Cram schools fill for college essay instruction

High school students taking an exam.

Seats are empty in high schools as students head to Seoul

Several high school seniors left an evening class at a college cram institute and boarded a bus provided by the school. The bus did not take them home, however, but dropped them off several minutes later at an office-apartment combination.

One of the high schoolers said, "I came to Seoul shortly after taking my term exams to prepare for the [college entrance] essay writing test." He paid 2.3 million won (US$2,400) for the 10-day course at the private cram school, known as "hagwon" in Korean, and is going to stay at the officetel during the short period. "It is very expensive, but the teacher in the high school also advised me to take this course…I came here with three friends," he said. More than 100 students from provincial areas have registered for the course.

A female student from Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, is attending an essay institute, living away from her home. She says that the teachers in her hometown cannot spare time to prepare her for the college entrance essay. She paid a total of 2.5 million won for the essay course.

The essay cram schools consider two months from the end of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) as their golden period, because students concentrate on preparation for the essay writing test during the period. Most cram schools charge over 1 million won for 3-5 week lectures. Some institutes provide a special boarding course at 2-3 million won. An instructor of one such institute said, "Most private institutes earn a third or half of their annual income during this period."

Senior-year high school classrooms see empty chairs this time of year, as students are attending such cram schools. A high school teacher in Gwangju said that there were not enough students left at his school currently to take the essay writing test there, as most of them have gone to Seoul to cram for the writing exam there.

He added that "the kind of essay test required for admission depends on each college. A cram institute, unlike a high school, can give lectures as specific as suitable for the various colleges essay test."

While some high schools provide entrance essay guidance, most schools have stopped providing college essay preparation classes because there was almost zero enrollment, as most students seem to depend on hagwon for their instruction in the subject.

Kim Jeong Myeong-sin, a leader of a civic organization, said, ``Under the current circumstances, a gap between public and private education cannot be avoided, no matter what pledge the government and colleges make. The essay writing test should be abolished, or it should be conducted after [high] schools have adequate time to prepare their own students for the test."

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