreans living in the U.S. is significantly lower than the rate for Koreans living in Korea. (Kung, et.al., 2018)]

Korean Education is compulsory and free, for the first 9 years of education (for children aged 6 – 15.) It ranks first in OECD countries in the rate of adults who have university education (65% of all adults) and the percentage of adults who have completed high school (97%.) “Based on international test scores, graduate rates and the prevalence of higher education seekers, South Korea is widely perceived as having one of the best K-12 education systems in the world.” (Clark, 2013)

Korean students are in school for 220 days of the year (compared to 180 in the U.S.), with reports that students spend an average of 13 hours a day in school and in private tutoring. Many students are sent to private “cram” schools, called hagwons, described in The New York Times as, “soulless facilities, with room after room divided by thin walls, lit by long fluorescent bulbs, and stuffed with students memorizing English vocabulary, Korean grammar rules and math formulas.” (Diamond, 2016)

The main focus of this study is to rank at the top of ones’ class, and to perform well on the “Suneung,” the college scholastic ability test. This test is the main way to secure a top-notch college education. “’Most teachers emphasize that if we failed Suneung, the rest of our lives would be failure, because the test is the first (and last) step to our successful lives,’ said Sina Kim, a 25-year-old currently looking for a job. The exam is seen as “’the final goal and final determinant of our lives. We thought that if we successfully finish the test, then the bright future would automatically follow.’” (Diamond, 2016) One can also get entrance into college through the non-traditional path of “Susi”, a system more similar to the U.S., where numerous factors are taken into consideration, but this path is less respected, and “seen as the easy way in.” (Diamond, 2016)

Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Most Unlike U.S.

• Individualism
• Long Term Orientation
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Read more from Hofstede Insights

Implications for the Classroom

Korean students may be more likely than U.S. students to:

• Work on assignments together and share information.
• Be hesitant to speak up in class. In Korea, interrupting the professor would be seen as extremely rude. The U.S. system of a professor and students discussing things back and forth, is quite uncommon in Korea. In one study a Korea student says, “I also tried to raise my hand to ask question. However, I did not talk until the professor saw me. I had to wait. In Korea, it is not good to interrupt a professor’s speaking….The professor continued to talk with other classmates even (though) they did not raise their hands. So, I just do not express my opinions to the professor’s questions. No one will wait for me. They just continue to talk.” (Wu, H., et.al., 2015)
• Favor structured learning and clear rules. Citizens from a society that avoids uncertainty is more likely to desire clear expectations and rigid rules. This may cause difficulty in a U.S. classroom, where autonomy and critical thinking are of utmost importance. For example, a professor might deliberately provide vague instructions for a research paper, forcing a student to creatively determine the best way to approach the research. For a student who has grown up with strict rules and structures, whose main job in school is to remember and regurgitate information, this type of assignment will be enormously difficult. Add to that issue the fact that the assignment is also in a second language, and the task just increased exponentially.

Clark, N. (2013) Education in South Korea. World Education News & Reviews.

Diamond, A. (2016) South Korea’s Testing Fixation. The Atlantic.

Hu, E. (2015) The All-Work, No-Play Culture of South Korean Education. Morning Edition, NPR.

Kim, K. (1993) What is Behind “Face-Saving” in Cross-Cultural Communication? Intercultural Communication Studies III:I. Chung-Ang University.

Koo, S. (2014) An Assault Upon Our Children. The New York Times.

Kung, A., Hastings, K.G., Kapphahn, K.I., Wang E.J. (2018) Cross-national comparisons of increasing suicidal mortality rates for Koreas in the Republic of Korea and Korean American in the USA, 2003-2012. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

Singh, A. (2017) The “Scourge of South Korea”: Stress and Suicide in Korean Society. Berkeley Political Review.

Wu, H., Garza, E., Guzman, N. (2015) International Student’s Challenge and Adjustment to College. Educational Research International, Volume 2015, Article ID 202753.