Korea may only the industrialized country in the world where college seniors haven’t had to attend classes or take tests. Students didn’t have enough time to attend classes because they were too busy cramming for company entrance exams.
So Korean students actually received 4-year college degrees while attending classes for only about 3 years. Besides robbing students of the chance to receive a quality education, this system also trained people to expect rewards for doing nothing.The Korean educational system created students who were masters of finding ways of getting out of attending classes.
In a typical semester, students could be out of class for a variety of reasons: festivals, preparing for the festivals, class trips, or to take part in extracurricular activities. And, of course, just being a senior was enough reason to be absent from the class.
In a 1989 survey comparing Korean college students with those in the U.S., Britain, and Japan, Korea students came in at the bottom in terms of number of study hours outside of class and in the number of books read. While British students spent 6 ½ hours of study per week on one subject in 1989, Korean students spent less than 3 ½ hours of study. Students in the U.S. studied about 5 ½ hours, and Japanese students, about 4 ½ hours.
 Korean students generally don’t read as much as students in the other countries. While the foreign students read an average of 8-9 books relating to their majors per semester, Korean students read only about 2.9 books.
The college entrance exam was partly to blame for the poor study habits of Korean college students. Since so much effort was spent just getting into a college or university, there used to be a feeling that once admitted, the hard part was over. It was almost impossible for a student to flunk out.
But big changes have taken place. The ministry of Education decided in 1995 that the system was unacceptable and  that it was time for a change. Company entrance exams were abolished, meaning that students could spend more time studying their major subjects and forget about cramming to pass company tests.
Now students are required to attend classes all the way up to graduation, and students who don’t produce are flunked out of school. This change is sure to improve the quality of Korean college students in the 21st century. It looks like the “free ride” for Korean college students is a thing of the past.