Understanding the Importance of English Education in South Korea and Exploring the Reasons Why South Korean Students Come to a University in the Midwest

Why South Korean Students Attend American colleges. 
Economic power of the United States.  Through the foreign point of view of the 
economic situation of the United States, the United States may have the strongest and 

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most powerful economic status compared to any other countries.  The following 
information proves how the American economy is powerful around the world.   
First, examining the percentage of the world economy is a good way to discover 
how influential the American economy is.  According to Ahearn (2011), “The United 
States remains the largest economy in the world, although its share dropped nine 
percentage points, from 33% of the world economy between 1960 and 1972 to 24% in 
2008-2009” (p. 3).  So, what the GDP, the economic situation for each country, means is 
that “[GDP] has become widely used as a reference point for the health of national and 
global economies” (Callen, 2012, para. 3).  Moreover, the gross domestic product (GDP) 
shows that the United States was the second highest ranked nation after the European 
Union in 2012 (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.).  However, the European Union is not 
one nation, so the United States is the most powerful economic country around the world.   
Second, as described above, there are four popular English-speaking destinations 
for international students: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.  
Looking at the GDP per capita of these four countries shows these countries’ purchasing 
power and predicts the economic circumstances whether they are positive or negative. 
The GDP per capita of the United States was $49,800 in 2012, compared with the GDP 
per capita in the United Kingdom (approximately $36,700), the GDP per capita in 
Australia (approximately $42,400), and the GDP per capita in Canada ($41,500) (Central 
Intelligence Agency, n.d.).  Therefore, based on the above statistics, it shows that the 
American economic GDP per capita is the highest in the four English-speaking countries.  
In other words, Korean students may want to come to the United States because they may 

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have a dream to have a job and make about $49,000 or above if they graduate from U.S. 
colleges and universities. 
Third, people generally know about some conglomerated companies, such as 
Apple, Coca-Cola, GE, Google, and McDonald’s.  These companies are representative of 
America because their products and services are very popular and distributed around the 
world.  Furthermore, the above companies are listed on the Fortune 500.  Stangler and 
Arbesman stated, “Every spring since 1955, Fortune magazine has published a list of the 
largest public companies, by revenues, in the United States” (2012, p. 3).  Interestingly, 
the headquarters of 132 companies, including Apple, Coca-Cola, GE, Google, and 
McDonald’s, are established in the United States (CNN Money, 2012).  In other words, 
this figure shows that one single country, America, has generated enormous revenues 
through powerful and rich companies like the American Fortune 500 companies. 
According to the Partnership for a New American Economy (2011), “the Fortune 
500 companies generated revenues equivalent to 73 percent of GDP [in the United States]” 
(p. 5).  It is also noted that: “We must give existing American companies access to hire 
and keep the highly skilled workers from around the world. And we must stem the loss of 
highly skilled foreign students trained in [American] universities” (Partnership for a New 
American Economy, 2012, pp. 5 & 27).  Taking into consideration the above statements, 
the American Fortune 500 companies definitely help the United States become a world 
economic leader and open the door for international students to come to the United States. 
Especially, these reasons may bring Korean students to American colleges and 
universities. 

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