By Sarah Wie
South Korea and Finland have one thing in common: an excellent education system. However, things were not always running so smoothly. Surprisingly, both their education systems were at the brink of collapse less than half a century ago. Finland was about to become the “economic stepchild of Europe,” and South Korea was devastated by the civil war. Over the past fifty years, both countries have turned their education systems around 180 degrees, and now both are honored for their excellent education systems. Despite their massive successes, their systems are wholly disparate.
The famed Korean model is “Grit and hard, hard, hard work.” For thousands of years, many parts of Asia believed that the only path to success was through taking examinations, in which the proctor “was a proxy for the emperor.” South Korea, among many of the Confucian countries that respect educational achievement promoted by exam culture, stands out as the most extreme and most successful. The Koreans are now 100% literate, at the cutting edge of international comparative tests of achievement and critical thinking and analysis.
However, this comes with a huge cost. Students study all year long, in-school and with tutors, and failure is inexcusable. Andreas Schleicher, director of education and skills at PISA, stated, “Koreans basically believe that I have to get through this really tough period to have a great future. It’s a question of short-term unhappiness and long-term happiness.” The entire culture revolves around conformity and order, which pressures students to increase their expectations for their academic performance.
The classroom sizes in Korea are very large, for it is the goal of the teacher to lead the class as a community and nurture peer relationships, very different from America preschools in which teachers develop individual relationships with the students and intervene in peer relationships.
Undoubtedly, the Korean model teaches young students how to learn, how to work hard, and how to persevere through failures.
In contrast, the Finnish model is “Extracurricular choice, intrinsic motivation.” Students learn to balance both rigor and flexibility. To many educators, the Finnish model is a utopia. In Finland, school provides social services and educational services. Thirty-three percent of the classes that high school students take are electives and they can choose their own matriculation exams. The overall atmosphere is low-stress with a wide variety of learning experiences. Sahlberg says, “A key to that is education. Finns do not really exist outside of Finland. This drives people to take education more seriously. For example, nobody speaks this funny language that we do. Finland is bilingual, and every student learns both Finnish and Swedish. And every Finn who wants to be successful has to master at least one other language, often English, but she also typically learns German, French, Russian, and many others. Even the smallest children understand that nobody else speaks Finnish, and if they want to do anything else in life, they need to learn languages.”
Both the Finns and the South Koreans share an ingrained respect for teachers and their academic qualifications and accomplishments. Only 10% of applicants are admitted into teaching programs. Teachers in Finland teach 600 hours per year and spend the rest of time in professional development programs to improve their teaching. Both these systems of education are exceptionally effective by starkly contrasting methods.
