Word: koreanizing
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...Highlander, Honda's Pilot and Mazda's CX9. The 2010 Equinox has a better, functional interior, more power and significantly better ride and handling than the old version, but it is an open question whether the improvements are enough to motivate motorists to trade in their Japanese or Korean models, which still dominate this segment...
...despite its excesses, the CSAT is compellingly meritocratic. Rich students and poor students alike get to compete for the same lucrative prize and are judged by the same measure. The best example of this is the South Korean president, Lee Myung-Bak. Lee grew up as the penniless son of an agricultural laborer but he aced the CSAT, got into Korea University, and was vaulted into a sphere of job opportunities completely beyond the reach of his father. Sure, wealthy students have access to more personal tutoring and highly rated cram schools, but with hard academic work, every Korean...
...highly stratified culture, this promise is a powerful one. When I ask my Korean friends what they think of students who go to Seoul National or Yonsei, their first reaction is, “They must work really hard.” In contrast, when a Harvard student drops the H-bomb, often the first reaction is, “Wow, you must be really smart.” Since Korean college admission is based entirely on a test score, it is widely acknowledged that no matter how naturally intelligent you are, if you don’t study intensively...
...dark side of this unequivocal faith in hard work is that people who don’t succeed academically take this failure very personally. In America it’s comforting and often valid to write off disappointing admissions results as bad luck or unfortunate circumstances. Korean students blame themselves. It is common for those who don’t get the score they want on the CSAT to take a year off to study and then re-take the exam. If they fail again, it’s even more heartbreaking...
...harsh as it sounds, the equalizing nature of the entrance exam—which reflects the value Korean society places on hard work—makes the CSAT well worth the stress and heartbreak it visits on thousands of students each year. Sure, the thought of having your college admission and social cache based on a day of testing is terrifying for everyone already in the upper echelons of society. But, for those at the bottom, it’s a uniquely Korean opportunity that’s missing in so many other countries...