Lee Boo-jin listens to remarks from attendees throughout a luncheon assembly held on the Orchid Corridor of The Shilla Seoul in Seoul on Aug. 31, 2023. Yonhap
SEATTLE — A narrative about Lodge Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin’s son practically acing the nationwide faculty entrance examination has already made headlines in Korea, however the buzz didn’t cease there. The information shortly leapt throughout the Pacific and started circulating amongst Korean mothers within the U.S., the place dad and mom are reacting with equal elements envy and fascination.
Dad and mom overseas mentioned they have been struck by how a Samsung scion managed to excel inside Korea’s intensely aggressive college system. Many expressed shock that he stayed in Korea for his whole schooling reasonably than becoming a member of the regular stream of scholars heading abroad, particularly the U.S.
Park Solar-young, chair of the brand new Fact and Reconciliation Committee, praised each the consequence and the household’s strategy to education in a extensively shared put up. She wrote on Fb that the senior at Whimoon Excessive Faculty “missed just one query on the CSAT this yr” and had remained “first in his class” since center college.
Park contrasted Lee’s parenting with what she described as a standard pattern amongst prosperous households. “As of late, rich dad and mom rush to ship their youngsters abroad,” she mentioned. “It virtually feels grateful {that a} Samsung heiress with nothing to envy on this planet raised her son totally in Korea.” She added that she hopes the instance helps Korean schooling “stand tall once more” and provides domestic-educated mothers “actual satisfaction.”
The dialogue has since unfold extensively throughout Korean American parenting areas, together with MissyUSA and Threads.
One U.S.-based mom wrote that seeing a Samsung scion achieve Korea made her really feel that “Korean schooling nonetheless works when given the possibility.” One other questioned whether or not staying in a single system allowed him to focus with out the disruption that always comes with transferring overseas. “There’s one thing about studying in your personal language and tradition that retains youngsters extra assured,” a U.S.-based mother wrote.
Others mentioned the information evoked each admiration and strain, highlighting how intensely schooling defines alternative for Korean households regardless of the place they dwell.
This yr’s Faculty Scholastic Aptitude Take a look at (CSAT) is extensively considered as tougher than final yr’s, including to the sense of accomplishment.
