[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]School reform suggestions

Recently, the topic of school academic reports has been generating a lot of controversy. The fairness of the academic reporting system became an issue because of an incident where a teacher fabricated the academic record of the son of a public prosecutor. Since then, similar incidents have been disclosed and suspicion on the fairness of the academic report system is increasing.
Last year there was an argument between the Ministry of Education and private universities on the high school classification system. It reflected differences in levels of scholarly attainments among high schools.
Is there any solution to this problem? As a high school senior soon to enter college, I would like to point out problems about the current academic report system. During this year’s college entrance examination, the proportion of early admission was close to 50 percent of the total number allowed.
Expansion of this type of admission system, where no marks of the College Scholastic Abililty Test is reflected, elevates the importance of the academic reporting system. However, unlike the marks of the College Scholastic Ability Test which is under the control of the government, academic reports under the management of high schools can easily be fabricated as shown by the recent incidents.
Such incidents may be explained away as exceptional cases. However, from the standpoint of examinees, if they are told that someone passed the entrance examination of a famous college through fabricated academic grades, then their desire to study hard will inevitably be dampened.
One possible way would be for the government to evaluate scholarly achievements among high schools according to a certain standard and that standard be used by colleges. Methods for fair and transparent management of the academic reporting system should be introduced. The process should be open to students and parents.
Under the current college entrance examination system, it is not easy for students to enter a school they want just by studying hard.
Our reality is that students must study the changes in the college entrance system and the methods of evaluation of scholarly achievements as much as of their studies.
It is worrisome that the current college entrance examination system will make students apply to colleges according to their marks rather than their aptitude.
I sincerely wish for the advent of an era when students only have to concentrate on their studies.

by Ahn Jie-hyun