The 60-Hour Academic Week
by Eric Park
The word “academy” is a very familiar and some-
times fear-inducing word to Korean students who
attend after school programs to improve their core
subject skills in math and English. Korean students
sacrifice their sleep, childhood, and weekends to
attend after school academies. It is very stressful to
them, but they are promised a better future by their
parents if they attend.
The concept of “academy” is very different in other
countries. Academy is just a type of school in English.
People are often shocked when they hear about Ko-
rean students attending after school academies be-
cause they do not go to such establishments in their
own cultures.
students attend academy to review and preview
school work, or to study new subjects for better re-
sults. The need for students to attend academies
varies, but many parents ask their children to go no
matter what.
Sung-Hyun Moon is a student in Seoul, South Korea,
and he has a positive view on the after school acad-
emy system. Moon said, “Academy allows me to be
better in school life.” He states that without acade-
my, he would not be different than other students.
It would be hard for students to go to good universi-
ties without better grades.
Hee-Su Park is another Korean student, and he has a
negative view about academy. Park said, “Academy
is a waste of time and I can study by myself.” He also
noted that academy is stressful and expensive.
The necessity of academy is debatable. Some stu-
dents are for it, but others are against. Overall, this
Academies in Korea are very important because the system is very popular among Korean parents, and
competition for education is very heated. Korean in the end, they make the final decision.
C
an you imagine staying at an academy until 12
AM on a week night? For many Korean students
in China, this is a common situation that sometimes
leads to anxiety, stress and anger.