Here is an example of a major cultural difference between how much the United States and South Korea value the importance of national testing:
A test-taker gets encouragement from his mother in front of a high school in central Seoul on Nov. 17, 2016, before entering the school to sit for the state-administrated college entrance exam that takes place nationwide the same day. Some 605,000 students nationwide are taking the test to enter college in the spring semester that begins in March. (Yonhap)
Some 606,000 high school seniors and graduates in South Korea took the state-administered annual college entrance exam Thursday, as the government implemented various traffic control and anti-noise measures near nationwide testing sites.
A total of 605,987 students, down about 25,200 from last year, registered to take the standardized College Scholastic Ability Test that was administered at 1,183 testing sites, according to the Ministry of Education.
Similar to the American Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the exam is considered the most crucial test of students’ academic careers and seen as the deciding factor in their choice of college and future professions.
The exam, which consists mostly of multiple-choice questions, is divided into five sections — Korean language, mathematics, English, social and natural sciences, and a second foreign language. Starting this year, all test-takers must take a separate Korean history exam during the social and natural sciences test time.
The test started at 8:30 a.m. and ran through 5:40 p.m., including lunch and breaks.
As in previous years, the government imposed various traffic control and anti-noise measures as part of its efforts to ensure that the test be executed without any problems.
Subways and trains in the capital area extended their rush hour services by two hours to help all exam-takers arrive at the test sites on time. Bus operations were also expanded during the commuting time.
The stock markets opened for trade one hour late, while government offices and enterprises in nearby areas also started work an hour later than usual to keep the roads clear for students on their way to the test centers. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but it is also common for the underclassmen to be cheering on the students taking the tests and parents flocking to Buddhist temples and churches to pray for the success of the kids taking the test. In the past USFK conducted very limited operations of post to limit noise and traffic in order to not interfere with the national testing.
A major down side of the national testing is the many suicides that tend to happen after these tests are completed by students that do not do as well as they expected.
This article makes me wonder how many “white envelopes” are being passed to teachers in South Korea? Is this just the tip of the iceberg?:
A case involving the principal and two teachers of a private girls’ high school in Gwangju was sent to prosecutors on charges of fabricating the school records of 25 students in order to help them gain admission to good colleges, police said Wednesday.
The three educators are suspected to have either raised the test scores of 12 students in the 11th grade and 13 students in the 12th grade or lied about their extracurricular activities.
Authorities did not say exactly how many students were aware of the plot, but hinted that “several” must have known because they were called into the teacher’s office and specifically asked what details the teachers could add to their documents to make them look better.
Some parents were said to have paid each teacher about 2 million won ($1,828) for the service, said police. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I am a bit surprised by how cheap the bribe was.
This does seem like a really young age to begin studying a foreign language:
Korean mothers have their children start learning English before they turn five on average, an age some admit is probably too early, a survey showed Tuesday.
Yoon’s English School, a company that runs a chain of English language schools across the country, asked 466 members of an online mothers’ community between May 25-29 and found that their children started learning English at an average age of 4.8.
The survey said 24.9 percent started at age 6, 21.7 percent at age 5 and 14.8 percent at age 4. It also said 5.8 percent of the mothers started teaching English to their children, when they were still in the womb.
When asked if the chosen age was appropriate, 68.5 percent said it was, but 28.1 percent thought it was too early. The survey found that the largest group of 21.7 percent said about 8 years old, the age children normally start primary school, is the right time to start English education. [Korea Times]
Here is the latest education reform being pushed in South Korea:
South Korea will reduce the size of high school classes to match international standards as part of an effort to provide a better educational environment, the government said Monday.
Under the envisioned plan, the class size of an average high school will be reduced to an average of 24 students by 2022 from last year’s 30, the Ministry of Education said.
Also, the ratio of high school students to teachers will be cut from 16.6 to 13.3, according to the plan.
The plan is in line with standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. [Yonhap]
Doesn’t the State Department have bigger priorities other than criticizing South Korea for what textbooks its government wants to use in its schools? What would most Americans think if South Korea released a report criticizing the US for government for its No Child Left Behind and Common Core educational mandates?:
The Park Geun-hye administration’s plan for introducing state-issued history textbooks was singled out as a matter of concern in a US State Department human rights report.Section 2 on “Respect for Civil Liberties” in the department’s “2015 Human Rights Report” published on Apr. 13 included two new references to South Korea’s middle and high school history textbooks in an item on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“In October the Ministry of Education announced plans to require middle and high schools to use only Korean history books authored by the government-affiliated National Institute of Korean History starting in the 2017 school year,” the report noted in a subsection on “Censorship or Content Restrictions.”
“This would end the right of schools, since 2010, to choose from a range of textbooks approved by the ministry,” the report continued.The textbook issue was mentioned again in another item on “Academic Freedom and Cultural Events” in the section on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“There were no government restrictions specifically targeting academic freedom or cultural events. However, a government plan to end middle and high schools’ right to choose Korean history textbook [sic] raised concerns about academic freedom,” the report noted. [Hankyoreh]
Is anyone shocked that yet another business venture in South Korea is facing financial difficulties?:
The founder of a unique university in North Korea is under scrutiny after the university suffered a series of financial difficulties, according to a source in the country.
Kim Chin-kyung, a U.S. citizen, founded Pyongyang University of Science and Technology with the cooperation of North and South Korean institutions, South Korean news service CBS No Cut News reported.
But the North Korean government is looking to replace Kim.
The source said dwindling funds from South Korea and the United States have contributed to the financial shortfall at the university.
PUST used to operate on a $100,000 monthly budget but that number was down to $50,000, the source said.
A loan Kim secured to build facilities on campus in late 2000 has yet to be paid, and an agreement to replace a 60,000-volt transformer at the school by Oct. 10, 2015, the anniversary to commemorate the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea, was never fulfilled, according to the source. [UPI]
It appears that South Korea is getting serious about stopping sexual harassment in the school system:
Suwon District Court has sentenced a high school teacher in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to six years’ jail for sexually harassing and blackmailing a student.
The teacher, identified as Kim, 38, was also ordered to spend 80 hours at a class for sexual offenders and to have his personal information disclosed for six years.
Kim forced his student, 19, identified only as “A,” to take off her clothes and had sexually harassed her 43 times from August to October last year. He also filmed body parts to blackmail her, police said.
Kim approached the student, offering free personal tutoring, because “A” could not afford private lessons. “A” was preparing for a civil service examination.
The court said it handed down a heavy sentence because Kim forgot his duty as a teacher and treated his student as a sex object.
But the court took into consideration that Kim admitted guilt and had paid 30 million won to the student. [Korea Times]
That is at least what a Seoul court ruled earlier this week in a bribery case involving two teachers in Seoul:
A Seoul court on Wednesday ruled in favor of two private school teachers who accepted money and gifts from the parents of their students.
The teachers, who work at Gyeseong Elementary School, were both charged with taking bribes but later acquitted by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ruling prompted an angry response from those in the education circle, with Kim Hyung-nam, the inspector of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, calling the decision “embarrassing.”
One of the teachers, surnamed Shin, 48, stood accused of taking cash, gift certificates and gifts worth a total of 4.6 million won ($3,930) from two parents over multiple occasions when he taught fourth-grade last year.
The other, surnamed Kim, 45, was accused of accepting 4 million won as well as valuables from one parent.
The court ruled Wednesday that while Shin had accepted the money and gifts, those actions did not amount to bribe-taking.
He was asked to do general favors for the students, the court said, but did not carry out unlawful favors in return for compensation. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Parents of college aspirants gather to offer a Buddhist prayer in front of “Gatbawi” Buddhist statue (upper), or Stone Hat Buddha, on Mount Palgong in the southeastern city of Gyeongsan on Nov. 1, 2015, to wish for high scores on the state-administered annual scholastic aptitude test scheduled for Nov. 12. The crucial test is seen as a deciding factor in an applicant’s choice of college and subsequent career. (Yonhap)
