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[wylies99]

Only 2 in 10 Admitted to High School of Choice

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/02/117_60722.html

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

About 22 percent of middle school seniors in Seoul have been enrolled at their preferred high schools.

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced Thursday a total of 86,852 high school hopefuls applied for schools and 3,199 students, some 22 percent of the total, have been admitted to their preferred schools.

Previously high schools, except for specialized schools, had recruited students according to their place of residence and through a lottery.

The city education authorities introduced a new admission system last year, to encourage them to develop their education environment with better students.

Under the system, students can apply to a maximum of four high schools - two from anywhere across the city and two within their residence district.

The schools select 20 percent of their admission quota from the total pool of applicants and admit another 40 percent from students in the districts each school belongs to.

For the remaining admission quota, schools accept students who failed to advance to any of the schools they applied to.

For the second session, which assigns schools to 12,700 students who applied to preferred schools within their residence districts, 4,744 middle school seniors, 37.4 percent of the total, were admitted.

"I believe the new admissions system will encourage schools to make more efforts to develop and provide custom-tailored education," said Han Ik-seob, an official of the education authorities.

In the meantime, about 27 percent of the students selected high schools for special curricula they offered, according to a survey by the education office on 1,100 students across the city.

Convenient commuting came next at 19.6 percent and 18.2 percent considered the number of graduates from each school who advanced to prestigious universities.

Korea is undergoing a shift in focus in its education system from equality to competitiveness under the current conservative Lee Myung-bak government.Giving middle school seniors the choice of high schools they want to attend is one of key initiatives.

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[Gaber]

[wylies99]

Maybe, just maybe, because their Russian/Nigerian hagwon "teachers" gave them 100% on the last test, many students think they qualify for the best Englishee language schools. It's funny, but being able to say "Imfinehowaboutyou?" and "itssunnytoday" aren't enough to qualify.

[richardlang]

Serious part: Nigerian hagwon teachers? Russian hagwon teachers? How can they teach here if they can't get a teaching visa?

Non-serious part: Are Korean students going overseas to Nigeria for English immersion?

[wylies99]