South Korean Adolescent Suicide and School - Anti-Schooling Series Part 9
Suicide is the number one cause of death for South Korean youths, therefore South Korea is an example of the potential harmful effects of compulsory education. As parents more and more consider educational achievement a status symbol, the negative effects of academic pressure and educational work become more and more prevalent and extreme. Countries compare their youth's academic performance as well, and do nothing to prevent the harmful effects of compulsory education on children. People get more and more obsessed and competitive about schooling, and the result of schooling is usually only stress, depression, and bad health. In this article we get to see a couple of direct quotes from the students themselves.
From Wikipedia's article on Suicide in South Korea:
Education in South Korea is extremely competitive, making it difficult to get into an esteemed university. A South Korean student's school year lasts from March to February. The year divides into two semesters: one from March until July, and another from August to February. The average South Korean high school student also spends roughly 16 hours a day on school and school-related activities. They attend after school programs called hagwons and there are over 100,000 of them throughout South Korea, making them a 20 billion dollar industry. Again, this is because of the competitiveness of acceptance into a good university. Most South Korean test scores are also graded on a curve, leading to more competition. Since 2012, students in South Korea go to school from Monday to Friday, and every odd Saturday. Before 2005, South Korean students went to school every day from Monday to Saturday.
Although South Korean education consistently ranks near the top in international academic assessments such as PISA, the enormous stress and pressure on its students is considered by many to constitute child abuse (see An Assault Upon Our Children) It has been blamed for high suicide rates in South Korea among those aged 10–19.
From An Assault Upon Our Children:
The world may look to South Korea as a model for education — its students rank among the best on international education tests — but the system’s dark side casts a long shadow. Dominated by Tiger Moms, cram schools and highly authoritarian teachers, South Korean education produces ranks of overachieving students who pay a stiff price in health and happiness. The entire program amounts to child abuse. It should be reformed and restructured without delay.
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Cram schools like the one I taught in — known as hagwons in Korean — are a mainstay of the South Korean education system and a symbol of parental yearning to see their children succeed at all costs. Hagwons are soulless facilities, with room after room divided by thin walls, lit by long fluorescent bulbs, and stuffed with students memorizing English vocabulary, Korean grammar rules and math formulas. Students typically stay after regular school hours until 10 p.m. or later.
Herded to various educational outlets and programs by parents, the average South Korean student works up to 13 hours a day, while the average high school student sleeps only 5.5 hours a night to ensure there is sufficient time for studying. Hagwons consume more than half of spending on private education.
The schedule of many youths in South Korea, and other developed countries is demonstrated by the description in South Korea's schools: Long days, high results.
Hye-Min Park is 16 and lives in the affluent Seoul district of Gangnam, made famous by the pop star Psy. Her day is typical of that of the majority of South Korean teenagers.
She rises at 6.30am, is at school by 8am, finishes at 4pm, (or 5pm if she has a club), then pops back home to eat.
She then takes a bus to her second school shift of the day, at a private crammer or hagwon, where she has lessons from 6pm until 9pm.
She spends another two hours in what she calls self-study back at school, before arriving home after 11pm. She goes to bed at 2am, and rises in the morning at 6.30am to do it all over again.
Some people may be inclined to think this schedule is abnormal, but it is very prevalent in the United States and considered normal in South Korea. It will be considered normal in the United States if we continue the educational trend we have been. I have discussed in previous articles the effects of sleep deprivation on mental and physical health and how school causes sleep deprivation.
In the article Depressed South Korean Student Reveals Why He Wants to Commit Suicide a student states:
As soon as the semester starts, the school starts to look scary. I only get three hours of sleep every day. Even if you’re still in Grade 1, the stress and competition among students is tremendous. That’s just the way it is. Since everyone aims to get a place in college or university, the schooling system has become a competition for academic excellence among the students.I’m uncertain and anxious about my future. Can I get into the university of my choice? What about 20 years from now? Can I secure a job? I just want the gate of hell (semester) to open soon so I can get through this quickly. I still have two years left.Previously, I don’t understand people who commit suicide, but now, I’m depressed and I think of committing suicide several times a day.
No one wants to be seen as weaker or less than another person. This leads to educational competition, and when that competition is encouraged by parents, culture, and governments, the result can be what has been described in this article.
Adolescents are easily tricked and led to believe that their test scores are very important and will greatly effect their life, while this is not actually the case.
From the study Epidemiology of Suicide Attempts among Korean Adolescents:
Many young suicide attempters have problems at school (Garfinkel et al., 1979; White, 1974). A1though many studies stress the importance of academic pressure and frustration in the suicide of these young people, Richard Seiden(1966) summarized that increasing “pressure on the student to achieve and maintain" is responsible for student suicide. He predicts that such pressure is going to lead to a rising suicide rate among this population. Holinger(1987) also argued that “competition in school sports and jobs may be the trigger for some young people who don't make the grade." Especially, in Asian countries, academic pressures reflecting familial and cultural demands for achievement may be primarily responsible. For example, in japan, which has extremely high suicide rates among the young, it has been argued by Iga (1981) that the intensely stressful preparation for the college entrance examination, the outcome of which virtually decides the individual’s future, is a major factor in such suicides. This situation ominously resembles a suicidal problem which prevails among the youth of Korea,where there are tremendous pressures attend college, and those students who fail to gain entrance frequently turn to suicide as a solution to their failures.
From Elite South Korean University Rattled by Suicides:
the Kaist student council issued an impassioned statement that said “a purple gust of wind” had blown through campus.
“Day after day we are cornered into an unrelenting competition that smothers and suffocates us,” the council said. “We couldn’t even spare 30 minutes for our troubled classmates because of all our homework.
“We no longer have the ability to laugh freely.”
References and Links
The “Scourge of South Korea”: Stress and Suicide in Korean Society
Suicide No. 1 cause of death for S. Korean teens, youths
South Korea's schools: Long days, high results
An Assault Upon Our Children
Depressed South Korean Student Reveals Why He Wants to Commit Suicide
Epidemiology of Suicide Attempts among Korean Adolescents
Elite South Korean University Rattled by Suicides