“There is no responsibility to take as long as you get into a great university.” This is a statement from Sky Castle, a Korean drama that portrays the extremely competitive education system in Korea. The play is a representation of the fierce competition among high school students and their parents desiring to enter so-called prestigious universities. Although the depiction is slightly extreme, it shares many similarities with reality in general.
In fact, there have been several other Korean plays focusing on the fierce competition to get into reputed universities in addition to Sky Castle. For example, Crash Course in Romance is a recent hit with a 19.8 percent rating, which presents a relatable story of high-school life. In the drama, students and their parents fiercely compete with others to enter medical schools, which many people found similar to reality. “Are we not good students? Why do we still feel frustrated when all we do is just study and eat?” One of the characters in the drama laments. Unfortunately, such works are an accurate reflection of the harsh reality in Korea.
The Rigid Hierarchy of Korean Universities and Its Impact
Korea is a country where a large section of people are eager to get high-quality education. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 70 percent of 51.4 million Koreans aged from 24 to 35 have completed tertiary education, which is the highest figure worldwide. In addition, the school system in Korea is of exceptionally high quality, especially in terms of student performance in standardized tests. The country consistently ranks among the top performers in the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
However, this excellence is the outcome of a brutally competitive and stressful education system at the back. The most representative instance of high competitiveness in Korean education is the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which is a standardized test recognized by the universities in Korea. The grading of the CSAT is done under a relative evaluation system. Students get ranked based on their scores on nine ranks in total, and only four percent of students among all the examinees in the country can be ranked first. Consequently, only a small number of students survive from CSAT. The assessment system of the CSAT provides a fundamental explanation of why Korean education has no choice but to be competitive.
The rigid hierarchy of Korean universities also contributes to the intensity of the competition. In the Korean education system, both students and universities are tightly ranked. Although the hierarchy of universities is a common phenomenon worldwide, Korean universities are far more rigidly ranked in comparison to those in other nations. In 2021, a high school in Ulsan came under criticism for hanging up a banner showing the number of students who got accepted to reputed universities.
The names of top-ranked universities such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, and KAIST were displayed at the top of the banner, and the names of other universities followed, whereas certain universities were excluded. People condemned the school as this practice reinforces academic elitism by inducing students to be preoccupied with certain schools at all costs.
In fact, such banners are ubiquitous nationwide, and they still tend to be considered a form of social custom despite the criticism that has emerged in recent years. Banners function as an annual report of the achievements of schools, and students are inevitably assessed based on it. Thus, this practice throughout the country signifies the importance of university admission and their rigid hierarchy of university ranking system in Korea.
A more extreme case showing the rigidness of hierarchy is the refund system of Megastudy, a Korean company that offers online courses for CSAT. A large number of Korean students pay for online courses to various companies, and Megastudy is undoubtedly one of the most influential companies in domestic education. The company revived itself from a financial crisis by launching a new product called Mega-pass in 2018.
The product is basically a refund system in which students can get a refund or even additional money from the company when they are admitted to prominent universities.* The hierarchy among universities has become even more stringent since then. Mega-pass enabled the company to make huge profits and draw significant attention from students. Its success reveals the clear hierarchy of Korean universities and the extreme intensity of competition to get admitted to esteemed universities.
On an average, Korean students are known to dedicate 12 to 16 hours a day to study. The demanding education system has resulted in a high level of competitiveness and the concept of socially acceptable or unacceptable universities, thus creating a huge burden on students.
*Medical schools, dental schools, Korean medicine schools, pharmacy schools, veterinary schools, Seoul National University, KAIST, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea University, Yonsei University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, Hanyang University, Choongang University, Kyunghee University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, University of Seoul, Korean National Police University, and military academies are included in the category of prominent universities.
The Social Background of Competition for Elite Universities in Korea
According to the report “Education at a Glance 2022” by OECD, Educational Attainment in Korea was recorded at 69.3 percent, which is the maximum among all the OECD nations. This high figure reflects the general tendency among Koreans to prioritize university education. In fact, the high status of university education in Korea may be attributed to the historical and social background of the nation.
Over the past 70 years, South Korea has achieved remarkable economic growth. In the 1950s, after the Korean war, the country was completely devastated and became one of the poorest nations in the world. A noticeable change took place in the 1980s when the Korean government began to invest in human capital by promoting education at a national level. The dramatic expansion of national education resulted in the increased participation of people in education.
The number of students in higher education increased from 539,000 in the 1980s to 3.3 million in 2015. With the emphasis on the importance of education, people began to consider it an essential part of their lives. Eventually, education became associated with social mobility, income levels, and social status. Those who went to prestigious universities gradually dominated society by securing socially admired jobs. In this process, the competition for reputed universities became fierce and excessive.
To summarize, Korea had to invest significant amounts of resources into human capital, and educating people was the most efficient way to bring out their potential. As time passed, a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious university became a guaranteed way for people to gain success, which explains why Korean parents invest heavily on children’s education in the form of private tutoring, hagwon (private educational institute), and others. Rooted in this social background, national education has turned into a battleground where students must fight for survival.
The Suffering of Korean Students
Meanwhile, several problems have emerged due to the brutal competitiveness, and students have persistently suffered from the academic pressure prevalent in the society. According to a report by the National Youth Policy Institute, the majority of middle- and high-school students complain about lack of sleep, and approximately 30 percent have even considered committing suicide. Among the students who participated in the survey, 65 percent cited academic pressure and anxiety about the future as reasons behind their depression.
A report by Childfund Korea shows that 86.9 percent of the respondents indicated a low happiness index. Within two years, children’s sleep time has decreased by 10.4 percentage points, whereas their study time has increased by 14.5 percentage points. Clearly, the duration of studying and the happiness index are inversely proportional. Although a certain degree of competitiveness can be helpful for motivating students and academic growth, Korean students are undoubtedly under overwhelming stress, as shown by various surveys.
The UOS Times conducted an interview with student K from Korea and student H from Canada to understand students’ perceptions of university education in detail.
Q1 What does “university” mean to you before and after entering college?
A1: (Student K) The university and college entrance examinations that I had to go through were like a big mountain for me because there were so many things that I had to accomplish to go to college, and the standards were extremely strict.
A1: (Student H) Before entering university, to me, it did not mean that much. It was just a step to reach my goal of teaching abroad. After attending university though I realized I was excited to make friends and learn about topics that I was genuinely interested in. Also, I felt very grateful that I was able to study abroad and travel while still pursuing my degree.
Q2 The college entrance rate in Korea is much higher than that in other countries. However, Korea ranks first in the world based on the academic stress index. Are you aware of the stressful life of Korean students?
A2: (Student K) The obsession with universities in Korea is causing much trouble. The biggest problem with the education in Korean middle and high schools is that it only provides education in the form of passive listening and memorizing, and students cannot learn creative thinking. Secondary education in Korea puts much emphasis on instilling facts and causal relations between them rather than encouraging students to ask questions and think about principles themselves. I think the obligation of learning these kinds of academic courses makes Korean students more stressful. The college entrance examination system that requires students to study things that are not related to their growth or interests has to be changed.
A2: (Student H) Yes, I am aware that students in Korea have a crazy amount of stress as I enjoy watching Korean dramas and I have also learned about the school life of Korean students through my studying abroad in Seoul and through my studies in general.
Q3 How do you think university affects your life? Do you think going to university means everything in our lives?
A3: (Student K) I agree with the statement, “College is not everything” because employment and the reputation of the college are not necessarily directly proportional. Studying a discipline in depth is more important than just focusing on the name of one’s university. However, no matter how much effort is made to think about educational backgrounds separately from job competency, the name value of the university still plays a big role in social awareness.
A3: (Student H) I think university has helped me to expand my horizons and think more deeply on things in day-to-day life. No, I don’t think university or college means everything in life as there is so much more to experience outside of school, and there are a lot of careers that do not require postsecondary education.
Need for Change
Many students endure difficult entrance exams and long years of study, hoping they will be able to do what they want once they enter university. However, the reality of university life is very different from that imagined by most students. Students often feel directionless after entering University because they have never taken a proactive approach towards their life before entering university. As entering University itself becomes the purpose of life or the ultimate goal, many students often feel burnt out, once they succeed in entering university.
Michael Sandel, a professor of Harvard University, author of the famous work, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, offered an interesting insight into the competitive meritocracy in Korean society while criticizing it simultaneously. In an interview with a Korean media outlet, he said that both those who do not do well and those who do are under enormous pressure due to the emulous system, which easily causes complete burnout. In addition, he pointed out that fierce competition in Korean education often decides one’s life path too early.
“Korea’s high level of education is a positive thing, but I am concerned about the tendency of education to become a tool to be socially successful in a competitive society,” he remarked. Sandel argued that the Korean education system has left university students frustrated as it only focuses on victory and defeat.
As such, the most problematic aspect of Korean education is that the focus is only on short-term goals (admission to university) and competition, whereas other important elements are ignored. The current system seems to lack a diversified curriculum for different students. High school has become a stepping stone to enter the university rather than a place of learning. In January 2023, a controversy broke out in Hanam-si, a region in South Korea, when a new business proposal was announced. It aimed at increasing the number of local students going to prestigious universities by financially supporting selected high schools in the region.
The selection criterion was clearly marked in the proposal: High schools from which more than ten students have been admitted to Seoul National University, as of 2022. In addition, according to the announced proposal, the top 10 percent of students in selected high schools will be assigned to a special class for a better studying environment. Shortly, Hanam-si was severely criticized for causing educational discrimination among students. In fact, such incidents are quite common in Korea, where high schools are seen as a stepping stone for university admission.
Consequently, many students in Korea are forced to become passive learners and end up losing their individuality. University students often have trouble adapting to new environments and feel lost as their ultimate goal disappears once they get admission. To eradicate this widespread and chronic problem, the state of education must be re-examined and major changes must be implemented at a national level. Education should promote the long-term growth of students and stop pitting them against one another.
Lee Seung-bum
okok3037@uos.ac.kr
Bae Eun-chae
bech0808@naver.com