Education in Korea

I was delighted to find this poster advertising English classes for highschool students at a hagwon (English institute) on my way to university yesterday.
It sums up so well the mentality of the education system here: spoonfeed, passively listen, absorb, memorize by heart, regurgitate on a multiple exam paper, get a CSAT score high enough to enter a SKY university (Seoul/Koryo/Yonsei), do more of the same for a further four years to get a TOEIC score high enough to enter one of the top companies such as Samsung or POSCO.
Creative thinking and using a foreign language in a meaningful, active way? Unneccesary and a waste of time when the order of the day is amassing loads of info to help in selecting A, B, C or D. No wonder many of my students hate English by the time they enter university as freshmen. It seems to play the role of gatekeeper rather than act as a means of giving them access to a fascinating world outside the confines of the Hermit Kingdom.