La vie quotidienne en Corée: le Système scolaire

Everyday life in Korea

School System

1) After starting the school day at 8AM, students continue their day with additional studies. At 21PM, buses waiting to take them to the hagwons . They began a second day of classes.

Explication: Hagwons are private institutes where professors prepare students for exams often until midnight or beyond. With 50 hours of study per week on average, Koreans students are the most assiduous of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). It is this diligence that would be the key to excellent results in Korea; it has positioned itself in second place behind China and ahead of Finland. The authorities are constantly trying to improve the competitiveness of the system under pressure from parents who see school success the key to social mobility.

Success

2) South Korean students have recently achieved the highest mean scores in science and math in the International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) administered by the Educational Testing Service to 13 year olds in 19 countries. This international success is well known in South Korea, having been widely reported in the media, and has become a source of national pride.

Explication: The economic and educational success of Korean is due not so much to institutions and resources as to the efficacy of East Asian Confucian culture. According to this notion, Korea have succeeded economically and educationally because Confucianism has provided these countries (East Asian countries) with high level of social capital in the form of strong family structure and norms of frugality, hard work, and a high valuation of education.

Food

1) Rice, soup, meat, ribs, and fish are very common to eat for breakfast in South Korea.

Explication: Korean cuisine has been affected by its geography (peninsula), climate (hot, humid summers and very cold winters), proximity to neighbors China and Japan, and the Japanese occupation from 1910-1945.

2) The number of side dishes can range anywhere from 2 to 12, but everyday meals feature at least a few. Korean dishes are all served at the same time, so there are no separate courses like in Western cuisines.

Explication: Korean food stands out from other cuisines with the many side dishes (banchan) that are served during meals. So when you eat at a Korean restaurant, your various side dishes will come to you before your meal in small bowls, and can be anything from vegetables to meat to seafood prepared in any number of ways.

Sport

3) The E-Sport (video games championship) is very famous in South Korea and it is almost considerate as a sport. It is the second famous “sport” just after the baseball which is the national Korean sport.

Explication: In a country experiencing rapid economic growth, the Korean people see their living standards rise for many years and at an impressive speed to the point that gives blind trust modernism and new technologies. Korea became the first country in the world entirely connected to broadband internet. All the elements seem to combine to make South Korea the gaming paradise

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