Why Do Korean Students Study So Much? (It Starts at Age 4)

Why do Korean students study so much? The race doesn't start in high school. It starts at four. In Seoul, some "English kindergartens" made 4-year-olds pass an entrance exam, and at one info session, staff asked which parents had an IQ over 140. On October 1st, 2026, Korea made these tests illegal. So why didn't the exam go away? To answer that, we follow the race all the way to the finish line: one college entrance exam at eighteen. When did the race start where you grew up? Tell me in the comments. 00:00 An IQ question for parents 00:58 Not a kindergarten 02:07 The entrance exam 03:10 Testing the parents 03:39 Why parents still pay 04:33 The finish line at 18 05:58 Does starting early pay off? 06:38 Korea bans the test 07:29 The loophole 08:16 The real test News clips used for commentary and criticism (audio removed): KBS, SBS, MBC, JTBC, YTN, EBS, MBN, Yonhap News TV, Channel A. Sources include: Korea Ministry of Education (2023, 2025, 2026), Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (2,150-child study), Bank of Korea Issue Note 2024-26, Statistics Korea private education survey (2026), UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 19 (2025), Kim, Tertilt & Yum, American Economic Review (2024), National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Seoul Economic Daily, Seoul Shinmun, Hankook Ilbo, Metro Seoul, The Korea Times / Yonhap. Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Seoul National University gate by H. Y. Shin 000 (CC0); Samseong-dong skyline and Teheran-ro by S h y numis (CC BY-SA 4.0); National Assembly chamber by Dmthoth (CC BY-SA 3.0); National Assembly building by Cjb8293 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Daechi-dong at night by 임도빈 (CC BY-SA 4.0); exam-day photos by Republic of Korea / Korea.net (CC BY-SA 2.0); 2016 exam-day photo by KBS View (CC BY 3.0); exam classroom, kindergarten playground and test pen by 고려 (CC BY 4.0); Sangdong academy street by Kimhs5400 (CC BY 4.0); diaper by Ip19216811 (CC BY-SA 4.0); envelope by Dietmar Rabich (CC BY-SA 4.0); score report by Happy700 (CC BY-SA 4.0); alarm clock by Jacek Halicki (CC BY-SA 4.0); pencils and eraser by Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0); stopwatch by Al Riaz Uddin (CC BY-SA 4.0); old textbooks by Ca (CC BY-SA 4.0); backpack by Fructibus, colored pencils by Salvatore Ventura, police car by ProjectManhattan (CC0); crayons (public domain); Korean banknote images © Bank of Korea. Music: "Investigations" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0 Emoji: Noto Emoji by Google, Apache License 2.0 Some scenes are AI-generated illustrations. Children's and private individuals' faces are blurred. #korea #koreaneducation #southkorea