Education in Korea [Korean Cultural Overview, Hagwon, K-drama]

In this post, I want to present an overall cultural introduction to what education in Korea looks like from an everyday Korean perspective.

Education in Korea is quite different from other countries but also has a lot of common aspects with countries that consider higher education to be important.

In K-dramas like 'SKY Castle(스카이 캐슬)' or 'Crash Course in Romance(일타 스캔들),' viewers can see the extent families will go to for their teenagers' education.

By the way, 'SKY' is an acronym for the three most prestigious universities: S for Seoul National University, K for Korea University, and Y for Yonsei University.

Hopefully, this post will help K-drama viewers or anyone who has an interest in Korean culture better understand the cultural and social context of education in Korea.

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A Summary

The academic scene is extremely competitive in Korea. Having higher grades usually doesn't immediately make you a 'dork' in the Western sense. Actually, students with high academic performance are viewed as skilled, competent, and unlikely to become the victim of bullying (although not necessarily so). Hagwons, for-profit private institutes or academies, are prevalent with a law made to prevent hagwons from holding classes from 11pm to 5am in 2016. In other words, prior to 2016, it wasn't uncommon for students to attend hagwons from after school to 12pm or even later. There is a large demand for private education or private tutoring where most students will attend some form of private education from grade school to high school graduation.

In 'Crash Course in Romance,' you can see how private institutes are regarded and operated, although it may be a bit exaggerated for content. In 'SKY Castle,' you can see the private tutoring scene especially regarding full-time tutors who can have extreme hourly rates. Both are common in Korea, alongside private tutoring by university students.

Let's just say that Korea is really, really interested in education. That's mostly because your university prestige can have a lot of influence on your career and affluence in adulthood.

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Aside from the three most popular universities in the historical sense - SKY, there are some universities that have gained popularity for their success in engineering and sciences like KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology). Another side note to mention is that for most students today, any medical school is more popular regardless of which university it resides in because doctors have higher salaries compared to most other jobs in Korea. In Korea, you usually have to enter university upon graduating from high school in the medical school track to be able to study to become a doctor.

Also, in most cases in Korea, you choose which field you will study when you apply for university and it is quite difficult to transfer to a different major. If you apply for business school, you will most likely graduate with a business degree unless you put a lot of effort into changing your major. 

It's a bit saddening that students choose their university and academic area based on socioeconomic value and prestige rather than personal interest. However, there are also students who choose their own paths despite the overall social pressure.

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We've already discussed the most popular and prestigious universities, so let's move on to other important aspects to know about Korean education.

수능 (Sunung, Korean SAT)

Sunung, the yearly national entrance exam that upcoming high school graduates take is held on the third Thursday in November. On this day, during the listening section in the English exam, plane flights won't take off or land.

In Korea, you usually are graded for university entrance based on either your Sunung results or your overall academic records in high school and your school activities. When graded depending on your Sunung results, unless you are applying for art school or sports-related majors, your entrance will be determined solely based on your Sunung grades and you can only apply to up to 3 universities. Sunung is only held once a year, so if you are rejected from all three unis you applied to, you will have to wait another year to take Sunung again and then reapply.

Because of this, it is common for students to do 'N수 (read as En-Su, meaning you take Su(nung) multiple(N) times).'

'재수' means 're(재)' doing Sunung(수), taking Sunung for the second time, '삼수' means third(삼, Korean for 'three') time taking Sunung(수), '사수' means fourth(사, Korean for 'four') time taking Sunung(수), and so on. If you add '생(short for student, pronounced 'saeng')' to the end of each as in 'N수생' or '재수생' it refers to a student taking Sunung for the Nth or second time respectively.

내신 (Grades, Academic records)

High school academic records are another way students can be evaluated for university entrance, and it is referred to as '내신(naeshin).'

Your 내신 grades are determined within your school by relative evaluation. If you reach the top 4 percentile in English you get '1등급(pronounced as il-deung-geub)', 5-8 percentile gets '2등급(ee-deung-geub)', 9-11 percentile gets '3등금(sam-deung-geub)' and so on. Your '등급' is your 'grade' and each subject is given a weight depending on how many hours the subject is allocated. For example, art class is only held for 1 or 2 hours every week, whereas math class is held for 3 or more hours every week. Then, your art grade will be given a 1 or 2-hour weight, whereas math will get a 3 or higher weight.

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That wraps it up for this overview on Korean education.

Please feel free to click on the heart icon below to offer some support for this blog, or leave comments on further topics you are curious about. I would also be interested to hear what education is like in your country.