H is for Hagwons

First, I know it's been a while, sorry. These have been floating around my head for a bit, just haven't felt motivated to put them on the blog...so here goes.

I work at a hagwon here in South Korea. For those of you who don't know what they are, they are traditionally after school academies to help students further their interests in science, math, language, etc. From what I understand from people I've talked to who grew up in S. Korea, hagwons were scarce until recently. They were only an option for those who wanted to advance a bit in certain areas.

This seems to be in contrast to their current usage here in S. Korea. Now, some hogwans still offer assistance further skills in a specific subject areas, but there are also English language hagwons everywhere I turn here in Pohang. I imagine it is the same with most cities here in S. Korea. most of my students in my afternoon classes attend at least 2 hagwons each day after school. Plus they have a sport and a musical instrument that they play.

This means that S. Korean children of the middle and upper class spend about 12-14 hours a day in education related activities before going home. Then they have to do homework. I wonder if any of them get to sleep even 8 hours a night. which brings me to the point of why I wanted to talk about hagwons.

Hagwons originally started as a good idea, extra support for children who needed or wanted it. Now it seems to be an extended day care service for busy parents who want trophy children. The sad part is that, at least at the hagwon I work at, the system of education seems to be rote memorization and regurgitation on tests.  There is little room to teach critical thinking or intsill a love of learning.

So, you end up with worn out children, who have nervous breakdowns before their time. It's just not a good way to handle education. It pisses me off that a clueless Obama is heralding the S. Korean education system as an example to the US. The US is already well on its way to becoming like S. Korea with No Child Left Behind (NCLB).