Mixed Response between Gangnam and Non-Gangnam areas

As major top private universities in Korea decide to apply the high school ranking system in their admissions, teachers and parents have showed largely different responses depending on the region where they live.

While high schools in the Gangnam area, including special purpose high schools, said, “It is natural to admit differences in regional academic performances,” schools in other areas criticized it, saying, “Universities, which should be sanctuaries of learning, are encouraging regional discriminations.”

“The Difference Should Be Taken into Consideration”—

A teacher at a senior high school attached to the College of Education Dankook University pointed, “The equalization policy was introduced under the condition that there was no difference in academic performances between high schools, but the reality is very different. Asking universities not to consider academic performance gaps among high schools is the same as punishing a person for not observing a law when the law is not reasonable and therefore not possible to abide by.”

Cho Tae-shik, vice principal at Seoul Foreign Language High School, claimed, “There is no practical method in the current system to evaluate the top level GPA students amounting to 24,000. Not recognizing different academic performance levels by schools is giving unfair disadvantages to advanced students.”

A parent with a second-grade high school student, identified by his family name, Lee (Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul), 45, said, “It should be left completely to the universities’ discretion what kind of criteria they apply in their student selection and how to educate them, as the result is their responsibility.”

“High School Ranking is Regional Discrimination”—

Those living in Gangbuk and other areas showed anger and stupefaction, saying, “Universities are discriminating students by the regions they reside and depriving them of the opportunity to learn. This is something that should not happen.”

A teacher identified as his family name, Lee, 40, in a high school “Y” in Gangbuk, Seoul, said, “Top private universities are promoting regional discriminations violating the government’s rule for equalization of education. It is not fair if a student cannot enter a top university only because he lives in a certain area, no matter how hard he studies.”

A parent identified as his family name Chung, 50, has a son in the third grade in a high school in Gangbuk, said, “My son wanted to enter Yonsei University through a special admission. Now I am heartbroken that I am not rich enough to send my hardworking son to a school in Gangnam.”

Na-Yeon Lee larosa@donga.com