South Korea's celebrity teachers make a fortune with their on-line classes.


SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (RECENT) REUTERS -
For a teacher who never sees his students and usually instructs them online, South Korean math instructor Woo Hyeong-cheol makes a great deal of money, USD$4 million a year to be exact.
Woo is not affiliated to any institution that is part of the official school system, but the 46-year-old instructor is considered one of the best cram school tutors in education-obsessed South Korea, and his web-based classes are as well known among test-taking teens as top-rated TV dramas.

He has become an education celebrity and commands a salary higher than almost all of the best-paid baseball players in the country's professional league.

He thinks his job is different from school teachers who are more concerned about creating moral people.

"Cram school teachers don't teach how to be morally correct or good. We focus more on getting the students better grades in a short amount of time. That's why we are needed in countries like South Korea or Japan," said Woo.

Woo is among a group of about a dozen instructors raking it in because they are thought to be the best at raising scores.

The bulk of their income comes from online classes that are easily accessible in the world's most-wired country, where more than 90 percent of households can receive high-speed Internet.

South Korean teens are often in the classroom for at least 10 to 12 hours a day, preparing for entrance exams that determine whether they will enter a top university, which in turn can lead to an elite career path and which can even make them a good catch when the time comes to get married.

Last year, about three out of four students received some form of private education after school hours. The money spent on cram schools and tutors hit 20.9 trillion won (USD$16.33 billion), according to the National Statistical Office.

Woo, dubbed "the shovel" for his threats to whack unruly teens with big metal objects, has given up teaching students in a classroom. His main avenue is the Internet, where he posts tutorials that are accessed by about 50,000 paying subscribers.

"He always define himself as a tutor who teaches quantitative and analytical portions, not math. He indeed gives us shortcuts and the best direction to solve problems without being pedantic. I think that's what makes him really different," said 21-year-old Kim Su-gun, who failed a college-entrance exam and has been cramming to try again.

Woo combines straight talk, humour, intimidation and most importantly, highly appreciated guidance on how to find correct answers to the difficult math section of entrance exams.

"He is just like a celebrity. He has a lot of fans, he is revered, and everyone knows him. He even has such nicknames as 'the god of math' or 'the Savior for students who gave up math," said 21-year-old Cho Uk-hyen, who subscribes to Woo's online classes.

Education experts are saying those famous cram schools and tutors are becoming much more popular thanks to digital media.

"Characteristics of digital media, which can be limitlessly copied and transmitted, have made those internet classes conducted by famous cram schools and talented tutors very popular," said Ryu Hangu, a research fellow at Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training.

In her fashionable and colourful outfit, Rose Lee looks more like a university student than what she actually is -- one of the country's highest paid English teachers.

Lee, 35, who calls herself the "Queen of English", asked however to be interviewed in Korean.

"Due to the lack of resources in our country, parents have always felt that education was the best thing they could provide for their children," Lee said through a translator.

Lee is expected to make more than $7 million U.S. dollars a year, mostly through online classes. She also works off-line, which in the cram school trade means teaching students in a classroom.

Lee has not had much time to enjoy her wealth and knows that her fortune can easily change in a world where she is dependent on the approval of fickle-minded teenagers.

Online classes, which are far cheaper than regular cram schools, have become a standard part of the education expenses for parents who also usually send their children to regular cram school and hire private tutors.

Critics say the system is geared towards passing the entrance exams, which means students have few analytical skills. In subjects such as English, students are much better at answering written questions about grammar than speaking the language.