Both education systems in the U.S. and Korea have different expectations towards students in ‘life’ preparation. It’s parents’ biggest dreams in their lives; to let their children to live happily throughout their lives. As differences can make different nations, there are big educational differences between Korea and America that affect them greatly.

One of the most biggest differences between Korean and American students is the confidence in them. This can be seen in their body language. Korean students are slouched in general instead of straight, and their gaze is fixed on objects; the ground, the wall, their paper. They hurry up and prevent to take a lot of time in many activities. They try to not make mistakes, for they are afraid of them. Meanwhile, American students stand straight, try to communicate and be sociable, take their time. They do not fear mistakes and believe in their next success. The confidence can also be seen in their general education. Korean students go to 2~3 academies right after school ends, and doesn’t return home even until 10 at night. They are always stressed out by the homework of both the school and academies. They have mostly 11 subjects to study, and all the tests are gathered to the end of each semester. Their academic status is prioritized more than anything else. They fear that they will drop several ranks from the whole school’s ranking list. However, the American education has mostly 6 subjects, and don’t prefer going to academies as an essential education with the school. They don’t get much stress from the educational push of both parents and teachers. The confidence shows in totally different ways in these two different groups of students.

Why is this important? The confidence can make their lives and behavior different completely. According to the dictionary, confidence means “belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance”. The students need confidence in theirselves to proceed onto their next step in their lives, to be able to believe that they will succeed and is on the right path of succeeding. They need to be sure that someone is going to encourage them that making mistakes is not failing; it is an opportunity for them to do it one more time.

The more the student has confidence, the more he or she will like to study and will not be afraid of making mistakes. Having this attitude will encourage them to feel proud of themselves to be intelligent. Throughout the world, confidence prioritized can make differences in many nations’ students.

<Sua Shin Portola Highly Gifted Magnet 8th Grade>