The widening educational divide
Information gained by the JoongAng Ilbo and Haneul Education Co. Ltd. shows that those who entered Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University - otherwise known as SKY universities - were mostly from special-purpose high schools.
The regular high school in Seoul that had the highest entrance rate for SKY universities was Gangnam District’s Whimoon High School, with a 13 percent acceptance rate last year - 145 students from Whimoon moved on to prestigious universities. However, Whimoon’s rate pales in comparison to acceptance rates at special-purpose high schools.
The average acceptance rate into SKY universities for those who attended Seoul’s six foreign language high schools was 28.2 percent last year. Daewon Foreign Language High School in Gwangjin District had 54.6 percent of its recent graduates get accepted into a SKY university.
The divide becomes greater when considering all the other regular high schools in Seoul. Among the 92,793 students from 132 ordinary high schools in Seoul who took the university-entrance aptitude test last November, only 3.5 percent of them made it into SKY universities. Seventy-six schools in Seoul declined to give information on their university entrance rates.
Why is there a vast gap in this category between regular and special schools?
A closer look at the numbers shows that the overall number of students accepted by the best universities in the country from normal high schools started to decline beginning in 1974 - when the standardization of high schools began. One school in Seoul that sent 67 students to Seoul National University in 1981, had only six successful applicants last year.
The standardization of high schools was implemented by the government in an attempt to narrow the gap in the quality of education received by the rich and the rest, and root out memorization-based education methods. This meant getting rid of all entrance exams that high schools utilized prior to 1974 and assigning students to random schools.
But what was meant to broaden the quality of education, ended up having the opposite effect. Indeed, the Korean education system has never been more polarized, and a memorization-based approach to learning prevails throughout Korean schools.
High school standardization has since been criticized for dampening the enthusiasm of exceptional students and pulling down the overall quality of normal high schools. It also resulted in stoking demand for special purpose high schools - mostly foreign language and science ones. Special-purpose high schools have, in turn, succeeded in recruiting the creme de la creme of Korea’s students - even bettering their university entrance rates.
An analysis of grades from regular nationwide scholastic assessment tests shows that the worst student in a class at a foreign language high school scored similarly to the fifth-best student in a class at a general high school.
At ordinary high schools, no one understands the gap better than the students themselves. “There is no place to study freely at school because I have to prepare for interviews and essay tests on my own,” complained an 18-year-old student at a normal high school.
Currently a senior at a high school in Gangnam, she said she regrets not having gone to a special-purpose school. She asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue. A visit to one of her classes showed half of her 30 peers sleeping, heads planted firmly on their desks.
Foreign language high schools assist their students in prepping for university entrance interviews from their freshman year, something public schools do not offer on a regular basis - if at all.
Exacerbating the educational gap, the number of autonomous high schools has soared in the past few years. These schools are specially designated by the Korean government to help students receive education that does not focus on university entry. The new high school policy was formed by the government in 2008 as a countermeasure against special-purpose high schools. Anyone in the upper 50 percent of their class in middle schools can apply to autonomous high schools.
Autonomous high schools have garnered support from parents and students. But for those who have had no choice but to remain in ordinary high schools, the situation is worsening.
As special purpose and autonomous high schools carry off all the good students, the education and student quality that remains at general high schools is worsening.
“Middle school students who rank in the top half of their class automatically apply for autonomous schools these days,” said one high school principal, who wished to remain anonymous. An analysis of grades from freshmen at one general high school shows the principal has a point. Grades at the school had fallen by 10.1 percentage points from 2008 to this year.
Autonomous schools, as the name implies, have more freedom in their operations, including setting curriculum. They are free to adjust the number of classes students are required to take, and because they have higher registration fees, they can hand out more scholarships and provide more programs.
Students are well aware of the educational benefits that await them in special purpose and autonomous high schools.
A survey conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo at one middle school in Seocho District, southern Seoul, showed that 80 percent of the students who ranked in the top 10 percent of the student body said they wished to go to a special purpose or autonomous high school. “Ordinary high schools have their hands tied,” said Park Bum-duk, principal of Eonnam High School in Seocho. “They can’t select their students, nor do they have the freedom to adjust curriculum.”
Slightly more than 86 percent of 381 teachers at ordinary high schools quizzed by the JoongAng Ilbo and Haneul Education in April said that general high schools were “very seriously” disadvantaged when it came to competition with other schools. Most of the teachers were in agreement that measures had to be taken to equalize, to a certain extent, the amount and quality of education for those in ordinary high schools.
“There is a need for special purpose and autonomous schools in order to diversify schools and tiered education,” said Kim Dong-seok, spokesman of the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations. “But ordinary high schools, where 90 percent of high school students are, need support in the form of balanced policy.”
By Kim Min-sang, Christine Kim [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]
한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]
SKY 합격률 … 외고 28%, 일반고 3.5%
일반고 갈수록 추락 (상) 평준화의 늪
서울 일반고 - 외고, 2011학년도 서울·고려·연세대 합격자 비교
지난 13일 서울 강남 8학군에 위치한 A 일반고의 3학년 교실. 학생 30여 명 중 절반이 책상에 엎드려 자고 있었다. 성적이 최상위권인 이모(18)양은 “마음 놓고 공부할 공간이 학교에 없고 스펙 관리나 논술·면접 준비도 혼자 해야 한다”며 “이럴 줄 알았으면 일반고에 오지 않았을 것”이라고 말했다. 이양은 “3학년부터 수준별 이동수업이 없어져 공부할 수 있는 마지막 공간마저 사라졌다”고 하소연했다. 이 학교는 교실 수가 부족해 1, 2학년만 수준별 이동수업을 한다.
같은 날 서울의 B 외고에서는 교내 토론대회 결승전이 한창이다. 대회에 참가한 안모(17)군은 “1학년 때부터 토론 수업을 하다 보니 입시 면접이나 논술은 다들 자신 있어 한다”고 말했다. 이 학교 진학지도실장은 “입시철이면 진학담당 교사 10여 명이 대학 입학처장들을 만나 정보를 얻어 온다”고 소개했다.
이들 A, B 두 고교의 대조적인 풍경은 일반고와 특목고의 교육 여건 격차를 적나라하게 드러내고 있다.
중앙일보와 입시업체 하늘교육은 특목고와 졸업생 미배출고를 제외한 서울지역 고교 208곳 중 132곳의 2011학년도 서울대·고려대·연세대 합격자 현황을 조사했다. 그 결과 일반고의 진학 실적은 특목고에 비하면 초라했다. 일반고 평균은 3.5%로 서울지역 6개 외고(28.2%)의 8분의 1 수준이다. 이번 조사에 답한 일반고의 수능 응시 인원(재수생 포함)은 9만2793명으로, 6개 외고(3699명)보다 25배가량 많다. 하지만 세 대학 합격자는 일반고 3283명, 외고 1042명으로 3배 차이에 불과했다. 6개 외고 중 1위인 대원외고는 절반 이상이 ‘SKY대’를 간다. 이는 일반고의 15배를 넘는 수준이다. 일반고 중 1위인 휘문고(13%)도 외고 중 합격률이 가장 낮은 서울외고(14.5%)에 못 미친다.
공항고 정세만 교장은 “중학교 성적 최상위권은 특목고로, 상위권은 자율고로, 중위권은 특성화고로 빠진다”며 “일반고에는 중상위권과 하위권 학생들이 오기 때문에 한 교실에서 수업하기 어렵다”고 말했다. 그런데도 교실이나 추가 교사가 없어 수준별 수업을 제대로 하지 못한다고 한다. 정 교장은 “일반고 교사들은 상위권 학생에게는 진학 지도를, 하위권은 취업 교육을 시켜야 해 일이 많다”며 “악순환의 고리를 끊을 대책이 나와야 한다”고 강조했다.
이번 조사에서 세 대학 합격자를 5% 이상 배출한 고교 27곳 중에는 강남구(11곳)에 있는 학교가 단연 많았다. 이어 서초구 3곳, 양천·노원·용산구 2곳씩이 포함됐다. 강남구 일반고의 세 대학 합격자 배출 비율이 최하위인 구로구의 8배나 됐다.
이번 조사에 응한 학교 중 구별로 세 대학 합격자 비율이 가장 높은 일반고는 강서구 마포고, 광진구 광남고, 노원구 대진고, 도봉구 선덕고, 서대문구 한성고, 용산구 중경고, 은평구 대성고, 중구 환일고 등이었다. 이들 학교는 합격률이 5% 이상이었다. 구로구 구일고(1.4%), 마포구 광성고(1.9%), 성동구 한양대사대부고(1.9%), 영등포구 여의도여고(1.6%) 등도 지역에서 가장 우수했으나 합격률이 2%에도 미치지 못했다.
지역별 일반고 간 격차는 전년에 비해서는 다소 줄었다. 강남구의 경우 전년 7.7%에서 6.8%로 낮아졌다. 임성호 하늘교육 이사는 “일반고 수험생이 전년 대비 9.2% 늘었는데 재수생이 22.5%나 증가했다”며 “수험생 수가 많아지다 보니 일반고의 세 대학 합격률이 낮아지고 재수생 증가가 많았던 강남구의 합격률이 감소한 것으로 보인다”고 말했다. 지난해 수능이 어렵게 출제된 것도 특목고 학생에게 유리했을 것으로 분석됐다.
사립고(87곳)의 세 대학 합격률(3.9%)이 국공립 45개 고교(2.9%)보다 높았다. 성별로는 남학교 4.5%, 남녀 공학 3.1%, 여학교 2.7% 순이었다.
윤석만·김민상 기자
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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