Parents Are Same Everywhere
Posted : December 28, 2006 at 9:51 pm [IST]
Parents are worried lot in every country. Right from the day they get the baby, the worries start. What will he be? How can he be made Einstein or Narayana Murthy? The traditional school systems fail to attain what they wish regarding the performance of their children. They themselves are too busy in office or kitty parties to look after the children. Naturally they opt for additional assistance from talented individuals or reputed institutions to coach the children and bring them up to face the competition in higher education system for ensured top class career.
Here is the story of South Korea. There are some 28,000 “cram schools” in Korea to help students to get ahead in everything from physics to French. Koreans, just as in India, will do everything to make sure that their kids get into a top university. A degree from a leading school in Korea isn’t just the key to a good job–it’s a prerequisite for finding the right spouse and establishing high-powered connections that can last a lifetime. In India, it is key for getting good dowry even after all legislation against it.
The cramming industry is worth some $15 billion annually in Korea. The best schools charge upwards of $1,000 a month per subject. Parents spend about half of the income on after-school cramming for kids.
And the cram schools are going on line. Megastudy is one such cram school company in Korea, offering videotaped lectures online. Today its Web site lists 2,000 courses such as “Super-fast skimming of English grammar” and “200 classical poems in 10 days.” Prices for lectures, which can be viewed on PCs or portable video players, range from $13 to $120. Megastudy’s online sales will likely jump 40% this year, to $65 million. The company has overall revenue of $107 million.
E-learning and e-teaching will be the route that most of the students will follow very soon even in our country. Some enterprise such as Megastudy will soon come up. The system can sign up the best and popular teachers by offering a good cut on the sales of the video or on the revenue. In Korea, a deal earned one English teacher $2 million last year. And it can happen in India too. Perhaps some of the Indian teachers may go smart and become successful entrepreneurs too in this online education as some are already in face-to-face coaching business. Students will have the flexibility to access the lectures of the best teachers at the time most suitable for them.
In time to come, the main medium of learning will be the on-lineone. But will it eliminate or require to be complemented by face-to-face instruction? Let the time decide that.
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- Indra
Category: Employment/Education |
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