Editing Korea (section)

===Education===
{{Main|Education in South Korea|Education in North Korea}}
The modern South Korean school system consists of six years in elementary school, three years in middle school, and three years in high school. Students are required to go to elementary and middle school, and do not have to pay for their education, except for a small fee called a "School Operation Support Fee" that differs from school to school. The [[Programme for International Student Assessment]], coordinated by the [[OECD]], ranks South Korea's science education as the third best in the world and being significantly higher than the OECD average.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf | title = Data | publisher = OECD | access-date = 21 May 2012 | archive-date = 29 December 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091229020307/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

Although South Korean students often rank high on international comparative assessments, the education system is criticised for emphasising too much upon passive learning and memorisation. The South Korean education system is rather notably strict and structured <!-- This wording implies Western education systems are unstructured.--> as compared to its counterparts in most Western societies.

The North Korean education system consists primarily of [[state school|universal and state funded]] schooling by the [[Politics of North Korea|government]]. The national literacy rate for citizens 15 years of age and above is over 99 per cent.<ref name="loc-nk">[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf Library of Congress country study], see p. 7 for Education and Literacy ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728090717/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf |date=28 July 2012 }})</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx|title=UIS Statistics|last=UIS|access-date=5 October 2016|archive-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716104117/http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> Children go through one year of kindergarten, four years of [[primary education]], six years of [[secondary education]], and then on to [[University|universities]]. The most prestigious university in the DPRK is [[Kim Il Sung University]]. Other notable universities include [[Kim Chaek University of Technology]], which focuses on computer science, [[Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies]], which trains working level diplomats and trade officials, and [[Kim Hyong Jik University of Education]], which trains teachers.