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

 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.

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.

It’s a welcome change, and it’s hard to argue that we won’t see a jump in the quality of professors, and in turn, the quality of universities. Everyone (from USA, Canada, everyone) has had that frustrating experience with a professor who has simply given up their students because they are tenured and know that they can’t get fired. It’s refreshing then, to see universities in Korea paying more attention to performance.  It’s sad for current professors who were living the good life and are now worried about their jobs. You can’t blame them for simply conforming to a system that rewarded them for mediocrity. Also, some bring up the point that the standards are being implemented too quickly and too aggressively–seems like the next few years are going to be a real blood bath as the “old generation” of under-performing professors are weeded out and replaced by rising stars.

Then again, hopefully it will mean we have moments like this:

Source: Chosun Ilbo

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.

Policy-wise, this is another win for the right-wing agenda, which is pushing for more competition among students (and schools) in order to reform education. Of course, it also means polarization among schools, as the top students will all head to the top schools, leaving schools everywhere else to pick up the scraps. Then again, we’re only talking about the top 20% of applicants that have the chance to apply to any school, and from what I can find, it doesn’t even look like they’re guarateed a spot in the schools they apply to. So we won’t be seeing a massive migration south.

Also, since 40% of applicants are staying within the juridiction of their local educational office, it may mean that more high schools have a cahnce to draw talented students and become ”local powerhouses” that may take the spotlight off Gangnam. And while I’m not really a fan of more competition among students, I don’t think competition among schools is so bad. This may lead to more recognition for non-Gangnam schools that can put up good numbers. Of course the fact that “putting up good numbers” becomes the goal is a larger promblem in of itself…but that’s an issue for another post (or another blog, for that matter).

Then again, all of this policy is going to change when MB’s presidential term is up, so maybe we shouldn’t bother speculating too much.

Source: 헤럴드 경제

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:

-The presense of hakwons were not seen to be an influential variable in test scores. However, areas with special high schools (특목고) or magnet schools did show higher than average scores.

-The two high schools with the top scores are both boarding schools outside of Seoul: Jangseong High(장성고)  in North Jeolla Province and Geochang High (거창고) in South Gyeongsang Province. This has drawn a storm of attention to boarding schools–and critics are noting that a significant portion of students at these schools are migrants from other regions. This really brings the issue of educational inequality into focus–both of these schools are located in some of the lowest-scoring regions in the country. Measures are already being taken to regulate the number of transfer students coming to these schools.

-Local districts with consistently high performance over the past five years include two in Pusan (Haeundae and Yeonjae), Suseong-gu in Daegu and the city of Gwacheon in Gyeongi Province. Seou’s Gangnam and Seocho districts are on this list as well.

While people are voicing concerns that making such results public will only increase the frenzy over competition in education, I think it’s helpful to have this information made public. After all, you can’t address the problem of equality among schools unless you actually know which schools are performing poorly and which are performing well–These results, for instance, will allow funding to be provided to the schools that need it most. Looks to me like a good step towards improving schools and bringing more accountability to the system.

More info(in Korean) here and here. Full results available from KICE.

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.   

The MOE also announced today that 1,380 schools will be provided with extra funding to help boost academic performance in the five key subject areas (Korean, English, Math, Science, and Social Studies). These “학력 향상 중점학교” will each receive anywhere from 50mil to 100 mil won to fund new programs.

From Yonhap News:

(서울=연합뉴스) 금융팀= 사교육비 양극화가 갈수록 심각한 것으로 나타났다. 사교육비의 양극화는 빈부 격차를 확대한다는 점에서 심각한 사회문제가 될 수있다.

13일 한국은행과 통계청에 따르면 지난해 사교육비 지출은 18조7천230억 원으로 전년보다 1조3천295억 원이 증가했다. 가구당으로는 112만2천원에 달한다. 2000년의 6조1천620억 원에서 8년 만에 3배로 늘었다.

사교육비는 2001년 8조117억 원, 2002년 9조3천258억 원, 2003년 11조6천918억 원, 2004년 12조8천559억 원, 2005년 13조7천517억 원, 2006년 15조6천571억 원 등으로 급증세를 이어오고 있다.

그러나 사교육비 지출은 고소득층에 집중되고 있다. 통계청이 전국가구의 기타교육비를 소득계층 1∼5분위별로 파악한 결과, 소득수준 상위 20%에 해당되는 5분위는 월평균 32만1천253원으로 소득수준 하위 20%인 1분위의 4만6천240원에 비해 6.9배나 됐다. 이 배율은 전년의 5.9배에 비해 크게 확대됐다.

연도별로 기타교육비의 배율은 2003년 5.3배, 2004년 5.8배, 2005년 5.9배, 2006년 6.6배, 2007년 5.9배 등이었다.

지난해 소득분위별 기타교육비 지출액은 2분위 10만4천485원, 3분위 15만8천922원, 4분위 22만7천311원이었다.

기타교육비는 유치원생.초중고생.재수생.대학생 등의 입시및 보수학원비, 해외연수비 등 국내 정규교육과정 납입금을 제외한 사교육비를 말한다.

지난해 서적및 인쇄물에 대한 지출액은 5분위가 월평균 2만294원으로 1분위의 3천120원에 비해 6.5배로 계산됐다. 연도별로는 2003년 4.8배, 2004년 4.6배, 2005년 4.7배, 2006년 5.1배 등으로 계속 확대되고 있다.

학력 차이에 따른 소득격차는 더욱 확대되고 있는 것으로 나타났다.

지난해 2인 이상 도시근로자가구 중 대학교를 졸업한 가구주의 월평균 근로소득은 364만1천원으로 2007년의 343만1천원보다 21만 원(6.11%) 증가했다.

같은 기간 고등학교 졸업 가구주의 월평균 근로소득은 225만8천원에서 233만5천원으로 7만7천원(3.41%) 늘었나는데 그쳤다.

이에 따라 대졸 가구주의 근로소득은 고졸의 1.56배로 관련 통계를 집계한 2003년 이후 가장 높은 수준을 기록했다.

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.

Which raises the question: what’s the difference between after school programs and hakwons? Well, it’s getting harder to tell the difference, which is why many teachers groups have started to voice their concerns. Just because classes are happening in school classrooms doesn’t mean that we should be any less concerned about under-qualified teachers, poor management, and the generall fishiness of edu-business. Why are these business so eager to get in on this game if the students are paying so much less? Well, the government picks up the rest of the tab, so they’re making nearly as much as they would in the traditional hakwon model. Plus, they get government handouts, less competition, and are affiliated with public schools.  Hot dang, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a business model!

Does this mean hakwons as we know them will dissapear and repackage themselves as after school programs? Well, for now, it looks like this is one of the only tools we have to provide quality education (in relative terms of course!) in public schools, even it is really is just hakwons in disguise. It does seem like a good way to harness the resources and knowhow of private education (greed always produces innovation, to be sure) in a way that’s can be monitored and regulated if need-be. We’ll have to see where this goes.

Related article here.

(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. 

 Such a system supports Korea’s best and brightest students, who get access to world-class educations, but the concern is that it leaves everyone else in the dust. Of more concern is that fact that most of the best and brightest just happen to come from Gangnam, where parents can send their students to the best hakwons and afford pricey private tutors.

With the new Gyeongi superintendent, expect to see a push back in the other direction: equal opportunities for all students by fighting the educational dive between the haves and have nots. Maybe we’ll see a big crackdown on hakwons and some interesting initiatives to improve public school teaching. I’m kind of torn on this issue: it breaks my heart to see the fat cats keep getting fatter, but schools are already pretty mediocre as it is, and a decade of “equal opportunity” educational policy before the 2MB era didn’t exactly produce a crop of superstars. We’ll have to see what happens.

Full story (in Korean) here.

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.