Min Jin Lee’s new novel American Hagwon is her first in nearly a decade. ‘Hagwon’ is the Korean term for private tutoring centers. It’s the third installment of a four-part series on the Korean diaspora. Her previous, Pachinko, was a finalist for a National Book Award. In American Hagwon, Lee is taking on the promise and perils for Koreans who pursue a Western education. “I think education is a really beautiful thing,” she tells guest interviewer Aarti Shahani. “But I think we now really have to ask: Why do we get it and what do we want from it?” She’ll also reflect on surviving what she was told was a terminal diagnosis.   Critic-at-large John Powers reviews the new British comedy series Small Prophets.  Subscribe to our free weekly <a href="https://support.whyy.org/page/39306/subscribe/1"target="_blank" >newsletter</a> Follow us on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nprfreshair/"target="_blank" >Instagram</a> Subscribe to our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thisisfreshair"target="_blank" >YouTube channel</a> Check out the <a href="https://freshairarchive.org/"target="_blank" >Fresh Air Archives</a> See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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Novelist Min Jin Lee on the promise and perils of Western education

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