Today in Korea, "Academic inflation"

Are Koreans too educated?

Survey says Korea is suffering effects of ‘academic inflation’ April 28, 2010
Last year, 81.9 percent of high school graduates in Korea went on to university. Although that might seem like a positive element of Korean society, experts say that the high percentage of graduates is contributing to an increasingly serious problem they call “academic inflation.” According to a recent survey by the Korean Educational Development Institute, nine out of every 10 respondents said that Korea is suffering from academic inflation. The KEDI survey, conducted from late last month to May 10, includes responses from 660 KEDI members including college students and professors. When asked about the probable cause for this phenomenon, most of the people who were surveyed, 67.3 percent, said that the reason was Korean society’s excessive emphasis on one’s educational background, alluding to the possibility that people are more concerned about the social status that a job brings them than they are with the salary the position would bring. Only 6.3 percent said that the main reason for academic inflation is salary differences related to educational background. When asked in which circumstances the country’s academic inflation is most serious, 38.4 percent answered “when I see many unemployed people who possess a master’s or doctoral degree,” while 29.18 percent said that it is when they see people with academic degrees who apply for jobs that don’t match their educational backgrounds. A majority of respondents agreed that academic inflation is causing harm to society. The most commonly cited negative social implications caused by academic inflation was wasting money on education, with 48.8 percent of responses, while 22.7 percent answered, “depletion of the labor force due to the prolonged length of time spent before settling on a job.”Given the fact that last year in Korea there were over 3 million college students and more than 10,000 people with doctoral degrees, 85 percent of respondents said that the proportion of the population that is educated is too great.On average, the respondents defined a “satisfactory job” as one that pays 1.5 times or more than the average salary with between 18 and 50 hours of work per week.Meanwhile, some respondents were concerned about emphasizing the negative aspects of academic inflation. Around 30 percent said that an educated workforce is the foundation of a strong economy and that one’s academic background cannot be ignored.By Lee Won-jean [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]