126

Seoul vs. the rest: University pyramid crumbling at the bottom (www.koreaherald.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by m1tank@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

“I would rather give up another year of my youth studying and trying again if I don’t make it ‘in-Seoul.'”

Kim Tae-yoo, is set to graduate high school in just a month, but he says he would rather endure another year of studying if he is not accepted to a Seoul university.

Koreans divide the country's 335 colleges in two: those "in-Seoul," and the rest.

“Going to university outside of Seoul has never been an option. Even if the schools in other provinces offer full-time scholarships, I would not enroll there. I never considered graduating from a school in other provinces or living there,” Kim said.

'In-Seoul' or nothing

Even before graduation, students flocked to private cram schools that help students prepare to retake the Suenung, the national exam that plays a key role in university admissions.

As a student at a prestigious private high school in Seoul, Kim said half of his classmates were preparing to study another year to improve their Suneung score, rather than accepting a place at a lower-ranked college.

Education Ministry data shows an average of 20 percent of high school graduates opt to study for at least another year. At major schools in Gangnam, an area famous for its focus on education, the proportion rose to 47.7 percent.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 8 points 9 months ago

Why is a school in Seoul that much more sought after?

[-] theodewere@kbin.social 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

the society is very conservative in general, so prestige counts for a lot.. going to a prestigious school means meeting other prestigious people, from prestigious families, etc..

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 11 points 9 months ago

I skimmed the article, and I think this might be the key bit:

Kwak Young-shin, a researcher at Semyung Graduate School of Journalism, who has studied the prejudice against students from provincial colleges, said that the university someone goes to is seen as a fast and simple way of defining who a person is.

“Having a degree from a prominent university is considered a direct signal that the person is adequate for a certain level of ability and diligence in Korea," Kwak said.

He gave Koreans' recent obsession with MBTI as an example of their tendency to want to categorize and identify someone quickly.

As universities are ranked using Suneung test scores, which they see as a comparatively objective barometer, people form a set image around an individual depending on the name of a school, he said.

[-] CodeName@infosec.pub 11 points 9 months ago

It's sort of the same difference as going to Harvard or Yale vs. a state school. But times one hundred. The actual education will be on a similar level, but one has a prestige that will take you much further.

[-] scytale@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Prestige and having more job opportunities by getting you on top of the pile when you have it listed on your cv.

this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024

126 points (97.7% liked)

World News

39026 readers

1278 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world

Recommendations

How to spot Misinformation and Propaganda

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

quinten@lemmy.world

NewsAutoMod@lemmy.world

jordanlund@lemmy.world

Tenthrow@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world

lemmyAtom@lemmy.world

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world