10.31.2008

korean students, american education

This is an interesting story about the trend of increasingly large numbers of South Korean youths being sent to English-speaking countries to study: More Korean families make sacrifice to send kids to study in the U.S.

Academic competition in Korea is crazy fierce, and many parents feel their kids can get an edge in places like the United States, where they can become fluent in English—an extremely valuable factor for success in today's globalized economy.

I have witnessed this phenomenon myself. I come from an extremely large extended family, with many relatives coming from Korea over the years to study here and learn English. I have many memories of cousins struggling over their new American homework. I'm talking about you, Jejong and Hyunhee!

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