Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

Prep schools accused as SAT scandal broadens

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2916604

The intense competition for high scores on the U.S.-based Scholastic Aptitude Test is now pitting private academies against each other in court.

The Elite Educational Institute, a private SAT-prep institute in Gangnam, recently filed a complaint against �R� academy at the Seocho Police Precinct in southern Seoul for using Elite�s textbooks without authorization.

In addition, Elite institute said Wednesday that it is planning to submit a complaint against �S� academy at the Seocho precinct next Tuesday for copyright infringement.

�We have discovered that S made question books by changing the order of questions from our English composition book,� an executive at Elite said on condition of anonymity.

R has also been linked to the burgeoning SAT cheating scandal.

The school employed two lecturers surnamed Kim and Jang. Kim, 38, is currently under investigation for allegedly obtaining the SAT test and answer sheets from someone who took the exam in Bangkok. Jang, 36, was detained by police on Thursday for allegedly causing three undergraduates to steal mathematics and physics questions when they took SAT tests at a high school in Gyeonggi on Jan. 23. The undergraduates have also been indicted, without detention.

Several other private academies are saying there are more lecturers who also leaked test papers.

At the same time, questions about instructors� educational backgrounds are intensifying - and again, R is at the center of the allegations.

In the best-known case, Jeffrey Sohn, 38, a top SAT lecturer who was kidnapped and beaten by workers at R after he tried to leave it for another school last December, actually did not earn his doctorate degree at Columbia University in New York, according to Suseo police. Investigators said Sohn was simply a student at Columbia�s School of Continuing Education.

Sohn has been accused of leaking SAT questions and answers via e-mail and by uploading the material on the online cafe �Newsat� on the Korean portal Daum after taking the test on his own.

Suseo police have obtained a search warrant to go through Newsat�s records and Sohn�s e-mail.

With help from the Justice Ministry, the precinct has also banned Sohn from traveling overseas.

�We are probing into whether all the above lecturers collaborated with R to leak the test,� an officer, who asked not to be named, said.


By Song Ji-hye, Lee Min-yong [[email protected]]

[wylies99]

[Dixon]

Why would police in a free country investigate cheating on an exam?

[madoka]

When the LSAT was compromised about 10 years ago, LSAC came down hard on the perp. They sued some USC college kid for $500,000, not because he had that kind of money, but to make a lesson of him - you do not screw with their test.

The College Board needs to take similar action against the hagwons and individuals in question.

[wylies99]

[Mr. Pink]

I don't see how the SAT and the leaking of tests in KOREA is illegal.

What I do see is that someone doesn't like the elitism that the SAT represents or the money that parents pay for SAT prep hawgwons, and thus they are going down the path of the courts.

I would love to know what the actual charges are. Without proof, how can they convict these guys? It seems like the prosecution just wants to make life hard for them for awhile.

Typical.

[Dixon]

[wylies99]

Uh, which law school did you attend?

Yeah, being in a free country doesn't mean "anything goes."

These test scores go to universities and will be used for admissions and scolarships.

Fraud is definitely a crime when the cheating is for financial gain- and the police are INVESTIGATING to see if any crimes have been commited. These "teachers", hagwons, and the students are all in on the fraud and all are doing it for financial gain. Who's being defrauded? The test givers and the universities that would have received the scores.
Will it end in a civil court? Maybe, and that will involve the results of the investigation.

[wylies99]

[Mr. Pink]

I didn't go to law school, but it seems to me if the fraud being committed is against the College Board, shouldn't it be the College Board who is initiating charges and not the prosecutors? Perhaps I am thinking of civil law.

[crossmr]

[Otus]

Cheating aside; submitting official documents as official documents, knowing them to be false or inaccurate is a fraudulant activity. Sohn is also being accused of falsely claiming to have a PhD from Columbia - although perhaps as a K national he may not have had to submit that on an official record.

Why do so many Koreans (and even some foreigners working in Korea) remain so indifferent to this? If or when such documents got submitted in a court, wouldn't it screw with the entire grounds of legal evidence? The roof must come crashing down on this around here some time in the future.

[wylies99]

It's NOT a "victimless" crime. I've already brought up the fact that it was all done to cheat universities and test givers.

Need another victim? What about honest Korean students?

[wylies99]

I'm NOT trying to flame anyone or win "Dave's points", but this is a BIG DEAL in the hagwon industry and should NOT be excused as a petty crime.