ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 deals with the growth of new (Western) education in post-Liberation South Korea. The government adopted the policy of making school education open to everybody. Parents of school-age children responded to the government initiative enthusiastically by willingly sharing the responsibility of financing their children’s education. Primary school education, which was made compulsory, became universal by the 1960. Secondary and tertiary school education expanded accordingly. By 1980, 80 percent of primary school graduates (both boys and girls) were advancing to secondary school. By 1990, the proportion of high school graduates going to universities reached the 60 percent point. The rapid growth of school education was accompanied by some unintended undesirable consequences. A university diploma became a license required to acquire reputable and well-paying government and corporate jobs. Accordingly, preparation for university entrance examinations became a major concern of pre-university school education. In an effort to get admitted to more prestigious universities that attract more able students, the graduates of which have better chance of landing government and corporate jobs, many students sought extracurricular lessons – designed entirely for preparation for university entrance examinations – provided by cram schools. Many students repeatedly take university entrance examinations to go to a small number of top-level universities. The majority of parents appear to be taking it as their duty to pay for their children’s education up to the university level and do whatever they can to help their children pass university entrance examinations.
