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Public school teaching in Korea has a reputation for pretty good pay, but more importantly, for job security. Being a teacher is said to significantly improve o

by wrp 3y ago

Public school teaching in Korea has a reputation for pretty good pay, but more importantly, for job security. Being a teacher is said to significantly improve one's attractiveness as a marriage prospect because of that. Admittance to teaching programs has been competitive in the past (just being in the top 1/3 wasn't a guarantee), but I don't know the current situation with college admissions in that field.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Does Korea have normal (teaching) universities like China does? If so, I would assume that they aren’t even going to the same schools as say STEM majors, which makes being at the top third of their class even more amazing (and WTF do the other two thirds do if they were going to school to be a teacher?).
- wrp 3y ago
  When you are applying to enter a teaching program, you need to have been in the top 1/3 of the class you were just in. As I understand it, that's just a basic requirement and doesn't by itself guarantee admission. I haven't heard anything about attrition rates in teaching programs. Something else to know about Korean universities is that admission to departments is competitive, and once students are accepted by a university, they will change departments before trying to change schools. I knew a girl who wanted to study biochemistry, but didn't make the cut in that department, so she went with an opening in silicon engineering, and now works at Samsung designing chips. I hear stories like that very frequently.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    That’s actually how it works in the states, with many universities not requiring students to declare majors until they are at the end of being sophomores, and many departments being competitive (especially Computer Science). Education isn’t considered a hot major in the USA, so almost anyone can get in if they can get into the university offering it. I guess silicon engineering isn’t as competitive as biochem because they have more spots for students (to support Samsung)?

by wrp 3y ago

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

Does Korea have normal (teaching) universities like China does? If so, I would assume that they aren’t even going to the same schools as say STEM majors, which makes being at the top third of their class even more amazing (and WTF do the other two thirds do if they were going to school to be a teacher?).

wrp 3y ago
When you are applying to enter a teaching program, you need to have been in the top 1/3 of the class you were just in. As I understand it, that's just a basic requirement and doesn't by itself guarantee admission. I haven't heard anything about attrition rates in teaching programs. Something else to know about Korean universities is that admission to departments is competitive, and once students are accepted by a university, they will change departments before trying to change schools. I knew a girl who wanted to study biochemistry, but didn't make the cut in that department, so she went with an opening in silicon engineering, and now works at Samsung designing chips. I hear stories like that very frequently.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  That’s actually how it works in the states, with many universities not requiring students to declare majors until they are at the end of being sophomores, and many departments being competitive (especially Computer Science). Education isn’t considered a hot major in the USA, so almost anyone can get in if they can get into the university offering it. I guess silicon engineering isn’t as competitive as biochem because they have more spots for students (to support Samsung)?