Year 2014 saw South Korea top the charts once again in the Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment, an index designed to compare the relative performances of 39 countries based on their education output, compiled by the education company Pearson and The Economic Intelligence Unit as part of The Learning Curve report. These statistics show that Korean education is enjoying its golden age, or so it may seem. Those who have actually enrolled in Korean schools or have raised children may not share the same optimistic appraisal of the situation.

The Koreans’ zeal for education is best demonstrated by their preparations for the all-important college entrance exams called College Scholastic Ability Tests (CSATs), otherwise known as Suneung. A good score on Suneung has traditionally guaranteed admission to the most prestigious universities and by extension, access to the high society and a better life. Failure to do well on the exams would mean the exact opposite, and those who do badly have to bear the burden of their poor exam results for the rest of their lives. It is therefore no surprise that parents so strongly urge their children to study, usually with the help of expensive private education institutions such as cramming schools. This excess competition has rendered the Suneung harder than it needs to be in order to be more discriminating and effective at picking out the best candidates for college. Therefore, students are pouring in too much blood, sweat, and tears during their teen years that by the time they reach college, they will most likely be mentally and physically exhausted and will require rest.

In other words, it seems that although the average Korean student’s productivity peaks in high school, he or she may not be at his or her diligent best in college, the mecca of higher learning and education. These students know and have been frequently reminded during their several years of preparation for the college entrance exams that once they overcome the seemingly impossible-to-climb mountain of Suneung, they will be granted a certain standard of living later on in their lives. Therefore, students who have been admitted to the top universities in the country show signs of slacking off in college, where more serious learning should take place, learning that is more relevant to the students’ potential careers than is the rote learning done in high school for the purpose of entrance exams. The students at KAIST are no exception. Many try to get easy grades using cheap shots, such as digging out rare homework answer sheets and purposely taking courses with light workloads. I myself, as I write this article, admit to having committed similar misdeeds during my short time at KAIST, which was not helped by the sense of deluded relief among the freshmen, relief that they have passed the first major obstacle in life, that they will have some insurance to fall back upon should their future exploits be not as successful as their admission into KAIST.

To wrap up, South Korea should strive to deviate from a one-shot society where the students’ Suneung results dictate the outcome of their future careers and start offering more opportunities for students to reach a higher standard of living based on merit, far surpassing than that of mere academic background.