[Editorial] Admission to College No Longer Merit-Based?

To continue Korea’s national advancement, it is vital to foster a pool of qualified students and to maintain a competition-based educational system. It seems rational and reasonable that universities are all trying to select students with excellent credentials, and that high school students are vying against each other for admission to prestigious schools. But this logic does not seem to be convincing to the Roh administration. In fact, the administration seems to consider “competition theory” a social evil.

Yesterday, the prime minister convened a national education team to coerce Korean universities into adopting its guidelines. Under the guidelines, the schools will have to made admissions decisions based on the GPAs, which have already lost their value as a criterion.

But the threat did not stop there. The Roh administration is threatening to cut off all financial support and subsidies to any school that refuses. The subsidies are our tax money. It has nothing to do with admissions policies. Even the military regimes did not push them that much.

According to research conducted by a government agency, GPA performance did not match up to Korean SAT performance in 7.5 students out of 10. For example, 1st grade GPA earners ranked only in the 7th class on the Korean SAT. On the other hand, students in 3rd or 4th GPA category from prestigious high schools ranked in the first SAT grade. The guidelines ignore the differences in academic performance among high school students, and constitute a form of reverse discrimination against students with excellent academic capabilities. We have never heard of any country pushing ahead with this type of an educational policy.

If a prestigious university, as directed by the Roh administration, has to pick a student using GPA as 50% of the admissions criteria, the school is left with no room for consideration of other factors. The annual Korean SAT is just 5 months away. It is not the universities or students, but the government itself that is causing educational chaos and headaches.

The stress on GPA has created a divide among students. They are not helping their classmates in school. The government has allowed special high schools such as science high schools and foreign language high schools to make up for the shortcomings caused by the “competition-free” educational policy, however. What benefits can we hope to receive from a policy that blocks universities from choosing students using a merit-based system? Due to the pressure to use a GPA-based admission procedure, students from special schools keep dropping out to go to good schools.

On one hand, the Roh administration is pressuring honor students down into lower-ranking universities. On the other hand, it is emphasizing the importance of the contributions smart students make to the nation. What a paradox. This is neither justice, nor equality. We understand the agony of high school seniors and their parents, and pray for the innocent “victims.”