대학 입시에 대한 성찰

University Admission Process: Student Selection by University or University Selection by Student

Too much competition in the university entrance examination in Korea is disturbing a normal educational system. In my opinion, the reason for the irrational competition is rooted not only in the competition to secure better future through higher education but also the lack of fairness and greed of the individual. The government has been trying to ease the situation without any success. Not only that the government policy is too much lean toward the objectiveness of an entrance examination test that the test has lost its true meaning to select an adequate candidate. It is only serving a purpose of cutting out the number of applicants according to the quota. Given the situation, students begin to prepare for the university entrance examination as early as 4th grade in elementary school. They go to private learning centers to prepare for the test to enter learn-center-for-gifted-students and science or special purpose high schools. Too much stress, too much brain squeezing from the early age, loss of self-study ability and dependence on one s parents are harming and destroying the students. Their performance at the early age may look great, but sadly it is not their real talent but merely a result of hard training and obedience. To remedy the situation and turn the education to the right track, we urgently need an action. We must remove the fixed rank among similar-looking universities without its own character and make each university concentrate on its own specialty area. And these universities must be distributed uniformly over the country. In this way, students can have equally the right to select a school as much as the university has a right to select students under the present situation. The selection process is also important in that it characterize the subjects and contents of the secondary school teaching. Humanity education is important, but we must not forget that the scholastic ability is most important in school teaching. I propose that we must quit drawing a line according to the student s test score but we must have every student with required scholastic ability pass the first screen and then test their reading and writing ability for the final screening.