Yes, parents do push kids quite hard in South Korea, because studying hard and getting into good schools are seen as plain necessary for success in life. But th

Yes, parents do push kids quite hard in South Korea, because studying hard and getting into good schools are seen as plain necessary for success in life. But that doesn't necessarily mean the quality of education is fantastic -- a lot of the after-school classes kids get worked to death in are snake oil levels bad, and the teaching methods applied in the primary schools are often sub-par as well. Meanwhile many students suffer a great deal in that highly competitive pressure cooker, and it contributes to an unusually high teenage suicide rate for the country. Education and parenting are complex. Education is not as simple as quantity-does-the-trick, and parenting isn't as simple as applying pressure.