A rant on education

Somewhere in Seoul, South Korea, a 14-year-old boy named Sun-Gyu Min is waking up to go to school. Just like other boys his age, when the alarm goes off, thoughts of ways to convince his mother to give him another five minutes of sleep flood his head. However, unlike most of Sun-Gyu’s counterparts in America, when his alarm goes off every Monday thru Saturday, he starts a school day that lasts for 16 hours.

Sun-Gyu does not lead a life very unusual for a boy his age living in Seoul. He loves video games, is devoted to his favorite sports teams, and treats his education with a respect that is hard to find outside of religious ceremonies. This is why Sun-Gyu wearily places his feet on the cold floor and stumbles to his desk before dawn 6 days a week: he is diligently praying at his alter of mathematics, science, and history.

Once Sun-Gyu finishes his pre-breakfast study session, he jumps in the shower, eats a breakfast of rice and soup, and jumps on the bus to make it to a special school called a Ha-Gwan, or cram school, for a lesson in science by 7 am. After 1 hour of science, Sun-Gyu hopes on another bus to take him to his public school that he will attend until 4 pm. After he finishes his school day, he will take the bus to another Ha-Gwan where he will take classes in Math and English until 10 pm: a schedule that gives Sun-Gyu three times as much classroom time per week compared to the average American student. The result: South Koreans average 4^th in reading and math comprehension internationally while America currently ranks 32^nd in math proficiency and 17^th in reading proficiency.

As the future’s knuckles continue to rap on America’s front doors, we are becoming less prepared to greet it.  The prospect of American students competing with Sun-Gyu, with his solid educational footing, makes contending on a global scale intimidating. What can America do to better prepare itself? Should we institute a policy that mandates every American child to begin a daily educational marathon in order to take on the Sun-Gyus of the world? I don’t think so. However, to expect America to keep its dominant place in the world without an educated populous would be as crazy as me challenging Sun-Gyu to a math competition.

I posit that it’s not the education that Sun-Gyu receives in the classroom that accounts for his success, but the support he is getting at home. South Korea places a strong emphasis on education that is not largely replicated in America. The basis for my theory comes from Americas educational rankings compared to South Koreas. Even though South Korea is ranked fourth internationally in education, Sun-Gyu’s family continue to place him in Ha-Gwans before and after school to increase his chances of learning as much as he can. Compare that to America where in the last 12 years our international math ranking has dropped 13 places and reading ranking has dropped 3 places. What steps have we been taking to improve the situation?