By Michael Stevens
In a recent article entitled ``Obama Lauds Korea's Education of Children," the unnamed author wrote ``Obama's remarks came as a surprise to many South Koreans, as the country's education system has been under constant public criticism due to its lack of creativity and heavy dependence on private tutoring."
However, what Obama was truly expressing was clearly not his approval of the fact that Korean students are forced to study all hours of the night in private academies or in an educational system that instills little more than the drone mentality in its students.
For anyone who believes that the American president was saying that the Korean education system is better than that of the United States is reading way too much into his brief remarks, since President Obama was obviously saying that American school hours should be expanded, like those in Korea, not moving toward the many dogmas that plague the Korean system.
Yet, at this time, I don't want to give the impression to Korean readers that I believe that the American approach to education is superior to the Korean one, since both systems are seriously flawed in many areas and need a major overhaul when it comes to educating ― especially at the high school level.
Lee Won-hee, the founder of Daewon Foreign Language High School, stated in an interview in the New York Times, ``that while Daewon was turning out high-scoring students, [However], it might be falling short in educating them as responsible citizens…American schools may do a better job at that."
Although I will agree that a lot of American schools do, in fact, an excellent job when it comes to preparing its students for the realities of life outside the classroom, in many others ways they are severely lacking.
One such example would be its over-emphasis on socializing and having fun, and there needs to be more emphasis on the importance of studying and the need for improving academic achievements.
America can not expect to continue to stay competitive in the global market if its own students lack the basic skills required to be scientists and engineers. Regrettably, over the years, America has had to seek a large proportion of its scientific and engineering manpower from other countries, including Korea, to stay afloat.
Though this may have been an option in the past, it is nonetheless a short-sighted approach to the future growth of American industry, given that the United States needs inventors, engineers, doctors, computer designers and scientists.
Yet, the education system as it stands now is not delivering the standards of science education needed to fill these jobs, and it threatens the country's economic future.
The Korean approach to education does, in fact, do a much better job at getting its students to stay in school for a much longer period of time each day to study, preparing them for their eventual admission into university.
Likewise, Koreans students also consistently rate much more highly in subjects such as science and mathematics, according to two studies by the International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
However, the credit for these two accomplishments cannot rest solely on the Korean public educational system or its teachers, since parents in this country must continue to send their children to expensive private institutes, often until all hours of the night. It has come to the point where many of these academies are demanding the right to remain open 24 hours a day.
Further proof that Korean public schools are not fully meeting the desires of parents when it comes to educating their children is that students from families that cannot afford to send their children to these private institutes do not do nearly as well as other students.
Like any public educational system, both that of Korea and that of America have positive and negative aspects.
While America's approach is to help students think creatively about the information given to them, make decisions that benefit themselves and their community, and learn how to gain mastery of the skills that they will eventually need to succeed in the future, Korea's approach is to encourage students to critically think and to challenge themselves and work just outside the boundaries of their own abilities, putting self-sacrifice over themselves, their friends and family.
What's needed now is for both countries to critically look at each others' methods of educating the youth, and devise different ways to enhance their already-existent program, looking at both the strengths and the weaknesses. Then they can adapt and compromise in order to encourage both creative and critical thinking that gives students a better social awareness while promoting self-sacrifice for academic achievement.
Michael Stevens is a student of biblical studies residing in Guri, Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at eslcity@gmail.com.