Well-known for its high-achieving students, South Korea's education system is quite demanding. Students spend much of their time, often between 12 to 16 hours per day, at school or at a special after-school academy called a hagwon.
High schools in South Korea teach students for three years, from first grade (age 15–16) to third grade (age 17–18), and students commonly graduate at age 17 or 18.
Korean high school students have a 16 hour school day
It would shock you. The average high school student generally has class from about 8am until 9:30pm or 10pm. For the average Korean high school student, the goal is to get into good college and often, the competition is high.
As in most countries in the world, Korean students need to finish 12 years of schooling through primary school (6years), middle school (3years), and high school (3years) to enter tertiary education at universities and colleges.
Russia School Hours
Russian kids spend about half the amount of time in school than American kids do with the Pew Research Center estimating Russian primary school students spend 470 hours in the classroom during the school year, compared to the 990 hours required in 35 American states.
Public school in Korea starts in March and ends around January. Their large vacation is not during the summer (although there is a summer vacation that is approximately one month long) but during Lunar New Years in the beginning of the year.
Students in grades 5-6 reported an sTST of 8.15±1.12 hours, those in grades 7-9 8.17±1.20 hours, and students in grades 10-12 6.87±1.40 hours.
School hours are generally from 8.45am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday. In a typical school day, there are five to eight lessons, ranging from 40 minutes to one hour. There are two breaks in the school day – a morning tea break (recess) and a lunch break, both of which are supervised by teachers.
Alcohol. The legal drinking age in Korea is 19 years of age. Although it is legal to drink alcohol in public, disorderly conduct under the influence of alcohol can result in hefty fines and a visit to the police station.
Primary education in South Korea is compulsory and free. At the age of six, children start primary school near their residence, with automatic progression to the next grade each year. An accelerated grade advancement system was introduced and allows gifted and talented children to skip grades.
The Age of Consent in South Korea is 20 years old. The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity.
No Prom or Homecoming: Usually, in other parts during the homecoming, proms and other cultural activities are organized. But, in South Korean schools, there is nothing like that.
As we mentioned, South Korean students are in school from 8 or 9 AM until 3 or even 5 PM, but they will then go to night school or work with private tutors until 10 PM.
They get up at 6:34 a.m. on weekdays, and at 7:15 a.m. on Sundays. Koreans spend 1 hour and 56 minutes for meals each day, or 11 minutes more than five years ago. On average, they have breakfast at 7:43 a.m., lunch at 12:32 p.m., and dinner at 7:09 p.m.
Classes run for 50 minutes each, with a morning break and a 50-minute lunch period. The afternoon session resumes at about 1:00 P.M., and classes continue until about 4:00 or 4:30, followed by the cleaning of the classroom. Students may then take a short dinner break at home, or they may eat at school.
Apart from the exceedingly studious environment, international students are met with two main challenges — course registration and the language barrier — that make studying at Korean universities even more difficult.
In most states, schools have 6–7 weeks of summer holidays, usually starting 7–10 days before Christmas, and ending the week after Australia Day (any time from January 27th to February 5th, depending on where you live). Private schools and boarding schools may have an extra week of holidays.
At present, South Koreans have a Korean age, in which a person is one at birth and then gains a year on the first day of each new year. So a child born on 31 December would be considered two years old the next day.
Students can learn for free because the government pays everything from tuition fees, airplane tickets, resettlement allowance, health insurance, stipend, living allowance, medical insurance, and Korean language courses.