“Our children _ listen to this _ our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year,” Obama told a gathering at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here. “That’s no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy.”
I believe that Korean system has produced results — Korea has higher high school graduation rates (for those aged 25—34) and university graduation rates than the United States (not necessarily a positive, IMHO), and while Korea places in the upper ranks of international academic evaluations, the United States finishes in the bottom ranks( except those universities that have terrific reputation).
I don't think it would make a difference if Americans sent their kids to school for the same amount of days as Korean kids without first adopting Korea’s cultural zeal for education. If fact, many Asian kids seem to do just fine in the New Zealand educational system, despite its many flaws here. So what makes difference? Yeah right, the motivation and hardworking.
