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When Jeffrey Jones, the honorary chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, tried to enroll his five- and seven-year-old sons in a foreign school in Seoul, he was apparently informed that there was no room for them, so they would have to wait. His older son was eventually able to gain admission after an opening became available, but his younger son is said to be still waiting to hear about his application for kindergarten. This has become widely known throughout the foreign business community in Korea and has led to the coining of the phrase "Jeff shock." It is shocking that a country which ranks among the world's ten largest economies and whose trade volume totals more than $500 billion lacks schools for foreigners to send their children.
There are 47 foreign schools in Korea, including 20 British or American ones and 19 for Chinese students. A total of 7,781 foreign children attend these schools. According to a November 2006 study by the Federation of Korean Industries on OECD member nations, out of a total 24,407 children of foreigners who live in Korea, only 33.6 percent or 8,213 of those children live here. The remaining 16,194 children are living apart from their parents. Most do so because there is a lack of adequate foreign schools in Korea.
In Hong Kong, with a population of six million, there are 62 foreign schools, while Singapore, with a population of 4.6 million, has 26. Seoul, with a population of 10 million, has only 17. With a lack of schools for their children, foreigners end up avoiding being posted to Korea. What's worse is the fact that some foreign businesses pay their Korea-posted employees an extra allowance usually given to workers being sent to remote regions of the world. European business people in particular leave their children at home when assigned to Korea. This is only natural, since there is just one French school and one German school in Korea.
Foreign capital will not come into a country like this. As of 2003, the ratio of foreign direct investment in comparison to GDP was 239 percent for Hong Kong and 160 percent for Singapore. For Korea it was just 9 percent. This is even lower than the global average of 23 percent.
If we are to even dream of becoming the economic hub of Asia, we need to start by expanding the number of foreign schools. We need schools that offer a variety of educational systems in order to make Korea a more attractive destination for business people from Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. If it's difficult to open foreign schools in provincial regions, then we should consider other options, such as opening special classes for foreign children at foreign language high schools.
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