Transparent Schools

“Which high schools send more students to colleges among J, H, and K high schools?”

“I am to enter Y high school this year. How many students from Y got admitted to Seoul National University since 2000?” These are questions commonly found on many Internet portals. Students are keen to learn which schools can provide them with better education, so that they can have better hopes for their own futures. “J is not as good as H or K,” and “I believe there were not many” were among the answers, but they are not entirely to be trusted. Although Korea is striving to achieve transparency in other sectors, school’s academic performance records are still kept secret.

Last year, a group advocating liberal education reform and others filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development claiming the ministry should make public the results of academic achievement tests for primary and secondary school students, and college aptitude tests. The plaintiffs argued that it is undeniable that academic performance varies among schools, and revealing the gap is the first step toward addressing the issue. The court ruled for the unveiling of college aptitude test results last September, and then ordered the ministry to reveal academic achievement test data in an appeal last Friday.

“It is the constitutional duty of the government to provide its people with an equal education proportionate to its capabilities,” said the court of appeal in its ruling. “The revelation of the information is rendered necessary only if to improve the current situation, which is fraught with excessive competition, failure, and heavy dependence on private education.” That is, the public interest in the disclosure of school information outweighs the interest of government in hiding it. The shame of low-performing schools would be short-lived. Rather, they, as well as students, will benefit from government subsidies and a subsequent improvement in competitiveness.

Still, the ministry is obstinate in its intention to appeal to the highest court, saying, “Revealing school performance records will trigger even fiercer competition among schools and provinces, which will significantly undermine the very foundation of the public educational system.” What they actually fear, many suspect, is that they won’t be able to hide the failure of the “equal education” policy, which was doomed from the start, and the college admission system based on students’ academic achievements in school, which makes sense only when all schools are equally capable of giving good education. This government is not transparent or frank with its faults. Nor is it humble in front of the constitution and the rulings of the court.

Kim Sun-duck, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com