Lee Beom is not your typical bureaucrat. He brings home a regular salary from his job as a policy advisor at Seoul's Metropolitan Office of Education, but has millions stashed away in the bank. And he trained for his government job not by passing a civil service exam, but by rising to the top of the cram school industry that the government is now trying to reform.In the 1990's, as a PhD candidate ...

Kwak No Hyun.  The Korea Herald.Seoul’s new superintendent Kwak No Hyun is a human rights activist and a lawyer. Since taking the reigns of the country’s largest school system last year, he has ignited controversy over a ban on corporal punishment and a plan to offer free lunches to elementary school children, a strategy the Seoul Mayor calls “nation-destroying populism.”  H ...

It's the lunar new year this week, the biggest national holiday in Korea. Seoul has slowed WAY down as people take a break from work and school to gather with relatives, pay respects to their ancestors, and ring in the year of the rabbit!  My favorite waffle maker shut down his stand on Wednesday for a five-day break. The six lanes of constant traffic near my apartment today is a mere trickle ...

Dongwha Park next to his book shelffull of test preparation manualsDongwha Park wasn't always a stellar student with a voracious appetite for learning. In middle school, he says, he was just a regular kid. "I played many computer games," he admits. "I watched many animations."Like many kids, he attended cram schools at night, but he never paid much attention. "I was like a pendulum on a clock. I w ...

Sokcho, South KoreaRe-published with permission from the author. Check out Confucian Times for more great postings from the author.

Once again, South Korea's education system got a nice shout out from President Barack Obama. The reform-minded president has been known to wax poetic about Korea's longer school day and parents' dedication to education. In the annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, he added the prestige of the teaching profession to South Korea's list of academic advantages.  "In South Korea's teach ...

Going rate for a native-speaking English tutor in Seoul's high-rent districts, according to a mom who just found one, a Dartmouth graduate no less...50,000 KRW ($45)per hour for one student60,000 KRW ($54) for blonde female "premium" 500,000 KRW ($446) The cost for the referral agency who found the English tutorYou can specify nationality, gender, hair color, prestige of degree, as well as ho ...

Stonehenge entrance to the EnglishVillage in PajuThe lengthy winter break means travel for thousands of Korean students, many of whom go abroad for month-long language training programs. Intensive English camps abound in the Philippines, Long Island, New Zealand, Vancouver, and even Beijing, where students can get a mix of English and Mandarin lessons.But for those who can't afford the plane fare ...

Is it possible, you ask?In Seoul, any kind of tutoring is possible. In this city of strivers you can pay for jump roping lessons in English or in Korean.Why, you ask?So your child can win the annual jump roping competition at school.I was invited to lunch today at sixth grader Yoo Jin Seo's house.  When I arrived she brought out a binder full of certificates and a stack of medals display ...

Most Korean teens have no idea what it's like to have an after-school job, or to wear a halloween costume or go to the prom. But they spend countless hours in the classroom talking about these and  other detailed aspects of American life, not to mention American history and politics."So many Koreans learn how to describe the U.S. flag with its 13 stripes and 50 stars. They know what each part ...