From: ipark@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (11154/21149/3xxxx)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re: Liberalized Rules for Koreans Studying Abroad
Date: 24 Jan 93 21:23:47 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1993Jan22.211108.14060@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> ahwg@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Andrew Hwang) writes:
>
>While sck is focused on education ...
>
>It seems to me that there are a lot more Koreans studying in US these days,
>especially young students. Many are just out of high school, some not even.
>The most common reason seems to be that it is just too difficult to get into
>college in Korea.
>
>In my opinion (and observations at U of Illinois at Urbana, where I went as an
>undergraduate), the success rate for these students are not too high. As many
>of sck readers can relate, adjusting to living in a new society can be quite
>traumatic, even for most mature, responsible, intelligent students. But to
>ask 17, 18 year olds to cope with such adjustment is too demanding. I'm sure
>these students have financially stable families, with great zeal for their
>children's education, but I wonder if they fully realize the risk involved.
>
>The similar trend seems to be true for college graduates. If a person gra-
>duated from a so-so college in Korea, the thing to do to improve their resume
>is to spend a year or so in US studying English. While it can be a worthwhile
>investment, movitation is everything in studying a language and a lot of
>people seem to be more motivated about living abroad than studying.
>
>Even in light of all this, it is still good that opportunities are being made
>available to more people in Korea to study abroad. The trend also speaks
>about economic growth and welfare improvement in Korea. In principle, I think
>nothing should be done about the general trend. After all, investing in
>human capital is a good thing. 
>
>However, I'm sure there are still many qualified people who cannot afford to
>study abroad. I'm talking about people who have done well in good colleges
>and can benefit greatly from graduate studies abroad. How about setting
>a tax scheme to help such people? What do you think about taxing people who
>send minors abroad to study and/or people who study only in language programs?
>People with money will continue to do so, with or without tax, and perhaps
>more qualified, needy people can benefit.
> 
>Your comments are appreciated.
>
>Andrew Hwang
>Dept of Economics
>Univ of Rochester
>ahwg@troi.cc.rochester.edu
>
>Of course, all opinions are solely mine and mine only.


How are you doing, fellow sck readers?

I'm an undergraduate studying bioengineering at U of Penn.  I found
the above article disturbing for two reasons.

First:
	A lot of people think that students who are studying abroad
are there because they couldn't get into one of the better colleges in
Korea.  I agree that there are people who go abroad becuase of such 
reasons, but my point is that not all people are willing to study or
able to study in Korea.
	I attended Young-Dong High (one of the 8 hak-gun schools) for
1.5 years before I followed my father to Paris (he was sent overseas
by the company).  Now, I don't mean to brag, but I was doing fine in
school, and the teachers told me to consider staying back in Korea and
taking the national entrance exam (hak-ryuk-go-sa).  
	Although the thought of getting into one of the prestigious
colleges in Korea and leading a rather assured life was appealing, I
decided to study in USA.  This was for two reasons:  I had a dream of
becoming a genetic engineer, and there were only a few schools with a
genetic eng. program in Korea.  Even those that did have such programs
weren't good enough.  My second reasoning was that if Korea wants to
catch up with the rest of the industrialized countries in scientific
fields, then a bountiful source of high-tech oriented researchers
seemed like a must.
	And this is not just my case.  I have friends who are in the
same predicament as I am.  People should realize that not all people
are here on do-pi you-hak.

Secondly:
	Another generalization that people make is that they assume
the families who are sending the kids over to USA must be rich.  Well,
some of them are, and some of them aren't as rich as you think they
are.  Granted, we're all here cause we can afford it through whatever
means we have.  But the idea of taxing those families sends shivers
through my spine.  
	I already feel guilty about using up all my family's financial
resources, and I don't think a tax will make the situation any better.
I admit that my family would be classified as the upper middle class,
but we're barely affording my education here.  (I expect to go through
my graduate studies on fellowships).  A tax will make it impossible
for me to finish my studies here.  In cases like mine, I expect that
it would do more hurt than good to impose a tax.


Thanks for your attention.


	InYup Park
        ipark@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
        ipark@be.seas.upenn.edu