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MILITARY

Former US Attorney General Testifies for Plowshares Activists Ramsey Clark supports WA anti-nuke movement Ground Zero Center (Nov 28, 2010)

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Hunger Up 36% in Washington State from Children's Alliance, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

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The Progressive Tea Party? Maybe when it comes to surveillance issues Doug Collins, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)
Obama Wooing 'Economic Royalists' FDR was way gutsier Norman Solomon, cartoon by David Logan (Nov 28, 2010)

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The Dirty Secret Behind 'Demon Tobacco' Regulation doesn't cover cigarette additives Doug Collins, cartoons by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010)

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America’s Education Gender Gap Bill Costello, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010)

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Washington State Votes Against Change Janice Van Cleve, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010)

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WA Doctors Tell McKenna: Put Patients Before Politics Doctors for America (Oct 25, 2010)

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No, Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us Charles Reich got his second book right Norman Solomon (Oct 23, 2010)

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Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons in WA ACLU of WA, with cartoon by John Jonik (Oct 23, 2010)

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Report: Racial Profiling Pervasive Across America OneAmerica (Oct 23, 2010)

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Port Townsend Food Co-op Rejects Israel Boycott Jefferson County BDS, cartoon by George Jartos (Oct 23, 2010)

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A Bellhop in the Swingin' Seventies Overly detailed resume plus cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Oct 20, 2010)
Johnny Horizon's Draft Physical Can he avoid Vietnam? John Merriam (Oct 20, 2010)

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Gregoire passes the hatchet; Bears love garbage; Where does the PUD travel to? featuring cartoons by Dan McConnell (Oct 20, 2010)

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Now's the Time to Expand Social Security Good for both Americans and American companies Steven Hill (Sept 9, 2010)

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Obama's Speech for Endless War Normon Solomon, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Sept 9, 2010)

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Yellowstone: The #1 National Security Threat Unless we turn Wyoming into a new energy Mecca Martin Nix (Sept 9, 2010)

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Biodefense, Biolabs and Bugs Seattle City Council takes an important first step to safety Labwatch.org (Aug 9, 2010)

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Teenage Microsoft Sweatshop 15-hour shifts under poor conditions at Chinese factory from the National Labor Committee (May 16, 2010)

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Why US Immigration Policy Needs Tweaking Bill Costello, cartoon by David Logan (May 16, 2010)
Arizona Immigration Brouhaha Various opinions from near and far, cartoons by Logan and McConnell (May 2, 2010)

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The Coming Microcar Revolution Martin Nix (May 16, 2010)

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A Poetic Look at Tacoma Glass Art Museum; a limer-ICK Gerald McBreen (Mar 28, 2010)
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Who Rules America? Corporate conglomeration is leading to neofeudalism Don Monkerud, cartoon by John Jonik (Mar 27, 2010)

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Architects and Engineers Ask for New Look at 9/11 Doug Collins (Feb 20, 2010)

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Is Olympic Coverage Sexist? Media coverage rarely gives women equal treatment Univ. of Alberta (Jan 24, 2010)

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Why I Don't Come at Christmas Anymore not-so-jolly Saint Nick (Dec 18, 2009) Santa Gets Political art by Ambrosavage, Lande, and Dees (Dec 17, 2009)

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A People's History of Sports BOOK REVIEW Doreen McGrath (posted July 24, 2009)

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Cashing In On Earth's Cycles: Part 3 Alan Cheetham & Richard Kirby (posted July 24, 2009)
Obama: How Serious About Climate Change? Doug Collins (posted July 24, 2009)


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posted Mar. 27, 2010    Bookmark and Share

Bill Costello interviews Lim Cheolil, associate professor of education at Seoul National University


South Korean Teachers Reach for the SKY

Class size doesn't matter as much as teacher quality

by Bill Costello


Editor's note: The below article is very thought provoking especially because it provides a strong counterpoint to current US educational norms. However, large class sizes depend on strict classroom discipline, including the absence of outbursts and chitchat in the class. I'm not sure if American educators and parents are culturally prepared to undertake such a system, though I believe strict discipline was the norm here a couple generations ago. Readers, please comment in the feedback section at bottom.


Within South Korea, the three most prestigious universities are Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University.Collectively, they are referred to by the acronym SKY.

Graduating from a SKY university often leads to a prestigious job with a high salary—especially if the graduate is in the field of education.Opinion polls show that South Koreans view teachers as high-status professionals who make greater contributions to society than any other profession. I recently visited the SKY universities to learn why South Koreans feel this way.

“In Korea, we have a Confucian tradition of respecting teachers,” said Lim Cheolil, associate professor of education at Seoul National University. Beyond tradition, South Korea actively raises the status of teaching as a profession by doing two things. First, it makes entry to teacher training very selective. Teachers are recruited from the top five percent of each high school graduate class. Second, teachers are paid generous starting salaries of 141 percent of GDP per capita, which is significantly above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 95 percent.

Making teacher training selective and paying teachers high starting salaries attracts the strongest candidates to the teaching profession,which is important because teacher quality significantly impacts student outcomes.

South Korea is able to pay teachers high starting salaries because it employs relatively fewer teachers than other nations. As a result, the student-teacher ratio in South Korea is 30:1, compared to the OECD average of 17:1.

It’s a smart tradeoff because studies show that teacher quality has significantly more impact on student outcomes than class size. Dollar for dollar, it’s better to attract a small number of outstanding teachers with high starting salaries than to attract a large number of mediocre teachers with lower starting salaries—even if that means having a high student-teacher ratio.

In education-obsessed South Korea, the potential for earning a lot of money as a teacher is great. For example, 46-year-old math instructor and cram school tutor Woo Hyeong-cheol makes $4 million a year teaching Web-based classes. His salary is higher than most of the top professional baseball players in South Korea. And he’s just as famous.

Teaching is more than just a high-status profession with a high starting salary in South Korea; it’s also one of the most stable careers. Lee Sang Min, assistant professor of education at Korea University, said: “After the economic crisis in 1997, most Koreans considered stability as the most important thing when choosing a job. Therefore, many university students pursue teaching positions in elementary, middle, and high school.”

Lee Sungho H., professor of education at Yonsei University, agreed: “The most critical reason for being a teacher is job stability. Teachers are guaranteed retirement at age 62. In addition, teaching provides fringe benefits such as summer and winter vacations, a fixed daily time schedule,and a good pension.”

South Korea’s high level of respect for teachers is an exemplar for other nations that want to improve student outcomes.


Bill Costello, M.Ed., is a U.S.-based education columnist, blogger, and author of Awaken Your Birdbrain: Using Creativity to Get What You Want. He can be reached at www.makingmindsmatter.com.


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