For the last few years, President Barack Obama has warned the nation that "in the race for the future, America is in danger of falling behind" and he would often cite South Korea's school system as the model for success. Even the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has repeatedly referenced President Obama's praise and admiration for the South Korean education model.
Is South Korea better at schools? No, South Korean schools are not necessarily better. Getting better test scores and outperforming other nations in math and reading don't necessarily mean they are better in education.
When I was invited this year, as the first Korean-American New York state lawmaker, to visit and lecture at some of the top South Korean schools, I seized the chance to go and see for myself what the big fuss was about.
For two days, I lectured in front of 500 students and faculty members from the top women's university, Ehwa Women's University, to the top private high school, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. I focused on the importance of finding purpose in learning, pursuing personal passion, and persevering through failures.
After my first lecture, a 22-year-old college senior named Grace came up to me, and in front of all of her peers, broke down in tears. She said, "I want to feel passionate and find my purpose, but my parents think that the only place I should work after graduation is Samsung ... what do I do?"
I soon realized that I was surrounded by hundreds of students whose definition of "success" was defined by their parents, schools, and society. My message resonated, but there was no institutional support or opportunities for them to find their purpose and passion. There was no doubt that these students worked extremely hard, attended private tutoring sessions and spent more time in classrooms than their counterparts in the United States. However, they are working hard toward the "appearance of success" rather than working hard toward finding their own purpose in what they are learning.
Is this the type of education system and culture that we want for our kids in the United States? I don't think so. With the new state Common Core curriculum, we are encouraging our kids to work hard at achieving good grades. Instead, we should be telling them to work hard at finding
purpose and pursuing their passion.
Recent reports show that South Korea is seeing some of the highest dropout and suicide rates among college students. When students are only focused on performing well on tests, they lack purpose in their learning. Consequently, these students may not know how to deal with failures and setbacks later on in life. They are sprinting through life instead of seeing it as a marathon. They lack grit: passion and determination toward long-term goals.
According Dr. Angela Duckworth, a recent MacArthur genius grant recipient, grit is one of the top indicators of individuals who become successful in life and we should put more resources to develop character traits like grit. Simply put, kids who are purpose-and-passion-driven are more likely to stay resilient and can persevere through setbacks in life to become successful.
This year, I am introducing legislation that will further study and explore the development of key character traits (like grit) in our New York school system. My hope is to shift the local, state, and national discussion to focus more resources toward sparking passion and developing individual character in our students.
To those advocates of the Common Core state standards and those who believe we must modify our learning culture to look more like South Korea's education system, let's take a step back and re-evaluate the kind of values we want our kids to possess. In a test-driven world without "character," kids lack passion, resiliency, and perseverance. This is why in a country like South Korea, so many people are obsessed with other people's perception of perfection, which culminates in a lot of different ways — the world's highest rate of plastic surgery as people try to look like the celebrities they see on TV; the high suicide rates when they can't reach the level of perfection that they are striving to achieve; and students who have high scores but cry in unhappiness because they are not passionate about what they do.
Bottom line, instead of encouraging our students to just be great test takers, we should be imbuing a love for learning and teaching them to learn with purpose. We must lead by adhering and promoting to the strengths of our great nation and not just seek Band-Aid solutions. Our biggest strength is our ability to create the right opportunities to spur passion-driven learning and build character.
The writer is the state Assemblyman for the 40th district.