Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Korean Education
edited by
Young-Key Kim-Renaud
R. Richard Grinker
Kirk W. Larsen
Previous Issues
24. Korean Education 11. The Political Economy of the Asian Financial Crisis
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. Stephen Haggard, 2001
Larsen, eds., 2005 10. The US Factor in Cross-Straits Relations
23.The 2004 Tsunami: Six Month Report Conference Report, 2000
Karl F. Inderfurth, David Fabrycky, Stephen Cohen, 2005 9. The International Relations Theoretical Discourse in
22.U.S.-India Relations: Ties That Bind? China: A Preliminary Analysis
Deepa Ollapally, 2005 Ren Xiao, 2000
21. India-China Relations in the Context of Vajpayees 8. Creation and Re-Creation: Modern Korean Fiction and
2003 Visit Its Translation
Surjit Mansingh, 2005 Young-Key Kim-Renaud, and R. Richard Grinker, eds.,
20. Korean American Literature 2000
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. 7. Trends in China Watching: Observing the PRC at 50
Larsen, eds., 2004 Bruce Dickson, ed., 1999
19. Sorrows of Empire: Imperialism, Militarism, and the 6. US-Japan Relations in an Era of Globalization
End of the Republic Mike M. Mochizuki, 1999
Chalmers Johnson, 2004 5. Southeast Asian Countries Perceptions of Chinas
18. Europe and America in Asia: Dierent Beds, Same Military Modernization
Dreams Koong Pai Ching, 1999
Michael Yahuda, 2004 4. Enhancing Sino-American Military Relations
17. Text and Context of Korean Cinema: Crossing Borders David Shambaugh, 1998
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. 3. The Redenition of the US-Japan Security Alliance and
Larsen, eds., 2003 Its Implications for China
16. Korean Music Xu Heming, 1998
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. 2. Is China Unstable? Assessing the Factors*
Larsen, eds., 2002 David Shambaugh, ed., 1998
15. European and American Approaches Toward China: 1. International Relations in Asia: Culture, Nation, and
Dierent Beds, Same Dreams? State
David Shambaugh, 2002 Lucian W. Pye, 1998
14. Assessing Chen Shui-bians First Year: The Domestic &
International Agenda
Conference Report, 2001
13. Reections of Misunderstanding in China
Allen S. Whiting, 2001
12. Christianity in Korea
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, and R. Richard Grinker, eds., Single issues are complimentary; additional copies are $5.00.
2001 *available through M.E. Sharpe
The Sigur Center for Asian Studies is an international research center of The Elliott School of International Aairs at The George
Washington University. The Centers institutional goals include increasing the quality and scope of scholarly research and publication on
Asian aairs; promoting US-Asian interaction; and preparing a new generation of Asia students, scholars, analysts, and policy makers to
assume leadership positions in a world in which Asia and the Pacic Rim is of ever increasing importance.
The Center, founded in 1991 out of the former Sino-Soviet Institute, is the largest such institution in the Washington, D.C., area and
among the strongest in the United States thanks in large part to the world-class Asian Studies faculty of The George Washington University.
The Centers programs include research projects, study groups, conferences, and lectures concerning Asian political, economic, and security
issues. In addition, The Center coordinates a Visiting Scholar/Visiting Research Associate Program, which brings eminent scholars and top
policy planners to The Center from universities and government organizations around the world.
Acknowldegements..................................................................................................................... ix
Young-Key Kim-Renaud, R. Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. Larsen
Congratulatory Remarks........................................................................................................... 1
Kiwon Jang
Profiles.......................................................................................................................................... 57
Introduction
O
ne of the most distinguishing characteristics of the Korean people is their passion for educa-
tion, a passion that is arguably unmatched in the world. This fervor for learning, often labeled
the education syndrome, has deep roots in Koreas traditional respect for knowledge and
deep belief in continuous, life-long human development. This emphasis on learning derives largely
from the age-old Confucian belief that man is perfectible through education and that only the most
learned should govern the country and society.
For more than a millennium major positions of power were allocated by civil service examina-
tions, although the social structure was such that only the privileged class and its male members could
take them. Success in the examinations determined a familys fame and fortune. For Koreans, the ideal
leader was a scholar-ocial, which explains why King Sejong, sage king and inventor of the Korean
alphabet, is revered to this day.
Originally intended by the elite for its own edication and culture, education was at rst provided
to prospective leaders from aristocratic families to ensure high quality leadership. The Korean elite also
believed knowledge enhanced moral governance. Education thus served as a check against incompe-
tent or cruel government. At the same time, education also served to perpetuate the elites exclusive ac-
cess to power through self-improvement, allowing them to claim their special heaven-mandated status
even more convincingly.
Modern education, born at a time of great inux of Western democratic ideals ostensibly accepted
by all Koreans, has become accessible to everyone. Ironically, however, democratic education has now
become a mechanism for the formation and legitimation of new social classes, albeit oering some
chance of upward mobility even for people of the humblest origin. Even in the modern era, educational
attainment is accepted as one of the fairest measures of a persons worth, and scholars are still called
upon to ll some of the highest government positions. Education is also seen as an eective, fundamen-
tal instrument for nurturing national strength. The South Korean government emphasizes the countrys
education, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) is one of the most important executive branches of
government, in an interesting contrast with the equivalent body in the U.S. federal government.1
Koreans have achieved phenomenal progress in making education available to all citizens, and by
2000 South Koreas literacy rate was nearly one hundred percent. Koreans are among the most educated
people in the world. In step with the remarkable economic growth, which has made the South Korean
economy the 11th largest in the world, South Korean students have consistently achieved the highest
math, science, and problem-solving scores in international aptitude tests. This was not, however, always
the case. Merely sixty years ago, after Koreas liberation from 35 years of Japanese domination in 1945,
three out of four Koreans were illiterate, and fewer than ve percent of Korean schoolchildren contin-
ued their schooling after elementary school.
As soon as the Koreans regained their independence, they committed their wealth and soul to edu-
cating their children. Unlike in traditional Korea, total upward mobility was possible for many people
through educational attainment, and many dragons emerged from the sewage, as the Korean saying
goes. Koreans became obsessed with obtaining diplomastickets to a brighter world. Today, many
Koreans are active on the world stage, be it an academic, cultural, technical, medical, commercial, or
sports arena. Much of their success came with the help of their education, enhanced with other traits
such as entrepreneurial spirit, diligence, and a renewed sense of self-condence, and optimism.
2004 Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities
Any obsession, of course, has a price. There are endless stories of the absurd measures people take
to send even very young children to the best schools including those in foreign countries. However,
what has impressed education specialists around the world is the rather exceptional fact that the South
Korean education system has been tailored to the needs of growth and structural change in the econo-
my. A decade ago, the World Bank had already produced a training video for the leaders of developing
countries entitled Global Lessons: Korean Education Reform, A Training Video for Policymakers
(1997). Another point of interest to the World Bank team was the fact that Koreans themselves were ex-
tremely critical of their own educational policies and practices in spite of the conspicuous, remarkable
progress they had made and the general respect they had received from foreign education specialists.
For the 2004 Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium, we invited three experts who looked at the current sta-
tus of South Korean education system from dierent angles. Michael J. Seth, a historian, sees the Exam
Hell syndrome as very tightly related to the traditional meritocratic system, where passing civil service
examinations guaranteed social status and very comfortable economic power throughout a persons
life. In contrast with traditional educations emphasis on cultivating a moral being with good judgment,
however, the modern exam-driven society demands much sacrice on the part of the parents and of-
ten of the extended family and community. The modern measure of education seems, unfortunately,
to be in quantity and labels, rather than the formation and quality of a character grounded in shared
principles.
Jae Hoon Lim, an education specialist, analyzes the turn of the 20th century discourse on the so-
called school collapse voiced by many South Koreans who are feeling a sense of urgency. The tradi-
tionalist discourse reects a long-held view of education based on Confucian philosophy and practice.
In addition, there are others whom she calls democratic reformists, neo-liberalists, and de-school-
ing advocates. Such responses may be attributed to class aliation, but an even more critical deter-
minant in the debate is the ideological understanding of the purpose of education as perceived and
promoted by each of these dierent discourses. While the traditionalists and democratic reformists
share a commitment to a common goal of education for the entire community, neoliberalists and de-
schooling groups share a strong belief in individual choice, competition, and excellence. These broad
groups represent, of course, a vast array of opinions across all echelons of society. What seems clear
is that the South Korean educational system will break with tradition and no longer be of the same,
uniform mold.
Anthropologist Nancy Abelmann and her graduate students, Hyunhee Kim and So Jin Park, pres-
ent a fresh analysis of South Korean college students of dierent prestige and of various family back-
grounds. What emerges from every interview is the image of a new persona person who aspires to
the fullest vital human development and accepts the burden of managing that vital personal project.
Todays Korean student is a person who distinguishes her or himself from the past and is committed
to values of democracy, individualism, and cosmopolitanism. This new person is condent, ambitious,
and entrepreneurial. The new person phenomenon is part of the general emphasis on individuality
and the strong and striking creativity manifest in all sections of contemporary South Korean society.
The threat from the North notwithstanding, South Koreans have enjoyed continued peace for half a
century, and todays young people are growing as free agents. There is a clear sense of a renaissance in
South Korea today, and contemporary Koreans idea of education and socialization reects a broader,
richer, multi-faceted, and dynamic culture.
1
In January 2001 the MOE was restructured and renamed as the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development
(MOEHRD), indicating its expanded scope (http://www.moe.go.kr/eng_26/). For simplicity, we will keep referring to the
Ministry as MOE.
The Sigur Center Asia Papers vii
Acknowledgements
O
nce again, this years HMS Colloquium proceedings received very professional care from our
book designer and meticulous copy editor, Luke Johnson. Nancy Abelmann has oered valu-
able comments and suggestions to improve the volume, in spite of her new responsibilities as
Director of the Center for East Asian and Pacic Studies of the University of Illinois at Urbana Cham-
paign. Catarina Kim provided signicant and essential assistance, without which everything would
have taken so much more time and eort.
We thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Lenore Miller, Director of the Luther W. Brady Art Gal-
lery of The George Washington University, for an exhibition of Lawrence M. Rozanski Korean Ceram-
ics collection, entitled Cultural Heritage through Ceramics (October 14, 2004December 10, 2004),
which was presented around the time of our colloquium. Mr. Rozanski allowed us to display selected
ancient Korean ceramics and objects that had never been seen by the general public. The 2004 HMS
Colloquium also beneted from the sponsorship of Mike Mochizuki, Director of the Sigur Center for
Asian Studies and Lenore Miller, Director of the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery.
To these individuals and many others including all the participants in the audience, who have
helped us to maintain the ne quality of the colloquium series, we express our heartfelt gratitude and
joy of knowing them all and continuing our very enjoyable dialogue.
The Editors
October 2005
Washington, D.C.
Kiwon Jang
I
congratulate The George Washington University on holding the 11th Hahn Moo-sook Colloquium
in the Korean Humanities on behalf of the Korean Embassy. It is my great pleasure to be with you
at this famous academic forum today. I am also very glad to speak a few words of welcome to all
participants. And, special thanks go to Professor Young-Key Kim-Renaud for doing her best to orga-
nize this forum.
The HMS Colloquium has dealt with a variety of elds in Korean Humanities for the past ten years,
for example, arts, history, language, literature, thought, and religion. This year 'Education in Korea' be-
comes the main theme of the Colloquium. The honored speakers invited today will actively touch the
theme from various perspectives. Through a series of presentations and discussions, I hope that we can
nd out some meaningful implications on the future of Korean education.
The modern education system in Korea has a relatively short history. Even so, it can be said that
the system has shown great achievements in both quantitative and qualitative terms. A small example
might be that now educational opportunity is universal, and available to all people who want to take
an education, from primary school to university. Such a quantitative growth of education in Korea has
made signicant contributions to Koreas economic development and political democratization.
With this positive side of Korean education in mind, I would like to mention some issues being
discussed recently. These issues can be easily identied by looking at continuous education reforms.
Since the mid 1980's, large-scale education reforms have been initiated, without exception, by each new
government under strong presidential leadership right after every ve-year presidential election.
Education reforms cover almost every issue in the eld of education. Here I would like to introduce
hot issues being raised in primary, secondary education, and higher education.
how to reduce class size and how to build new schools to improve overcrowded schools,
how to increase educational budget up to the average of OECD Member States
how to keep a balance between academic and vocational education
how to lower private cost of education being borne by parents
how to utilize IT in schooling
how to harmonize equity and excellence in the high school system
how to improve the university entrance system and curriculum
2004 Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities
Issues in higher education might be largely concentrated on how to secure quality assurance:
Recently, through Korean newspapers and TV news, we can see a serious debate occurring in Korea
regarding whether or not to introduce a high school grading system at the national level,. This debate is
just one example. It shows that any one of issues mentioned above is not so easy to solve.
Today scholars with dierent academic background get together to exchange ideas and informa-
tion. I am sure that this forum will provide all participants with an exciting opportunity to create a
better understanding of Korean education. Please, enjoy todays events. I must wish the best of luck to
the HMS Colloquium and to all of you.
Thank you.
Michael J. Seth
S
outh Korean education faces a number of private expenditures have grown faster. In 2003,
serious issues. These include: an overem- public spending on secondary education (grades
phasis on examination preparation; the 7-12) came to 4.5 million won per pupil while
high cost of education driven by private tutoring parents spent an average of 3.5 million won on
and cram schools; concerns over inequalities in private after school lessons (Korea Herald, 8 Janu-
educational opportunity as costs rise; overcrowd- ary, 2004). Spending on private after school les-
ed classrooms; pedagogy based on rote memori- sons rose by an estimated eleven percent in 2003,
zation rather than individual creativity; and the greatly outpacing not only the increases in public
belief that nations schoolingespecially at the funding for education, but also private spending
higher education levelis inadequate to meet the on housing, medicine, or any other major sector
requirements of a modernizing nation. of the economy (Korea Herald, 6 April, 2004).
South Koreas education is driven by exami- The percentage of families paying for private les-
nation preparation, particularly for the college sons has increased and children are beginning
entrance exam. While getting into a university such lessons much younger. It is estimated that
is not as dicult as it has been in the past, ad- in 2003, seventy-two percent all children from
missions at prestige universities remain highly grades 1-12 attend private lessons, a gure up
competitive. For this reason 26 percent of the from fty-eight percent in 2000 (Korea Herald,
examination takers in the 5 November 2003 en- 18 February, 2004).
trance exam were repeaters, students who chose Koreans fear that private tutoring undermines
to spend another year preparing to take the exam the egalitarian goals of the education system.
again rather than accept admission to a non- Since independence in 1948, South Koreans have
prestigious school (Korea Herald, 13 November, promoted equal educational opportunity through
2003). This places great pressure on students who a variety of measures, but how can there be equal-
study late into the night. Reports that at least ve ity of opportunity when auent parents spare no
suicides were associated with the November ex- expense on private lessons? The result has been a
ams illustrate the seriousness of this issue. The lack of condence in the educational systema
drive for exam success has, in turn, resulted in belief that classroom instruction alone is not ad-
parents devoting huge sums on private tutoring equate to prepare students. Furthermore, most of
and cram schools. The scale of this private spend- the public regards Korean colleges and universi-
ing is high and becoming higher. The government ties as not up to the highest standards. This has
has sought to counter this problem by signicant- led to an exodus of students to foreign universi-
ly increasing public education expenditures but ties. After suering national economic setbacks
with the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998 cational expansion was nothing short of a revolu-
and the devaluation of the won, the numbers of tion. In 1945, when the thirty-ve year Japanese
Korean students going abroad for education has colonial rule in South Korea ended, the majority
risen. Between 2001 and 2003 the expenditure on of adult Koreans were illiterate. At that time, mass
overseas education nearly doubled. This became primary education had only recently begun, and
an economic concern since it threatened to harm less than ve percent of the adult population had
the nations balance of payments. The record more than an elementary school education. There
number of students abroad in 2003 was, accord- was only one university in Korea, and most of its
ing to the director general of the Bank of Korea students were Japanese, not Korean. Five decades
attributable to the fact that Korean parents have later virtually all South Koreans were literate,
scrambled to send their children abroad due to a all young people attended primary and middle
loss of faith in the Korean education system (Ko- schools, and ninety percent graduated from high
rea Times, 30 September, 2003). school. There were over 180 colleges and univer-
To counter these problems the government sities; and the proportion of college age men and
responded with a number of measures. In late women who enrolled in higher education was
2003, the Seoul Metropolitan Oce of Educa- greater than in most European nations. The qual-
tion declared war on expensive tutoring and ity of education was high as well, at least judg-
late night cram schools (Korea Herald, 17 No- ing by comparative international tests. These tests
vember, 2003). In 2004, the Ministry of Educa- usually rate the math and sciences skills of South
tion announced a number of measures including: Korean primary and secondary students among
a plan to revive after-school study hours, so that the highest in the world.1
students would take lessons in school rather than From the 1950s to the 1990s South Korea was
outside of it; reducing class size; providing a wider on the extreme end of the correlation between
choice of schools for students to attend; increas- the general level of education and the level of eco-
ing programs for gifted young people; and con- nomic development, with a higher level of educa-
ducting stricter teacher evaluations that would tional attainment than other nations of compara-
include input from students and parents (Korea ble per capita income.2 As the country developed
Herald, 18 February 2004). The last measure was economically into a major industrial power, the
intended to place pressure on teachers to improve general level of educational attainment remained
the quality of their instruction, thus making cram higher than almost all other nations at similar
schools less appealing. Most of these eorts were levels of per capita GNP. That is, not only did ed-
greeted by public skepticism and rightly so since ucation keep abreast with the nations much ad-
these educational problems have a long history mired rapid economic development, it outpaced
in South Korea and are deeply rooted in the very it. Fascinatingly, this educational expansion was
factors that accounted for the countrys trans- largely paid for by students and their families.
forming itself into a well-schooled nation. During the four decades after 1945 South Korea
spent less of its government revenues of school-
Historical Background ing than the majority of developing countries.
This was because educational development was
The problems of South Korean schooling must driven by social demanda demand so strong
be set against the remarkable national education- that millions of middle class and even poor Ko-
al transformation after 1945. South Koreas edu- reans were willing to make enormous sacrice to
ing around two to one, while institutions with tested their ordered transfers out of Pusan (Korea
lower rankings failed to meet their quotas (Korea Times, 28 June 1974). In any case, families contin-
Times, 23 November 1961). Further eorts to re- ued to nd ways to circumvent regulations.
form the college entrance exams in 1962, 1964, When Chun Doo-Hwan came to power in
1969, 1970, and 1972 similarly had little eect. 1980 his administration sought to gain legitima-
The most signicant reform of the exami- cy by carrying out the July 30 Education Reform,
nation system under Park Chung Hee was the so named for the date it was publicly announced.
gradual abolition of the middle school entrance Under the measure, the state transferred adminis-
examination carried out between 1969 and 1971. tration of the college entrance examination from
The abolition of the middle school and the high individual schools to the central government. A
school examination a few years later did not sig- College Entrance Preliminary Qualication Test
nicantly reduce the examination pressure, how- used during the preceding Park regime had not
ever, shifting the entire focus of education to the proven to be an eective screening device since
college entrance examination. Consequently, the number allowed to pass had become, by the
there was no abatement in the heated competi- late 1970s, two-hundred percent of the enroll-
tion for college entrance and its attendant evils. ment quota and because students who failed the
Rather, competition only became more intense. test could repeat it the next year (Yi 1986: 231).
The greatest problem was the varying reputations As a result, the Final Selection Test given by in-
of school districts. For in spite of all the eorts dividual universities was more crucial. The July
at equalization, the reputations of certain school 30 Education Reform abolished both the state
districts for producing the greatest number of suc- sponsored preliminary test and the Final Selec-
cessful exam-takers continued to grow. In Seoul, tion Test, replacing them with a new College
the Eighth School District established in the new Entrance Achievement Test. This was now the
upper middle class section of Apkujng-dong, a sole entrance examination. While the new tests
sea of high-rise apartments constructed in the content was not signicantly dierent from the
1970s, had the greatest reputation for academic earlier state preliminary test, its role was far more
success. It became the most sought after place of important (Kwak 1991: 45-55). The College En-
residence and real estate prices soared. The repu- trance Achievement Test (naesin) was given
tations were, of course, self-fullling; the greater greater weight and colleges could admit up to
the fame of a school district for placing its gradu- thirty percent of students over their quota, but
ates in universities, the more it attracted wealthier they had to graduate only their allotted quota.
residents who could lavish large sums on private This admission over quota, graduation by quota
tutoring, which in turn added to the success rate policy, as it was labeled, meant that institutions of
of its high school students. Students often ille- higher learning had to unk a substantial num-
gally transferred into schools from less reputable ber of students by their senior year. This was a
school districts. Residency could be faked, and new practice, since in South Korea few students
crackdowns occurred regularly. The removal of dropped out of college, and fewer unked out.
illegal transfers could occasionally result in noisy But universities unwilling to lose tuition revenue
protests like those in the spring of 1974, when a or to angry parents saw to it that few students ac-
number of pupils refused to move back to their tually had to withdraw.
own districts (Korea Times, 29 March 1974). In Throughout the 1990s, the MOE endlessly
the same year 500 pupils from rural areas pro- tinkered with the examination system, changing
government public expenditure on education in parents began sending children abroad when the
1994 amounted to 16.7 trillion wn. That is, the restrictions on overseas travel eased following the
public paid 51 percent of the total direct cost of 1988 Seoul Olympics. Thousands of families sent
education. In addition, an estimated six trillion children to US high schools where they would pay
wn was spent on private tutoring. According a Korean family in America an average of two or
to the KEDI study, when tutoring was included, three thousand US dollars a month to watch over
parents and students absorbed 69 percent of the their child. By 1995, this practice was growing so
costs of education (Korea Newsreview, 4 February fast that the government enacted restrictions to
1995, 12; Korea Herald, 24 January 1995). State prevent it, citing the drain on the balance of pay-
expenditures on education accounted for about 4 ments.
percent of GNP, somewhat less than in most de- All indicators suggest that educational ex-
veloped countries, but if the total costs were to be penses were rising faster than the cost of living
calculated, Koreans spent as much as 12 percent and the rate of increase was accelerating. A 1999
of their GNP on education, considerably higher study found that costs of education rose 2.5 times
than most other industrialized nations. from 1988 and 1998, outstripping the increase
In reality, the costs of education are really in cost of food, housing, health, transportation,
much greater than even these gures suggest. utilities or any other major category of expenses
First, the cost of private tutoring is very hard to (Korea Times, 19 January 1999). According to a
estimate since a great deal of it lies outside the report of the National Statistical Oce in 1997,
formal economy. Several surveys conducted in urban workers spent 9.8 percent of their income
the mid 1990s came up with varying gures of the on education up from 6.7 percent in 1987, while
average expenditure on after school lessons. One rural families devoted a smaller proportion of
survey undertaken in mid 1993 estimated that their income to education. South Korea, in 1997,
private tutoring for high school students came was eighty-ve percent urban. The magnitude of
to 580,000 wn a month ($465) (Korea Herald, this expenditure can perhaps be understood by
4 June 1993). Although some ocials expressed comparing it with that of Japan, where a similar
private doubts on the accuracy of these gures, it obsession with educational achievement had cre-
was clear that the amounts spent were enormous. ated the same reliance on expenditures on private
Furthermore, while a huge exam cramming in- lessons and tutoring. In Japan, urban workers
dustry had always existed, it continued to grow spent 5.4 percent of their income on education up
in the 1990s. Kwaoe frenzy provided lucrative from 4.7 percent in 1987 (Korea Times, 6 August
economic opportunities, with well-known pri- 1997). While Japanese commentators regarded
vate instructors charging as much as 1,500,000 this as a major economic and social problem, and
wn a month (US $2,100) for lessons at their the juku (cram school) was a ubiquitous feature of
institutes, although the average fee was much life, the economic burden was still modest by Ko-
less. Three quarters of college students engaged rean standards. Despite public awareness of how
in private tutoring with their average income in costly the educational system had become at the
1995 estimated between 300 and 400,000 wn a start of the twentieth century, all trends suggested
month. Parents had always spent large amounts that families spending on education was continu-
on private lessons at hagwns (cram schools), on ing to rise faster than income. The nancial crisis
private tutors, and on special lessons given by of 1997-1998 may have slowed spending a bit, but
teachers after class and during breaks. Wealthier after 2000 spending on private tutoring and cram
racial, and ideological unity together resulted in introduced at the middle school level, a massive
an intolerance of glaring social inequalities. transfer of middle school teachers took place in
In the rhetoric on schooling, uniformity of Seoul with eighty percent reassigned. In the same
education meant that the school system had to year, school buses were acquired to transport stu-
be more than just open to all; it had to be fairly dents to schools too far away to walk to (Korea
open to all and uniform in content and standard. Times, 11 February 1969).
Yet this conicted with a rank-conscious society In 1973, a commission of ocials and private
quick to assign every school and school district a educators drew up the High School Equalization
place in a status hierarchy. The tension between Plan that eliminated the high school entry ex-
education as a grantor of status and Koreas bur- ams, used a lottery to admit new high school stu-
geoning egalitarianism was a reection of a society dents and sought to make sure that facilities and
assimilating new Western ideas while adhering to instruction was uniform in all schools. Worried
traditional Confucian cultural values. The mod- about swelling city populations, the government
ern ideals of democracy and equality had won thought that the policy would also slow down
broad acceptance among a citizenry that simulta- the move into the cities by families seeking bet-
neously continued to view the world in hierarchi- ter educational opportunities (Park 1988: 2-5). In
cal conceptual categories. For post-1945 South the 1990s, the MOE oered special aid and schol-
Korea uniformity of education meant, at the very arships to upgrade all provincial universities, al-
least, that the entrance examination system ought though this did little to change public perception
to be fair. In ocial policy this was often termed that all provincial colleges were second rate. The
the equalization of education. At the time of the state also used school records to give advantage
debates over the Education Law in 1949-1951, to poor rural areas by weighing the scores as if
the idea of early tracking was rejected. Only by all secondary schools were of the same standard.
making no level of education terminal could ac- An armative action policy set a quota for stu-
cess to upper tiers of schooling be assured (Seth dents from shing villages and remote areas that
2002: 866-877). As a result, even vocational high universities were required to fulll, in 1996 this
schools oered college preparatory courses. program was expanded (Korea Times, 12 April
The Korean public remained ever vigilant for 1996).
any attempts to create an elitist school system. Educational ocials often insisted that the
To prevent this, a rigidly uniform curriculum was standards in elementary and secondary schools
introduced in the mid 1950s. In order to prevent be consistent enough to insure fairness in educa-
low-income students from being ghettoized in tional opportunity (Im Hyng and Kim Chingyu,
poor schools, the MOE created a lottery system in Ministry of Education examination ocials, in-
1968 that randomly assigned students to schools terviews by author, Seoul, 1996). But primary
within large school districts designed to include and secondary schools were not completely equal
both wealthy downtown areas and the poorer since those in the better districts outperformed
outskirts of cities. The lottery system, however, other schools. Much of this was due simply to
was not popular with many parent and teachers the fact that parents with greater nancial re-
groups, and was criticized as creating a gambling sources and who were better educated themselves
mentality (Korea Times, 6 June 1966). Nonethe- tended to move into these districts. Uniformity
less, it was enforced in the name of equalization. and equality have also been challenged since the
In 1969, one year after the lottery system was 1990s by the educational reforms intended to
with professionals trained at the very best schools highly literate society.
abroad, it has also hampered universities at home
with undergraduate students often focused on Works Cited
GRE and TOEFL exams and graduate programs
bereft of the potentially best students. Counter- Choe, Yong-ho. 1987. The Civil Examinations
measures have not only failed to signicantly ad- and the Social Structure in the Yi Dynasty
dress this issue but the drive for prestige degrees Korea, 1392-1600. Seoul: Korean Research
has led to an increasing number of young South Society.
Koreans skipping local colleges and universi- _____. 1974. Commoners in the Yi Dynasty
ties altogether and seeking admission to foreign, Civil Examinations as Aspect of Social Struc-
usually US, undergraduate programs. Instead of ture, Journal of Asian Studies 33 (4): 611-32.
schools such as Seoul National, Yonsei, and Korea Hong, Ung-sn. 1991. Kwangbok hue sin kyo-
University, students are seeking degrees from elite yuk undong 1946-1949: Chosn kyoyuk
schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and ynguhoerl chungsimro (The New Educa-
Yale. This only creates another educational ex- tion Movement after Liberation, 1946-1949,
pense associated with English lessons and US test Centered on the Chosn Educational Re-
preparation companies such as Kaplan and The search Society). Seoul: Taehan Kyogwas.
Princeton Review. States the director of Overseas Kim, Jongchol [Kim Chong-chl]. 1985. Edu-
Education at Kaplan, If you are smart and you cation and development: Some essays and
are rich, you have to have a US diploma, simple as thoughts on Korean education. Seoul: Seoul
that (Korea Herald, 27 December, 2003). National University Press.
Kwak, Byng-sun. 1991. Examination hell in
Conclusion Korea revisited: An external malady in edu-
cation? Koreana 5 (2): 45-55.
South Koreas current educational woes McGraw, Barry. 2005 OECD Perspectives on Ko-
have a long history. For the past fty years edu- rean Educational Achievements in OECD/
cators, parents, and government ocials have World Bank/ KEDI, International Conference
complained about the overemphasis on prepara- on 60 Years of Korean Education: Achieve-
tion for entrance examinations, the enormous ex- ments and Challenges. Seoul, June 2005.
penditures on private tutoring and cram schools, Meyer, John W., Francisco O. Ramirez, Richard
the threat to educational opportunity private les- Robinson, and John Boli-Bennett. 1979. The
sons pose, and the seemingly inadequate state of World Educational Revolution, 1950-1970.
higher education that results in so many to seek In Meyer and Hannan, eds., 37-55.
advance degrees at foreign universities. None of Park, Bu Won. 1988. The state, class and educa-
the attempts to deal with these issues have been tional policy: A study of South Koreas high
very successful because they do not address their school equalization policy. (Ph.D. dissertation,
fundamental cause: the drive by students and University of Wisconsin-Madison.)
their families to enhance or maintain social sta- Republic of Korea, Ministry of Education. 1963.
tus by earning prestige degrees. This is widely Mungyo tonggye yoram (Outline of educa-
recognized in South Korea. The irony is that this tional statistics). Seoul: Mungyobu.
drive was largely the motor the powered the na- Seth, Michael J. 2002. Creating a Korean educa-
tions transformation into a modern, prosperous, tional system, 1945-1951, in Embracing the
Endnotes
S
outh Koreas educational system has been rather intensied, especially in terms of qualita-
commended for its contribution to the tive dierentiation(Phang 2004: 71).
countrys rapid economic growth during The relationship between class and education
the last four decades. Several Korean and inter- in Korean society is, however, rather complex.
national scholars (Ellinger and Beckham 1997; What is often missing in the majority of the criti-
Han 1994; Y. Kim 2000) have attributed the na- cal research is the comparative nature of this phe-
tions economic success to an educational system nomenon. It is rather ironic that several cross-
that provided the quality workforce required for national analyses and Organization for Economic
economic expansion. Like many other develop- Co-Operation and Development (OECD) reports
ing countries in Southeast Asia, the South Korean actually point out the opposite. South Korea is
government established a strong public school often listed as one of the countries where social
system and used it as the primary tool for the class has a minimal impact on educational success
countrys nation-building project. Schools intro- compared to other countries (Jeong and Armer
duced a new set of values, ideologies, and skills 1994, OECD 2001). Researchers have identied
that support the political-economic structure of various factors and forces that fundamentally af-
the society. Therefore, there has been little doubt fect the nature and degree of educational equality
that the Korean public school system, despite its or inequality in the society. Cultural values and
relatively short history, played a signicant role in beliefs deeply embedded in the societal contexts
the nation building process of South Korea. and discourses are often referred to as critical ele-
With its rapid economic growth and emer- ments shaping the unique characteristics of Ko-
gence of a more democratic civilian government rean education (Lee and Brinton 1996; Sorensen
since the 1990s, education in South Korea has, 1994).
however, faced a new set of challenges. In partic- Korean education, as represented in its K-
ular, issues of educational equity have attracted 12 school system, has exhibited an interesting
great attention from both educational research- mixture of dierent, even conicting, ideologies
ers and the general public who perceived an ed- from its inception. On one hand, the Confucian
ucational system that reected upper or middle philosophy that reigned as the ocial governing
class interests and contributed to the status quo. philosophy of the Chosn Dynasty (1392-1910),
Several research studies on the impact of class on and now stands rm as the foundation of Korean
various aspects of the educational system and so- culture as a whole heavily inuenced the struc-
cietal practice (Robinson 1994) often concluded ture and human relationships in schools. On the
educational inequality between social strata other hand, democratic ideology and individual-
ism were constantly introduced in the contents tionwide scope of the phenomenon in May 1999
of the national curriculum. Based on the mixture (M. Kim 2000). However, the school collapse dis-
of Confucian philosophy and education for de- course became part of heated public discourse
mocracy, the intrinsic moral and ethical value of mainly through the mass medias contribution.
learning was emphasized yet the instrumental, In particular, the role of three major newspapers,
extrinsic value of learning to meet the needs of Chosun, DongA, and Joongang Ilbo, was signi-
national economic development was also pre- cant. The most critical contribution was made
sented as one of the primary goals of education. by a series of TV documentary programs by two
During the last four decades, however, the major broadcasting companies, KBS and MBC.
fundamental dierence and potential conict Following the TV programs, many academic so-
among the dierent discourses that coexisted in cieties and research institutions opened up a se-
the educational enterprise in South Korea was ries of discussions on the phenomenon of school
not apparent due to many reasons (e.g., little collapse.
resistance to Confucian relational ethics, the Even though some scholars posed a more
governments strong involvement, etc). This con- skeptical point of view about the very existence
ict became clearly visible during the course of of school collapse as a real social reality (W. Kim
a heated public debate on hakkyobunggoe or 2000; D. Kim 2002), many survey data from a
school collapse1 between 1999 and 2001. I will variety of organizations with contrasting educa-
analyze the four dierent educational discourses tional views seemed to verify that there had been
that were part of the public debate on the school a signicant change in schools, namely the phe-
collapse phenomenon in South Korea between nomenon of school collapse (Chn 1999b; Yun,
1999 and 2001. This analysis will, I believe, illu- Yi and Pak 1999).2 The level of profoundness or
minate the socio-political nature of the debate of seriousness of the change, and possible solutions
school collapse, and its relationship with the fun- to it varied across dierent participants in the
damental purpose of education as adopted and debate. Interestingly enough, the debate on school
promoted by dierent groups based on their class collapse presented at least four dierent groups
and ideological aliation. of unique voicesdiscoursesthat stemmed
from fundamentally dierent social, cultural, and
Origins of the School Collapse Discourse political ideologies and classes.
Union Newspaper] 1999). were the factors that amplied the phenom-
The KTUs Policy Research Institute pro- enon of classroom crisis. various irrational
duced a series of publications after public aware- and anti-democratic characteristics, such as un-
realistic, excessive rules, oversized schools that
ness of the school collapse phenomenon emerged
pose a great challenge to communication with
(Chngyojo chngchaek ynguso [KTU Policy students, over-crowded classrooms, mismatch
Research Institute] 1999a; 1999b). While sharing between curriculum and assessment, limited
some commonalities with the traditionalists, the rights and participation of autonomous student
democratic reform discourse presented a dier- self governance, etc., in fact, are the conditions
ent philosophy of education with its aliated po- that contributed to the phenomenon of class-
litical ideology providing dierent guiding prin- room crisis (Chngyojo Kyoukcharyosil [KTU
Center for Educational Materials] 2000, as cited
ciples.
in Kim and Ko 2000: 165-166).
The democratic reformist discourse assumed
the primary goal of Korean education was to
rmly establish modern rationality and institute The primary reason for teachers failure in edu-
a culture of democracy in every sector of society. cating students with knowledge, skills, values
Democratic reformists viewed the current school and attitudes is the anti-democratic school
management and closed system of communica-
system and its organizational culture as heavily re-
tionno rights [given to teachers], then no re-
ecting an authoritative and bureaucratic model.
sponsibilities (Chngyojo Chngchaek ynguso
This obsolete and inecient system and culture [KTU Policy Research Institute] 1999a: 140).
are the major hurdles to any educational reform.
They prevented teachers and students from play- The democratic reformist discourse was also
ing an active role in the school reform process, reected in several works by a group of scholars
and the actualization of participatory democracy including Hwang (2001) and Sim. Sim, for exam-
in society at large (Kim and Ko 2000). The fol- ple (1999), emphasized that democratic school
lowing three documents illustrate what the union management and the praxis of participatory de-
identied as the primary source of the challenges mocracy in a school context are essential to over-
of school collapse. come the challenges of school collapse (1999).
He suggested three major changes for individual
Our schools have maintained the same infra- schools: the establishment of student self-gover-
structure of curriculum since the liberation nance system; restructuring school rules and reg-
from Japanese Occupation. The central govern- ulations to promote student-self autonomy; and
ment has been controlling the quality, contents,
open communication and democratic, participa-
organizational methods, and evaluation meth-
ods, providing no role for the people in the edu- tory school management.
cational elds who actually produce and con- Democratic reformists did not, however, buy
sume knowledge. This resulted in the alienation into the idea of extreme individualism. Rather,
of students in the very eld of education, and they pursued a balance between the collective na-
prompted the phenomenon of school collapse ture of education in the Korean context and the
(Chn 1999a: 121). individual needs for personal growth through
education (Kim and Ko 2000). Even though they
The remainders of the authoritativeness and paid attention to individual human rights of stu-
oppressiveness in Koran education, and obso- dents (e.g., unlike traditionalists, they opposed
lete and dreadful educational environments corporal punishment in general) democratic re-
22 The Sigur Center Asia Papers
Class Reproduction and Competing Ideologies, Jae Hoon Lim
formists appreciated the communitarian nature of the Neoliberalist policy of the Kim Dae-jung
education and its role for political causes like re- administration also played a role in school col-
unication of the Korean peninsula (Chngyojo lapse. Even though he acknowledged the benets
Chngchaek ynguso 1999b). of open education in altering the authoritarian
One of the most severe critiques raised by nature of Korean school culture in general, Sim
the democratic reformist discourse targeted the held that educational policies stressing only in-
neoliberalist discourse that advocated the mar- dividualism and competitiveness weakened the
ketization of the educational system as a whole. communitarian nature of education and reduced
Democratic reformists constantly emphasized the possibility of social and political alliances. Ac-
the dierence between them and the tradition- cording to Sim, such educational policies caused
alists and neoliberalists alike, but their criticism severe damage to the structure of participatory
of the neoliberalists was much more intense than democracy and prompted the collapse of school
those leveled at the traditionalists. The following community as a whole.
KTU document clearly illuminates the point of
the democratic reformist critiques directed at the Neoliberalists: A Discourse of Choice, Com-
neoliberalists. petition, and Excellence
put the younger generation in great danger as it School collapse was, in part, caused by the sys-
moved toward a global society where unlimited tem itself. The lottery system for high school
competition is encouraged (D. Kim 2002). admission made 90 percent of high school stu-
dents neglected children. There is no eective
Three major newspapers in Seoulthe
method for a teacher to teach a heterogeneous
Chosun, DongA, and Joongang Ilboproduced class with 50 students. Therefore, teachers tend
a great portion of this discourse in their edito- to focus on only the top 20 percent of students
rial sections. Neoliberalists enumerated many in their instruction: The rest, therefore, became
factors that contributed to the school collapse alienated and fell behind (Chosun Ilbo 1999c).
in these newspapers (e.g., Chosun Ilbo 1999b;
1999c; Joongang Ilbo 2001). In general, they Neoliberalists argued that the government
viewed the governments strong control over the should permit more independent private high
schooling system as undesirable or even detri- schools and special purpose high schools serving
mental. Many editorial reviews in the newspapers selective groups like gifted and talented students.
presented such perspectives (Seo 2002). The titles In the same vein, this discourse criticized the
of such editorial reviews included Unshackle governments control over early study abroad as
Universities Admission Process from MOEs an infringement of an individuals right for qual-
Control, (Chosun Ilbo 2001b) and showed ex- ity education.
treme criticism of the governments involvement Neoliberalists proposed a laissez-faire policy
in education, particularly in the high school and in the college admission process as well. They as-
college admission process. serted that college admission should be left to the
Neoliberalists believed the entire public individual college or university so that each in-
schooling system put excessive emphasis on stitution could select the most appropriate group
equality at the expense of excellence (Chosun of students for their particular educational pur-
Ilbo 1999e; 2001a). They asserted that, the gov- poses:
erning principle in our classrooms is nothing but
While the government (MOE) is involved in
an arithmetic view of equality.[a] mechanistic
the admission process of universities, we have
view of equality prevails over all other values experienced all dierent sorts of problems, no
(Chosun Ilbo 2001a). Neoliberalists argued that matter which method was taken. Then, the
school collapse had been caused by the govern- conclusion is clear and simple. Leave it to up
ments ineective educational policies based on to each university, its autonomous decision
this mechanistic view of equality at the expense making. The Scholastic Aptitude Test will be still
used as one source of information available for
of excellence.
universities decision makings in the admission
The neoliberalist discourse attributed the
process; yet, how each university uses the infor-
failure of school education to three factors: the mation will be left to universities themselves.
use of randomization in high school admission, There is no ultimate solution unless the gov-
inconsistent college admission policies, and lack ernment (MOE) unshackles the university
of system-wide competitionincluding among admission process (Chosun Ilbo 2001b).
teachers and individual schools. One of the ma-
jor criticisms in this discourse targeted the lottery Advocating for competition in education
system used in high school admissions in most is another compelling characteristic of this dis-
of large metropolitan school districts, including course. Neoliberalists, in general, argue for com-
Seoul. petition among teachers and schools in order to
ample, showed a clear class aliation yet a good interest in individuals intellectual capacity and
mixture of people from diverse class backgrounds need for growth. Even though the two discourses
supported the other three discourses. In a similar articulated completely dierent views on ideal
vein, a similar class background did not render society and the goals of education, both relied on
the same discourse. The discourse of de-school- individualism as a method to meet current chal-
ing advocates was a good example The majority lenges. This standpoint is exactly in opposition to
of the group consisted of upper-middle class or at the traditionalist and democratic reformist dis-
least middle class backgrounds but their school courses that prioritize the communitarian goals
collapse solution was radically dierent than that of education over that of the individual. The ten-
of neoliberalists who shared similar class and sion between these two lines of thought will con-
educational backgrounds. What seemed a more tinue even though some participants in the de-
critical determinant in this debate was the ideo- bate may nd both points complementary rather
logical understanding of the educations purpose than contradictory.
as perceived and promoted by each discourse. In The second interesting aspect about the
other words, what people dened and promoted school collapse discourse was its resemblance or
as the fundamental goal of education actually connectedness to the larger international educa-
mediated the relationship between their class tional discourse (e.g., educational discourse in the
background and active participation in a particu- American context.) In particular, the neoliberalist
lar discourse. discourse that advocated market-based education
As Bakhtin (1970) argues, individual or group constantly referred to the American model of ed-
appropriation of a particular discourse within a ucation as an example that successfully achieves
special socio-cultural context is a complicated excellence through choice and competition. It is
process. Various social, cultural, and political clear here that educational debates in South Ko-
ideologies come into play, mediating and com- rea, including those on school collapse, were not
plicating the relationship between the economic isolated social or linguistic events within their
base of the speaker/discourse, and the expressed national contexts any more. The school collapse
position embodied in the discourse. A mechanis- discourse was already rooted in a complex web of
tic view of discourse and its class base may be too ideological discourses in South Korea and the in-
simplistic as we attempt to explain this complex ternational community at large. Therefore, even
process. though the linguistic event is unique and contex-
A variety of interpretations can be made based tual; the embedded power struggles and ideologi-
on the contrasting nature of these four forces in cal competition and alliances are much more far-
Korean education. Some conjectures can be pro- reaching than the Korean context.
jected regarding the possible alliances and con- Many scholars have documented the surge
icts among them in the near future. Two themes of neoliberalist or neo-conservative discourse in
become clear based on this studys analysis. First, many countries during the past two decades (Chn
one of the most compelling changes in South Ko- and Kim 1998). The neoliberalist discourse in the
rean education during the last ten years was the Korean context naturally exhibits some charac-
strong surge of individualism, as is illustrated by teristics similar to discourses in other countries.
the strong presence of individualism in the public One of the most disturbing characteristics of the
debate on school collapse. Neoliberalists and de- neoliberalist discourse on education, both in Ko-
schooling advocates actually shared a common rean context and in other countries, is the lack of
Purn Namu (Green Arbor). ter Education for the Gifted as well as Slow
Chn, Po-sn and Hak-han Kim. 1998. Sinjayu- Learners), April 5.
jui wa hangukkyoyuk i jillo (Neoliberal- _____. 2001b.Taeip, Kyoyukpues haebangsikija
ism and the direction of Korean education). (Unshackle University Admissions from
Seoul: Hanl (Sky). MOEs Control), December 4.
Chngyojo Chngchaek ynguso Hakkyogyoyuk Ellinger, Thomas R. and Garry M. Beckham.
yngusil (Research Center for School Edu- 1997. "South Korea." Phi Delta Kappan,
cation, Korean Teachers Union Policy Re- 78(1): 624-625.
search Institute). 1999a. Hakkyogyoyuk i Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power.
wigibunskgwa chindan (An Analysis and Harlow, UK: Longman.
Diagnosis of School Crisis)." Chngyojo _____. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis. Harlow,
Chamgyoyuk Silchn Wiwnhoe ed. Hakkyo UK: Longman.
punggoe (School collapse). 127-160. Seoul: Greene, Maxine. 1995. Releasing the Imagination.
Purn Namu (Green Arbor). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
_____. 1999b. Konggyoyuk kanghwaga usnida. Han, Jong-ha. 1994. "Education and Industrial-
(Emphasis on Public Education is the First). ization : The Korean Nexus in Human Re-
Chngyojo Chamgyoyuk Silchn Wiwnhoe sources Development." Education Economics,
ed. Hakkyo punggoe (School collapse). 179- 2(2), 169-186.
192. Seoul: Purn Namu (Green Arbor). Hwang, Kapjin. 2001. Patterns of On-line Dis-
Chngyojo Kyoukcharyosil (KTU Center for courses about the School Failure. Theory and
Educational Materials). 2000. Chngyojo Kuil Research in Citizenship Education. 33: 407-
kodnghakkyo punhoe ynsujaryo (KTU 438.
Kuil High School sub-division educational Hyn, B. H. 1999. Ylchung shi! Charyt!
material). Seoul: Chnbosng. Apro naranhi! (At Ease! Attention! Forward
Chngyojo Sinmun (Korean Teachers Union in Line!). Mindlle (Dandelions). 1(1): 2.
newspaper). 1999. Chnguk kyojigwn Jeong, Insook & Michael Armer. 1994. State, Class,
nodongjohap (Korean Teachers Union). and Expansion of Education in South Korea:
Seoul, November 11. A General Model. Comparative Education
Chosun Ilbo. 1999a. Kajnghakkyo nrnanda Review. 38 (4): 531-545.
(The IncreasingNumber of Families Turning Joongang Ilbo. 2001. Kyosa kyngjaengnyk
to Home Schooling). June 20. (Teachers Competitiveness). Seoul, January
_____. 1999b. Kyosiri munjigo itta (The Class- 13.
room is Collapsing), August 31. Kim, Dae-Yong. 2002. "The Recognition on Ed-
_____. 1999c. Hakkyobunggoe magrymyn ucational Reality of the Korean Press." The
(To Prevent School Collapse), September 1. Korean Journal of Philosophy of Education, 27
_____. 1999d. Kyosilsubn pilsuga anin sntaek (2): 19-36.
(Classroom Instruction is Not a Must, but a Kim, Eun-Ju. 2003. Students Perception on the
Choice), November 11. Causes and Solutions of Classroom-Collapse,
_____. 1999e. Yngjaedl kal kosi pta (No Place Educational Studies. Humanities and Social
for Gifted Students), November 11. Science. 6: 139-163.
_____. 2000a. Ilttngdo kkolchido pnn Kim, Joong-Seop. 2001. Korean Education in
pungppang kyoyuk (The Cookie -Cut- Crisis and Human Rights. Hynsanggwa
2
Reality is a socially constructed phenomenon reected
in the purpose of the discourse analysis presented in this
paper. From a social constructionists point of view, it is
ironic, even illogical, to argue that such realityschool
collapseactually existed separated from the collective,
32 The Sigur Center Asia Papers
The Uneven Burden of Vitality:
College Rank, Neoliberalism,
and South Koreas New Generation
T
his paper is interested in the transformed the past and from pmsaeng-i, a contemporary
ways that contemporary college students in youth slang that mocks yesteryears mobmsaeng,
South Korea envision and narrate human hardworking and conformist model students.
developmentnamely, ideal ways to mature. Both pmsaeng-i and activists are imagined as
Foremost, they are committed to becoming vital collectivistic subjects who were driven by the
people who lead active and enjoyable lives external demands of families and cohort groups
people who live hard and play hard, aim to respectively and who forfeited play. Students
experience the world to its fullest, and are able described earlier student generations who enacted
to circulate in a wide and increasingly global hierarchical social relations, foremost the senior/
arena. This paper employs vitality to capture junior (snhubae) relations of all social groups,
an emergent discourse on personal attributes student groups among them. Where these former
and proclivities and corporal (i.e., bodily) energy. student cohorts were fashioned by external
With vitality we echo the burgeoning literature structures, the image of the vital student today
on biological citizenship that appreciates the life is imagined to fashion herself, to cut her own
force itself, what Ann Anagnost (2004: 201) writes cloth. We do not, however, argue that the lives
of as bare life (cf. Agamben 1998).1 Vitality of the students here are more active than those
does not refer here to an emic construct, namely of yesteryear; indeed, personal development of
to a single term employed by our ethnographic the educated in South Korea has long demanded
respondents. We historicize this discourse at considerable diligence and activity.
the juncture of neoliberal social, economic, and These images of free-formed selves aside,
educational reforms in South Korea. students are well aware that this new mode
Vital students must thus be internally driven of being is at the same time a requirement for
by their own passions and interests, and accrue a productive life in a rapidly transforming and
range of experiences in order to realize an adult globalizing world. In this way, the discourse on
life that is more than a narrow measure of success; human development is a narrative of human
in no way, however, do we assert that these young capital formation, a naked understanding of
people are not interested in success and social what it takes for a person to succeed in the
standing. Further, these students want to be contemporary economy. It is, thus, not lost on
social while maintaining identities independent students that the work of becoming a vital human
of collectivities of any kind. They distinguish being is no simple matter, even if it presents itself
this mode of being in a new and globalizing as more fun than earlier ways of being.
South Korea from student movement activists of Critically, the work of vitality is gendered
as co-educational and public. Many students new economies we are increasingly becoming
asserted that exclusively feminine domains, such self-managers who must produce themselves
as womens colleges and the home, lack vitality. as having the skills and qualities necessary
Such spaces are imagined to be domestic (in both to succeed. (Walkerdine 2003:240). We take
senses of the word), and limited and limiting in particular inspiration from Yan Hairong (2003)
direct contrast with images of free circulation on who coins the term neohumanism to describe,
a global stage. One Ynse University co-ed, for after Marx, how human exchange value in China
exampleherself a transfer from a second-tier today has extended to subjectivity. Specically,
womens collegeasserted the categorical dif- she analyses the Chinese construct of suzhi or
ference of Ynse Universitys extent of activity quality, arguing that Suzhi is the concept of
(hwaltongnyang) and went on to describe the human capital given a neoliberal spin to exceed
large student gatherings on the Ynse grounds in its original meaning of stored value of education
sharp contrast to the eateries, beauty parlors, and and education-based qualications to mean the
beautiful girls that marked her previous college. capitalization of subjectivity itself (2003:511,
These images of free circulation index a cf. Anagnost 2004).3 Of course, post-IMF South
critical feature of this vitalitythe global. Vital Korea and China under market reform present
people must be global or at home in the world entirely distinct historical congurations, but the
(see Anagnost 2000; Park and Abelmann 2004), neoliberal spin Yan describes is one, as others
reecting an imperative already a decade old in have argued, that perhaps unites youth worldwide
South Koreas race to internationalize and now (Comaro and Comaro 2000, 307).
globalize (S. Kim 2000). English mastery is a For the South Korean case, we argue that the
critical piece of this picture (Park and Abelmann mode in which many of todays college students
2004; Crystal 2003) and many students in this distinguish themselves from the past reects the
research described English as a necessary base" contemporary, global, neoliberal turn in which
(peis). individuals take personal responsibility for their
The student generation featured in this paper own development, eectively obscuring the work
spent their childhood in an increasingly prosperous of structural features. The South Korean version
and democratic South Korea. Importantly, of this global turn, which imagines contemporary
however, in their early or late adolescence they individuals against the backdrop of earlier
met the IMF Crisis (1997-2001) that led to a collective subjects is, we assert, a particularly
broad array of social and policy reforms that powerful version because the liberal humanist
were, broadly speaking, neoliberal in character. project of post-authoritarianism coincides with
A concerted critique of South Korean crony the neoliberal transformation and thus the
capitalism led to the call for venture capitalism in requirement for self-development is heralded in
a deregulated market. For some, creative, global, the language of human rights and democratic
high-tech youth were critical to this reform freedoms (Song 2003). In a narrower educational
project (Song 2003). Intensied privatization, context, we nd strange political bedfellows. For
individuation, and globalization are the large example, both progressives and conservatives call
context for the transformations of subjectivity that for reformist education devoted to individual-
have been characterized by numerous scholars friendly creative curricular reform (Lim 2004).
across the humanities and social sciences.2 This As Michael W. Apple (2001, 421) asserts, global
paper builds on the many arguments that in the neoliberal education reforms are nationally and
human development project on their own. This realized in practice, decades of policy reform in
awareness does not, however, easily translate into the past were made in the name of equal access
a sense of structural disadvantage. We do, though, and standardization. Today the debate between
listen carefully for those moments when it does.4 quality education and education equality rages
Before turning to the students themselves, it on. A critical factor is the states recent centralized
is critical to place this new human development higher education transformations, concentrating
or capital narrative in the context of important on the countrys top tier universities. This focused
transformations of higher education in South approach to neoliberal reform intensied the
Korea. South Korean higher education, like already enormous stratication of South Korean
South Korean mainstream K-12 education, has in education (J.H. Lee 2004).7 The complex political
some sense been playing catch-up in responding colors of the current education policy climate are
to social demands. In fact, the argument can easily observed through a recent JoongAng Ilbo
be made that South Korean education has long editorial denouncing South Korean education
been driven by the force of social demand, for as an outdated steam engine that hampers
equal access in early decades and currently the nations competitiveness. The editorial
for neoliberal reform, namely deregulation, continued, Korea is still mired in the age of
privatization, diversication, and globalization. democratization, in which remnants of previous
Although some charge that the state continues authoritarian regimes continue to linger. As
to lag behind consumer demand (Hankook such, the inuence of ideology remains evident
Ilbo 2004; D. Lee 2004), todays South Korea (D. Lee 2004: 39-40). The fascinating logics of
nonetheless oers an interesting case of state- this argument speak, we think, to the complex
managed deregulation of higher education in political colors of the current moment in which
accordance with the neoliberal values of ecient democracy, authoritarian legacies, and
self (i.e., campus) -management, productivity/ ideological remains (coded leftist) are rendered
excellence, diversication, and global competition parallel projects that mediate against neoliberal
(Mok and Welch 2003; Mok, Yoon, and Welch education reform. In a fascinating analysis of
2003; OECD 2000).5 The transformed student South Koreas n-de-sicle discourse about
is portrayed as an autonomous consumer who school collapse, Jae Hoon Lim (2004) argues that
should manage her own lifelong creative capital what she dubs the traditionalist response, for its
development.6 We understand the elite university primary lament over the loss of teachers authority
students discussed in this paper to have most and other ethical protocol (5) and what she calls
beneted from the government distribution of the democratic response share a commitment
national resources because of the very selective to a communitarian model of education. On the
state support of higher education. As such, their other hand, neoliberalists and the de-schoolers,
co-educational campuses most deeply enact the in spite of being quite politically divergent, shared
new global human capital development that all a commitment foremost to the individualand,
these students articulate. by extension, choice, competition, and excellence
These neoliberal education reforms are (15, 22). Societys former radicals are interested
not without their critics, as many understand in various modes of alternative schooling do
that such reforms run against the grain of not, in fact, sound so dierent from the explicit
a longstanding ideological commitment to neoliberalistslike the writer of the above
egalitarian education. Although never entirely editorialwith their objections to the mantle of
Heejin shed light on her cosmopolitan interests who got in here. Dont get me wrong, Im not
in being comfortable in the world at large. It was saying they are bad. They all go to provincial
clear that Heejin was very much at home at Kory colleges orWe all used to hang out together,
but when we parted at 1 a.m. I would go home
University and with todays college scene. After
and study until 3 a.m. before we went to bed.
several hours together in 2004, Heejin took us to They just went to bed since they were tired. So it
the student union president who she praised to was all about self-management [emphasis add-
the sky even as she stood steadfastly against his ed] It isnt that I look down on them. If I was
every political and campus cause. to talk to them like this, they would think I was
Recently, President Roh threatened to repeal a dierent person. But I only talk to them about
the advantages accorded students of special fun stu I have friends that I hang out with,
friends I study with, and friends I consult with
purpose high schools whose graduates gained
about the future.
extra points on their college entrance exams.8
Heejin, a graduate of such a school, called the When we met Heejin a year later as a
potential change a policy to undermine students sophomore, her position on self-management
with high standards and said of her entitlement: had, if anything, hardened. Kory University, she
I worked twice as hard as others to enter that asserted unabashedly, was an elite school that
school, and twice as hard to stay there. Further, should stand for, metonymically, the likes of her:
for Heejin, successful entrance to Kory Univer- self-managers invested in the kinds of new hu-
sity had particular meaning because her parents man development sketched above.
had insisted that if she could not enter a top-tier Heejin described a changed university, a far
co-ed college that she had better attend a wom- cry from the one that her high school teachers
ens school; she had, thus, succeeded in avoiding had described by telling them, hang in there,
a feminized space. hang in there, once you get to college you can
In 2003 we walked away from our meeting do whatever you want. Instead, to her delight,
with Heejin with one of her phrases, self- Heejin found people who studied really hard and
management (chagi kwalli), resonating. We had she described that she had been moved at the
been surprised to hear the phrase so directly, and long line of students waiting to enter the library
to listen that summer to so many other students at 5 a.m. It was clear that for Heejin, competing,
who oered similar narratives of what it takes to self-managing, working hard, and so on made her
succeed in a transformed South Korea. Heejin feel alive and vital. She described the energy that
dwelled on self-management to distinguish herself comes from achievement and activity:
from her close associates during her chaesu year,
the year when some students study to retake the [If you have to study in college] you can feel that
college entrance exams to upgrade their college you have achieved something When I was
choice, or in some cases to secure admission to selected to be an exchange student [she hasnt
gone yet] the feeling was amazingthe sense of
any college.
accomplishment. When I got into college, into
I probably shouldnt say this, but those of us the department I wanted, and It is the feel-
here are at this level [gesturing around her]. ing of energy, the motivation to continuously do
Our society is lead by people at this higher lev- something
el Frankly speaking, among my friends from
my chaesu year [those who attended the same Heejin was unabashed that the quest should
college preparation institute], I am the only one be eternal, and that the point was not to arrive at
38 The Sigur Center Asia Papers
The Uneven Burden of Vitality, Nancy Abelmann
one place or another. In 2004 we were joined by sity graduates were ones that demanded English
a member of the popular music club, Soona, who mastery. In passing she remarked, Last semes-
ended up playing devils advocate to the human ter I saw more English than Korean. Heejin was
capital development extremes that Heejin oered unfazed that the university should want to confer
that day. In the face of Heejins insatiable desire these and many more credentials upon its gradu-
to be credentialized, and for Kory University to ates. She voiced her support for anything that as-
stand for excellence, Soona queried, But does serts that I have achieved to this [indicating the
this leave you any room for self development? campus around her] level. She added later that
Heejins retort was quick and easy: But this is Kory University is her brand (mak) and hence
a part of self development too. Where Soona she wanted the bar to be set high.
reserved some self-development beyond, we Heejin is a great defender of Kory Univer-
might say, the marketplace, Heejin atly rejected sitys global turn from national Kory Univer-
this sort of distinction. Minutes later, Soona sity to global Kory University. She described
pushed her again, You enjoy competition so that the universitys newspaper campaign, Now we
you can realize your dreams, right? It isnt that have turned our back on our homeland and are
you want to compete forever, right? Do you want marching toward the world. She praised the
to agonize yourself with endless competition. universitys eorts to be included in the list of
Soona had eectively asked the same question, the worlds top 100 universities in which cur-
and Heejin oered the same answer: It isnt hard rently there are no South Korean universities, as
for me. When Soona pressed her further that well as the Deans motto, Lets make good on our
she had witnessed Heejin complaining about the [university] pride! For Heejin, the march to the
work at exam time, Heejin admitted that yes world, English, endless credentials, ever-rising
she complains, but that she nonetheless wants to standards, and the like are the registers of vitality,
compete. Where Soona articulated the burden not an end as Soona would have it, but a way.
of vitality, Heejin espoused a willingness to Heejins career goals encompass this sense of vi-
embrace it. tality. She detailed her ever escalating desire for
When we met with Heejin in 2004, we spent foreign languages: My major is English [litera-
quite a bit of time talking about the universitys ture]. But it is unsatisfying to only work on Eng-
recently established English requirements lish. After all, everybody does English Now I
for graduation, namely an 800 or above on am learning Japanese, and I am continuing with
the TOEIC (Test of English for International Spanish too. And I also want to learn Chinese.
Communication).9 At that time, the student She described crafting a career through which
government was busily campaigning against she can contact [in English] foreigners. Heejin
this requirement and other features of Kory thus imagined herself in broad circulation, mov-
Universitys aggressive globalization eortsit ing freely in the world, facilitated by the mastery
was because of our interest in this campaign that of many tongues, and acting as an agent to bring
Heejin lead us to the student union president af- South Korea around the globe. Heejin plans to
ter our meeting. Heejin was matter of fact about become an event director, more specically she
the requirement, which she argued should be hopes to orchestrate public events, circulating
even steeper. When Soona protested the require- foreign culture. Heejins description of the career
ment, Heejin defended that the life or class circles synthesizes her aesthetics of vitality and activity,
(saenghwal hwangyng) of future Kory Univer- as well as her sense of the global.
brary, completely empty except during exam sea- perience. For her part, she could never imagine
son; here we can recall Heejin who was moved using her parents money without strong deter-
by the students lined up to enter the Kory Uni- mination to really study hard. Here Sori distin-
versity library at dawn. Also lacking for Sori were guished the spirit from the letter; her classmates,
meaningful social relationships: she described she asserted, lacked the spiritthe vitalitythat
that where students at Ynse or Kory Universi- would assure meaningful eects.
ties build relations with their seniors (snbae) Aspiring to follow in her fathers footsteps,
and join clubs or study groups,10 for her there pace on the many observers of neoliberal
is nothing that I can learn from them. Going subjectivity, Sori has taken on the burden of self-
further, Sori said, I cant get anything from this development on her own. Sori admires her father,
school. When we asked her why it is that she a well-traveled and successful exporter, whom she
cant even have a conversation with classmates describes as a self made man who speaks English
at Myngji, she continued: well considering his age. She went on to note that
his English is in fact better than hers. In spite of
To take an example: I am interested in English, admitting to being hurt by him and to the trials
but if I try to talk to them about learning Eng- of never being able to live up to his expectations,
lish, they are clueless. They know nothing about Sori is busily crafting her own parallel track.
what teacher is good at what institute or how to
Foremost, she knows that she will need to identify
prepare for the TOEFL etc. If they even studied
her own import/export item (aitem) if she is to
English a bit they would know that much and I
would at least be able to talk to them about how succeed. Over the course of our conversation, we
hard TOEFL is, but all they can say is I dont began to listen to the phonetic loan word item
know anything about TOEFL or I havent ever more metaphorically, to stand for the stress that
taken the TOEIC. many students put on discovering their own
talent or nurturing their own passion. We are
With these comments, Sori described students struck that Soris itemone that she would
with perhaps little bright futures or, at least, lower market or bring from abroadparallels Heejins
ambitions. We can also consider that Sori was events, both of them self-styled, and both of
remarking on the manqu of network or social them decidedly cosmopolitan for extending
capital at a place like Myngji University; there beyond South Korea and for requiring English.
were neither strategic ties nor helpful information Sori does not want to be merely a part of the
to be garnered there. These very students who machine, aspiring instead to becoming a gure
knew so little about the English exam that Kory in her own right (chudojgin saram).
University was requiring an 800 on for gradua- Like her chaesu year, Soris item is a
tionthe very score that earned Sori a sizable particularly gendered burden. She said: My
merit fellowship at Myngji Universitynone- Dad says that his trade item is too good to let
theless went for stints abroad, but Sori stressed, it die with his generation and that if he had
with no mind of their own. They just head for had a son he could have had him take it over.
China or the United States because their parents To wit, her entrepreneurship is indeed a self-
send them. I dont understand them. They say, entrepreneurship; the matter of fashioning herself
Isnt it a good thing to study abroad? Doesnt it as a woman is tied up in the project of somehow
expand ones horizons? but they have absolutely identifying that perfect trade item (Walkerdine
no plan to make good on their study abroad ex- 2003). Denied her entrepreneurial patrimony,
she is both responsible for ending up at Myngji history distinct from the Seoul megalopolis, it is
University and in turn for the development of her close enough to Seoul to avoid easy classication
own human capital. Hardly unfettered by the as provincial South Korea but is nonetheless
burden, Sori still embraced it. not clearly part of the greater Seoul metropolitan
area. Interestingly, Inchn City University was
Bordering the Megalopolis only recently designated a public university in
the aftermath of a widely publicized corruption
Each of us has to know exactly where we are scandal and this change serves as a beacon of the
headed and then make choices accordingly new democratic era. The institutional history and
character of colleges is one that is worthy of con-
We turn now to two male seniors at Inchn sideration and not suciently developed in this
City University, Min and Kn, both the children paper.
of small entrepreneurs and Min of a single moth- We met Min and Kn in a larger group of
er. Although we foreground university stratica- Communication Department students in 2003
tion here, it is clear that Min and Kn are from and in a smaller group again in 2004. In 2004,
class backgrounds that dier from the students Min was o campus because of an internship that
introduced earlier. Like Sori, Min and Kn simi- had turned into full time employmentalthough
larly take on the burden of human development he still needed to nish up some coursework
beyond the walls of their university. Min argues and he made considerable eort to come and
for the self-management of college in which each meet us because he had an urgent story to share
student decides where college ts in their own (one that follows here). In 2003, Minstylishly
self-development strategy. Kn, having recently dressed in offbeat clothesspoke of his fate to
decided to take the civil service exam, is resigned follow a dierent life course, and of his distinctive
to a rather conventional occupational future, but childhood without a father and with a crazily
holds out for the possibility of personal develop- strong mother. When he introduced himself as
ment beyond the job, as he did throughout his an eclectic philosopher, it was clear that his
college years beyond the university. We under- classmates had heard much of it before, that Min
stand Kn to articulate a somewhat dierent nar- was a frequent performer of his own dierence.
rative of vitalityone that recalls Heejins friend In 2003, Min, establishing himself as a condent
Soona at Kory University who wanted to reserve talker, spoke at great length about South Koreas
some element of human development beyond the impoverished culture of conversation or debate
instrumental. These distinctions aside, however, (toron munhwa). In claiming that English was
we appreciate that even beyond the connes of more comfortable, Min seemed to be saying
the productive realm, vitality can still burden; that, for him, English was somehow unfettered
and further that the distinction between the pro- by South Korean schooling, convention, and
ductive and other realms perhaps makes less and perhaps even social life. With his comments on
less sense. Inchn City University is a third-tier English, Min also highlighted his international
university attended by Seoulites who cannot en- travel and his cosmopolitan anities.
ter colleges in Seoul proper, Inchn locals, and
students from the provinces. Inchn, a sprawling When I speak English, it doesnt seem so hard. It
city neighboring Seoul, presents an interesting is easy and systematic. Speaking English is more
case. Although an independent city with its own comfortable and written English is more precise
burdened Sorieven as her fathers item could evening. He had come to tell us a love story and
not be passed down. In imagining his future, to share his broken heart. It was a very long story,
Min described his inspiration from Buddhism spoken with almost no interruptions, other than
(following ones heart); indeed, throughout the sympathy pangs from the assembled listeners;
conversation he cited a range of early Korean for Kn and a newcomer to the department also
religious thinkers. In 2003 he also spoke of his there, it was clear that the story was already very
desire to make avant-garde lms. familiar. In a word, Min had fallen in love with an
By 2004, via an internship, Min had landed a Indian woman he had come to know because she
highly desirable job in Seoul as a TV producer in was featured in a TV program that he had spear-
a broadcasting company. Although Min was not headed as part of his internship, and by the time
disparaging of others, the following comments we were speaking, job. It was a fairy tale story
on hoe he landed the job makes clear, however, of true love and of tragic parting: the woman in
that he understands that each person must take question could not marry out. Although a seri-
responsibility for the management of their own ous and at moments melodramatic telling, there
future, a management that is inherently risky, and were humorous asides, mostly about the ways in
driven by many choices. which Min skimped on his work to follow his
heart. We listened to the story intentlyMin was
When I was taking classes, I got many calls skilled at keeping us tuned in. In the midst of it
asking, Min, are you up for some part time we were struck by the way in which Min seemed
work? And I would turn to my friends, Hey, to mobilize the tale as an instance of the way in
lets do it together, but most of the time they which he makes life choicesreminiscent of his
said No, I cant, I have class. But in my case, I description of his management of college. Mins
cut class and did those jobs. Because I skipped
was an instance of living and experiencing in-
many classes, my GPA was between a B and a
C but I learned many skills in the eld. And tensely, vitally. While at rst glance a very far
so I have been able to enter the work world cry from the credential-happy Heejin with her
this quickly. Those students who stuck to their events or from item-seeking Sori, the inten-
classes cant enter society and begin working as sity, the personal air, and the interest in experi-
easily. It was a matter of my personal judgment ence is consistent. That evening, within moments
(chagi pandan); I did what I did because I chose of our meeting Min had rued through his wal-
to do it. Grades are also important, and I did
let to show us something, namely his graduation
fret about my grades. Some of my friends made
that choice [i.e., to secure their grades]Each photo in which, against the grain, Min had decid-
of us has to know exactly where we are headed ed to wear traditional Korean garb. It was a fresh-
and then make choices accordingly. I chose my man in the department, who sat with us quietly
course a long time ago and I have stayed on that and blushed when asked to talk a bit about her-
path without wavering. self, who ipped through her cell phone shots to
produce the desired photo. Min, it was clear, was
Mins thoughts here about learning in the himself a bit of a departmental event or item.
eld echo his earlier pronouncements about Min also talked that evening about an
language learning, and signify his embrace of encounter with a Japanese traveler in India. It was
new modes of human development. It was not, a lovely story about a serendipitous and minimal,
however, to oer these reections that Min but somehow very meaningful, meeting; it
had made considerable eorts to meet us that captured beautifully the allure of travel, the magic
who does not forsake his personal life for the people who have made their way to four year
company. Like Soona at Kory University, Kn collegesall aspire to vital human development,
described self-development in the leisure zone. and they all accept the burden of managing
In 2003, however, when still a junior Kn had de- that vital personal formation. This new
scribed his own desires, not unlike Mins, to live personand here we must again caution that
dierently. Dismissing conventional marriage and they are not, after all, entirely new (Song 2003)
family, he had said, Why should I live like that? dierentiates herself from the past and aspires to
And he had added, as if to explain his dierence, realize values of democracy, individualism and
In any case, humans are alone. In 2004, how- cosmopolitanism. This paper has considered how
ever, Kn spoke about the unparalleled benets a small number of students across three campuses
(retirement, etc.) of civil service jobs; he seemed inhabit these discourses of human development
to be sketching a conventional life course. Inter- and how in turn they manage their education
estingly, he described that a future wife would be and chart the course of their future lives. We have
able to bring warmth to his natal familys domes- paid particular attention to dierences according
tic life. He lamented that over time conversations to university prestige and family background. We
with his mother had become increasingly lim- have argued that the burden of vitality is borne
ited, ranging from short reports to perfunctory variously across these campuses and that vitality
queries, for example, Did you eat? Yeah. Kn is often articulated against feminized spaces
spoke of the sadness of his mothers home life and traits. We observed how Heejin occupies
and sought to bring new life to that home with a privileged position where her campus itself
his future wife. Of note are the contours of Kns confers the brand of vitality. We listened to their
lial burden: his concern for his mothers happi- cosmopolitan dreams, like Heejins vision of herself
ness perhaps stands against his own life course as a cosmopolitan event planner. We listened to
freedoms. But, if a civil service career smacked the ways that they understand that vitality as a
of something conventional, Kn nonetheless re- matter of personal responsibility and choice,
served his after hours, and the promise of future entirely unfettered by structure or circumstance.
Saturdays in a transformed South Korean work Similarly we saw how English, a sign of the global,
life, for that refuge that he had soughtif only is a matter for personal conquer. But, we also saw,
half realizedthrough travel in his earlier college with Soona, that not all elite university students
days. Even though life is hard, Kn is holding are enunciators of the neoliberal project to the
rmly to self-expression and development. Kn degree that Heejin does. While Sori of third tier
strikes us as taking on the burden of vitality dif- Myngji University equally embraced the proj-
ferently than the other students featured in this ect of vitality, she was resigned to managing it on
paper. We note that he is distinguished from the her own, o-campus. And we saw that her own
others because of his level of resignation to social cosmopolitan vision of the futurein which she
inequalities, and because he does not personalize secures her itemis a gendered burden that
vitality to the same extent. she shoulders alone, unlike a son who would have
been able to take over her fathers item. Against
Conclusions the backdrop of Heejins triumphant and integrat-
ed projects of personal development, Soris rings
The university students in this paperand it more fraught, raw, and even pained. Finally, Min
is important to underscore that these are all young and Kn of Inchn City University are, like Sori,
Lee, Chong-chae, 1998. "T'ksu Mokchk Kodng Park, Namgi, 2000. "Higher Education in a
Hakkyo Pigyonaesinje i Chaengchm Pun- Rapidly Developing Country: The Case of
sk (An Analysis of the Debate on the Rela- the Republic of Korea." The Emerging Markets
tive Evaluation System of the High School and Higher Education: Development and
Grades for Special Purposed High Schools). Sustainability. M.S. McMullen, J.E. Mauch,
Han'guk Kyoyuk P'yngron 1997 (Review of and B. Donnorummo, eds. Pp. 125-146. New
Korean Education 1997). K.E.D. Institute, ed. York: RoutledgeFalmer.
201-219. Seoul: Kyoyuk-Kwahak-sa. Park, So Jin, 2004. Private After-School Educational
Lee, Deok-nyung, 2004. "Dreaming about a Market and Mothers Management of their
Revolution in Education." Korea Focus. 12 Childrens Education in the Context of Neo-
(1):39-41. Originally JoongAng Ilbo, April 10, Liberal Transformation. Manuscript.
2004. Park, So Jin, and Nancy Abelmann, 2004.
Lee, Ju-Ho, 2004. "The School Equalization Policy "Class and Cosmopolitan Striving: Mothers'
of Korea: Past Failures and Proposed Measures Management of English Education in South
for Reform." Korea Journal 44(1):221-234. Korea." Anthropological Quarterly 77 (4):
Mok, Ka-ho, and Anthony Welch, 2003. 645-672.
"Globalization, Structural Adjustment and Rose, Nikolas, 1990. Governing the Soul: The
Educational Reform." K. h. Mok and A. Shaping of the Private Self. London: Free
Welch, eds. Globalization and Educational Association Books.
Restructuring in the Asia Pacic Region. 1-31. Rose and Novas, 2005. In Aihwa Ong and Stephen
New York: Palgrave Macmillan. J. Collier eds., Global assemblages: Technology,
Mok, Ka-ho, Kiok Yoon, and Anthony Welch, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems.
2003. "Globalization's Challenges to Higher 439-463. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Education Governance in South Korea." Seth, Michael, 2002. Education Fever: Society,
K.-h. Mok and A. Welch, eds. Globalization Politics, and the Pursuit of Schooling in South
and Educational Restructuring in the Asia Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Pacic Region. Pp. 58-78. New York: Palgrave Schein, Louisa, 1998. "Importing Miao Brethren
Macmillan. to Hmong America: A Not-So-Stateless
Muraki, Noriko, 2002. Middle class Citizenship Transnationalism." P. Cheah and B. Robbins
and Female College Students in Tokyo. eds., Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling
(Dissertation proposal.) University of Illinois Beyond the Nation. Minneapolis: University
at Urbana-Champaign. of Minnesota Press, 163-191.
Nelson, Laura C., 2000. Measured Excess: Status, Song, Jesook, 2003. Shifting technologies:
Gender, and Consumer Nationalism in South Neoliberalization of the Welfare State in
Korea. New York: Columbia University Press. South Korea, 1997-2001. Ph. D. Dissertation.
OECD, 2000. Korea and the Knowledge-Based Urbana: University of Illinois.
Economy: Making the Transition. Paris: The Hankook Ilbo (Editorial), 2004. Signicance
OECD. of U.S. Educational Institutions' Entry into
Ong, Aihwa and Stephen J. Collier, 2005. Global Korea, Korea Focus 12 (3):57-59. Originally
Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as The Hankook Ilbo, May 1, 2004
Anthropological Problems. Malden: Blackwell Walkerdine, Valerie, 2003. "Reclassifying Upward
Publishing. Mobility: Femininity and the Neo-Liberal
Gregg Brazinsky
Despite the importance of education in Kore- system during the Occupation years immediate-
an society both at present and over the course of ly after the war. In his paper Seth deals with the
Korean history, the topic has not been the subject threat to ideals of educational equality and uni-
of a great deal of research. Much of the scholar- formity created by Korean parents willingness
ship on the topic, especially in the social scienc- to spend millions of dollars annually on private
es, has been fairly simplistic and geared towards tutoring and so-called cram schools. According
demonstrating the obvious point that education to Seth, this contributed to a tension between
in Korea supported the countrys modernization the egalitarian idea that the entire school system
and development. The colloquium presentations should be uniform in content and standard and
have all gone far beyond this showing that educa- the more elitist tendency to assign every school
tion is not just a unifying force that can buttress and school district a place in a hierarchy of sta-
development but also a very divisive and contest- tus. Interestingly, Michael Seth argues on page
ed issue. Students, families, and educators all have that this tension between education as status
deep, vested interests in South Koreas education climbing and egalitarianism reected a society
system and have struggled for the systems soul. assimilating new Western ideals while adhering
I would like to begin by pointing out one to traditional Confucian cultural values. Thus
common theme in these papers in this regard. All the tension between egalitarianism and elitism in
three of the papers reect the critical concern that the South Korean education system can be linked
has existed in Korean history for at least the last more broadly to tensions created by the inux of
century over how foreign inuencesespecially Western ideas.
globalizing discourses about modernity and de- Seth touches on this point more indirectly in
mocracycan be integrated into Korean culture. the closing portions of his paper as well. He points
South Korea, like many post-colonial societies, briey to the problem created by the prestige
has been anxious about how it can absorb mod- South Korean students attach to foreign degrees.
ern social and cultural inuences in a way that Here, however, , Koreans desire for exposure to
will not endanger or destroy its traditional beliefs Western educational methods and institutions
and values. is a cause of inequality rather than a force for
This point comes across in several parts of social equality since only the wealthiest Korean
Michael Seths paper,building on his book that students can generally aord to pursue degrees at
has already shown in great detail some of the con- foreign universities. There are several interesting
icts that occurred when the United States rst possibilities here that Seth might develop more
seriously attempted to transform Koreas school fully. First, how does the great prestige accorded
to American universities hamper and/or contrib- unique cultural context of education in Korean
ute to the quality of education in South Korea? society. The traditionalist discourse on school
On the one hand, as Seth mentions, when the collapse stands in contrast to the neo-liberal dis-
best students go abroad it weakens the caliber of course that has argued in favor of a market-based
graduate programs in Korea. At the same time, educational system that more closely resembles
however, study in the West should theoretically the one that exists in the United States. The de-
contribute to the improvement of education in bate between traditionalists and neo-liberals is
South Korea in the long term since it enables Ko- also interesting because it reects perhaps the
reans to receive the most sophisticated training most recent incarnation of the debates between
possible before returning to their home univer- how to adapt traditional beliefs to modernizing
sities. Additionally, many American universities change in Korea. Specically, how South Korea
are now setting up branches in Korea and other can and should adapt to the post-modern era of
Asian countries, supposedly for Asian students globalization.
who cannot aord to travel abroad. How will this The students discussed in Nancy Abelmanns
aect the overall balance between educational paper also wrestle with the impact of globalizing
equality and access to Western universities? changes on Korean society. At rst blush what
Similar conicts over how to adapt foreign stands out in Abelmanns paper in contrast to the
particularly Western inuencesto traditional other two is the relative absence of a discourse on
Korean ideals can be found in the four discourses Koreanness or traditionalism. The students seem,
analyzed by Jae-Hoon Lim, whose paper examines for the most part, to embrace the idea of trans-
debates over the issue of school collapse in South forming themselves and becoming cosmopolitan
Korea that occurred between 1999 and 2001. Lim in order to manage the demands of globalization.
notes that the Korean educational system was But they tend to approach doing so as an individ-
based from the outset on a mixture of Confucian ual project much more so than as a national proj-
philosophy and democratic ideology. According ect. At the same time, this issue is complicated
to Lim, these two discourses coexisted with each in Abelmanns paper by the state assuming a role
other during most of the last four decades but the in promoting human capital formation through
conict between the two became much more vis- its Brain Korea 21 project. The explicit concern
ible during the school collapse debates that she of the project and an implicit concern of many
describes. This point comes across most strongly of the students is whether South Korea itself will
in the papers discussion of what it terms the tra- be able to keep pace with a rapidly transforming
ditionalist discourse on school collapse. These global environment. They are nationalist but their
traditionalists represent perhaps one extreme on nationalism goes hand in hand with cosmopoli-
the spectrum of opinions on how and whether tanism in a way that is quite dierent from tra-
Western ideas that are associated with modernity ditionalist nationalist discourses with their more
should be adapted and applied. Traditionalists communitarian emphasis.
seem to use the idea of school collapse to argue Another salient theme in all three papers that
for the outright rejection of outside inuence on plays into the conict of the global versus the lo-
the school system. They have opposed privatiza- cal is the issue of class. In some societies global-
tion and market-based reforms while criticizing ization can contribute to the sharpening of class
the Department of Educations decision to ille- dierences because those who are able to learn
galize corporal punishment as a failure to see the about new technologies most eciently gain un-
Hyunhee Kim is a Ph. D. candidate in cultural anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign. Her primary research interests intersect between legal anthropology and Asian American
studies (with a particular focus on Korean Americans). Her dissertation examines Korean American
lawyers citizenship project in post 9/11 New York City.
So Jin Park is a Ph. D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology and was a Spencer Foundation Dis-
sertation Fellow (June 2004 - May 2005). She also earned a Graduate minor in the Gender and Womens
Studies Program. Her dissertation examines mothers management of their childrens private after-
school education to reveal the workings of both social inequality and ideologies of motherhood.