On Hakwons

As I mentioned, I am teaching at a Hakwon (or Hagwon, a for-profit academy, typically supplementary to other instruction). While providing a great opportunity for me, I believe the system of Hakwons to have problematic implications for the reproduction of class and childhood development in Korea. Korea has some of the most intensive practices of education in the world. For those attending private academies, A school day lasting until 10 pm is typical, and allotment of additional homework is opulent. Students with sufficient means typically attend multiple Hakwons, focusing on multiple subjects, supplementing their core public education.

I believe that this particular arrangement presents diminishing returns: by the time mid-evening rolls around, most students are utterly exhausted, their eyes glazed over from hours and hours of work, including many courses in lecture-format. Educational and kinship institutions also need be organized by harsh regiment and discipline (the latter often being physical). The lost REM sleep and consistent levels of anxiety certainly take their toll on the ability of students to go beyond memorization.

However, this is not to say that such a system is without benefit. Rates of fluency in foreign languages here are consistently high, as is prowess in mathematics. The typical Korean studying abroad will be at least a couple of years ahead in math compared to his peers in the US. The typical Korean working environment also requires adaptation to vast quantities of work, as it extends to 55 hours. For Koreans, this is obviously a double-edged sword, but conditions of international competition won't likely wane, so this trend won't likely abate.

More problematic to me, though, are the implications of the Hakwon system for the reproduction of class. Prima Facie, the system of higher education here is highly egalitarian compared to its counterpart in the States, providing a far greater quantity of need-based scholarships. Thus, one would expect increasing rates of class-mobility over time. However, the cost of tuition at private academies prohibits realization of higher-education's class-leveling potential. Obviously, Hakwons provide explicit preparation for entrance exams and key bodies of knowledge and experience for building strongly competitive university applications. But perhaps more importantly, they imbue students with the necessary disposition to act to excel in the university application process, both in terms of ease of participation in the requisite amounts and types of schoolwork. Thus, money for private education has become a key gatekeeper for entrance to upper-classes, not only in acquisition of specific credentials but also according who possesses the very ability to engage in practices necessary to make this class-transition or maintain one's class.

What interests me most is the fact that the class-structure in South Korea is relatively new, the country having transitioned from a relatively 'underdeveloped' post-colonial country bearing the ravages of its history as a venue of Cold War conflict to a key venue of world trade an industry in half a century. To what extent did prior elites retain class-privilege in transition to late-stage capitalism? What did they do to retain their class-position, and what socio-historical conditions allowed them to do so?