The part about not doing much to change the balance between what is measured in the process of student selection will be controversial for being different from the government's plan to have more weight given to students' high school performance. Giving more points for high school achievement is of course not the only way to bring high school education back to life. But given the way universities have been designing their test questions there is much concern that intensifying the writing and interview sections would in effect be no different from having a revival of the entrance tests particular to each university. A considerable number of universities have been using writing questions largely centered on the student's potential major – something that is no different from customized entrance tests – and have judged students by the ranking of their high schools.
Universities need to demonstrate that they have the will to fix the "nationally ruinous disease" that is the private tutoring craze and contribute to normalcy in regular classroom education. For that to happen, students who have been educated so that they are good at reading and debating are able to take customized written and oral tests without terrible difficulty. The private tutoring craze will not go away if writing and interviews have nothing to do with high school education, no matter how wonderfully those two test sections might be implemented.
In addition, universities need to research the education that actually takes place in the classroom, and if necessary, work together with high schools and teachers to find ways to make improvements. It does not resolve the situation to say that they cannot trust high schools to evaluate their own students and simply demand they have ways to "differentiate" applicants and insist that universities have the authority to select their students. If they cannot confidently answer questions about how they differentiate themselves from each other and are specialized in unique areas, then they are exposing an attitude that is irresponsible for the country's highest-level educational intuitions. Universities need to work to see that universities and high schools cooperate to normalize high school education and make it better. The government, for its part, must actively back up that process.
The Hankyoreh, 11 May 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection
