The Difference between Korean and American High School

Photo by Michael Sunderland. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

The Difference between Korean and American High School

By Jin Yup Jung '14

The first class in a Korean high school starts at 7 am and the last class of the day ends up at about 6 pm. Students rush into cafeteria to satisfy their hunger after they finish their last class. However, after they finish their supper, most of students go back to school and stay in class for self-study (study hall) after the official school day has finished. You can see the pendulum inside the clocks swinging left and right in silence while students pay attention to their work. At 9 o’clock, students start leaving, but you can still see some lights in several classes for those students who are willing to stay and study for about one or two more hours. HOWEVER, THE DAY IS NOT OVER QUITE YET. After they get out from school, you can observe some students taking vans to go to private educational institutes to supplement their missing work from school. This situation may seem strange to you and you might tell yourself “This is not true,” or “How can they stay in school until that late at night? For what?”   

In America, the first class starts at 8 am and is done before 3 pm at Red Cloud. Students play diverse sports and join programs (ASP) after school if they want to or they can just get on their bus to go back home. You can hear shouts every day from the field, gym, and wrestling room by football players, basketball players, wrestlers, etc. You may say “This is life in high school” or “freedom and joy.”

This is the difference between education in Korean and American high schools. Students in Korea are supposed to study hard to get into college since it’s extremely competitive among students to enter selective colleges. Students in Korea sleep five hours and 27 minutes per night on the average last year. That’s why a great amount of high school students said that they thought about suicide from all the stress of going through high school.

Believe it or not, while there are lots of holidays in America, there are only few holidays in Korea. There are no holidays such as Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, or something like snow days that America usually take days off. The average Korean school days are 225 days per year, while it is 180 days for American high school.

Korean high schools are way different from American schools in rules, although rules have changed a lot. In old times, Korean schools used to be really strict on dress code. Teachers were used to allow to smack students upside the head or do punishments such as holding your hands up for a while, hand copying books, or cleaning classrooms or halls in school when you do not finish your assignment on time or when you defy teachers.

When I came to US for the first time, I was actually in culture shock by the differences between American and Korean high school. Especially, I really did not understand when I heard students' complaints because classes are hard or school is so long.  I guess they should visit Korean high school for about a month so then they would realize how much they are blessed to be born in America. They only take seven classes a day, whereas in Korean schools, they take 13 classes.  Americans can join any sport activities after school as long as the school has sports activities. 

Also, I realized how it is easy for American students to earn scholarships. In Korean high school, there is only one way students can earn scholarships: students must be really smart. For example, you get almost a perfect score on ACT or SAT. Every day, I see so many students missing their chances for scholarships and only some of them really take care of their GPA. Look, my grades were about average or below average in my Korean high school. But my GPA in Red Cloud is  around 3.7 although I haven’t studied as hard as I did in my Korean school.

I just want to say to you- do not complain about your situation, but focus on your academics so you will get lots of chances to choose the college that you want to attend.