“No one can deny that Korea’s high academic achievements have been backed by its ‘educational enthusiasm.’ However, in the background behind the educational enthusiasm lay the struggle of the Korean people to survive from the ruins of the Korean War.”

This was what I said in an interview with a Chilean educational policymaker who visited Korea last year. He also asked me why Korean students must work late into the night in school and at private institutes despite Korea’s economic growth.

This question made me think, once again, about our private education system, the usual target of criticism as a cause for Korea’s excessive enthusiasm for education. 

A recent survey by Seoul City said over 37 percent of parents spent more than 910,000 won ($817) per month on private education for their children, and 87.4 percent of Seoul National University students had attended private institutes or had private tutoring before they entered college. Private education has now long been a “necessary evil.”

Another significant implication from the survey of Seoul National University students is that a mere 7.5 percent of the respondents said private education had an important effect on their academic achievements, whereas a whopping 80 percent of them said self-directed learning was the most effective in achieving high academic performance. I believe this survey result is an important indicator that may serve as a guide for future directions in Korean education.

Education up to now has been paid off by the academic performances of our students, but here is a warning from Michael Barber, an expert on the global public sector at McKinsey & Company: unless Korea pursues a quick-paced reform for successful education in the 21st century, its conventional educational method would be of no great help raising Korea’s economic competitiveness from a long-term perspective; it may even weaken the competitiveness.

Education in the 21st century is expected to face a tremendous change we have never experienced to date. This change is called a “perfect storm,” which calls for a quick-paced response. In other words, globalization is rapidly underway as more than 60 percent of the world’s gross domestic product is produced through international trade, and free trade is further expanding through free trade agreements. There’s a big change in demographics too, due to low birthrates and aging populations. In addition, we live in a knowledge-based information society where new technology emerges overnight and new information is produced every day.

A new technology could trigger changes in educational content, methods, environments and the roles of teachers and schools. Therefore we should transform our education system from the basic “3R” (Read, wRite, aRithmetic) education to the development of “4C” (Creativity, Characters, Collaboration, Communication) abilities.

In June of last year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology established and announced strategies for implementing Smart Education as the first step to education in the 21st century. The most important theoretical background of Smart Education is self-directed and customized learning.

Students can learn a broad range of subjects or topics, unrestricted to the content of textbooks, at any time and any location. They can learn optional courses online such as Arabic, which was unavailable because no teacher was in charge of the subject in school, and their online classes are recognized as regular credits.

Their career path is not decided by the result of a “once-for-all” examination but instead they can take exams many times.

This type of learning system is Smart Education. The Ministry has since collected opinions from the field and prepared for Smart Education in collaboration with experts from various fields through social network services to create a smart educational environment. In this environment, students will have televideo classes with outside experts, problem-solving centered on collaboration and discussions instead of classes depending on schools and teachers for delivery of knowledge.

On the way to Smart Education, however, there are also obstacles to overcome. Some may misunderstand that it is simply education using smart devices and others may be concerned about their children’s misuse or excessive use of the devices. Still others may feel uncomfortable about its new teaching and learning methods. However, our task is to wisely minimize any adverse effects which may occur in this process. If we stop implementing Smart Education due to these obstacles, Korea will lose an opportunity to overcome its limitations in education and advance into a world-class educational power of the 21st century.

A press release says that since Chamsam Elementary School in Sejong City was designated as a pilot school for Smart Education, students have been flocking to the school despite its increase in classes. This news shows the high expectations of students and parents and their interest in Smart Education. Compared to Finnish students with similar academic achievements from international assessments, Korean students spend almost three times as much of their free time studying. We are responsible for creating an educational environment where our children can learn according to their own needs. Smart Education will provide a good opportunity for those students and parents who have depended on private education to turn toward public education.

By Jang Sang-hyun

The writer is the director of Public Relations Unit at the Korea Education and Research Information Service. ― Ed.