School-Homed

I saw this stellar article on The Onion; frankly it could well have been printed in their Korean edition.

Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed

This raises an interesting discussion. We're all aware of the stereotype that Asian students keep their nose to the grindstone for an inordinate amount of time. I recently saw an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer demanded extra homework for Bart and said "I want him to be Korean by the time he's done!" During the intensive class period, some of the kids spend more time with their English teachers than they do with their parents.

But why is this?

There are two answers that I've heard. The first is selfless; in a tiny country of nearly 50 million people, the competition for jobs is fierce, and every bit of extra education is a leg-up over future competitors. The second answer is selfish; in Confucian societies, the children are expected to take care of the parents, so when parents send their kids to school for 18 hours a day, they're actually looking out for themselves.

While I'm sure that in some cases this is true, I do not think it applies in all - or even in most - cases. Yes, there are some children who push themselves hard. But there are also average students, below-average students, and students who would spend 23 hours a day texting if they could. Some students still cheat, neglect homework, and/or fail tests. If parents were really concerned about their kids' futures, they'd whip everyone into shape. If they were purely motivated by future financial security, they'd do the same, or stop spending their wages on private education and invest that money.

It's hard to escape the idea that many parents are simply "school-homing" their kids because they don't want them hanging around. I've seen absolutely useless students attending extra morning classes, or even Saturday classes. I've asked the staff to inform parents that a kid is severely ADHD, only to be told that the parents don't care. A kid just walked into my classroom 40 minutes early, which wasn't allowed in my grade school.

Perhaps the American and Korean educational/babysitting systems aren't so different from each other after all.