Head of CSAT designer resigns as Yoon criticizes test content

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Head of CSAT designer resigns as Yoon criticizes test content

Published: 19 Jun. 2023, 17:31 Updated: 19 Jun. 2023, 18:50

The Daechi-dong neighborhood of Gangnam District, southern Seoul, is well known for its private cram schools, or hagwon. [YONHAP]

In the latest controversy surrounding recent presidential comments on revamping the national college entrance exam, the head of the institute designing the exam every year resigned on Monday.

"I decided to take responsibility and resign," the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation's President Lee Gue-min said in a statement. "We apologize for causing concern to the students and parents who have been having a hard time preparing for the exam."

Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation's President Lee Gue-min speaks at a press conference at the Education Ministry on March 28. [NEWS1]

Lee, who was appointed by former President Moon Jae-in, tendered his resignation after President Yoon Suk Yeol made critical remarks against the exam's content, particularly in regard to so-called "killer questions" unconnected with public school curricula.

“These absurd problems are inappropriate and unfair for the evaluation of hundreds of thousands of high school graduates taking the College Scholastic Ability Test,” Yoon was said to have told his aides on Monday after seeing a sample question of the CSAT in 2020.

The question, posted by Kim Gwang-doo, a professor of economics at Sogang University, recently on his Facebook account, shows one in the Korean language and literature section of the test that asks a question about assets and credit risks.

“I was dumbfounded and angry to find such a question that requires knowledge of economics in the Korean language and literature section,” Kim wrote on Monday. “Is there a high school student who can solve problems of this level of difficulty without the help of other instructors at private academies?”

Yoon said these “killer questions” are driving students and parents to seek private education at a high cost and discouraging more parents from having children in the first place. He was said to have demanded a "fairer CSAT" from the relevant bureaus.

The pressure to do well in school begins early for many Koreans, who attend at least two private cram schools on average in addition to their normal schooling from as young as the age of eight, according to a 2020 survey by the Consumer Network for Public Interest.

The academic pressure is driven by the reality that only the top 2 percent of the nation’s brightest minds can attend the so-called "SKY" universities, an acronym derived from the first letters of Korea's top three universities: Seoul University, Korea University and Yonsei University.

Study aids for the national college entrance exam sold at the Kyobo Bookstore in the Gwanghwamun area of central Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

Most high school graduates in Korea applying to universities need to take the CSAT.

Students can choose one of two tracks in their admissions process: one in which their assessment is almost entirely based on their college entrance exam score, and another in which their GPA scores are weighed in with their CSAT scores.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho in his statement made at the National Assembly on Monday said that the ministry will work on amending the content of the CSAT to ensure that they reflect the public high school curriculum.

“Although it has long been pointed out that designing CSAT questions on materials external to the public education curriculum drives students to private education, the ministry has not been able to address and solve this problem,” Lee said. “I will provide all possible support to ensure fairer CSATs.”

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho speaks at a National Assembly meeting in western Seoul on Monday. [KIM HYUN-DONG]

With the next CSAT looming just a few months ahead, some policymakers called Yoon’s comments rash and divisive.

“Does the president know how many types of Korean language textbooks there are and how much confusion there will be among students and parents preparing for the exam?” wrote former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min on his Facebook account on Monday. “A watered-down CSAT will not be fair for the students who have been studying hard to stand out.”

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]