English hagwons, also known as private English academies, are institutions designed to improve English skills outside the regular school day. Acceptance into these academies is booming among elementary school students because of parents. It has become quite the competition between parents to get their child into famous private English academies, but because of the increase in popularity, many private English institutions will not take students who do not reach a certain level of English.
To get into an English hagwon, which are located primarily in the Gangnam area, not only does a family have to be able to afford the expensive tuition, but the student must also excel in English. If the student does not meet a certain level of English proficiency, he/she will not be granted acceptance.
According to Munhwailbo, there are many students who take entrance exams for English hagwons multiple times, and some parents even hire private tutors to help their child gain entrance into one of the English hagwons. Munhwailbo also reported, in an interview with a parent, that parents wants their elementary school child to enter one of these private institutions because they want their child to eventually enter a good university.
4 comments:
Why the boom?
I think it is because of the Globalization. After G20 Summit, Korea is fostering at global stage.Since English is an international language and all the major universities in the world offer education in English, so it is not a bad idea :)
I'm watching this evolution with quite some concern. While in my eyes, Public school should prepare for University, now not only a hakwon is needed for that preparation but even a private tutor is needed for preparing for the Hakwon... Tomorrow, the private tutors will also ask for an "entrance exam" and there will be yet another step for preparing for that new exam.
I might be too idealistic, I agree, but this evolution, this competition, this hard work is killing the child life of Korean children. Let them be children, let them be teenagers. Soon enough they will be facing the competition when they start working. Don't steal the 20 first years of their life.
I wholly agree with E-DS-C-F. The kids here are killing themselves over their studies. One of my boyfriend's little cousins just entered high school, and she is frequently ill because she doesn't get enough sleep. She goes to school early in the morning until later afternoon early evening, comes home, studies, eats while studying and doing homework, goes to a Hagwon at 9PM-12PM, comes home, washes while reading, does more homework and studying and goes to bed at 3am. Wakes up at 6:30am to do it all again. The worst part about it is, there is even a saying that "if you get more than 5 hours of sleep, you won't get into (a good) college."
Seriously breaks my heart when a dongsaeng of mine says she or he is not smart because they are not number one in their class. I have to remind them that the only reason they thin that is because the competition to get into school has been hyper-sensationalized--they ARE smart, and they shouldn't attach their performance in this ridiculous education system to their self-worth.
However, sadly, it still affects their future opportunities. If you don't go to Seoul Daehak, Stanford, or some equivalent, you're not worth an employer's time. I met a woman with a master's degree working at the counter of a Baskin Robins. Why? She went to a local community college. Employers are waiting for Seoul Daehak students to come apply first.
Education crisis. Employment crisis. The country recognizes that this is a problem but no one is making any attempt to slam on the breaks and fix the system. It's dog-eat-dog, and they're okay with it staying this way until the system completely collapses.
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