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U.S. Turns to South Korea for Tips on Producing More Engineers
By Catherine Groux
Posted July 19, 2012 11:55 AM
The U.S. is turning to Korea for tips on producing more engineers.In recent years, various studies have emerged suggesting that the U.S. has lost its position as the most highly educated nation in the world. According to a 2011 report by the College Board, about 41.6% of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 hold at least an associate's degree. This puts the U.S. behind nations like Korea, where about 5.7% percent of the young population has a college degree.
South Korea Producing More Engineers
Not only does Korea produce more college graduates than the U.S., but it also trains far more engineering majors. According to The Washington Post, about one in 20 American students opt to earn a degree in engineering, compared to one in four South Korean degree seekers.
This shortfall in engineering degree holders is significant for the U.S., as the nation is currently not producing enough science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) professionals. A 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce indicates that in the past decade, STEM careers grew nearly three times faster than non-STEM jobs, and this growth will only continue in the next 10 years. This means that producing not only college graduates, but STEM majors in particular, will continue to be important for the United States' future economic development.
Emulating Korea's Strategies for Success
While South Korea currently boasts one of the most highly educated populations in the world, the nation's academic landscape only began to improve in the past few decades. At this time, Korea decided to adopt rigorous national standards, meaning students across the country learn the exact same concepts, regardless of where they live.
Ensuring that every child in Korea receives the same strong secondary education led to a massive explosion in the number of youths who decided to attend high school after graduation. Between 1980 and 2008, the number of Korean students who decided to enroll in college rose from 647,500 to 3.6 million, the Post reports. Today, more than 80% of young Koreans choose to pursue postsecondary education after high school.
Emulating this strategy, the U.S. is now in the process of implementing the Common Core State Standards, a national curriculum that ensures all American children are learning the same mathematics and English language arts topics. Just as national standards helped South Korea, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hopes the Common Core will increase the nation's college graduation rates.
"We want to raise the bar dramatically in terms of higher standards," Duncan said during a 2009 speech. "...We have 50 different standards, 50 different goal posts. And, due to political pressure, those have been dumbed down. We want to fundamentally reverse that."
