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Absolute eval‍uation of English no fix for private tutoring

Absolute eval‍uation of English no fix for private tutoring

Posted December. 26, 2014 05:11,   

한국어

The Ministry of Education announced Thursday that it would adopt an absolute eval‍uation method for English from the nationwide university entrance exam in late 2017. How the grades will be divided will be determined next year.

In the current College Scholastic Ability Test, the English scores are marked in standard points earned, percentage and grades. Once the absolute eval‍uation method is adopted, students will get only their grades. Under the new system, it is theoretically possible for all students to get the highest grade.

The education ministry had worked on introducing the absolute eval‍uation system since President Park Geun-hye called for a “significant reduction in households’ burdens for private tutoring.” Since the time when Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea announced in August a plan to introduce an absolute eval‍uation system for English, many relevant parties have expressed concerns. In a survey of parents of high school students by Hanyang University, more than half of the teachers polled said the relative eval‍uation method should be maintained. In addition, 60 percent of the respondents raised question over the correlations between the absolute eval‍uation system and a reduction in private tutoring. They said that the new system might help reduce private tutoring in English but will cause the demand to shift to other key subjects such as mathematics and the Korean language.

The key part of the College Scholastic Ability Test, which began in 1994, is relative eval‍uation. However, the government has been undermining the framework. When all the other subjects are based on relative eval‍uation, the application of absolution eval‍uation only to English will not likely reduce the demand for private tutoring, while reducing the test’s assessment function. It would also prompt universities to attempt to administer their own English interviews and essay tests to select better students. If so, the system would be favorable to students who studied abroad or took English lessons at early ages and further fuel the demand for private tutoring.

On Thursday, the education ministry failed to give clear answers to the concerns raised, giving nothing but a basic answer that it will try to establish a university entrance examination system based on school records. It is not desirable for the education authorities to abandon its basic responsibility for enhancing students` scholastic achievements by clinging to the goal of reducing private tutoring. Be it absolute or relative eval‍uation, a test should be able to assess students’ performance.

English is an essential means of communication in the era of globalization where there are no borders for capital and labor. It is a short-sighted policy to attempt to address the private tutoring issue through a localized treatment without fundamentally changing the university entrance system. At a time when nurturing globally competitive talents is urgent, the last thing the government should do is to cause downward equalization of students’ academic levels.