Ask a Korean! News: Comparative High School Student Behavior

Absolutely fascinating article on Dong-A Ilbo, which is relaying a report from Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan:

Comparing the Studying Habits of Korea, China, Japan and the U.S.

          Korea              Japan           United States          China

"Korean students doze, Japanese students space out, American students eat or chat..."

According to the research by Japan's Education Research Center under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) regarding in-school behaviors of Korea, Japan, the United States and China, this was the trend for each country, reported Yomiuri Shimbun on the 8th. This research was conducted with 6,200 high school students in four countries from summer through autumn of last year.

According to the research, 32.3 percent of Korean students selected "dozing off" as the "something I do all the time" or "something I do often", ranking second following Japanese students (45.1 percent). In contrast, American students and Chinese students picked the option at 20.8 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. Also, the ratio of Korean students who said "I take good notes during class" was 68.1 percent, lower than their counterparts in Japan (93.1 percent), China (90.1 percent) and America (89.1 percent). 16.3 percent of Korean students chose "I actively participate during class," much lower than the U.S. (51 percent) or China (46.2 percent).

On the other hand, 45.8 percent of Japanese students chose "I space out during class," ranking high alongside American students (59.4 percent). American students selected "I chat with friends during class" or "I snack during class" at the rate of 64.2 percent and 46.9 percent respectively, ranking the top among the four countries. America also ranked the highest in "I send emails or read a book that does not have to do with the class", with 38.9 percent of the students choosing it.

Meanwhile, Chinese students showed a contrast with Korean/American/Japanese students, participating actively and generally behaving well during class.

韓-日-美-中 고교생 수업태도 비교해 보니… (Dong-A Ilbo)

The article also attached the full chart:

The table is titled: "What do you during class?" The unit is percent, and responding students picked multiple choices.

The columns from the left are:  Korea, Japan, United States, China
The rows from the top are:
- I take good notes
- I doze off
- I chat with friends
- I snack
- I send emails or read other books
- I space out
- I actively participate in class

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.