One in three middle school students failing math as growing number 'give up' on subject

Home > National > Social Affairs

One in three middle school students failing math as growing number 'give up' on subject

Published: 14 Oct. 2024, 17:57

LEE SOO-JUNG
lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr

High school students study at their high school in Suwon, Gyeonggi in September. [NEWS1]

A third of middle schoolers nationwide received failing grades in their mathematics exams in the spring semester earlier this year, according to data from the Education Ministry.

On Sunday, Jongro Academy, a major private cram school in Korea, found that a majority of students at 11.4 percent of 3,277 middle schools nationwide scored a failing E grade in mathematics after analyzing academic data on the Education Ministry’s information disclosure website.

Korean middle schools employ a five-tier grading system based on absolute scoring, with a top score of 100 points. Students who receive over 90 points get an A, over 80 points a B, over 70 points a C, over 60 points a D and under 60 an E.

Of all academic domains, mathematics was the one in which students performed the worst.

While average scores in Korean language, English, social studies and science surpassed 70 out of 100, it was just 68.6 in mathematics. This means that E-graders in mathematics outnumbered E-graders in other subjects.

A total of 35.2 percent of middle schoolers received an E grade in math, while only 18 percent did so in Korean language and 29.6 percent in English.

“The 35 percent of students with the lowest grade could be considered those who would fall in the sixth to ninth tier in the state-run College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT),”said Lim Sung-ho, Jongro Academy's head, referring to the lowest three tiers on the exam.

He added that these low achievers have essentially "given up" on studying mathematics.

Middle schoolers leave their school in downtown Seoul last year. [NEWS1]

Regions outside Seoul showed comparatively weaker academic performance in mathematics.

In Gangwon, approximately 41.8 percent of middle schoolers received an E grade in mathematics, followed by 40.6 percent in North Gyeongsang and South Chungcheong.

In 374 schools, more than half of their students received an E grade, accounting for 11.4 percent of the 3,277 middle schools across the country.

“If students failed to solve exam questions during their middle school years when the questions are written in their textbook, keeping up with curricula at their high schools and taking a countrywide exam could be more challenging,” Lim said.

The education community believes more students have given up studying mathematics since the Covid-19 pandemic, when students were taught online, although the phenomenon existed long before the pandemic.

According to the annual National Assessment of Educational Achievement results last year, 16.6 percent of 11th-graders did not satisfy the "minimum passing standard" — the highest ratio since 2017.

Students who fall in this bracket are considered to have understood less than 20 percent of their math curriculum. The ratio was around nine percent in 2019 but jumped to 13.5 percent the following year when Covid-19 struck the country.

The Education Ministry is responding to the decline in pupils’ average academic ability by increasing the number of assessment tests. In addition to the yearly state-run exam assessing one’s educational achievement, the ministry is rolling out another exam, the so-called “tailored and autonomous evaluation,” especially advising schools to let their third and seventh graders take it.

However, concerns remain that such measures would intensify competition among students.

“The evaluation should be referenced as material to ascertain students’ academic strengths and weaknesses," said Prof. Park Nam-ki from Gwangju National University of Education.

Park added that the tests should not be used to compare students.

BY CHOI MIN-JI [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]