Early English Studying abroad : Good or Bad?

In the past, many students studied abroad during college, but now studying abroad earlier on is becoming a trend; Korean students are going to English speaking countries in their teens.





Here are the top five countries with the highest number of students going abroad

1. China 421,000
2. India 153,500
3. South Korea 105,300
4. Germany 77,500
5. Japan 54,500
Korea has a population of less than 50 million, so proportionally it exports more students than any of the other top 5.




Many Koreans are dissatisfied with Korea's rigid educational system and they want to escape from the grueling, test-oriented Korean schools. There are more reasons why children go abroad. The reasons are not only to study English but also to obtain other skills like creative thinking and high-tech education. In addition, as the world is getting smaller and becomes globalized, international exposure will create a good opportunity in their future.


Most of all, English fluency can increase their chance of gaining admissions to a leading university in America as well as in Seoul, Korea. Many Koreans believe that studying abroad at on early age is contributes to learning English faster.

The idea of early studying English abroad at an earlier age comes from parents who are not satisfied with the Korean education system and found it is difficult to get a job without English proficiency in Korea. Therefore, it is becoming a trend, to send kids abroad earlier.



However, there are disadvantages to this. First of all, early age children have no chance to learn high-level Korean. They can lose their Korean proficiency and make mistakes in their spoken Korean as a result. More importantly is family. "Wild geese" fathers, who send their families abroad for children's education and left alone in Korea, are not happy and it strains marriages and undermines the role of a father. Some marriages end in divorce.



Furthermore, relatives eventually feel cultural and emotional gaps between other members who go abroad. It's not only the family's problem, but also the nations problem because it is expensive and it causes a great monetary loss for Korea. The amount of money spent studying abroad has been rapidly increasing since 2000.





The money to study abroad
2000 $ 958million
2002 $ 1.4 billion
2004 $ 2.5 billion
2006 $ 4.5 billion
2007 $ 10.2 billion
2008(1/4) $ 1.2 billion






Do people think early study abroad children will adapt to Korean society well when they come back? Some students who come back before college cannot get along with classmates in school. Some of them experience difficulty in adapting to their home environment. They are frightened about the different curriculum and the higher level of studying required. This makes it hard for them to study in Korea again. Even some people who come back after college cannot get along in society. Korean society is more connected with same school or college experience which they don't have as a result and studying abroad.


"Pennywise, poundfoolish"
There are a lot of experiences in people's life more than English. Korean language is scientific and beautiful by itself. There are so many expressions. For example, there is only red for red color in English but in Korean there are many different ways to say red. Also, there is a Korean history that students should know if they want to live as a Korean. That will bring them to contribute to Korean society. Besides Korean language and history, Koreans have a special family relationship. Until their children get married family members usually live together and children learn more from their family. Early English studying abroad can't give those things.

However, as the number of students going abroad rises Korean government should devise practical English education policies to encourage students to remain in Korea. The reason to go abroad is not only English but also grueling and test-oriented Korean education system. But the solution will focus on English problem only. Firstly, 'the quality of education wouldn't exceed the quality of teachers.' Therefore, intensive English training for teachers such as CIFLE program in Chungnam education ministry in Korea are widely needed. Secondly, even though there are English camp programs in many places it costs a lot and not many students can attend those programs. Government has to support students English programs and every student can apply to the programs. Thirdly, English curriculum has to be more organized and connected, grade to grade. It's been over 10 years since current curriculum has come out. As the English level of children improves and better methods of teaching English has studied the curriculum has to be changed. Lastly, Finland is known as successive country of English Education because of only English TV programs. There should be a chance to use English outside of school. It might be TV, local after school programs and English areas in the town. If Korean's English education succeeds and people think to achieve English proficiency is a way rather than a purpose of their life's goal, early English studying abroad wouldn't be a trend any more.


http://unreligiousright.blogspot.com/2009/07/students-who-study-abroad.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/05/123_24961.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/world/asia/08geese.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=for%20English%20studies,%20Koreans%20say%20goodbye%20to%20dad&st=cse
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/07/161_35418.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/06/117_26123.html
http://news.donga.com/fbin/output?f=jks&n=200404250096&main=1
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WMX/is_7_25/ai_n25474096/