Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gollum]

Is anyone else teaching at a high school here?

If you are, please weigh in. I'd like to chat about University entrance exams and how some students are excluded from needing to take a test because of the "point system." I'm not sure I understand it, and am looking for answers.

My school is a sort of test school with extra English and Chinese classes funded by the gov't. We have 3 waygook English teachers, and now a waygook Chinese teacher from China. Due to this, the 3rd graders (90% of which I don't teach) have smaller classes because some students take more English or Chinese, etc. Because of this smaller class size, it all adds up to a lower "point rank" of some kind.

The point system that Korea uses allows certain students entrance into University without taking the dreaded entrance test -- weighted entirely on class size vs. class rank. So if your class size is large, and you're a top student -- you score more points and more of your students will get a 'bye" into certain Universities when compared to other smaller schools.

If I understand it correctly, because our class numbers are divided 3 ways instead of 2 (with more elective English and Chinese classes for students to take), this system treats them as if they are from a much smaller school. Therefore, where we had over 100 students qualify to enter certain Universities without the test, we only have 4 this year. Even though our students this year are "smarter" than last year in testing, they aren't qualifying for the "bye" in large numbers.

Some parents and students are flaming mad. It is understandable, because once their student qualifies, they can blow off the rest of the school year.

They haven't said anything, but I wonder if this technicality beyond our control will cost us foreigners our jobs (salaries are paid, in part or whole, by Kyunngi Do).

It may all come down to what scores our students get on the entrance exam in December. If they're bad, even though they will have made a contract with me before, they might break the contract.

Maybe someone can explain this system better for me. If what i'm hearing is true, I'd like to eek out as much information from my employer before they stall their way out of talking to us -- possibly keeping me from picking up a good job for next year.

[fidel]

I work at a High School in Kangnam and have never came across the system you have been talking about, my previous school never had this sytem either. Frankly I don't see how it would work, as some schools are academically inferior to others. The top student in one school, may only rank in the top 50% in another. Also some wealthier schools try to limit the class numbers to manageable numbers. If this system were true which parent in their right mind would move to Kangnam and thus put their children at a disadvantage against better students and lower class sizes.

Class ranking is taken into consideration by the universities, however they take school grades with a grain of salt as they know ALL schools artificially inflate their student grades (at my current school the average has to be 75% but at my previous school the minimum was 85%). Have you noticed that no-one actually fails to graduate from high school even if they spent the last 3 years sleeping and know jack. High minimum grades are par the course and universities have few reasons or inclinations accept students based solely on their internal exam grades. Talk about a corruption incentive.

However I do have one 2nd grade student entering Seoul National next year based solely on his maths Genius where he earned the silver medal at the international maths olyimpiad held in Athens before the olympics this year.

[Gollum]

I'm in Kyunggi-do... could that be the difference?

Honestly, it sounds weird to me too, but apparently there is some fact behind it. I don't understand it myself, so that's why I posted about it.

I keep wondering if somehow this has something to do with the news photo I saw of a North-Seoul teacher fighting with school officials about lowering something about the worthyness of an education received anywhere other than South of the Han. I wish I understood more of what that one was about. I asked a coworker what the photo was about, and only got a quick blurb about something to that effect.

Perhaps this is the key to what doesn't make sense for you. Perhaps certain areas are weighted higher, too -- just because of their location?

On the flip-side, I had a discussion about this situation with a student. She was well-aware of "it" (whatever that is) but said that our school has tons of middle-school students clamoring to get into our school next year because we are the sole school in the area with 3 Waygook foreigner teachers and now a full-blooded Waygook Chinese teacher. Maybe we don't have to worry about our jobs just yet.

Hopefully our kids will do well on the college entrance test.

I'll keep asking questions and let you know what I hear.