The Role of Education in Economic Development—The Korean Experience

Abstract

The Korean educational sector has been expanded enormously due to the unusually strong parents’ drive to see their children better educated. The quantitative expansion has reduced the illiteracy rate of the country and upgraded the general level of educational achievements. Thus, education must have contributed to the democratization of the nation as well as to the improvement of the quality of the labor force. Various interest groups have emerged and strengthened their activities and influence. As an example, with improved education of the labor force the workers now demand higher wages parallel to productivity increases. On the other hand, the quality of education does not seem to have matched quantitative improvements and various arguments pertaining to the educational contents, teaching methods and techniques, entrance exam practices—especially the screening methods at various stages of education—are still hotly debated and have yet to be resolved.

This is the revised version of a paper prepared for the Development Exchange Program in Economic Planning and Development, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Institute of Economic Research at Hanyang University, Seoul, June–July 1987.