Essay Compare Contrast

Submitted By Valentina-Ganenko
Words: 1817
Pages: 8

“If you sleep for four hours a night, you will get into the college of your choice - if you sleep for five hours, you fail” (Card, 2005, para. 26).These words can be heard from South Korean students when they talk about their education. One of them, Hye-Min Park, 16, lives in Seoul. Her schedule is the same as that of many of her peers. Hye-Min wakes up at 6.30am, she goes to school by 8am and finishes usually at 4pm. After dinner she goes to her second school, where Hye-Min has studied from 6pm to 9pm. Next two hours she has self-study and then she comes back to home after 11pm. She goes to sleep at 2am and next day she wakes up again at 6.30am. (Chakrabarti, 2013). She has to work hard because of her dream to be a teacher.Hye-Min's mother Yoon-Gyeong Hwang worries about her daughter, but she says, “Korea has few natural resources, we don't even have much land, the only resource we have is people” (Chakrabarti, 2013, para. 13).Many South Korean high school students live such a life, wake up very early, study very hard and go to sleep very late. The most cherished goal of every student is to get a “SKY”. It means names of three top Korean Universities:Seoul National University (SNU), Korea University and Yonsei University. Getting into one of these institutions is one of the major achievements for Korean students (Card, 2005, para. 3).According to WENR (World Education News & Reviews), just 10,000 of 550,000 high-school graduates take places in Korean’s top three universities each year (Clark, 2013, para. 10). Such statistics explains the reason to study very hard for many students in High schools in South Korea. The future successful career of young Koreans is directly related to the results of high school education. It is necessary to examine in detail the learning process in South Korean high school guided by the examples of two South Korean students, Min and Tae Eun. They both finished South Korean high schools before came in Canada. Min and Tae Eun had some differences in their high school experience, but the similarities between them are more fundamental.
First of all, Min and Tae Eun have in common the type of school. They both studied in South Korean private school in single-gender classes that gave them a sense of comfort. Both Min and Tae Eun liked this system because they did not shy of the opposite gender, there was no competition between classmates and they focused on the study. Also, a uniform was mandatory in both schools. Min’s uniform was similar to Tae Eun’s uniform in having one color spectrum. Neither Min nor Tae Eun liked their uncomfortable uniform. It was very expensive and it was made of low-quality material. Certainly there are details that distinguish Min and Tae Eun. Min finished Tae won school in Kyung Kido, but Tae Eun finished Kyung bok school in Seoul. While Min studied in co-ed school with single-gender classes, TaeEun studied in single-gender school.Min’s school was standard education institution. On the contrary, Tae Eun’s school was catholic.They finished school with a difference in just one year.Tae Eun graduated in 2000, whereas Min graduated in 2001. Also evident that their school uniform was different and was divided into uniform for boys and girls. Min wore a black and red checkered jacket,grey pants and a white shirt with a necktie. On the other hand, Tae Eun wore a dark red jacket, a grey shirt, a white blouse and avest.
The next important characteristic to compare Min and Tae Eun’s school experience is their teachers.Not only Min but also Tae Eun had their favorite and least favorite teachers. Min’s teachers are similar to Tae Eun’s teachers in having educational methods. Their teacher used reading and writing on the board and used test to check students’ knowledge. Besides, Min’s opinion about the main characteristics for a good teacher is like Tae Eun’s. They believe that the good teachers can listen to students, understand their problems and respect students.In addition, one of