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Students receive education as part of Early Bird

“What does architecture mean to you?”

The question was posed to high school students at Osan City Hall in Gyeonggi Province on May 8. “Design,” answered Baek Jin-woo, an 18-year-old second-year student at Unam High School.

“It’s about designing lives and designing buildings, so that other people see me and I can be a model for them to design themselves,” he explained.

Lee Su-min, an 18-year-old second-year student at Seongho High School, said it was her dream to “grow to become an architect of the future.”

The students were attending an architecture convergence class in Early Bird, a career exploration program offered by the city of Osan to general high school students. Baek, who names Japanese architect and “philosopher of architecture” Tadao Ando as his role model, is taking part in the program for a second year.

“I want to design something like Tadao Ando’s futuristic, geometric SAN Museum in Wonju,” he said.

The students’ thoughts about their career choices are deeper and more concrete than those of other high schoolers. How did they come to develop dreams of their own in a South Korean society of intense academic competition, where your one’s trajectory is decided by grades?

Early Bird, which takes its name from the proverb, was launched by Osan in July 2014. Initially, it was called the Mezzanine School. The program, with a name from the Italian word for “connect,” helped general high school students link study with work to quickly find the right career path for them. The first year involved a three-month after-school program, with applications from 40 students in the field of tourism management. The program followed an “industry-government-academic model,” where university professors and experts in the field offered instruction to students who couldn’t decide on a career path, and local businesses offered environments for activities.

For the first year, Osan city government surveyed student satisfaction and commissioned a more specified job education program to provide deeper content. In 2015, the name was changed to Early Bird. For this year - the program’s fourth - the range of choices was broadened to 11 areas, at a cost of 300 million won (US$266 million). Students can choose from infant education, police administration, tourism, IT and machinery, architecture convergence, healthcare, media content, beauty, cooking, practical music, and career consulting.

a career exploration program in Osan

Each course lasts 44 hours a semester, with eight sessions of theory education and four of on-site training. The format was changed from after-school classes early on to Saturday lessons. The enthusiasm from students is palpable on days when classes are held at six Osan high schools that were selected as hub schools for the program.

“Experience is the most important thing when you’re choosing a career, right? Grades are one way of choosing a path. The really important thing is knowing your aptitude,” said Jeong Hyeon-seon, an 18-year-old second-year Segyo High School students who applied for architecture convergence this year.

“I think the Early Bird program really captures the experience you need,” he added.

As it enters its fourth year in 2017, the Early Bird program has had over 1,200 students, including the 376 currently participating. As the effects became apparent, even the Ministry of Education decided to get involved. Since last year, it has been holding nationwide bidding, with the Incheon, Daegu, South Jeolla Province, and Gyeonggi Province Offices of Education taking part. This year, it is set to be expanded to metropolitan and provincial offices of education and local governments nationwide.

Why should a local government like Osan be focusing so much on career exploration programs for high school students, instead of the Ministry of Education or the local offices of education?

Osan’s efforts to “tailor administration to our residents” are everywhere apparent in Early Bird.

Osan is the youngest city in Gyeonggi Province. Its 200,000 residents have an average age of 34.7. It has 47,000 students in all, and education is the residents‘ biggest concern. But apart from one autonomous public high school, the eight high schools in Osan aren’t meeting parents‘ expectations. Four out of ten parents said they had thought about moving to a nearby big city with better education conditions.

In 2014, Osan Mayor Kwak Sang-wook heard about the success story of a local high school principal who had taught baking to six students who had been getting into trouble.

“In more advanced countries, they combine work with study, so that you get a job right away when you finish high school,” Kwak noted. “So what about South Korea’s general high schools? Seventy percent of students give up on their studies and have no goals. They get talked into taking classes and are driven into after-school academies.”

“After hearing about that, I sensed the need to have something tailored to general high school students that would help them make the most of their dreams and talents,” he said.

Since Early Bird, Osan has come out with a number of other educational programs for residents, including the Miri Naeil School. Created in 2015, the school adopts a free-semester system, helping middle schools get the jump on career experiences. The Citizen Participation School, which marks its seventh year in 2017, has student parents serving as outdoor field trip activity instructors for elementary school students. This September sees the opening of the Osan Hundred-Year Citizen University, which has the goal of keeping citizens happy through study until they‘re centenarians. With the local community serving as a place of learning, the education city has become known as a place where “the whole village is a school.”

“Students were happy after Osan created Early Bird because they discovered for the first time what they need in their lives and how to study on their own,” said Park Jeong-im, head of the International Education Research Center at Seoul National University of Science and Technology.

“This example of innovation - of coming out with different educational programs tailored to residents of different age groups and keeping the programs producing results for several years - is something unique to Osan,” Park said.

By Hong Yong-duk, south Gyeonggi correspondent in Osan

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

Students receive education as part of Early Bird, a career exploration program in Osan, Gyeonggi Province.

Student participating in Early Bird, a career exploration program offered by the city of Osan to general high school students, pose for a photo. (provided by Osan City Hall)