Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

04-02-2009 17:55

Excluding Disabled Students From Test Taking Ignites Dispute
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/117_42468.html

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Criticism is mounting on schools that did not allow disabled students from taking Tuesday's standardized state-run exam.

Parents groups claimed the schools discriminated against the children, whose school records were lower than ordinary students on average, in order to raise the schools' ranking.

Officials of an elementary school in southern Seoul earlier decided that four mentally and physically disabled children should not take the test, which a parent reported anonymously to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, claiming it was discrimination.

School officials said they did so because they were concerned that students were likely to have difficulty in taking the test due to the long hours. The school said a day before the test that it would allow students to take the exam if the students' parents wished, but that the parents declined.

At another primary school in Seoul, two out of the school's four handicapped students took the test, but the school did not include their scores among its official test results.

As for criticism that the school attempted to reduce the number of students with low scores, it said that each school principal is allowed to decide whether to include grades of children receiving ``special education'' in the school's total records.

In Gwangju, the city's education office sent schools an official document in which it ordered each school to decide whether to have students in special education classes take the exam. Some civic groups are claiming that the education office's direction itself was also discrimination against the disabled.

At an elementary school where disabled and non-disabled students receive the same lessons, teachers did not distribute the test paper to the former, and those students had to sit idly by while other children took the exam.

Some 10 schools with separate classrooms for handicapped children gave them regular lessons instead of the test.

A civic association for educational rights for the disabled in Gwangju asked in a statement, ``Can a school be an educational venue if it excludes disabled students from a test in order to raise its ranking?'' and continued ``The educational authorities are encouraging discrimination against the disabled.''

The group said it is absurd to ban disabled students, who were willing to take the test, from doing so, while some 1,400 students opposing the uniform exam boycotted the test and went on field trips nationwide. ``The authorities said the test was designed to determine students' scholastic levels and teach them according to it. So, excluding disabled students is against the purpose of the exam,'' the association said.

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[jvalmer]

Don't see a problem with this.
Also don't get why so many teacher's oppose this assessment testing? How else is the government going to know how well students are learning. Although, it would be better if the testing were more anonymous though.

[Straphanger]

[Faunaki]

Koreans should ask themselves just what the point of having mentally handicapped students in the classroom without a teacher's aid really does? From what I've noticed, the kids have no idea what is going on and they get picked on and bullied by everyone else. Incredible!

[Goku]

While it's unfair,

I don't think there is any reason to have mentally special children take national tests. As a rough metaphor, we shouldn't force parapelgics to take swimming tests.

On principles alone, yea sure maybe that would be wonderful to award them the same kind of fairness as everyone else. But in this case, the ends outweight the means.

The whole point of a national test is so parents and government can evaluate and understand the education based on the schools they go to. Mentally special students will drag the average down too much and skew the data. If a school produces many gifted children but also retains many mentally special children it would appear to be an average school. This inaccurate data would lead to uneducated decesions by the government and parents regarding that shcool.

Korean parents seemed to be wrapped up in having their mentally handipcapped children look "normal". It actually bothers me to the degree because they don't acommadate their children and to me it appears as only saving face for the parents. Parents who don't recogonize the needs of their children and want to give them the same life as everyone else don't realize that their children are incapable of living the same life as everyone else, we need to make special children's lives as happy and as comfortable as possible. We can't expect them to become working lawyers or government officals. Reality is reality.

Harsh view? No, but a mix of realistic and humanistic views.

[bassexpander]

My question would be:

What is the cut-off score for a child to be considered disabled?

If this question hasn't been addressed, then a pretty massive loophole needs to be closed before schools start discounting their lowest test scores in an effort to raise their overall class average.

[lifeinkorea]

If they can finish their homework on time, they get to take the test? Actually, that isn't a bad argument I think. If you allow students to take the test and only record completed tests, then you aren't discriminating.

You could use other factors to weed out students who simply write answers quickly and not really sincerely take it. If they are bad students to begin with, with lower scores, consideration about pay and comparing the ratios at the analysis stage could focus on the "modal" averages or just the one average if there are enough students.

This would allow all to take the test but not pool everyone together when making decisions.

[prideofidaho]

Had anybody else been told by their colleagues in PS about what happens to teachers who refuse to partake in the standard tests? My co said half a dozen teachers were fired last round (in late Fall), but I've no reason to believe that's anything but hearsay.

In reality, it's within everyone's (schools, teachers, parents, students) best interest to get a high score on these tests. I've heard various explanations for why the tests happen, but the bottom line is that last year when our school ranked lowest for 3rd grade Elementary in our area, the 3rd grade homeroom teachers were none too happy. Probably copped a patronising bitch-out from our Principal.

[Goku]

[Smee]

Yes, teachers were fired for refusing to participate in the tests and for manipulating the results by encouraging cheating or taking field trips. There have been routine protests outsisde of schools and candlelight vigils around the country.

The test on the 31st was a do-over from December. It had to be done-over because some school districts fudged the results.

[prideofidaho]

smee,

thanks. the second link has some pretty hairy pictures. yikes.

[nate2008]

I think there are many foreigners who don't quite understand the implications of these exams. To put it frankly, these exams are AWFUL for education in Korea because of the practical consequences of them. Here's what happens:

1)Schools take these exams, and the scores are reported and available publicly to anyone who wants them. Namely, parents.
2) Before a child enters a new school, the parents search for the best schools in their area to send their child to.
3) Eventually, the schools in any given area which are recognized as the "best" (in other words, have the highest test scores) get flooded with applications, and they must institute a system of only taking the "best" of the applicants (in other words, the students with the highest grades.)
4) Children not accepted to these "better" schools get sent to the "lower" schools.
5) Now that an even distribution of intelligence and talent has been effectively morphed into the best students going to the best schools and worst students going to the worst schools, Korea has successfully instituted a caste system.

Hopefully now you can see why people are willing to lose their jobs to protest this system. Frankly, I don't blame these schools one bit for not reporting their handicapped students' scores. They want to make their school as appealing as possible. It's not a flaw in the schools, its a flaw in the educational system.

[bassexpander]

Nate, it's not the schools that get to choose the students. It's the local education office, from what I've heard. Students can only preference schools.

[Xuanzang]

[Milwaukiedave]

I have no problem with them excluding the disabled kids from testing though Bassexpander and Goku make good points about what degree of disabilities should be excluded. Those with mild disabilities shouldn't be included, the more serious ones should as they wouldn't be able to sit there and function taking a test. The problem as some have pointed out is where that line would be drawn and who would draw it.