Singapore Education is Stressful? Korea is Worse.

Many parents would complain that education in Singapore is stressful for their kids. There is streaming, PSLE, O levels, A levels and limited university places for those who qualify. The situation in Korea is a different playing field altogether, parents are willing to spend one third of their earnings on their child’s education.

The main reason is that the main instruction of teaching in schools is in Korean, in the ever changing globalisation of the world’s economy, English is a very important tool for communication. Parents would spend hundreds each month for their children to attend English classes on top of tuition and supplementary lessons.

Recently there is a growing trend of parents sending their children abroad to study while they sponsor them back home. Their destinations? Countries that uses English as a medium of instruction. Hence, there is an influx of Korean students going to places like USA, Canada and Australia to pursue their studies.

However, Singapore is not left out of the world map. Other then having a diverse culture of immigrants, the medium of instruction is English, which is one of the few Asian countries to do so. Increasingly, Korean students are coming here in the pursuit of their studies. In addition, Singapore is a clean and safe country. There are plenty of condominium units in good locations for rental, making it a very attractive place to live in.

A typical Korean student in Singapore has at least two tuition teachers or more. Most parents push their children to their limits due to the competition in Korea schools for university placements. If Singapore education is stressful, Korea has it even worse. Parents want a better future for their children, and they are willing to sacrifice on their part to do so.

I am currently teaching three Korean students and their parents had to moved to Singapore to seek employment in order to support their children’s education. It is quite remarkable at the lengths they are willing to go for their child’s future. They record their daily activities on neat timetables to utilize most of their time on learning.

Critics might argue that their childhood is being robbed in exchange for academic pursuit, however, the real deal is that they will have a better future for the rest of their lives with a university degree.

Averal Lim is currently a part time tutor who is enrolled in Monash University.