As we write, South Korean high school students are taking the mother of all exams. Literally, their future rides on the results of this national college entrance examination. These kids -- and indeed their families -- have been preparing for this exam for years.
Parents have been known to engage in incessant prayer vigils as their children sit for the national exam. Airlines have been directed not to fly their planes during the listening portion of the exam, and there's a cottage industry selling goodies as well as good-luck charms to the examinees and their anxious family members.
Contrast this intensity with the cavalier attitude of the Americans toward the SAT exam, and we see why the USA is rapidly devolving into Argentina...
