SOUTH KOREA HAS EDUCATION PROBLEMS

 First, cost of the Iran War.  

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimates $37.5 billion.
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report last month, just after the now-defunct ceasefire was signed, that estimated the war had cost somewhere between $34 billion and $42 billion.  

• 
  Congressional Democrats estimate the "real" cost of the Iran war is far higher than Pentagon figures, with just impact on American consumers of over $100 billion. They argue the official military tally of $37.5 billion ignores key expenses, including munition replacements, long-term deployments, and severe economic impacts on U.S. consumers. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• 
  Now that a new shipping route has been mostly shut down, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, oil prices of course are continuing to rise.  This second front further will increase gasoline and food prices for you.  From Google AI:

The average American household has paid over $500 extra (about $450 to $500 for gasoline and related energy costs since the start of the Iran conflict in late February 2026. While there is no exact per-person dollar figure for food, rising fuel and fertilizer costs have driven overall food prices significantly higher, with grocery costs rising at an elevated rate. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Now into my topic of the day, from Google AI:

Among developed economies, South Korea, Lithuania, and Japan have the highest suicide rates, with South Korea leading at over 20 deaths per 100,000 people. Other developed nations with notably high rates include Belgium, Finland, and the United States, whereas Greece, Turkey, and Spain consistently report the lowest.[1, 2, 3, 4]

The ranking of suicide mortality rates (measured per 100,000 population) among high-income, developed nations generally trends as follows: [1, 2, 3]

South Korea: ~20.6
Lithuania: ~22.1
Japan: ~14.7
Belgium: ~18.4
Finland: ~14.6
Australia: ~13.1
United States: ~15.6
France: ~15.5
Canada: ~9.4
United Kingdom: ~7.3 [1, 2, 3, 4]

So something is going wrong with South Korea.  I further asked Google AI the world ranking of student scores:

A closer look at global rankings from the PISA Mathematics Scores and OECD PISA Results shows the top-performing countries are generally grouped as follows:

Mathematics: Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea.
Science: Singapore, Japan, Macao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Estonia.
Reading: Singapore, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Estonia. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

In contrast, the United States generally ranks in the middle of the pack—typically hovering around 26th in math, 10th in science, and 6th in reading when compared with other developed countries. [1, 2]

South Korea is doing well.  However, the country is having huge problems with their educational system.  From Google AI:

The crisis in South Korean education stems from a hyper-competitive job market where corporate success relies on admission to elite universities. This drives parents to subject children to extreme academic pressure from a young age, creating a toxic cycle of burnout and severely straining the teacher-parent relationship. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Parental Pressure Cooker

Early Education Obsession: Parents are increasingly grooming children for success before they can even speak full sentences. Nearly half of children under six and a quarter of toddlers under two attend private cram schools (hagwons). [1]

Fear of Failure: With the economy dominated by massive conglomerates (chaebols) that only recruit from top-tier universities, parents view academic excellence as the only reliable path to social mobility and financial security. [1, 2]
Financial Burden: South Korea is statistically the most expensive country in the world to raise a child, largely due to the 26 trillion won ($20 billion USD) private education industry. This constant financial and academic pressure directly contributes to low birth rates and high national stress levels. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The Collapse of School Trust

Erosion of Authority: Driven by deep anxiety over their children's futures, some parents fiercely and aggressively intervene in public education. Teachers often face unrealistic demands, malicious complaints, and unfair child-abuse investigations for enforcing basic classroom rules. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Teacher Mental Health: The breakdown in trust has created a severe teacher burnout and mental health crisis, culminating in highly publicized teacher walkouts and strikes demanding legal protection.[1, 2]

The Impact on Students

Severe Youth Burnout: Students attend formal school and spend countless additional hours at hagwons, leading to chronic fatigue, depression, and a loss of childhood. []
Youth Mental Health Crisis: The extreme pressure to out-compete peers directly contributes to South Korea having one of the highest youth suicide and mental health crisis rates among OECD countries. [1]

And it's worse than that:  school bullying, drug-taking to score better on exams and the following:

The hyper-competitive nature of the Korean education system drives some parents to extreme, often illegal measures to give their children an edge in university admissions. High-profile scandals regularly emerge where wealthy parents pay high "star lecturers" massive sums for illicit questions, or parents who are school administrators manipulate security systems to steal test papers in advance. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

All that drew the interest of Korean film companies.

• For example, just on bullying:
• Top 10 school bullying Korean dramas on Netflix.
• 10 Korean dramas just on high school bullying, all released in 2024 and 2025, which means there are others that were made this year.
• If you were running the country, you would be tempted to work with Korean drama-producing organizations to address this problem.  

• 
  Teach You a Lesson, released by Netflix on 5June2026, might not have had that stimulus, but certainly hit a nerve.  Ten episodes, each from 60-72 minutes long.  Rotten Tomatoes scores, 90/95.  So engrossing that it took me only three nights in a row to complete the series. 
• Read this Wikipedia entry.
• The series has achieved significant commercial success both domestically and internationally, holding the No. 1 position on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English TV Shows list for two consecutive weeks.^[21] 

• 
  In second week, ranked among Netflix's Top 10 series in more than 90 countries and reached No. 1 in 46 countries worldwide, becoming the platform's most-watched series globally that week with 21.1 million views.^[22] It remained at No. 1 on Netflix's Non-English TV rankings for four consecutive weeks, accumulating more than 490 million hours viewed and becoming the fifth most-watched Korean Netflix original series of all time, surpassing The Glory.^[23]  
• And guess what was the driving force behind The Glory?  School bullying.

South Korean students do very well compared to most countries, including the USA, on international test scores.  So what's the problem with their educational system?  Almost everything!  They recognize this, and are taking steps to get better.

This book to the left has nothing to do with South Korea.  I like the Imagine Doing Better title.

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