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Tuesday, April 30, 2002
There has been a plethora of criticism over Asia's education system, including Korea. Indeed, there is plenty to criticise. For starters, there are the poor pedagogical methods based on rote learning, excessive subjects, six day weeks and long hours in after school institutions. The consequences of such a system include stress, poor health, suicide and the rising occurrence of murder. Government is proposing to reform the system but the crux of the problem lies in the underlying values that created the system. Change is urgent but depending on government is futile; the agents of change are todays youth who go overseas to study. Where once US was the destination of choice, the high cost and difficulty of getting into the US is causing Korean's to look further a field to gain their overseas study experience. Australia's number one source of foreign students is Korea, while Canada and New Zealand also receive a large supply of Korean students every year. UK too is getting in on the act with the University of Manchester, University of Nottingham and University of Warwick opening a joint office in Seoul this week aimed at enticing Korean students to their respective ivory towers. As Korean's fan out into the greater world and gain more diverse experiences, particularly in education they will come to understand more clearly how they want education in their own country to develop. The implication being that students spending time in a foreign country will not only gain from the experience but the next generation in turn can benefit from the lessons of their parents. The public can then demand an education system based on their first hand experience and knowledge of education systems throughout the world.
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Thursday, April 25, 2002
Take a wild ride on the Korea stock market - if you dare. The best performing stock market in Asia plummeted by 43.11 to 872.58 after recently hitting a 24 month high just earlier this week. After spending some time vacillating around the 900 mark today's drop, if it persists could end up making smug economists who have been lauding the Korean stock market for most of this year swallow their words. But somehow, I don't think that will be the case. There are good reasons for thinking Korea is a good destination for investment. Despite today's slump it still remains one of the most vibrant markets in Korea. The Korean economy is one of the most buoyant with growth expectations for the year around 4-5%. Yet, perhaps the most compelling reason for thinking Korea is a good place to invest is the recent boom in consumerism. The stunning growth in the credit card business is underlies an economy that is evolving into a more sophisticated market. Where once the economy relied almost exclusively on exports of heavy and chemical industries, Korea now boasts a more diversified portfolio and a strong domestic consumer market. Indeed, my favourite most recent article about the Korean stock market goes to the Washington Post not only because it was so optimistic about Korea's stock market but it also quoted from well known scholar and President of KIEP, Professor Ahn, Choong Young, from an article he wrote and I edited! How cool is that!? There were my corrections...in the Washington Post!! Of course, the article itself was good too. However, today's stock market slide is a timely reminder that the Korean economy is very much part of the global economy and still vulnerable to the ups and downs of the US markets and world trends. Monday, April 22, 2002
Those wonderful people at Stanford have allowed me to defer my studies. Of course this means that I will be spending yet another year in Korea to work and save. Please send money. The UK Budget for 2002 came out last week. The major objectives being stability and employment to promote enterprise and fairness. Already the critics are attacking Gordon Brown and the government for producing a budget that in fact will do no such thing as promote enterprise. I'd have to say that I agree with this. A tax system doesn't really ring as being an innovative or new idea to fostering a cultural mindset of risk taking in business. The interesting thing though, is the idea of mixing an enterprise culture with a basis of welfare to support those on the wrong side of the digital divide in a knowledge economy. The idea sounds simple and indeed, is also a crucial issue facing Korea these days. Just how the UK manages this budget to achieve its objectives could have key implications on economies such as Korea, which is also striving to create an entrepreneurial spirit in tandem with a strong social safety net. Monday, April 15, 2002
Ambition to leave Korea - the setback As the blurb (see left) indicates, it is my current ambition to leave Korea. Actually, my ambition is to be a Korean specialist and to do so I believe the next step for me is further study. I applied and was offered places at Stanford and Columbia to do Asian/International postgraduate studies. Yay!! But I just found out that my last hope for financial assitance was rejected. Now what will I do? This question has been spinning around in my head for two days. I thought of trying to defer but according to my calculations another year of rigid saving on my meager income would be insufficient to earn as much as I would have gotten from the scholarship. I could spend the year saving and re-applying for scholarships and then re-apply to the universities but .....I'll need to think about that one, its a big ask. Its already been eighteen months since I embarked on this endeavour and another year more with no guarantee of success.....its a big ask. But if I don't go after my dream...what will I do with my life? Saturday, April 13, 2002
Is soju the soul of Seoul? The article in FT by (much respected) Andrew Ward concerning Korea’s A1 soju company Jinro is not the class journalism I expect from Mr. Ward. The quote from Mr. Jun that “It would have been impossible to close Jinro down [because] the Korean people would not have allowed it,” is an obviously bias comment from an employee of the company. As long as soju remains on sale at bargain basement prices, I doubt that many would care who actually owns Jinro. After all, it sold its beer unit to Coors back in 1992 but Cass remains. Further, the suggestion that soju is “tasteless” makes me think Mr. Ward has never tried soju or perhaps the kimchi has rendered his tastebuds useless (it’s been known to happen). But the best part of the article was saved for last when the potential of sales during World Cup is brought up. A whole article could be devoted to the impact of a soju campaign for World Cup. I can’t wait to see a soccer hooligan hyped and juiced up on too much soju storming down the streets of Seoul. Let the Games begin!! Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Set up the link to my workplace website...phew! Now that I worked out how to set the links (don't ask how long that one took me) I'll set myself to devising a comprehensive but not excessive list of websites relelvant to the ambition of the page. The next step will be to set links inside my blog text and also to allow for comments. Onwards and upwards. Tuesday, April 09, 2002
Messing around in the template section has only served to emphasise the depth of my ignorance about computers. No matter. I shall devote more time to this again later and see if I can't make piecemeal improvements to this site in due course. Eventually I may even get around to posting interesting stuff that someone, other than myself, might actually want to read. From here the only way is up. Monday, April 08, 2002
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