Ability Without Confidence or Enthusiasm?

There's a long-standing stereotype regarding the hard-working but tired, over-stressed Korean student.  According to a test of elementary school students in the country, it's partly true:

"Yet despite Korean students’ high average scores, their level of confidence and interest in their studies were among the lowest in the world.  

Fourth graders’ confidence level in mathematics and science came in second-to-last place, at 57th out of 58 countries, with Filipino students coming in last.  

Only 15 percent of Korean fourth graders answered that they are 'very' confident in mathematics, compared to the global average of 32 percent. Likewise, they also had a very low level of interest in the subjects, placing 57th out of 58 countries in mathematics and 53rd in science."

There's a lot to unpack here, but my first thought is that separating "ability" and "confidence" is probably easier with more objective subjects like math and science.  In the context of English learning, a student who never speaks up is unlikely to improve.  It's possible of course, and that they could excel on written testing.

At the very least, expressions like "lifelong learning" and "love of learning" are not things I hear too much teaching college-level students in Korea, but which were pretty common back in America.  (And frankly  they were often mere boilerplate / lip-service much of the time.)