Higher Ed in South Korea

Okay, so the focus of this article is on teaching in South Korea, and the observations of an American professor in South Korea, however, there are some interesting statistics related to higher ed finance here:

A full year of tuition and living expenses for a midranked public university consumes, on average, more than 45 percent of a family's annual income. The costs are higher if the institution is private and is considered the equivalent of an Ivy League institution. Over the last three decades, tuition costs borne by South Korean families have increased by a factor of almost 30 with an especially sharp jump in the last decade. Household incomes have not increased at the same rate.

So basically, here in the U.S., I would argue that while higher education still is not a "right" the same way K-12 education is, higher education in the U.S. is seen as a "public good." In South Korea, it appears that education is still a "private good" and is primarily for those who can afford it.

The article mentions high rates of college and high school student unhappiness, as well as high rates of suicide. Interestingly enough, as I read the article, I could not help but draw parallels between these students and students at MIT (I had a friend who went there). Perhaps the combination of student competition (where professors actually pitt students against each other for grades in class) and long study hours are to blame. I also found that many of my Asian friends (particularly males) who attended the best private schools here and received the highest grades here also spent their first year of college at Harvard and MIT partying, who seemed to be (much like the Korean students) just celebrating being done with high school and the fact that they got into Harvard and MIT.

While I don't think this article can really be generalized in any particular way, the unfortunate circumstances of higher education in South Korea (and by this, I mean the constant hours of studying in primary and secondary school, as well as the fact that college is only seen as a private good) do seem to reflect the nation and the priorities of the nation. Perhaps a more efficient education system could help lead to a more efficient government??? Hrm...we may never know.