(Ellinger & Beckham, 625)..
The days are long for Korean students. High school students, for example, attend school from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., but they return to study hall at 6:00 p.m. and do not leave before 10:00 p.m. During the day, poorly heated classrooms house an average of 40 to 50 students, sitting in well-worn desks arranged in long straight rows; evening study halls are conducted in equally cold rooms that seat 200 students, hunched over tiny wooden desks, many of which are of 1920 to 1940 vintage. After study hall, a Korean student's day is still not over; many of them view an educational television channel or work on homework assignments from 10:30 p.m. until midnight. Others attend evening hak gwan, private institutes in which they receive specialized supplementary academic lessons in a variety of subjects usually chosen by their parents (Ellinger & Beckham, 625).
Some critics of the Korean education system say that the nation is obsessed with education, forcing children to become education robots, leaving the house at dawn and not finishing until midnight. For example, one student, 18 year old Park Dae Hyon leaves his house in Seoul at dawn and does not return until midnight. He spends ten hours a day at school and he is studying hard for college entrance exams (They're Crazy . . .,36). Park has five tutors who teach him many things, including English, math, and science. For Park's parents, it is expensive. The tutors' cost is $36,000 and the family pays for tutors for a sister, as well. The family spends roughly half its income on education for the children. However, the mother, Lim Myong Hee, believes it is worth it as "their lives will be decided by the universities they go to" (They're Crazyà36).
This heavy emphasis on education has fueled the education sector of business, including cram schools, tutors, practice exam services and other extracurricular materials. In 1990 Koreans spent $8.3 bill...