English Fever

What is the answer forwhat is the question asking? I could feel the hatred and fear
welling up inside of me. Slowly, I lost rhythm with my breath as my face got tight and my vision
blurred. Then, I burst out crying and said, I dont understand anything. I dont want to do this
mom. I was in first grade, and English was a mandatory class. It did not really matter whether I
understood the material or not; I was just forced to finish the online English homework every
weekend. With the increasing importance of English around the world, having English proficiency
has become the standard for and the requirement of success in Korean society. It is now essential
for all Koreans to learn and speak perfect English in order to be admitted to top universities, to
find and build a good career, and to improve social status. However, the extreme level of English
fever in Korea has resulted in an increase in social and academic pressures on young students and
many serious social side effects, such as the delay in childrens psychosocial, linguistic, and
academic development, and higher suicide rate of both parents and children.
With the globalization and the development of Korea as the fourth largest in Asia and 15

th

largest economy in the world, the importance of English has been more emphasized in the
workplace and the education system. Samsung, the largest conglomerate in Korea, uses the Oral
Proficiency Interview by Computer (OPIC) to evaluate their employees language proficiency
(Park). English examinations, such as the Korean version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (KSAT),
Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), and Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL) have become the standard requirement for companies applications (Hwang
2). According to Swiss-based EF Education First, the average Korean, from kindergarten through
university, spends close to 20,000 hours to learn English, and Statistics Korea reports, the
average annual cost of private education is nearly $3,000 per student (Vinish). Kim Yoon-jeong,
who has a fourth-grader son, spends from $200 to $300 for once-a-week home tutoring, but she
says that it is the least she can do for her son compared to other fourth-graders. The amounts of

money Korean parents are spending on their childrens private education, especially on English,
equal to about half the national budget for public education.
Despite the amount of time and money they spend for English education, however,
Koreans are only ranked 24 in the world for English proficiency, and the pressure-cooker
th

atmosphere has resulted in high youth suicide rates. ARam Hwang, Master of Arts in TESOL,
pointed out that English Education System focuses more on grammar than on communicational
skills and put too much emphasis on grammar accuracy (Hwang 40). The students are not taught to
communicate, but rather to simply memorize information and test techniques to be successful in
exams and college placement tests. Yi Ju-seung, debate lecturer and CEO of Debate for All, Inc.,
argued that young Korean children struggle to communicate in English because they grow up
unable to think outside of box and lack the critical thinking skills and study only to get high test
scores (Vinish). According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Korea scored the lowest in the happiness category while the parents expectation on their
children to complete a universitys degree was the highest, and even though the rate of suicide has
declined in many of the developed nations, it has constantly remained high in Korea (Phillips). The
extreme competition and academic pressure have changed the purpose of studying for Korean
students. Studying is no longer a means of getting knowledge, but just to get their desired grades.
Because they are taught to fit in, to listen to the authority, and to know the only one right answer,
they have become less likely to express their own opinions and to think broadly. However, with an
increased focus on practical communication, Korean parents began to send their children to study
abroad at very young ages in hopes of improving their English communicative proficiency.
English is the most commonly used language in the world and a source of communication
with people in other countries. Therefore, the opportunities to study abroad in English speaking
countries may help students to speak in perfect English and even expand and deepen their global
awareness and understanding of other cultures. In La Prisonniere, the fifth volume of In Search of

Lost Time, the French novelist, Marcel Proust stated, The real voyage of discovery consists not in
seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes (Proust). The interaction with people with different
cultures and perspectives leads people to broaden their views and to explore new prospects and
ideas. However, it is only possible when they have grown enough to be able to express their
thoughts and ideas with a fluent use of their own language.
The increasing number of young Korean students studying abroad has brought some
serious social concerns. These students struggle and face the delay in their psychological,
linguistic, and academic development both as second-language learners and as returnees (J-H.
Lim). Sunny Jeong, the director of the Korean Cultural Center, said, [Korean students] have these
depressions, and there are times they dont fell like they can fit into either society (Ly). The
language barrier and cultural differences set them apart socially and academically. Due to the lack
of language proficiency, some students struggle in completing academic tasks, such as reading
assignments and taking tests and in communicating with their teachers and peers. Also, many
Korean students are not accustomed to the American student typical relationships with their
teachers. A professor originally from Taiwan explained, Their perception of a teacher is very
different than the American student perception of a teacher. They hold a teacher in high regard
(Unruh). On the other hand, the returnees also face challenges once they come back to Korea due
to the differences in teaching methods. In Korea, children are pushed hard to study from an early
age. Unlike in America, Korean students get a head start in education by learning materials ahead
of their grade level in hagwons, private academies focused on specific subjects. So, they struggle
and have a hard time catching up with other students in the same year, and some high schools even
have established separate programs for students from abroad. Moreover, the high English fever
has created strong antipathy, or even fear, of the negative influence of the Korean language on
the acquisition of English (qtd. in Park). Many Korean parents assume that the association with
Korean peers might lead to their childrens failure to learn English. As a result, many Korean

parents try to send them to schools with few or no Korean students and want their children to
avoid other Korean students both in and out of school.
The numbers of students going abroad to study have been rapidly increasing despite many
academic reports of problems on the their development and have resulted in creating a
phenomenon of wild goose families. According to the report from the Ministry of Education and
Human Resources Development (2006), the number of students who were sent alone or with a
single parent increased from 705 in 2000 to 8,148 in 2005 (Park). The children, usually
accompanied by mothers, are sent abroad for education while their fathers remain in Korea for
financial support. The term wild goose fathers was created to refer to the seasonal visits
reuniting the separated families. The number of wild-goose fathers is increasing by 20,000 every
year, and according to the survey conducted by Professor Cha of Nursing Department in Suwon
University, 70% of them suffer from depression and 77% from inadequate nutrition due to poor
and irregular meals. She emphasized that the high depression rates and the lack of consumption
of nutritious food are related to the amount of contact the fathers have with their families
overseas (Kim). The survey also shows that the rate of alcohol dependency is high among the
goose father and Alcoholism treatment hospital found out that 30% of them drank alcohol at
least two or three times a week (Kim). One formal goose father who sent his wife and two
daughters to Canada said that he was practically a money supplying machine. In order to avoid
going home where there was no one to greet him, he often volunteered for night shifts at work and
drank heavily (Lee). Along with the rise in depression rates, the suicide rates have also increased.
On November 2014, one man in his 50s committed suicide in his house in Incheon. He was the
electrical engineer who was a goose father. He sent his wife and children to the United States in
2009 and could not go visit his family for four years. He lost his job shortly after they left, so he had
to live off unemployment benefits and savings, and his wife had to work at restaurants (Lee). The

wild goose fathers become isolated and suffer from malnutrition, thus leading to high depression
and suicide.
The importance of English cannot be denied or ignored, especially in todays highly
globalized world. It is undeniable that English proficiency is directly related to individual
opportunities and economic prosperity. However, too much emphasis on learning English causes
some serious social problems. The exposure to highly competitive and stressful environments
from very early ages puts too much pressure on young children and can even lead to suicide. Also,
the trends of sending young children abroad not only affect their developments negatively, but
also create the phenomenon of wild good fathers, separating families over an extended period of
time. Despite the amount of money and time Koreans spend on learning English, not many of them
can confidently convey their emotions and thoughts. If they cannot even express their ideas and
intention and communicate with other people, what is the point of learning English? The English
fever in Korean society has exceeded the degree and needs to be cooled down.

Workcited
Cho,Jaekeun."UnderstandingtheImportanceof

Instruction."UniversityofWisconsinRiver

EnglishEducationinSouthKoreaand

Falls,2012.Web.22May2015.

ExploringtheReasonsWhySouthKorean
StudentsCometoaUniversityinthe
Midwest."UniversityofNebraskaLincoln,
5Jan.2014.Web.22May2015.
Hwang,ARam."MaximizingthePositiveEffectsof
theNewKoreanNationalEnglishAbility
Test(NEAT)onEnglishLanguage
EducationinKoreathroughTaskBased

Kim,S.(2013,November19).'WildGooseFathers'
Increasing,70%Depressed,Malnourished.
RetrievedJune10,2015.
Lee,C.(2014,January22).[EyeonEnglish]
Familiesseparateforoverseaseducation.
RetrievedJune10,2015.
Lim,JH.2005.Casesofearlystudyabroadinthe
UnitedStates.Paperpresentedatthe25th

KEDIEducationPolicyForum,Seoul,
Korea,May25.
Ly,P.(2008,May15).Marginalization,
DemonizationofBlackWomenisReal.
RetrievedJun10,2015.

Quartz.4Dec.2013.Web.22May2015.
Picardo,Jos."WhyStudentsNeedaGlobal
AwarenessandUnderstandingofOther
Cultures."Theguardian.Web.22May2015.
Unruh,S.(n.d.).StrugglingInternationalStudentsin
theUnitedStates:DoUniversityFaculty
KnowHowtoHelp?RetrievedJune10,

Park,Hyongki."[EyeonEnglish]EnglishFluency
RequiredforBetterLife."[EyeonEnglish]
EnglishFluencyRequiredforBetterLife.

2015.
Vinish,Lisa."AreKoreanStudentsReallyLearning
English?"AreKoreanStudentsReally

Koreaherald,8Jan.2014.Web.22May2015.

LearningEnglish?GoOverseas,26June

Park,Jinkyu."EnglishFeverinSouthKorea:Its

2014.Web.22May2015.

HistoryandSymptoms."EnglishToday97,

Yun,Suhyoung."S.KoreanChildrenRankLastin

Vol.25,No.1,1Mar.2009.Web.22May

HappinessSurvey."TheKoreaTimes.4

2015.

Nov.2014.Web.22May2015.

Phillips,Matthew."KoreaIstheWorldsTop
ProducerofUnhappySchoolChildren."