I have been conversing back and forth with Dr. Yurica who is the Principal at Seoul American Elementary School. Her husband is retired military, and she has four children which she homeschooled all of them K-12. I really found this intriguing that she is a Principal with teaching experience, yet she homeschooled all her children. When I asked about this, she told me that she felt that her children really learned best one-on-one. This is her first year as Principal, and she is really enjoying life abroad.
The school is unique in that it is on a military installation. Active duty personnel dependents have priority to attend this school, and then civilians mostly Koreans have to pay $20,000 a year to come here. All children in South Korea must pay for their education after third grade. The average School year costs a minimum of $10,000 a school year for children in preschool and above. For those children who cannot afford school, they help their parents at work. The whole country of South Korea does value education. It is not uncommon for the fathers to move to America to work, so they can send money back home for their children. There are also quite a few fortunate people that live in South Korea, but they send their kids to America to live and go to school. This was an eye-opening issue that made me really appreciate our free education thanks to the American taxpayers.
There are three social classes here in South Korea: rich, middle-class, and poor. You can even tell what class a person is by the car they drive. Black cars are a sign of wealth and are for the rich people. Grey cars are for the middle-class people. If the poor have enough money to buy a car, it is white. People also believe that they must work until they die including both men and women. In America, it is somewhat rare to see a car on the road that is older than 10 years, and our elder are retired and do not work.
Poverty is a big issue here in South Korea. There are no homeless shelters, but there are orphanages. The poor people make their living by selling things they made in the markets, cleaning, or cooking food in the streets. There are quite a few homeless men that hang out in the subways and beg for money. It is a very sad situation that nothing is really being done about this issue of poverty. Dr. Yurica or I have never seen a Korean child in poverty, but that may be that we live in a huge city. In America, we do have a lot of shelters for the homeless. So far, it has been a great two weeks communicating with Dr. Yurica, and I look forward to any other input she has to offer.
Stacey, How exciting? Just curious to know though if parents have to pay for children to attend school after third grade what is the percentage of children that do not continue because of unability to pay?
ReplyDeleteWow, it is exiting to be able to actually learn from someone that knows about the culture, because he/she lived it vs someone that learned it from a book. Dr. Yurica is a wonderful resource for learing more about South Korea, I never would have known how expensive education is there if you haven't mentioned it. Thanks for sharing this information, and I'm looking forward on learning more about his country, thanks to the wonderful information you are providing.
ReplyDeleteStacey,
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous! I have not heard back from any of the professionals that I sent emails to. I was so looking forward to contacting professionals from around the world.
I appreciate you sharing your conversation. How interesting that the color of a persons car indicates their social class.
I agree that it is strange that Mrs. Yurika chose to homeschool her own children, as an educator and now a pricipal. But I must admit, if I could afford to stay home and teach my children I probably would do the same. I am also shocked that children have to pay to attend school. Wow! We would be in trouble in America if we had to pay for education. I will say that I am sure that the students take their education more serious than the children do here, because of the cost of the experience. Perhaps we should consider something along the lines here in the U.S. so that our parents will be more supportive of all we do.
Thank you for sharing. Very interesting facts.
Jennifer Jones
Stacey you gave a wonderful account of your contact with Mrs. Yurika and great that you were able to get so much information about the poverty level in South Korea. Great comparison between South Korea and the U.S. We feel that we are not doing enough for the homeless and there in South Korea, they don't appear to do very much. But at least they are caring for the children by providing orphanags.
ReplyDeleteI must tell you I truly enjoyed reading your blog. I was shocked reading that after the third grade their parents must pay for their education. I couldn't help but think if that were the case in America, many children would not be receiving an education. It would be impossible for some parents to pay tuition. Many families are large and the children are close in age this would put many families in an economic strain. As well, I couldn't believe that homeless shelters do not exist in South Korea. I understand funding is important for shelters to be open. I just never thought about places not having homeless shelters.
ReplyDeleteStacey,
ReplyDeleteglad I read your blog, great information! It does make you thankful that in the USA education is free for K-12 children. I did know that Korean parents had to pay for their children's education after they get to 3rd grade. I wonder what type of education do children get until 3rd grade. If the parents can't afford school after 3rd grade, then the children work with their parents. I wonder how many children don't get to go to school after the 3rd grade?
I really find it interesting that Mrs. Yurika is a principal abroad who home-schooled her children. I was a home-schooled student and would not have had it any other way. I am constantly debating with my husband as to whether we are going to home-school our son. And the fact that the color of the car signifies class is very interesting to me as well. I did not know this and am going to do some research of my own about it. I am intrigued! Thank you for the information!
ReplyDelete