An article in this paper recently reported that Korean teachers are overpaid. The contention was that since Korea pays its teachers more than all but one of the OECD countries it must be paying too much.i) A problem with the article was, as a poster on the forum pointed out, "statistics can really be manipulated." Buying a home in Seoul is far more expensive than buying a home in a place like Kansas City, a mid-size city in the US.


YES
* Too much of Korean education lacks practicality. "Youth employment has… declined quite sharply since 1996," reports the OECD observer. A primary problem is the lack of strong links between education and work. Education has come to be a panacea for Korea, when it is really more of a placebo.ii)

* Koreans send a staggering number of students abroad, which costs a fortune. This is part of what Korean media and government refer to as the service deficit. If Korea could provide the education its people wanted, this money would not go abroad.

* Regular schooling never seems to be enough for many students. One student recently related that school day times are spent napping and catching up on hagwon homework. While I hope this is hyperbolic it is not the first time I have heard such a complaint. I remember watching a BBC report a few years back showing how much time Koreans spend in school, but showing sleeping kids in their schools.


NO
* Korea is getting what it pays for. "South Koreans are the largest group of international students in the United States,"iii) and many Koreans get into very good schools-Korea may be obsessed with which school is best, but that is for another debate.

* Korea is a high tech economy, leading the world in production of items such as semiconductors and LCD's. Such advancements cannot come without education. Korea needs to continue producing students that outperform their peers in other countries.iv)

* Teaching is a skill, not a menial job. By paying teachers well, Korea is able to attract some of the smartest people to the front of the classroom. This Confucian society has valued education for a long time, even going so far as to equate kings and fathers with teachers.v)

In a previous column I noted that Korea spends more money on education than any other country.vi) What is left is to decide if Koreans are getting their money's worth.

___________
Roger Hatridge, Korea's World Individuals coach, is proud to announce that Hyun-Woo Yoon made it to the finals this past week at the World Individuals in Germany. He can be reached at Hatridge@gmail.com.

i) http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/03/123_21163.html
ii) http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/2421/Korea%92s_young
_workers.html
iii) http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/News/IntlEducation/newsarticle.htm?
id=I497077724
iv) http://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_32252351_32236191_
3971885_1_1_1_1,00.html
v) http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/articles/chu.html
vi) http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/1126/Progress_in_
education.html