Obama calls for U.S. to match S. Korea in fervor for education

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday called for
the U.S to imitate South Korea in its fervor for education to meet intense
international competition.
Obama made his remarks while announcing multi-million-dollar plans to train tens
of thousands of math and science teachers in the coming years.
"Other nations are stepping up -- a fact, that was plain to see when I visited
Asia at the end of last year," Obama said. "The president of South Korea and I
were having lunch, and I asked him, what's the biggest education challenge that
you have? He told me his biggest challenge in education wasn't budget holes, it
wasn't crumbling schools -- it was that the parents were too demanding."
Obama visited Seoul in November as part of a weeklong Asian tour that also
brought him to China, Japan and Singapore. It was his first trip to Asia since
taking office in January last year.
Since then, he has repeatedly talked about the education fervor that contributed
to South Korea's rapid economic development in recent decades, and has deplored
the underperformance of American students, especially in math and science.
Returning from the trip to Seoul in late November, Obama told a forum that South
Korea's successful economic growth is attributable to Korean parents' enthusiasm
for education for their children.
"I just want to mention the importance not only of students but also of parents,"
Obama said while explaining his conversation with South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak in Seoul. "He said even if somebody is dirt poor, they are insisting
that their kids are getting the best education."
Obama quoted Lee as saying at that time, "I've had to import thousands of foreign
teachers because they're all insisting that Korean children have to learn English
in elementary school. The biggest education challenge that he had was an
insistence, a demand from parents for excellence in the schools."
In March last year, Obama called for the U.S. to look to South Korea in adopting
longer school days and after-school programs for American children to help them
survive keen global competition.
"Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea
every year," Obama said at the time. "If they can do that in South Korea, we can
do it right here in the United States of America."
In January last year, Obama blasted school authorities in Washington, D.C., for
shutting down schools for the day due to just a few inches of snow.
He has also lamented a high-school dropout rate that has tripled in the past 30
years and called for Americans to expand effective after-school programs.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)