Education in South Korea

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Education in South Korea
South Korea has come a tremendously long way in their education system, from the time World War II ended, up until the 21st century. South Korea began to reform their education system after independence from Japan into a more Western influence system. The biggest decision made about the reform was to organize and install the new education system into 4 different stages. The first stage, Universal Elementary Education, went from 1945, after WWII, into and through the 1950’s. Expansion of Secondary Education & Equalization, the second stage, occurred from about the 1960’s to the 1970’s. The third stage, from the 1980’s to the 1990’s, focused on higher education and the quality of education, not the quantity. The fourth and final stage, occurring from the 2000’s and beyond, concentrated on independence and innovation of facing new problems in South Korea (Lee, 2-14). Through these four stages, South Korea was able to restore and revolutionize their education system, greatly impacting not only their every-day lives, but lives of other developing countries as well.
Directly after the end of World War II, South Korea was really struggling with keeping children and teens in school and focused on their studies. In 1945, independence for South Korean from Japan, the enrollment rate for children of the primary school age was only 64% (Postiglione, 331). This number is extremely high for the amount of children not in school. This just shows that even as important as education was, it wasn’t each family’s first priority at the end of the war. The biggest problem with South Korean education in 1945 was the amount of illiterate people. About 78% of South Korean children and adults from 12 years of age and up were ill...

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...ng to become the best in the world.

Works Cited

Lee, Chong Jae., Kim, Yong., and Byun, Soo-yong. The Rise of Korean Education from the ashes of the Korean War. Butler University Database. Springer. UNESCO. 2012. Web. 06. September. 2012.
Kauh, Kwang Man. A Critical Analysis of Korean Education. The Phi Delta Kappen, Vol. 39, No. 3, Problems and Promises of Education in Asia. Phi Delta Kappa International. Web. 12. Mar. 2013.
Postiglione, Gerard A, and Jason Tan. Going to School in East Asia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2007. Internet resource. Butler University Database.
Seth, Michael J. A Popular Demand and Education in South Korea: A Historical Overview. James Madison University.
Strother, Jason. "Drive for education drives South Korean families into the red." Christian Science Monitor 10 Nov. 2012: N.PAG. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.

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