"In South Korea, there is only one speed: full throttle … I was immediately impressed by Koreans' determination and energy, the two biggest factors behind the country's transformation from rural backwater to technological powerhouse," she said. "This obsession with education has led to social and economic problems."

But she added Koreans “have got there through an arduous process, driven by intense social pressure to get into the right school, then the right university, find the right job and meet the right spouse. One friend recounted how when her three-year-old's kindergarten conducted psychometric testing, the other mothers earnestly jotted down the results, noting whether to push their tots towards law, medicine or finance. So intense is the pressure to get good grades that 12-year-olds, after spending all day at school, routinely attend cram school, or hagwon, until midnight. Indeed, despite Korea's impressive headline performance in test scores, the World Economic Forum ranks the quality of the country's education system at 60th in the world."

She said that the educational system “rests largely on rote learning and places almost no value on analysis, creative thinking or practical application." Yet while Koreans spend more time at school than students in any other developed country and spend the most money on education at 8 percent of GDP, “further growth can be achieved through productivity gains -- Korea's productivity is 60 percent below the U.S. level. Service sector productivity is only half that of manufacturing, and has been stagnant for almost 15 years."

Korea would therefore “do well to take its foot off the accelerator slightly, take stock and think about using its impressive drive and human capital in more efficient ways. The economy will benefit and the kids will love it," she predicts.

(englishnews@chosun.com )