Seoul National University of Science and Technology Professor Jo-Anna Lynch says the Korean education system, above all else, is competitive.

For many Korean students, getting through school is something that comes with concentration, immense pressure and even depression.

The average high school student spends about 16 hours learning or studying each day. After one school, most students go to another to continue studying. These secondary schools are often referred to as academies, hagwons, or institutes.

Professor Lynch teaches English at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, and she has a unique perspective on the challenging aspects of the Korean education system.

“There are upsides and downsides,” Lynch says.

Lynch has lived in South Korea for seven years and has previously worked in hagwons, a type of secondary learning institute for children and adults.

While Lynch graduated with a science degree from St. Michael’s College and worked in a lab after graduation, she realized she wasn’t happy.

“I kind of just picked up a Korean book and learned a few things,” she says. “I started doing some research online, and jobs in Korea are really easy to come by.”

Lynch says the pay was the same as beginning teaching jobs in the United States, and she was offered free housing and airfare to travel to Asia.

When she began teaching, Lynch says she was surprised at the differences between the education systems of the United States and South Korea.

“If you give a South Korean student a math problem — calculus — they can do it, whereas most American kids could never do that,” Lynch says.

She also says it’s common to see kindergarten students reading and speaking in multiple languages by age four or five, while American kindergarten students are typically just starting to learn the English alphabet.

“I think there’s this knee jerk reaction that it’s too hard, and people do fail to see the benefits in the system. Kids are actually capable of a lot,” she says.

One Korean student says he was able to pursue his dreams and get a degree in the field he was most interested in. However, there were obstacles along the way, and the pressure to succeed became a huge obstacle.

Sangtaek Lee, a junior double major at Dankook University in Yongin, South Korea, says his parents were very supportive of his future.

“Many Korean students feel pressure,” says Lee, “but my parents always try to give confidence to me.”

Lee says the majority of Korean student’s parents tend to pressure their children into a specific future.

According to Lynch, this is all too common in South Korea.

“Kids have their own dreams, but the really ambitious parents will tell their children where they want to go,” she says. “Parents won’t be satisfied unless students are number one.”

Occasionally, parents would even mention to her that she wasn’t giving enough homework to her students.

“A lot of them don’t have that time to be kids,” Lynch says, “go outside, run around… they come in and they’re just dead.”

While Lee says his life had a little bit of balance between fun and school, many of his friends didn’t have the same opportunities he had, like being able to get away from school or stressful classes.

In college, many Korean students have more free time and are able to enjoy local coffee shops or restaurants in between classes or studying.

Lynch also says that the Korean education system is sometimes so focused on achieving the highest level of excellence, that it often fails to cover the fundamentals.

English is one of the fundamentals that the society pushes students to learn, and Lynch says that Korean students learn second languages through memorization, especially with vocabulary.

“Here’s a vocabulary word…memorize it. Can you make a sentence out of it? No — it doesn’t matter,” she says.

Conversations with Korean students, Lynch says, often include academic vocabulary, but no understanding of simple words or phrases.

She also says Korean students tend to be the happiest when they are receiving good grades.

Lee admits he felt the same way, describing his feelings as “jealousy” when other students get better grades.

“I think it is a very big problem, very inefficient,” Lee says about the Korean education system. “It is not good when you compete.”

According to Lee, it’s hard for other countries to understand the system.

“It’s a very big social problem, and it’s sad,” Lee says.

In South Korea, one in four students consider suicide, according to the National Youth Policy Institute in Korea.

“Stress from Korean young students is from studying…this is the highest factor,” says Lee. “I was a victim of the Korean education system… but there are some Korean people who make it hard to overcome that sadness.”

Lee says his thoughts about the education system are the same as many of his friends. He hopes American people know that Korean students aren’t happy.

“Korea student’s happiness is the worst over the world,” he says.

Lee wants this problem to be changed as soon as possible.