Aussie Kids Don't Know About Tough
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday October 14, 2008
ENGLISH, maths, science, homework. So you think you've got it tough. Imagine starting school at 8.20am knowing your day won't finish until close to midnight.
That's what it is like for students in South Korea, where they start at 8.20am and finish at 12.30pm. But that's not the end of their day. All students then go to tutoring centres and are tutored until 10pm.That's much longer than a typical Australian student's day, starting at 9am and finishing at 3pm; a mere six-hour day compared to a 15-hour day. And while Australian students are at home having a roast dinner, kids in South Korea are getting tutored, and when you're in bed, kids in South Korea are getting tutored, and when they get home they have no dinner and go straight to bed because they are so tired. Think about your day. Are you tired every day? Do you do 15 hours of school? Of course not. All Aussie kids have it easy.In an average Australian class there are about 25 children in one class and two or three classes in each year. But in South Korea they pack them in. A typical South Korean class has 40 children and one year has 12 classes. In Australia you have the option to go to university but in South Korea you have no choice whether you want to go to university or not; you have to go. If you think learning your 12-times tables is hard, try learning them in kindergarten. In South Korea an average child will know their 12-times tables in kindergarten and in Year 2 will know their 99-times tables. So if you asked one of them what 89 times 99 is, they would know immediately that the answer is 8811. What we learn in Year 5 is equivalent to what students in South Korea learn in Year 2.What do you do on Saturday? In South Korea kids go to church then come home and study. So while you're playing your computer games, a child in South Korea is studying. On a Sunday, South Korean kids have a day off to play but the next day it is straight back into the tough work. All the while, Aussie kids are playing whatever they want, whenever they want. So now you can see how Aussie kids have it so easy compared to a South Korean child being forced to work hard to the best of their ability and to go to university. Next time you're complaining about 12 times 12, think of the poor South Korean kids. Aussie kids have it easy.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald