By Roger Foard
I must throw my hat into this public debate over a March 18 column by Prof. Choi Yearn-hong, and his reference to the comments by President Barack Obama praising the Korean education system as something to which Americans can aspire.
Most Americans realize that there are heated discussions on the merits of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in the United States, but as a misplaced American in Korea, I think NCLB and its benchmarks are very beneficial and essential to the health of American education, and could be a vital and life-giving addition to help improve the problem-laden Korean education system.
Koreans do excel in both math and science over Americans, as Prof. Choi stated, but educational studies have shown this advantage is only visible in K-12, and quickly disappears at the university level and higher.
This short-term Korean advantage is simply due to the fact that both disciplines involve a lot of rote memorization, which Korean are famous for, and sadly epitomizes the entire Korean teaching method both new and old.
Koreans are wonderful at copying another's idea, but as for being creative and independent thinkers, Koreans lag far behind Americans.
With regard to foreign language learners, Americans are considerably ahead of Korea in establishing a second language (Spanish) and bilingualism.
Koreans would argue that the immigration of Spanish speakers is the main factor to explain why so many Americans are bilingual, but the average Korean student often receives over ``10-plus years'' of English education in both public schools and academies, and are not remotely bilingual.
This American advantage is partly due to the establishment of high ``objective and enforceable'' standards of NCLB within the education system for both teachers and students, and partly due to creative and authentic exercises and the teaching methods of American teachers.
Korea has only two visible educational standards: the letter grades given, which are often questionable, and the school or university which the student attended. These standards are very subjective in their approach, nor respected outside of Korea.
Finally, Koreans often praise their school system for having a longer school year, but just having more school hours does not automatically equate to a superior education system.
No educational study has shown this to be true. If the American schools decided to follow the Korean example of ``quantity over quality,'' the end result for Americans will be the substitution of superior curriculums and teaching methods for a longer school year as well as over-worked students whose view of education will become negative.
This is neither the proper direction for the American school system to take, nor aspire too. Instead of having Americans strive to be like Korean students, it is the Koreans who need to aspire to be like Americans.
It is my hope that someone can educate President Obama of these important educational facts before he chooses this path of recklessness!
Roger Foard is a professor in the English education department at Seoul Theological University.