Top educator calls for abolition of college entrance tests
Top Gyeonggi educator advocates more freedom for students
By Chung Hyun-chae
Lee Jae-joung
Lee Jae-joung, superintendent of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, has called for the abolition of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).
“The current college entrance exam should be abolished to ease excessive competition among students and normalize school education,” Lee said in a recent interview.
The former unification minister proposed that universities and colleges should recruit students based on their school records, not on CSAT scores.
The CSAT is a nationally administered test held every November for high school seniors. It has long been blamed for causing unduly harsh competition among students and putting enormous financial obligations on parents due to the exorbitant costs of private tutoring.
“If we drastically change the college entrance system, we can significantly reduce the costs of private tutoring,” said Lee.
He is also confident that the scrapping of the CSAT will help students reduce stress over the heavy study load for exams and have more freedom to develop creative thinking in order to maximize their potential.
“I visited a site for the CSAT exam last November and was shocked to find students wandering around looking for their test room during very cold weather,” he said.
“I suggested that students should sit exams more than twice throughout the year and then their highest scores should be selected from these,” he said.
But he said it is up to the Ministry of Education to decide whether to repeal the CSAT.
“My catchword for the last six months since my inauguration has been ‘innovation.’ I’ll devote myself to making real progress in innovating schools and the education system,” Lee said.
He also said his policy direction has focused on making students the main actors in school and other education facilities.
He plans to turn more than 80 percent of 2,225 schools in the province into “innovative” schools in a move intended to normalize the dilapidated state of public education.
The province now has only 365 innovative schools, accounting for only 16 percent of the total.
He said innovative schools were model establishments in which students could develop creativeness and acquire problem-solving abilities.
He explained such schools are designed to help students avoid excessive competition for college entrance exams, thereby fostering a spirit of cooperation to promote personality development.
Lee, a former lawmaker, said he will make further efforts to reform the education system in order to bring hope to students and maximize their potential.
“I put the top priority on making students happy to go to school and at the same time making teachers feel proud of their teaching profession. Gyeonggi Province will take the lead in making these changes,” he said.
His innovation efforts began with pushing back schools’ start time to 9 a.m. in order to give students more time to sleep and have breakfast with their families. Previously elementary and middle schools started around at 8 a.m. and high schools at 7:30 a.m.
Most students welcomed the change while many parents and teachers opposed it because it would be hard to adapt to the pushed-back schedules.
“I also thought that the pushback was necessary for personal development education because students can have more time with their families in the morning while having breakfast together,” Lee said.
He noted that the policy was based on students’ demands.
After reaching a consensus on the issue, 1,932 elementary, middle and high schools in the province have adopted the 9 o’clock school time. Seoul City also followed suit as it is seen as improving students’ health.
Lee has also pushed for the abolition of a penalty points system which he believes is detrimental to education. He argues that the system causes unnecessary tension between teachers and students.
“I thought it would be better if students could set rules by themselves to solve problems they face, not by imposing penalty points on them,” he said.
His other policy is to make principals and vice principals teach students in the classroom from March, which has also triggered a backlash.
“They have also been teachers and it would offer great opportunities for them to hear students’ hopes and dreams directly. I hope it will contribute to normalizing school education,” he said.