HARDWORKING KOREANS:

educational & sociocultural factors

알렉산드라 Alexandra엘리사 Elisabeth

유카 Jyka

CONTENT

I. Introduction

II. Education & Training

III. Sociocultural Characteristics

INTRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITY

PRIOR

KNOWLEDGE

BASE

INTENSITY

OF EFFORT

INTRODUCTION

TWO MAIN QUESTIONS:

• How have Koreans acquired knowledge so quickly?

• Why have Koreans worked so hard?

EDUCATION & TRAINING: key points

• General Education

• Vocational Training

• Tertiary Education

• U.S. Influence and Study Abroad

GENERAL EDUCATION

1. GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT

INVESTMENT

1951 - 2,5%

1966 – 17%

GENERAL EDUCATION

2. ENROLLMENT SYSTEM HAS

INCREASED RAPIDLY

1953 - 21%

1994 – 99%

GENERAL EDUCATION

3. UNIQUE FEATURE:

expansion in all

levels of education = economic

development

GENERAL EDUCATION

NUMBER OF HIGH STUDENTS

1953 – 160,000

1994 – 2 million

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

1. Establishment of vocational

secondary school by large

private firms

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

2. Vocational Training Laws

(1966, 1974)

TERTIARY EDUCATION: achievements

UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENT

1953 - 38,400

1994 – 1,15 million

TERTIARY EDUCATION: achievements

ENROLLMENT AT JUNIOR COLLEGES

AND UNIVERSITIES

1953 – 3,1%

1994 – 48,8%

TERTIARY EDUCATION: achievements

THE NUMBER OF R&D SCIENTISTS AND

ENGINEERS

1980 - 18,434

1993 – 98,764

TERTIARY EDUCATION: drawbacks

1. A short-term unemployment

2. Low quality of education

3. Underinvestment at all educational

levels since 1970

U.S. INFLUENCE AND STUDY ABROAD

Key points:

• Military service

• Overseas training

U.S. INFLUENCE AND STUDY ABROAD

The main drawback of overseas

training:

• The refusal of overseas graduates to

return home

U.S. INFLUENCE AND STUDY ABROAD

Measures taken:

• Establishment of the Korea Institute of

Science and Technology

• Challenging jobs and attractive

compensation packages

• The “Brain Pool”

SOCIOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS: KEY POINTS

• Neo-Confucianism

• Situational Factors

• Labor Unrest

NEO-CONFUCIANISM

Five traditional values of Confucianism:

• absolute loyalty to the ruler

• the submission of wife to husband

• strict seniority in social order

• mutual trust in human relations

• filial piety and respect

NEO-CONFUCIANISM

THE NEW CONFUCIAN

ETHNICS

NEO-CONFUCIANISM

1. Education is of vital importance

2. Clan

3. Harmonious interpersonal relations

4. The pursuit of the highest good

5. Discipline

SITUATIONAL FACTORS

Hardworking Koreans at the

individual level:

- Tenacity to endure hardship

- “Han”

- “Examination hell”

- Korea’s physical environment

- A sense of “beat Japan”

- Memories of Japanese occupation

SITUATIONAL FACTORS

• Hardworking Koreans at the

individual level

• Entrepreneurship

• Discipline at the organizational level

• Mobility & networking at the societal

level

• Nationalism at the country level

LABOR UNREST

• 1970 - 1987

• 1987-1989

• 1989 - nowadays

Thank you for attention.