Most parents in Korea seem to think that the importance of early childhood education cannot be stressed enough. Three out of four households spend money on private education for infants with some spending huge sums of money on English kindergartens so that their children can acquire “native speaker quality” English skills.

Cho Un-sook, who heads the early education program at YBM Education, agreed that the pre-school sector is the most important part of childhood education.

She said, however, education for young children should be more than just memorizing English words or solving math problems. Rather it should focus more on teaching children how to share with others.

“To be a good leader, children must learn to care for others. They must learn to take responsibility,” said the 58-year-old Cho, who heads the Pine Academy Division at YBM. “In my opinion, the most successful people are the most giving ones.”

She said the goal of teaching children to share and care for others was the driving force behind the “Learn to Share” program that launched in 2007. The annual campaign is centered on teaching children the value of giving to those in need.

According to Cho, the project starts with teaching children the meaning of sharing. The institute then conducts charity bazaars and pledge drives to raise funds, which is used to help people around Korea and other countries.

Cho said such activities help children acquire the habit of helping those in need. She shared a story of a 7-year-old boy who took part in one of the sharing projects in China.

“As part of our program, we had children interact with each other and give out candy necklaces to local children. Eventually we ran out of necklaces, and the boy started crying because he couldn’t give more,” Cho said. “That scene moved my heart. That was when I felt most proud of our program.

Despite being the fourth largest economy in Asia, Koreans fall short when it comes to helaing the needy.

According to the World Giving Index by the Charities Aid Foundation, Korea was the 81st most generous country in the world. The WGI compiles data from 153 countries in the world and considers factors such as the percentage of the population that gives money, time spent helping others and the percentage of people helping strangers.

A survey by a research firm Trend Monitor found that 86.6 percent of Koreans thought the culture of donation in the country is low. More than 55 percent of people said the lack of participation from the rich and powerful is the main reason why Koreans seldom help others.

Cho said that teaching children to share is the most essential element for early education, perhaps even more so than English.

“Even though we are an English education institute, we hope to run a program that develops children into well-rounded people,” said Cho. “Since our programs are conducted in English, the communicative abilities would be obtained naturally,

Cho stressed the importance of parents’ role in teaching their children how to share. She said since parents are the ones children look up to and imitate, their role is key to determining what kind of person a child grows into.

“The parents are the ones actually raising the children. We just provide the program,” Cho said.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp,com)