Reply to NYTimes: In South Korea, Questions About Cram Schools, Success and Happiness

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Korea is going to implode. They already have the lowest birth rate in the world.   It's a fantastic place to visit and live if you don't have kids.   But, the "cram" school in the US and the US education in general is a lot easier than in Korea. That's one of the reasons why people want to send their kids here.

Yes, they are importing some of their way of life here, but in some ways, it's no different than parents who push their kids to excel in sports in hopes for an athletic scholarship such that the kids are stressed (physically, too) and get little sleep.  Same coin, different sides.

-Korean American[/quote]

It’s really not at all like sports, though. Most people don’t do sports in hopes of an athletic scholarship. Most kids are involved in sports because they love to play the game. Their parents know that it’s good exercise and helps kids to learn about winning and losing, cooperation, teamwork, perseverance. Playing a sport helps kids be healthier, both physically and mentally.

It isn’t remotely similar to the cram school situation. 
[/quote]

Exactly—without genuine passion and talent, it’s impossible to sustain long-term development in either sports or art. These aren’t fields you can excel in through repetition or memorization alone, the way cramming works.[/quote]

Watch the documentary "Trophy Kids" and come back to this discussion. I think intense cramming and intense sports are BOTH awful.[/quote]

Yeah, I agree. So don’t do it—and stop pretending it’s okay just for the sake of college admissions. Because what these people will get is not long term success by mental or physical trauma.[/quote]

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