How the Korean School Year Works

As I stated in my previous post, I have recently started a new school year here at Danyang High School.  And so, at the request of my mother, I have decided to explain how exactly the school year works here, with a little bit of Korean school culture thrown in.

School in Korea begins in March.  This year it began on March 4.  We will continue to go to school until July 17, when summer vacation begins.  We then have a break until August 20, when the second half of the school year starts.  The second half of the year goes until January 2, when supplementary classes begin.  From February 4 to February 13 we go to school again and then winter break begins and lasts until the end of February, when school starts again in March.

All of this sounds fairly simple.  Start in March, go until mid-July, take a month break, go until February, take a two week break, start it all again.

Except it's not that simple.  You maybe have noticed the "supplementary classes" part.  For the entire month of January students don't have to be in school but they have the option of take extra classes in order to be academic powerhouses.  And almost every student does it.  I have yet to encounter the summer months but I am about 99% certain that the same thing happens during that break.  So in reality, Korean students almost never get a break from school.  At least not a months long break full of sunshine and baseball and horrible family vacations.  That's only for the American kids.  The teachers also don't get a vacation, obviously.  If the kids are here, the teachers are here.

So when does everyone go on vacation?  Most teachers don't teach every single day in January.  The might teach for only two or three weeks and then take those leftover weeks to have a short vacation.  Easy enough.  But still not super fun.  The reality is that school is a big deal in Korea and the whole country is committed to it.  So I highly doubt that Korean schools are going to be getting more vacation any time soon.

Does all of this make sense?  Questions about it?  What else do you want to know?  School culture has a lot of parts and I'm not exactly sure what you, my dear readers, want to hear about so let me know in the comments!