Nearly half of Korea's young people don't want their children to receive the same kind of education they had, a survey showed Thursday.
According to a survey conducted by the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) last August, 49.6 percent of Korean respondents reacted negatively to the question of whether their children should receive the same kind of education they had. Among the respondents of other countries who also answered the question negatively, Japanese ranked second at 39.5 percent, followed by Germans (31.1 percent), Danes (29.3 percent) and Americans (26.5 percent).
To a question about whether one can earn respect without academic abilities, 42.3 percent of Korean respondents disagreed. Japanese respondents came in second at 37.6 percent, followed by Germans (24.9 percent), Americans (22.2 percent) and Danes (20 percent).
Sixty percent of the Koreans polled also said they believe the reason for attending high school is to enter a prestigious university, while nearly one-third of respondents from the US cited the main reason as being "to find what you are interested in and what you are good at."
All of the surveyed nations except for Korea chose “personality, innate talent and effort” as the most important elements for leading a successful life. However, Koreans chose innate talent (61.8 percent), one's parents’ wealth (50 percent) and one's appearance (42.9 percent).
The survey polled 2,798 people in their 20s, around 550 people each from Korea, the US, Germany, Japan and Denmark.
