elitism of certain schools are contrary to most Western educational systems which rigorously focus on academics, but also place a high value on diversity of the student body in a variety of aspects to maximize student exposure to differing perspectives and experiences while achieving sophisticated understanding and socialization. As it stands, the Korean secondary system of education is highly successful at preparing students for teacher-centric education, in which teachers directly communicate information to students. However, this does not hold true for classroom environments where students are expected to take on self-reliant roles wherein, for the most part, active and creative personalities seem to lead to success. Similarly, scientific studies continue to demonstrate that rote memorization, as is central in South Korean education, is not indicative of intelligence and is of deeply declining value in the Information Age. It is becoming increasingly evident that active student use of the English language in Korean high schools is necessary to enter top universities in Korea, as well as abroad. Vocational South Korea had a strong vocational education system that shattered due to the Korean War and the economic collapse following the war. The vocational education system was thereafter rebuilt. For students not desiring to enter university, vocational high schools specializing in fields such as technology, agriculture, or finance are available. Around 20 percent of high school students are in vocational high schools. In vocational high schools, students split their time equally between general courses and vocational courses. General education teaches academic core courses such as Korean, mathematics, science, and social studies while vocational training offers courses related to agriculture, technology, industry, commerce, home economics, fishing, and oceanography. Agriculture, fishery, and oceanography high schools have been set up in rural areas and harbor cities to combat the shortage of labor due to urban sprawl. Agricultural high schools focus on scientific farming and are designed to produce skilled experts in agriculture while fishery and oceanography high schools utilize maritime resource to focus on navigation technology. Since the 1980s, vocational high schools have offered training in various fields to create a labor force that can adjust to the changes across South Korean industry and society. Due to needs of manpower across the heavy and chemical industries in the 1970s, the need for vocational education was crucial. By the 1980s, due to the great changes in technology, the objective of vocational education shifted to create a supply