Korean Job Discussion Forums

garykasparov · Joined: 27 May 2007

1> http://www.koreaherald.com/
2> Editorial/Op-Ed
3> [EDITORIAL] Suffering students

Suffering students

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education disqualified 57 students who passed the Gimpo Foreign Language High School admissions exam because they attended a cram school which had paid a school official to get some of the exam questions before the test day. Forty-four parents of the affected students have taken the case to court. Now, ways must be found to save the innocent victims from having to suffer unjustly.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education disqualified all 57 students who attended the cram school, without investigating which ones were on the bus on the morning of the exam, and who actually looked at the questions; students were not told that those questions would be on the exam, and some ignored them. The officials, rather conveniently, chose to disqualify all 57 students just because they attended the cram school involved in the scandal. Apparently, the notion that one is innocent until proven guilty is not known to the officials who made a decision which has gravely affected the lives of the 57 students.

While the students have been penalized indiscriminately, the actual offenders in the case have not been dealt with sternly. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education cancelled the registration of the cram school involved. This measure is largely insufficient, since the owner can re-start operations at the same location by merely changing the name of the cram school.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education has said that a re-exam will take place on Dec. 20 for those who failed the original one. However, whether that exam will actually take place is unclear. The 44 parents have asked the court to disallow a re-exam. The court has said that it will reach a decision before Dec. 20. In the meantime, it is again the students who suffer as they prepare for a re-exam that may or may not take place. Students should not have to pay the price for a scandal caused by the greed of grownups.

2007.11.26

seoulshock · Joined: 12 Jul 2005

isn't that what cram courses are for? even when i got my securities license we had cram courses that -- didn't have the actual NASD questions, but were close enough... just change the name of the hypothetical stock symbol or # of shares, whatever...