New scoring system at middle, high schools
By Na Jeong-ju
The government announced a plan to overhaul the grading system for middle and high school students, Tuesday, in a bid to revamp the competition-oriented learning environment at schools.
Under the plan, the current nine-grade relative evaluation system at high schools will be replaced by a six-grade college-style absolute assessment format by 2014.
Currently, the grade of a student is decided based on his or her standing from exams in comparison to the entire student body.
Under the new system, however, the students’ scores will be marked only on an absolute scale of A, B, C, D, E, F, which is similar to the evaluation system being adopted by most colleges here, according to the education ministry.
The ministry said the change will help ease the stiff competition among students for entering college, but schools don’t agree. They claimed that the new system will prompt colleges to give more weight to their own essay tests and interviews in selecting students, jeopardizing public education and increasing students’ dependence on private tutoring.
“We will gradually introduce the new grading system at middle schools and vocational high schools beginning next year. It will be adopted by all high and middle schools by 2014,” said Ryu Jung-sup, a ministry official.
“We decided to overhaul the system because the current one is too competition-driven and puts students under a lot of stress. It is an attempt to change the learning environment for the better.”
Academic achievement gap
The official said the government will also increase courses in which students can develop their ability to think and nurture creativity, while reducing courses focused on purely academic achievement.
Some teachers alleged that the absolute evaluation system may deepen the academic achievement gap between students attending schools in big cities and those in rural areas. They also predict that the competition to enter foreign-language schools and the so-called autonomous private high schools, which have outperformed ordinary schools in academic achievement, will become fiercer.
“The new policy will make competitive schools even more competitive, but will make it more difficult for those in rural and provincial areas to attract students,” said an official of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union.
He also forecast that prestigious colleges will increase their dependence on essay tests and interviews to choose students.
Schools have put more weight on such exams than on scores from the state-administered College Scholastic Ability Test and on academic achievements at high schools in selecting students. This year, the importance of essay tests and interviews was even greater as the CSAT was easier than in the past.
Scholars have cautioned that as an essay score has become a crucial evaluation criterion for college applicants, household spending on private education is growing further.
Source: The Korea Times (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/include/print.asp?newsIdx=100732)