Sure enough, around half the writing and character evaluation sections on the 2006 entrance test are filled with either the type of problems you find on "university-specific entrance tests" (bon'gosa) or are dangerously close to being so. Most problematic questions are on tests from the big schools in the greater capital region. Last year the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development threatened to take strong action against universities that violated writing test guidelines, but most of them have simply ignored that threat.
The infantile thinking of universities obsessed with score ranking is of course a problem, but more than that you have to blame the education ministry for its lack of conviction and determination to take action. In August of last year it looked the other way when a few schools came up with "university-specific"-style writing tests. This time around as well, it has chosen to merely issue them warnings, so the universities that followed its guidelines have been made fools of.
Last year the education ministry announced a plan for reforming university entrance procedures, and the gist of that was primary emphasis on high school performance reports. There can be no normalization of public education as the system stands, with high school students having to worry about performance reports, the aptitude test, and writing, which together only increase dependence on private tutoring. When universities, parents, and the media revolted against the plan, the education ministry announced it would let schools determine how much weight to place on performance records by themselves. In other words, it let universities take charge of entrance procedures. This time around the big schools are making it clear that they want to go with "university-specific" writing questions, so you worry all the more that the new procedures are going to be new only in name.
Our society has some urgent problems to face, particularly increasing its growth momentum and resolving socioeconomic disparity. The key solution to both is to be found in education. A stepping stone to resolving socioeconomic disparity needs to be created through better educational opportunities and more balanced conditions for education, and the country needs multifaceted, capable individuals fostered through education that encourages creativity and diversity and does not measure everything by overall score ranking. That will only be possible through the normalization of public education. If universities ignore these needs, education officials need to use policy measures to the greatest extent possible to push towards that goal. Medical patients need treatment, not independence.
The Hankyoreh, 22 February 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Edu Ministry Giving Up on Normalizing Education? |
