Korea's obsession with education

Simon Mundy and Laeticia Ock:

At no time this year was South Korea's national obsession with education more starkly on show than on Thursday, as more than 660,000 youngsters sat their university entrance exams. Traffic was diverted away from exam halls, airline schedules were tweaked to avoid distractions and police cars were put at the disposal of students who risked arriving late for their exams.

Such a sweeping show of support would doubtless be appreciated by stressed-out, sleep-deprived examinees in other countries. But the degree of national interest in the entrance exams reflects what, according to critics, is an excessive level of pressure on the shoulders of the country's youth.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 9, 2012 4:05 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas