Smarter than Us

Before anyone gets too upset with this entry's title, let me say that I don't believe Koreans are inherently more intelligent than any other group of people. However, they have made a number of group decisions that demonstrate an understanding of the challenges a globalized economy presents.

Exhibit A: English Language Education

Although the story of my employment is long and involves a variety of players, suffice to say I was hired to teach English by the Korean government. The way I understand it, the Korean government wants every child in public school to know English by his/her graduation from high school.

Side Note:
High school is not compulsory in Korea, however upwards of 95% of students attend.

In addition to mandating English language classes for all their students, the government has sunk millions, possibly billions into people like me; native English speaker teachers. Consider this anecdotal evidence... there were probably 200 such teachers at our orientation. The government paid for all of our airfare, housing, salaries, health care, just to name a few.

That's big bucks behind just one facet of the Korean education system. Such strong backing for a relatively experimental program is hard to fathom for most Americans. We're used to constant battles between teachers' unions and administrators and conservatives campaigning for the destruction of the department of Education.

But this isn't simply a top-down educational fairy-tale.

In the Korean daily newspapers, every page features a sidebar with a single sentence taken from the text and translated into English. Again, this isn't just for show...

At least half-a-dozen times in the past month I've been approached by strangers at the gym or on the subway. They've all been older folks and therefore finished school before English education was compulsory. But they want to practice English with me, and they often reference the newspaper as one place they frequent to study on their own.

And finally there's radio and television. Every morning on television there is a show for adults, not just children, that teaches conversational English. On my drive to school each day I often hear a program which features two native English speakers and one Korean. They discuss current world-news stories in English and take time to break-down and explain difficult or uncommon English words or phrases.

This kind of commitment, seemingly on a culture-wide scale, to education and self-improvement is impressive. It's difficult to say how effective it will be; so far I'm still hard pressed to find new friends comfortable enough with English to talk with me for more than a few minutes. But if it does work, in say 12 or 14 years this generation that grew up surrounded by this constant focus on English education will make up the majority of the populous. They'll have an entire working class prepared for international affairs and able and anxious to communicate with people from all over the world.

And how are we (Americans) getting ready for that future?