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Obama again praises S. Korea for ‘paying teachers the way they pay doctors’

July 17, 2015

President Barack Obama waves as he arrives to speak at Durant High School in Durant, Okla., Wednesday, July 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

By Brian Han

During U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday regarding a new government initiative to bring high speed internet access to low-income groups, the topic of South Korea’s education system came up.

“In South Korea they pay their teachers the way they pay their doctors,” he said in front of an audience at Durant High School in Durant, Okla. “They consider education to be at the highest wrung of the professions.”

The reason it came up at all had to do with South Korea’s widespread high speed internet access especially in the city’s capital of Seoul.

Obama voiced a similar statement in April when he said that teachers are ”paid at the level that doctors and engineers are paid.”

In fact, he has frequently lauded South Korea’s education system since taking office in 2009.

But the claim drew criticism because there isn’t hard evidence available that supports the idea that pay is equal among the mentioned professions. In fact, the Korean Federation of Teachers Association (KFTA) pointed out that significant salary disparities exist particularly between doctors and teachers. The KFTA later mentioned that the assertion was most likely a “misunderstanding.”

32 Comments

James King

July 17, 2015 at 9:26 PM

Obama is clueless when speaking about Korean education. The teachers aren’t that well paid. A majority of the quality education occurs after school at academies. And any suggestion that this system would work in the US is preposterous. It may work in Korea, but it would never fly in the US.

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- Josh C
  
  July 18, 2015 at 4:25 AM
  
  Lol, yes, you know better than the leader of the free world. lol
- Rob Mcdonald
  
  July 18, 2015 at 7:10 AM
  
  Perhaps that’s all true, but consider the implication of what he is trying to get behind. You increase pay for teachers, you increase a demand, teaching becomes a competitive field, competition drives progression, suddenly we have fantastic teachers who work hard and care about their job. It’s at least worth a try considering lots of teachers at this point are merely babysitters who are paid by the county. The US school system at this point is a joke, and thrives off mediocrity. It’d be good to shake things up
- Ralph Statum
  
  July 18, 2015 at 8:00 AM
  
  O’Bummer is a Stupid Muslim Communist and has destroyed America in his 8 years of Presidency. He Lies Just like Hillary : http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/zeifman.asp
  
  And all Democrats are the worst thing that has happened on this Planet…
- Mars
  
  July 18, 2015 at 3:54 PM
  
  James,
  
  What is the basis of your assertions? Are there facts you can share which support your claims and, moreover, contradict or negate the salary data gathered by the Center on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB)?
  
  Per the NCEE:
  “Teachers are paid well in South Korea. Lower secondary teachers can expect a mid-career salary of $52,699, much higher than the OECD average of $41,701.”
  
  Reference:
  http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/south-korea-teacher-and-principal-quality/
- James King
  
  July 19, 2015 at 8:51 AM
  
  Josh, I’ve lived and worked in Korea for years, and I’ve seen their system. The students attend public classes for 7 hours, then attend 4-6 hours, sometimes more, at private academies. These private schools put a huge financial strain on the families. Do you really think this system would fly in the US? No way.
  
  And the pay issue—research it yourself. Korean teachers make nowhere near what the doctors do.
  
  Don’t let your blind support for Obama also blind you to facts.
Brian Han

July 17, 2015 at 11:39 PM

Well aren’t we just a couple of Brian Hans.

Reply
James King is a Dick

July 17, 2015 at 11:49 PM

People named James King cannot be trusted. They are full of stupidity and lies. Don’t trust them. Especially the idiot commentor above.

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Choi

July 18, 2015 at 1:29 AM

Teachers in korea do get paid fairly well with a number of perks and a giranteed pension plan after retirement. Their job stability is also insane and its hard for a teacher in korea to get fired. So all you commenters that dont know crap should probably do some research first…

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- alientech
  
  July 18, 2015 at 11:02 AM
  
  It’s the same in the US. Unless you think that $70K/yr is peanuts then US teachers are well paid. It’s impossible to fire them as well and they have very strong unions. Besides, it’s not the teachers or their pay that are the problem. It’s the students.
Scott

July 18, 2015 at 1:36 AM

Doctors there also make much less than doctors in America in general. But yes teachers are more respected by society in South Korea and it is a desirable and competitive profession. I lived in Korea for 5 years and worked in an Elementary school. Also, health care is relatively cheap in SK, and outrageously expensive in the US

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Tommy

July 18, 2015 at 1:44 AM

Can you imagine teachers in Chicago or Detroit being paid as much as doctors,lol.

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- Rob Mcdonald
  
  July 18, 2015 at 7:13 AM
  
  I’d imagine that if Chicago did it first, there would be thousands of teachers moving to Chicago to apply for those positions. Anyone lesser qualified would be dumped and Chicago’s school system would improve tremendously. Don’t be an idiot, think critically about this. They’re not just going to suddenly bump everyone’s pay up to six figures. It would be a huge restructuring of the system.
richard

July 18, 2015 at 2:02 AM

rung

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Daniel

July 18, 2015 at 4:07 AM

This is misleading. Yes, teachers in Korea gets paid around the same level as doctors do, but Korean doctors gets far, FAR less salary than those in the US.

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- Josh C
  
  July 18, 2015 at 4:28 AM
  
  keep in mind that the US is made up of money hungry capitalistic monsters..
- Mars
  
  July 18, 2015 at 4:11 PM
  
  This is partly due to the fact South Korea has universal health insurance, which started in July 1977. Also, it’s really a moot point – physician salaries vary greatly country-to-country.(http://www.healthcare-salaries.com/physicians/physician-salary-based-on-geographic-location)
  
  So even if the bais of the article seems misleading it does draw attention to the fact teachers in the US are paid much lower than average compared to other high GDP countries.
  
  Raising teacher pay in the US will draw more interest to the field of teaching, increase competition for higher talent, and ultimately raise the bar of teaching quality in the US.
- James King
  
  July 19, 2015 at 9:12 AM
  
  Josh C–Have you been to Korea? That money hungry capitalistic monster thrives there as well.
Kelly

July 18, 2015 at 4:23 AM

He thinks teachers should be paid a quarter of a million dollars a year? To support that I suppose they would have to go school/train for as long as a doctor? Seems a little over the top to teach 2nd grade but maybe I’m an ignoeant dummy.

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Mars

July 18, 2015 at 3:54 PM

For those looking for more ‘data’:

“Teachers are paid well in South Korea. Lower secondary teachers can expect a mid-career salary of $52,699, much higher than the OECD average of $41,701.”

Reference:
http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/south-korea-teacher-and-principal-quality/

Reply
James King

July 19, 2015 at 9:10 AM

“In Korea, teachers are paid significantly less than doctors, and the public education system is regarded as having lost its role with private education or the ability of the parents to provide private education determining how well a student does.”—from the other Korea Times (Korean edition).

But, sure, US teachers are generally underpaid as the primary providers of education.

Reply
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