[Opinion] English Divide

Filipinos in the United States are one of the most successful Asian immigrant groups. The annual average income of a Philippine immigrant family in 2004 was second among Asian Americans at $65,700, behind that of Indian immigrant households at $68,000. Korean immigrants, however, made much less than that with an average of $43,100, lower than the average Asian immigrant family income of $56,000. In addition, only 6.7 percent of economically active Koreans living in the United States worked in the public sector, while the figure was 13.9 percent for Filipinos and 13 percent for Indians. A number of factors stood behind the relative success of Filipinos and Indians in adapting to American life, but one key contributor was their fluency in English.

With the spiraling speed of globalization, the “English divide” is even more critical for Koreans. Finland is another example of a country that joined the ranks of advanced nations by excelling in English education. The Finnish language is categorized as Ural-Altaic, like Korean. Only 20 years ago, Finns had just as much difficulty learning English as Koreans do now. After strengthening public English education and replacing a significant part of its broadcast programming with English programs, however, the Finns are now one of the most English-fluent people on earth among non-native speakers of the language.

Around a quarter of the global population, or 1.5 billion people, can communicate in English. That figure is predicted to rise to a third. The Internet has been the driving force behind the rise of English as the lingua franca of the world. Within Korea, those who have a good command of English have more opportunities to get better jobs. Future generations will be even more obsessed with English.

The incoming administration is energetically pursuing a sweeping reform in English education, proposing that certain high school classes to be taught in English. Certain forces in the Education Ministry are objecting to the move, citing “unpreparedness.” Delay in English education reform, however, will take a bigger toll on low-income families. Those who can afford it are sparing no investment in English education for their children. The administration and the educational sector should share the principle of holding the public sector responsible for English education and advance reform to this end as much as possible.

Editorial writer Hong Chan-sik, chansik@donga.com