The All-Work No-Play Culture Summary

In “The All-Work, No-Play Culture Of South Korean Education,” Elise Hu discusses the high stress South Korean high school students are under. The Korean educational system causes such high stress because the students’ lives surround school, from school ending at 4 p.m. to study halls and cram schools until 11 p.m. The students study so rigorously because the focus on getting good grades is a make it or break it situation; they study to get into top universities and the competition is fierce. The stress for students is so high because for them “The chances of getting into a really top school are the chances of you getting hit by lightning” (Han qtd. In Hu, “All-Work”). For teenagers in South Korea, the leading cause of death is suicide due