WaPo: South Korea outpaces the U.S. in engineering degrees

As every American from Obama on down bemoans the US's slipping standards, the WaPo points out a huge skills gap that could (mostly) bode well for Korea's future but poorly for America's: South Korea outpaces the US in engineering degrees, with one in four Korean college students majoring in engineering, compared to one in 20 in the United States.

How the ROK got there and what it means is the focus of the Washington Post story:

South Korea far outpaces the United States in the percentage of young adults with college degrees—63 versus 41 percent—and its K-12 students routinely outperform U.S. children on international assessments. While South Korean leaders have begun to fret that their young people—raised among skyscrapers and affluence—are pursuing higher-paying jobs outside technical fields, the workforce remains highly tech-savvy: One in four South Korean college students majors in engineering, compared to one in 20 in the U.S.

The reason for the glut of engineers can be summed up easily: South Korea’s education system was designed to produce them.

As Lee explained, “My path has been set since elementary school.”

South Korea’s school system—unlike the American system—is centralized and regulated according to economic demands. The national ministry of education and the ministry of science and technology are one and the same, and the president’s vision for economic development can have immediate reverberations in schools.

For decades, South Korea’s strategy for success has been to outsmart its more powerful neighbors. In a country with few natural resources, the next technological breakthrough is sometimes referred to in Korean as the next “meal.”

Of course, with an abysmally low birth rate, kids growing up without a childhood, and increasing household debt (much of it spent on extracurricular education and overseas study), some would say that South Korea is paying the price for this "over-education" strategy.

Nevertheless, perhaps there is a lesson for Americans to learn if they really want to, as Obama puts it, "win the future." I'm not one of those people who likes to rail against fictitious majors in underwater basket weaving or master's degrees in The Vagina Monocles, but I do agree the US may need a few more people with solid science and skills.

Sure, while it's true you can only go so far without creativity and critical thinking (the popular — though often unfounded — criticism of South Korean education being that it fails to provide this), the converse is also true that if you've got creativity coming out your orifices but little in terms of math and science acumen and ability (or solid reading and writing skills) on which to base it.

...

What's on Kushibo's iPod: miscellaneous Newshour pieces

All right, this is what's left for now, the stuff that doesn't fit into the economic, military, and political categories. At least not exactly. A lot of environmental stuff and education-related stories (for which I should make their own category in the future).

The first one, about a touching documentary on North Korean refugees and how they escape, is worth looking at as a preview to the actual documentary, which is a must-see.

• 'Kimjongilia' Film Highlights Harrowing Stories of Escape From North Korea

• Classroom Culprits? Invasive Crayfish Threaten Western Waterways

• Laura Bush, Melinda Gates, CARE President on Women's Issues, U.S. Foreign Aid

• Transportation Secretary: Electronic Issue Not Cause of Toyota Recall Woes

• Chicagoland Students See Success Hitting the Gym, Then Hitting the Books

• In California, a Rescue Mission for 'Iconic' Franciscan Manzanita Plant

• Big Sky Country Struggles With Yellowstone Oil Spill Aftermath

• Oil Spill Probe Reveals Need to Balance Precautions, Profits

• After Haiti Quake, Using Science to Build Sturdier Buildings

• Robert MacNeil on Jim Lehrer's 'Stealth' Exit

• The Films Are Alive With the Art of Foley

• Photographer Alec Soth on a Life of Approaching Strangers

• New York Times' Brantley Previews Upcoming Theater Season

• Weekly Poem: 'The Winter's Wife'

• Abigail Washburn Uses Banjo as Tool for Diplomacy

What's on Kushibo's iPod: the Newshour economic reader

I'm still in the process of clearing out my SAVE list on iTunes. These are podcasts — almost all of the Newshour pieces — that I think are worth a listen (or a viewing, since they're actually original from television). The first few are very recent, although toward the bottom some of the are from much earlier in the year, when Obama's presidency was just around two years old but the Republicans were already beginning to say he'd been in charge for "almost three years." 

• What Happens if Lawmakers Don't Reach Debt-Ceiling Deal by Deadline?

• Obama's $86 Million Haul Leaves GOP Competitors Far Behind

• Strategic Default: Immoral or Not?

• Is a College Diploma Worth the Soaring Student Debt?

• 'Last In, First Out' Among Teacher Layoff Policies Under Scrutiny

• Chrysler Pays Back Billions in Bailout Loans: Is the Comeback Complete?

• Rand Paul: 'Our Whole Economy Is Equal to Our Debt Now'

• Tax Breaks for Oil Companies: Good for Business or Unfair Advantage?

• Oscar-Winning 'Inside Job' Director Attacks Economists' Ties to Financial Sector

• Ode to Germany: Merle Hazard, Backed by Beethoven

• Making Sen$e: 'Feelin' Lousy' - Financially Groovy In Song

Daily Kor for Saturday, June 11, 2011

From story #2, students gather at Ch'ŏnggye
Plaza in downtown Seoul for a candlelight vigil.

Nothing can get students more riled up than raising tuition. In the absence of a Vietnam War or a military dictatorship to protest against, what else is there to rally about? And I really have no problem with what they're protesting over: South Korea's largely egalitarian approach to education has meant a considerable amount of socioeconomic mobility for hard-working young people that is simply not available in many other countries. My only concern is if the chinboistas are controlling these protests behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, inflationary pressures (or fears of them) have prompted the Bank of Korea to raise key interest rates a quarter of a percent to 3.25. That means a larger mortgage payment for me, but yeah, I realize it's not all about me, is it? Is it? I wonder if I should go to Ch'ŏnggye Plaza and light a candle.

Oh, and for my fellow readers who are in Hawaii, Happy King Kamehameha I Day! Enjoy the long weekend.

1. As solid economic growth continues, Bank of Korea raises key benchmark interest rate 25 points to 3.25 percent in surprise bid to stave off inflationary pressures (AP via WaPo, AFP, Bloomberg, Yonhap, Joongang Daily, Korea Herald)
• Seoul shares finish down 1.2 percent on rate hike (Reuters, Yonhap)
2. College students set to rally against tuition hikes, amid fears of clashes with police (Yonhap, Korea Herald, Korea Times)
• Audit Board plans major probe into tuition issue (Joongang Daily)
3. Washington urges other countries to use "extreme caution and vigilance" in dealing with North Korea and China after Pyongyang and Beijing announced joint development of North Korean island in Yalu River along the two countries' border (Bloomberg)
• US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell visits Seoul, says Washington supports Seoul's view that inter-Korean dialogue should take place before resumption of Washington talks with Pyongyang or stalled six-party denuclearization talks (Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
4. Bilateral accord between Seoul and Tokyo to return 1,205 volumes of archives seized during Japan's four-decade control of Korea goes into effect (Yonhap)
5. South Korea unveils new TA-50 trainer jets (UPI)
6. ROK trade surplus with China widens to US$13.05 billion in May (Yonhap)
7. South Korea announces development of eco-friendly 2000-Megawatt thermal energy plant in Samch'ŏk that will produce no CO2 emissions (Yonhap)
8. In Golden State's twisted version of Battle Royale, Californians vote to ban 15-year-olds from severely cash-strapped state (LAT)

19-year-old OC kid headed to law school

Another case of education being pushed too hard and too fast in a Korean family? I don't know. Maybe Kate McLaughlin really wanted to get into college and really fast, and then move onto law school as quickly as possible. Maybe she'd be really bored if she took courses at a slower pace.

But I do wonder if maybe her future career in law — or creative writing — might not be enhanced if she, say, took a year or two off to see Korea, Italy, or somewhere else.

My own cynicism aside, I wish Ms McLaughlin the best of luck. From those who receive the greatest gifts, great things are expected.

No pressure there.

Yep, it's gotten this bad.

Here in Hawaii, the state has had to deal with major budget shortfalls: tourism is slow during these tough economic times despite South Koreans' visa waiver, and the ukelele export business has bottomed out. The governor and state legislature decided to handle it by something called "furlow Fridays," in which kids save the school money by not coming on the last day of the week. This has been a boon for the daycare industry, which takes up the slack for parents who might be in danger of losing their jobs anyway.

Well, the state of Utah might do Hawaii one better: There is a serious proposal before the state senate to eliminate the 12th grade:

At Utah's West Jordan High School, the halls have swirled lately with debate over the merits of 12th grade:

Is it a waste of time? Are students ready for the real world at 17?

For student body president J.D. Williams, 18, the answer to both questions is a resounding no. "I need this year," he said, adding that most of his classmates feel the same way.

The sudden buzz over the relative value of senior year stems from a recent proposal by state Sen. Chris Buttars that Utah make a dent in its budget gap by eliminating the 12th grade.

The notion quickly gained some traction among supporters who agreed with the Republican's assessment that many seniors fritter away their final year of high school, but faced vehement opposition from other quarters, including in his hometown of West Jordan.

Wow. I'll be the first to admit that most of my high school chums didn't pay much attention during senior year. Senioritis, where kids ditch school and head to the beach, was more contagious than H1N1. I could see the virtue of saving the state a few billion by just having people go work at McDonald's or stay home and watch Oprah until they hit eighteen. Or go to college early.

But I learned some of the most important stuff of my pre-college years in twelfth grade. That's when we had economics one semester and government the next. I actually learned a thing or two about the Constitution not covered in ABC's Schoolhouse Rock.

Besides, with the elimination of the fourth year of high school, wouldn't teenagers just become afflicted with junioritis?

Tragedy of the kirŏgi appa

Space Nakji got me thinking again about the concept of the kirŏgi father, or "wild goose" parent, who sends their spouse and children off to live in another country, usually for education. It is one of a number of family archeyptes where a married Korean couple ends up living for a long period of time, typically several years, separated by hundreds or usually thousands of miles of land and ocean. (In the past, it was not uncommon for a husband to go off to another country for work or study while the wife and kids stay in Korea.)

I have some definite opinions about these long-common family situations, and this may offend some people. I think there are a lot of married couples willing to be split apart for work-related reasons, arising from back when marriages were set up or between two people who otherwise really didn't know each other WELL before they got married (despite dating in a coffee shop once a week for six whole months!), and afterward they really find that they don't share much in common, including a deep, longing love for the other.

For such couples, living apart is not that hard, and it's even a welcome relief, a respite from the routine grind of being with someone with whom you share little more than a bed, a house, and an occasional romp in the sack.

And so many people end up in these trans-oceanic marriages that Koreans in general end up thinking it's "normal" or "okay" to subject one's marriage to this. The dysfunctional becoming normative.

So even people who DO have that deep, longing love for their spouse end up thinking, "Yeah, maybe I should live in Dallas for three years to help my career," thinking that if others can endure time apart from their spouse, so can I.

But they can't. It only works for people who lack true love in their marriage. People who do have that true love of their spouse find out they have subjected themselves to years of hell! "Why didn't anyone warn me this was going to be so hard?" they scream inside themselves. Because for so many other people doing this, it's not.

Those others have a heart that is frost-bitten—toward their spouse, at least—and they hand you a poker and say, "Look, hit me there!" to show you they don't feel a thing, and you think to yourself, "Hey, am I the same way?" but when you get stabbed with a sharp poker, it hurts like a muther fu¢ker because your heart is not frost-bitten.

Pity those in Korea in love with their spouse, because they are in a world where marriage is a sham—romantically at least—that is just designed to further the aims of the in-laws, surrounded by people who got married out of familial or social obligation.

They live in a world where so many marriages exist just to exist, not to be an expression of love, and their loving relationship is under constant assault by frost-bitten married people who give them bad advice about what is acceptable in marriage, or worse, people who would undermine their marriage with thoughts that cheating is okay, sex outside of your marriage is okay as long as you're not unfaithful with thoughts of love for someone else.

Pity the people who truly love their spouse, but were convinced by others' words and actions that it's okay to subject your marriage to one of the worst traumas imaginable for a happy life together. It is like poisoning with arsenic. It is a blow to the marriage, and it often ends up being one that, if it doesn't kill it, leaves the once-happy marriage permanently maimed when the two kirŏgi are finally reunited.