Tag: Education

This is definitely a unique event every year in Korea. I cannot imagine Americans every getting this excited about supporting students taking the SAT:

The annual college entrance exam was held nationwide Thursday, concluding with the largest number of applicants in seven years due in part to an unusually high birth rate in 2007.

The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), seen as one of the nation’s most important academic events, began at 1,310 test centers across the country at 8:40 a.m. and ended at 5:45 p.m.

Earlier in the day, test-takers arrived at designated centers amid cheers from their juniors, parents and teachers. Police officers were deployed nationwide to help transport students and, in some cases, bring them their lunch boxes from home. And students residing on small islands had traveled to the mainland beforehand as no test centers were set up on islets.

A total of 554,174 people have applied for this year’s exam, up 31,504, or 6 percent, from last year and the highest figure since 2018, according to the education ministry.

High school seniors and graduates account for 67.1 percent and 28.9 percent of the total, respectively, it said.

Outside a high school in Cheongju, about 110 kilometers south of Seoul, 21-year-old Shin Ju-won, a student at Chungbuk National University, joined a cheering squad.

“We were cheered on when we took the exam, so we want to repay our juniors,” Shin said. “They’re probably very nervous, but I hope they do well.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Now even in South Korea teachers are being treated very poorly and thus leading to less college students wanting to become one:

“Teachers can no longer teach in the way they used to,” Choi said. “They are constantly challenged, monitored, and disrespected. Classrooms have become increasingly difficult environments to manage. Teachers face verbal and even legal confrontations from students and parents.”

Choi’s doubts echo those of many young Koreans. Once considered a prestigious calling, the teaching profession in South Korea is losing both its appeal and its authority.

This erosion of teachers’ authority in classrooms has driven young people away from teaching and dragged down the competitiveness of education universities nationwide.

According to recent data released by Jongro Academy, the admission thresholds for education colleges in the 2025 academic year have plunged to record lows. In some special admission tracks, students with high school grades as low as 7 were accepted. Korean high schools rank students according to a nine-level relative evaluation system. Even in general admission rounds, which typically draw top-performing students, some candidates with GPAs in the 6th-grade range made the cut.

“Seeing a GPA of 6 in general admission is extremely rare and suggests a sharp decline in interest even among mid-performing students,” said Im Sung-ho, head of Jongro Academy.

The drop comes despite a reduction in the admission quota at these institutions, which under normal conditions, would push scores higher. Instead, both early and regular admission scores declined — an indication that fewer students with high GPAs are applying to become teachers.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the disrespect of teachers in Korea is different from the United States. In the U.S. the teachers are treated liked they are overpaid babysitters for many disinterested parents. In Korea the disrespect comes from overinterested parents who get upset if their child didn’t get the grade they think they deserved or if their kids are disciplined in any way. I think I would rather have the Korea problem of overinterested parents instead of the U.S. problem where many parents just don’t care.

This makes me wonder what the quality of the Phd these people who cannot have a job have?:

Three out of 10 people who obtained a Ph.D. last year were unemployed, with the ratio going up to nearly 50 percent for those aged under 30, data showed, Sunday.

The unemployment rate of Ph.D. holders is at an all-time high since Statistics Korea began collecting the data in 2014, highlighting a shortage of quality jobs and the widening impact of the job market downturn on highly educated professionals.

According to the data, 70.4 percent of the 10,442 individuals who obtained a Ph.D. last year said they secured a job. Those who failed to find employment accounted for 26.6 percent, while 3 percent were classified as economically inactive.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I am totally for students keeping their phones in their lockers during the school day:

Korea may soon join a growing list of countries moving to ban mobile phones in classrooms, as the policy idea is gaining increasing support from teachers, parents and politicians here.

According to lawmakers and education administrators on Sunday, Rep. Cho Jung-hun and 10 other lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party are pushing for a countrywide ban on the use of phones and other smart devices in schools to protect the mental health of students.

“Many countries, including the United States and France, are trying to restrict phone use through legislation as social media addiction becomes a serious problem. This is also true in Korea, where 25 percent of children aged between 3 and 9 and 40.1 percent of those aged between 10 and 19 were found to be overly dependent on smartphones,” they said, explaining the reason for proposing the bill. “To protect their mental health, we are proposing to restrict the use of smart devices in schools unless permitted for educational or emergency purposes.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Who would have thought having a bunch of kids in the classroom who don’t speak Korean would lead to stress for the teachers trying to educate them? Yes I am being sarcastic:

More than half of teachers at schools with a high number of immigrant students face challenges communicating with pupils from multicultural backgrounds due to their limited Korean language skills, a recent study shows.

According to a report released on Sunday by the Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI), a lack of policy support often exacerbates this problem, potentially increasing teachers’ workloads and undermining the quality of education they provide.

The report, which surveyed 342 teachers from 95 elementary and middle schools nationwide, revealed that 76.9 percent of respondents cited the increasing number of students from foreign families who do not speak Korean as the most challenging aspect of their work. Additionally, 59.1 percent reported heightened workloads and burnout due to the need to support these students, while 44.5 percent pointed to insufficient policy and institutional support as a significant issue.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The decline is students is expected to impact the entire educational industry to include the number of teachers hired in the future:

South Korea is set to record the lowest number of first graders entering elementary school next year, signaling the consequences of an apparent demographic crisis driven by the world’s lowest birth rate.

According to local reports quoting the statistics agency’s birth rate data, fewer than 400,000 children are expected to enter elementary school next year. This will be the first time the number has dropped below 400,000 since the agency started compiling data.

This comes amid a sharp decline in the number of infants born in 2017, who will be entering elementary school in March next year.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

In South Korea getting these exam questoins would be a huge advantage to the test takers:

Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon announces the results of a crackdown on illegal activities by teachers in a news conference in the central city of Sejong on Sept. 19, 2023. (Yonhap)

Twenty-four high school teachers have been caught selling exam questions to private academies before or after serving as test makers for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and mock CSAT exams in violation of the current laws, the education ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said it will file criminal complaints against four of the teachers on charges of obstruction of business and ask for an investigation into 22 of them on suspicion of violating anti-graft laws. Two of them will face both criminal complaints and investigation, it added.

The four teachers facing criminal complaints are accused of serving as CSAT and mock CSAT test makers after hiding the fact that they sold practice exam questions to private education companies, it said.

On the other hand, the 22 teachers facing an investigation have been caught selling exam questions to private companies after participating in CSAT and mock CSAT test-making, it said. All CSAT test makers are obliged by law to keep all test-related information confidential.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Considering the extremely competitive nature of high school education in South Korea it is no surprise that various drugs are sought after to gain an advantage:

A banner in Daechi-dong, Seoul, reads: “Do not drink ‘strange beverages’ handed out to students.” (Choi Jae-hee / The Korea Herald)

On April 3, an appalling scam targeting unsuspecting students on the streets of this neighborhood sent shockwaves across the nation. Over 100 bottles of drinks laced with methamphetamines and ecstasy were distributed, falsely marketed as study aids to enhance concentration and memory.

The scammers even tried to blackmail some of the victims’ parents, threatening to report their children to the authorities for drug use unless they paid up.

Putting aside the audacity of their act, it raises questions: Why did they choose to target Daechi-dong among all the other neighborhoods in Seoul?

The drug-infused drinks were labeled as “Mega ADHD” and handed out to teenage passersby, just like in a street promotional event.

Perhaps what made the young victims less suspicious was that in Daechi-dong, study aids such as prescription medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, caffeine pills and energy drinks are widely used.

Some parents spoke of falsifying symptoms to get access to ADHD prescription drugs, believing they will enhance academic performance. The substance methylphenidate in ADHD medicine can help takers stay awake, energetic and focused.

“Some students are particularly vulnerable to stress before important exams and get easily distracted. Those who have maintained great academic performance would not want to spoil things due to temporary stress, so they resort to taking prescription stimulants,” said Huh, a housewife in her 50s residing in Daechi-dong who has a 17-year-old daughter.

“It is an expedient, but not illegal,” she said, explaining that some parents and students pretend to have or exaggerate ADHD when seeing a doctor.

Data shows the number of teenagers on ADHD pills has been on the rise.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the lowering of the elementary school age in Korea is no longer going to happen after public protests has led to the resignation of the Education minister:

Education Minister Park Soon-ae offered to resign Monday, just 34 days after taking office, amid criticism she mishandled key school policy proposals, such as lowering the elementary school entry age.

Park has been under pressure to step down after many teachers and parents protested strongly against lowering the school entry age by one year to 5. She has been criticized for announcing the proposal without sufficient preparations, such as collecting public opinion.

Her ministry had also unveiled a plan to abolish foreign language high schools, only to retract it days later.

Should President Yoon Suk-yeol accept the resignation, Park will be the first Cabinet minister to step down since Yoon took office in May.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Yoon administration may be using what limited political capital they have on another unpopular initiative:

Opposition is growing among teachers and parents alike to the government’s plan to move up the elementary school starting age by one year to 5 starting as early as 2025.

Reporting this year’s key policy plans to President Yoon Suk-yeol last week, the education ministry said it will soon begin discussions on the plan to lower the school starting age from the current 6 to 5 and implement it in 2025 at the earliest upon social consensus. 

Through the plan, the government seeks to take on more child care for young children against the backdrop of low birth rates, close education gaps and eventually help school graduates land jobs and start their careers earlier than now.

Many teachers and parents are, however, voicing objections to the plan that they say could further deepen already fierce competition for grades and put the burden of schooling on the intellectually unprepared 5 year olds. 

Teachers and parents point out the plan could put many students at competitive disadvantages, as the 5- and 6-year-olds who started school at the same time in the transition period will have to compete more for college entrance and job opportunities.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according the article 94% of teachers oppose this and 36 activist groups have come out against it. Anything involving education in Korea becomes a hot button issue as the Yoon administration is finding out.