[Editorial] Allowing MP3 Players to Ruin Students Futures

A number of people who took the college scholastic aptitude test are about be denied the right to take the test again next year for having had items on their person that were prohibited at this year's test sites, and they are claiming that is unfair. There is a growing view that this year the punishment for irregularities on the test has been harsh. On Monday a parents' organization announced it will file a petition with the Constitutional Court claiming the law violates the principle against "excessive restriction" according to the constitution.

The claim that the matter should be dealt with according to the initial rules is not without basis, but it does seem excessive to prohibit people from taking the test for two years because they had MP3 players in the bags. Also, if you look at the stories conveyed in press reports, it looks like there were cases where it would be hard to place all responsibility with the examinees. That being the case, they should be given ample opportunity to defend themselves and after an inquiry those who had no wrongful intentions should be spared punishment. No one should be punished without reason, no matter how few the innocent may be. All the more so for young students in the prime of their youth.

A more fundamental problem must be examined. Looking at the list of articles the government chose to prohibit from test sites, you get the idea that they were only desperate to avoid later controversy about irregularities. Mobile phones are one thing, but you wonder why they had to include things like digital cameras, MP3 players, and radios. Even if the fact it's hard to imagine how you could use a digital camera to cheat on the test is a secondary issue, unless the test supervisor has got his eyes closed, making sure they are not used should be easy. Education officials will find it hard to avoid the criticism that they are passing on too much responsibility for keeping the test fair to those who are actually taking it.

One can understand trying to prevent the very possibility for trouble, since the whole country suffers the consequences when irregularities in the university entrance test process are discovered. Even so, examinees should not all be treated as potential criminals. The government needs to change the relevant regulations.

The Hankyoreh, 29 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]