Education And Happiness : The Korean Case

A little more than three years ago, I was in Korea. I was a normal middle schooler, and a daughter of a middle class reporter father. Everyday was a competition for students, trying to get the best score to go to the best college possible. As a result, I spent every single minute of my free time in after school academies. I was seeking change in this frustrating life, perhaps a more enjoyable life where rather than just

Although China’s influence over Korea has waned severely since the dynastic years we find the Confucian system of virtues and behaviors, China’s chief export from that time, still very much alive. Korea highly values the extended family, education, personal discipline and public order. In South Korea Confucian temples continue to be maintained throughout the country. The tenets of Confucianism are seen as antidotes to social ills and therefore education is thought of as a means of building character, not simply of intellectual formation. The values of Confucianism are promulgated throughout Korea in places as diverse as school, the office and the home. Television programs often portray Confucian merits such as filial piety and harmony. However

Education is taken earnestly in primarily all countries throughout the world including America, but even more so in South Korea. While high school is considered to be one of the best times of your life in America, it is not the same for Koreans. In America, sports,

“Each household pays 288.000 Won (about 250 USD monthly), which is about 8 percent of household income, for their children’s private tutoring. As a whole, Korea spends about 2.2 percent of GDP on private tutoring.” (Nakamura 43). The aspiring universities are usually located in the capital and big cities, which are the center of business trading and academic training. It is not surprised when lots of parents want their children to study and achieve academically in there. For instance, in South Korea, the capital Seoul has been a place for people who wanted to work in academia or government. “Many parents in rural areas or small cities have been sending their children to schools in bigger towns or large cities. As people, especially younger generations, move to Seoul to study or work and then settle in/near Seoul metropolitan area, rural areas are becoming “empty nests.” Schools in rural parts of Korea are now being closed in rural parts of Korea due to an extremely low number (or none) of school-age students; meanwhile, many schools in Seoul and vicinity are overcrowded.” (Nakamura 33). After graduating, students will also face with a tight contest of getting a good job with the limited number of positions. One of the qualifications required by most employers is English proficiency, which is evaluated through some exams such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), IELTS (International English Language Testing System), TOEIC (Test of English for

However, the study showed that parental education had no effect on the student 's life satisfaction, but it did show that perceived family and personal social status did have a positive effect. Furthermore, individual subjective happiness is not affected by the parental education levels, but once again perceived family status did. "Previous research has consistently linked economic resources and human capital to positive and negative health outcomes across their life span" (Zorotovich 630). Dr. Zorotovich et al look at more factors than just that of income level, and how these factors could maximize well-being, and takes into account how social status of a person and their family members can also affect well-being. They found that people and their families perceived social status had a large impact on the individual 's life satisfaction and happiness, but people with a greater perceived social status of themselves and their families had reported greater levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

Students in South Korea take their education very seriously. Eric described their school system as a “pressure cooker”. “rigor mattered, koreans understood that mastering difficult academic content was important. They didn’t take shortcuts.”(pg.116) These students have to compete with each other in order to get accepted into the most prestigious colleges. Not only do students attend school from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon, they also have to attend hagwons which are private tutors after school. They study at least twelve hours a day to make sure they get the best grades.

Based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi “Happiness Revisited” People have many different points of view about how to achieve happiness, it can be based on the type of life one is having, an experience, a way of living, culture, and religion. Happiness can be defined in many ways but happiness is not something we find or get just by magic. In “Happiness Revisited” by Csikszentmihalyi, the author emphasizes that “It is by being fully involved with every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, that we find happiness, not by trying to look for it directly.” And just as he stays that happiness is when someone is involved in everything that happens in live either good or bad, one example that I think Csikszentmihalyi will describe as an optimal experience

The division between the test scores of American and Asian high school students has recently become a matter of many debates in many circles. Often the conclusion is that the American system is not fulfilling its role of making competent citizens, and that America will soon be unable to compete in the global economic market. Before I discuss the differences between Western and Eastern attitudes towards education that feed this test score split, I will review an important factor that is often overlooked in these statistics. The school systems of Japan and Korea do not attempt to educate the entire population of the country. Instead, only the most successful grammar school students are chosen to go on to higher education. In contrast, America makes education beyond grammar school not only available but required. Therefore, while the test scores represent all of American children, they only represent a select number of Asian students.

Lisa who lives in Sweden lives a happy lifestyle. She has everything that anyone can ask for. A great job, health care, an education, and a government that invests in her and her people. In a not so great part of the world, Rida who lives in Iraq lives an unhappy lifestyle. Her family of 10 can barely support themselves and cannot afford to send Rida to school. And Health care in her country is one of the worst in the world. Happiness levels in a country differ from one another because of the circumstances they are in. Countries having the same circumstances can differ on happiness levels. If you were to put the U.S. and a country like Netherlands together, they both are sort of the same. Good health care, education, and employment. But in actuality, the Netherlands are a much happier nation than the U.S. In ‘Celebrating Happiness Day With The Happiest (And Saddest) Countries,’ by, Hayley Munguia, shows us where each country ranks based on happiness. The Netherlands are ranked fourth while the U.S. is ranked seventeenth on the chart.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claims that a person’s income, education level, and their housing situation plays a big role in their happiness. Income specifically has a huge impact. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a forum where 34 democracies with market economies work with each other, as well

I started to question about happiness in America after I saw a pattern in high school that students are often confused or stressed. I started out with the question, “why is it hard to be happy when being happy shouldn’t be that hard?” To answer these questions, I found Sophie Chan’s 2011 study, “Hong Kong Chinese community leaders’ perspectives on family health, happiness and harmony: a qualitative study.” This study would help answer questions on my audience’s curiosity about other countries happiness compared to the United States. Then I started to think that there were also other issues that friction with happiness in America and

"A library of wisdom, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it." -- Plato

South Korea’s social structure revolves around the individual’s professional, family, and education background. People who have attained prestigious job titles, graduated from a first-rate university, or was born into an influential family are placed very high on the social structure. People who do not have a respectable education background are usually on the bottom of the status pole; however, it is possible for social mobility. The South Korean education system is similar to the one in the United States. Even though the years of attendance might be dissimilar from the US, the education system still consists of an elementary, middle, and high school. After graduating from high school, most students apply and attend universities from all across the nation.

At the end of World War II, Korea was a poor former agricultural colony of Japan. But the rapid growth of Korea’s industrial economy has been remarkable. The economy of South Korea is now the third-largest in Asia and the 13th largest in the world by GDP as of 2007. To trace back the economic development of South Korea, the former president Park Chung-Hee played a pivotal role, and was credited for shifting its focus to export-oriented favoring a few large conglomerates. Unlike his predecessors, Park showed a strong commitment to economic development, believing good economic performance as a primary means for enhancing his political legitimacy. Under the President Park Chung-Hee’s era, the government played a dominating role in a

Parent’s role in South Korea is taking care of their children until they get married. Children usually live with their parents until they are married, even if they are full grown adults. Parents are desperate attempt to give children an educational advantage, and grant them explore to a globalized worldview (in contrast with Korea's strictly homogenous culture and community), children are often sent to boarding schools abroad usually to the U.S., Canada and Australia, and family members strangely separated for many years.