International High Schools in Gyeongi a no-go?

So the showdown in Gyeongi begins.  Kim Sang-gon, the superintendent-elect for Gyeongi schools and anti 2MB crusader, created ripples on April 20 when his office announced that their intention “evaluate” plans to open up two new International High Schools in Gyeongi province. People took this to mean that Kim was going to trash the International HS plans compeltely, which caused quite a stir. Plans for these schools were already well underway and cancelling them would cause quite a bit of chaos.

Well, the office of the superintendent-elect issued a memo today to clear things up. They said that an “evaluation” is really just that: they are going to evaluate the plans and don’t necessarily have any intention to cancel them. They did add, however, that the International HS plans are still far from completion, implying that they could still be cancelled or put on hold.

Kim Sang-gon made headlines a couple weeks back with a convincing win in the holty contested superintendent elections in Gyeongi-do. He ran on a platform of education equality, which is the polar opposite of the competition-driven model of the 2MB administration and Kong Jeong-tek, Gangnam fanboy and superintedent of Seoul schools.

Source: Yonhap News

1 in 25 Gangnam Elementary Students Studying Abroad…Does this really work?

A new report released today by Yonhap News shows that 4% of all elementary students in the Gangnam and Seocho distrcts are currently studying abroad. Of those students, 80% are studying in English speaking countries. The average rate for all of Seoul is is 1 in every 100 students abroad. Studying abroad at an early age, or 조기유학, has become a big trend in recent years as parents are looking for a way to ensure their students gain proficiency in English (or another language) during the so-called “critical period.” It’s a common belief that for studying abroad, the earlier, the better.

 There’s actually a few holes in that assumption. Research shows that going abroad at an early age definitely helps people acquire an accent that sounds close to “native,” but the results are mixed in terms of overall proficiency. Many of us have had personal experiences with that student who can speak a mile-a-minute but has deplorable reading and writing skills. This report also notes that high study abroad rates may account for Gangnam and Seocho’s unusally high number of elementary students performing under-level.

Of course, there’s also the costs (financial, emotional, cultural) to consider. Not to studying abroad doesn’t have good effects, but if you’re considering it, make sure you’re thinking through all the consequences before your children get on the plane.

Korea Beat: Reports of School Violence Up

Korea Beat reports a huge jump in reports of school violence. It’s hard to say what the actualy increase in school violence has been, because the jump in numbers is mostly due to a change in policy: schools are now required to report on all incidents of abuse, including cyber-bullying and sexual harassment. This is not to say that school violence is a huge problem, and one that seems to be getting worse.

Higher Standards for Tenure send Professors Scrambling to Publish

While a being a professor comes with a certain amount of prestige anywhere you go, in Korea it’s really on a different level.  Becoming a professor in Korea is considered one of those “철밥통” jobs (steel rice bowl–a career for life) kind of similar to becoming a civil servant or school teacher. If you’ve met professors in Korea, you’ll notice that they’re usually accorded the same respect as high level business executive, and a lot of them have the swagger to match.

 However, it looks like that era is coming to a close. The Chosun Ilbo reported today on a phenomena professors are calling the “SNU Shock” (서울대 쇼크). This year, ess than half of the associate professors up for promotion at Seoul National University received full professorship. By Korean university standards, this is apparently a shockingly low number, as the road to becoming a fully tenured professor used to more or less smooth sailing.

And it’s not just Seoul National University. High profile universities all over, including KAIST and Jungang University are instituting similarily strict standards on their professors. Professors are under high pressure to get published in prestigious journals–and if their work doesn’t meet a certain standard of quality, they are given pink slips. It means that universities have become a rat race, with professors stressing out about producing quality research and getting positive evaluations from peers and students. Failing to live up to those standards means that you get the ax-something would have been unheard of just five years ago.

Choose your own adventure: Students can apply to any high school starting in 2010

Source: Flickr

Starting in 2010, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) will institute the “고교선택제” (High School Choice Program), which allows students  (well, their parents anyway) to choose which high school they want to attend. Under the current system, students are randomly assigned by a computer to a high school in their local area (the same goes for middle schools). The current system is designed to equalize the performance among high schools…random distribution assures that all the top students don’t end up going to the same school.

This new policy aims to change that. The 고교선택제 gives top students a chance to apply to any high school in Seoul, and you know that by “any school in Seoul” we actually mean “any school in Gangnam or Seocho.” Here’s how it works: Students who apply for the plan are seperated into 3 groups based on middle school performance (mostly based on grades):

 -The top 20% get to apply to any two schools within the Seoul city limits.

-The next 40% get to apply to two schools within the juridiction of their local office of education (there are 11 in Seoul)

-The bottom 40% don’t get any choice–their high school will continue to be assigned by computerized lottery.

College Entrance Exam Scores Released, Gwangju pwns Seoul

Source: 한겨레

On the 15th of April, KICE (Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation) released the results of nationwide CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) scores. This was the first time such results have been made public since the implementation of CSAT exam (known commonly in Korea as 수능). The results, which take into accounts scores over the past five years, confirmed fears that there is serious varation among different regions in Korea. Surprisingly however, Seoul consistently ranked in the middle of the pack. Gwangju was the top performer overall, with Jeju and Pusan showing top performance in the key subject areas of Math, English, Science, and Korean.  Poorest performers included Incheon, North Jeolla Province and North Chungcheong Province.

Other points of note:

Changes to Controversial Asessment Exams

Source: 조선일보

Just announced today are some tweaks to the nationwide assessment exams (“학업성취도 평가 ” or “일제고사”) that have been the source of so much controversy. The biggest change comes with grading the exams, which will now be handled centrally by each regional office of education, the results being processed electronically. This is definitely a big step up from hand-written test sheets being corrected by each individual school.

These exams are part of a wider effort to improve schools by holding them more accountable for results, and this much-needed improvement seems to show that the government is serious about making this work, despite vocal criticism from teacher and parent groups. I’m torn on this issue. These exams seem to be a step towards creating an officially ranking system for schools, and I think that such pushes for accountability can be harmful when done badly. However,  I am happy to see school quality becoming a prominent issue.   

afterschool programs: convergence of old rivals

A trend that’s growing fast is government subsidized after-school English programs. The concept sounds good enough: relieve students and parents from the burden of hakwon-life by offering supplemental education in schools. Students get their education in one place, parents pay less money, and schools regain their status as the primary source of education. Students only pay about 100,000 per month (as opposed to 200,000 for hakwon classes), and the education they get is similar to hakwon classes.

Eerily similar. The thing is that most after school programs are actually being run by private companies, since most schools don’t have the expertise/resources/will to create and run an entire program by themselves. Providing and managing afterschool programs (also called Educare) is becoming big business, and it’s no surprise than many hakwon players are getting in on the game. Why not? They have all the resources on hand, and it’s simply a matter of transplanting what they do in hakwon classrooms into public school classrooms.

김상곤: The anti-Gangnam revolution?

(c)김상곤 선거공보

Results are out from the election for superintendent of schools for Gyeongi Province, which encompasses high-profile suburbs like Bundang and Ilsan. Despite expectations for a tight race, the liberal candidate, 김상곤 won with nearly 10% more votes than his conservative rival, 김진춘.  With this win, expect to see Gyeongi start to push back against the recent wave of policy changes under President Lee. It’s an ol’ fashioned left vs. right showdown.

In terms of education, the political divide in Korea is all about equality (liberals) vs. competition (conversatives). With both the president and Seoul superintendent of schools both being right-wingers, we’ve seen a big push towards a more competitive education structure, with elite high schools and middle popping up, higher teacher accountability, and talk of a ranking system for schools. 

다국어 스터디: All that’s right about English Learning in Korea

Just found out about this really amazing gathering that’s popped up in Shinchon. It’s called 다국어 스터디 (Multi-lingual Study Group), and it’s a group of incredibly motivated individuals who gather together every Friday night to practice languages that they are learning. How does it work? You stand up in front of the group and give a speech for 2 minutes straight in a language that you are learning. No stopping, no scripts. 

No teacher, either. Everyone gives feedback on everyone else’s speech, and the whole thing is very open-ended, free flow. seems to me like a natural extension of what originated with chatrooms and expanded with sites like skype and livemocha. It’s not web 2.0, it’s language 2.0. Vygotsky would be so proud. And I’m loving that this is happening in Korea. Makes sense that the best trends in language learning would be starting on the minjung level. Keep up the good work!

Video of 현우씨, my new idol, explaining the whole concept here.