The Washington Post on South Korean spending habits:
“South Koreans work more, sleep less and kill themselves at a higher rate than citizens of any other developed country, according to the OECD. They rank first in time spent online and second to last in spending on recreation, and the per capita birthrate scrapes the bottom of world rankings. By 2050, South Korea will be the most aged society in the world, narrowly edging out Japan, according to the OECD.”
The article also discusses “hagwon fever,” or the willingness of many Korean parents to spend vast amounts of their income on private schooling in areas ranging from English to in-line skating.
Understanding the importance of hagwon in Korean culture isn’t easy, even for someone like me who actually teaches at one. I would only add that for all the talk of how much money parents are spending on private schooling here (either for actual educational advantage or merely for prestige) there are actually some incredible bargains available. Namely, at a “kindie” hagwon like mine where we spend our mornings and early afternoons teaching four, five, and six year-olds (Korean ages five, six, and seven). My parents spend less than half of what they’d spend for a comparable American private school, not to mention your elite institutions (Andover, Sidwell Friends, etc.). To put it another way, our parents pay less for a full day of education than what they’d spend on simple child-care alone in the States.
Posted by Jaim 
Posted by Jaim 
Posted by Jaim 
