Time to reform the college entrance exam

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Time to reform the college entrance exam

Published: 18 Jun. 2023, 20:43 Updated: 18 Jun. 2023, 23:28

Confusion spread fast among stakeholders after President Yoon Suk Yeol made impromptu remarks on the college scholastic ability test (CSAT). The president mentioned the need for education authorities to set questions within the boundaries of what is taught at school. But after his comment was interpreted as the demand to prepare easy questions for the CSAT, high school students, parents and even famous instructors at private academies joined the chorus of criticizing the president for confusing the education circles. The controversy deepened after the Ministry of Education replaced a senior official in charge of fixing questions for the entrance exam after finding fault with a mock test in June.

This is not the first time. Last year, President Yoon prompted a huge controversy by demanding even a five-year-old be admitted to elementary school. This time, his presidential office even called the Ministry of Education and the private education sector a “powerful cartel for self-interest” while announcing a plan to audit the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. After that, test item writers were under heavy pressure with only five months left before the CSAT in November. The government must swiftly clear the confusion.

In September 2019, the government’s college entrance policy changed all of a sudden after President Moon Jae-in ordered to raise fairness of college admissions amid the Cho Kuk crisis involving the justice minister’s children getting admitted to good universities in an irregular way. As a result, the policy of expanding early admission tests was suddenly reversed to give more weight to regular CSATs in college admissions.

When it comes to the issues of education and college admissions — very sensitive issues in Korea — the president must speak prudently. The top decision-maker’s abrupt comment without canvassing public opinion certainly fosters confusion.

Nevertheless, the president’s call for a bigger role of public education is right. Last year, parents spent 26 trillion won ($20.3 billion) sending their children to cram schools. The biggest reason for Korea’s ultralow birthrate is the skyrocketing cost for raising children, including the expense for their education. The excessive reliance on private academies has reached the point of sending primary school students to cram schools to send them to a medical school.

High schools and teachers must take responsibility for their students increasingly shunning their teaching at classroom in order to learn at private academies. If such phenomenon is left unattended, it will only deepen reliance on the private education. The time has come for the government to change the nonsensical college entrance system. If the CSAT aims to test students’ ability to solve as many questions as possible within the given time — instead of checking their ability to study at higher education institutions — the country has no future.