such high schools as difficult as entering top universities. The Korean government has tried to crack down on such damaging study habits in order to allow a more balanced system, mostly by fining many privately run specialty study institutes (hakwon) for running classes as late as 12am. To solve this problem, the Korean government made a law that bans hakwons from running classes after 10:00 PM, which is often not conformed to. The standard government-issued school curriculum is often noted as rigorous, with as many as 16 or so subjects. Most students choose to also attend hakwon to boost their academic performance. Core subjects include Korean, English and mathematics, with adequate emphasis on social and physical science subjects. Students do not typically ask questions in the classroom, but prefer to memorize details. As memorization is an out-dated and ineffective means of true mastery of a subject, compared against contemporary education standards focusing on global comprehension, application, and critical thinking, the vast majority of South Korean students transferring to a modernized education system of a highly developed country almost exclusively are found to be far behind their peers with poor ability for independent determination or complete concept understanding and synthesis . World-wide South Korean graduates are some of the least sought for Western university recruitment or career recruitment as they consistently fail to demonstrate logical and critical thinking and application skills. It is critical to note that the type and level of subjects may differ from school to school, depending on the degree of selectivity and specialization of the school . Specialty, optional, expensive, study schools help students memorize questions and answers from previous years' CSAT tests and universities' interview questions. High school is not mandatory, unlike middle school education in Korea. However, according to a 2005 study of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, some 97% of South Korea's young adults do complete high school. This was the highest percentage recorded in any country. However, this is mainly due to the fact that there is no such thing as a failing grade in Korea, and most graduate as long as they attend school a certain number of days. This system of graduation solely based on attendance further devalues a South Korean student when being evaluated for university admission in Western countries, especially as many are phasing out entrance examinations. South Korean views on high-school selection and perceived