"Paradigm Shift Needed from CSAT-Focused Multiple-Choice Education" [How Is Your Dream Doing?]

Seon Kim Comparative Education Scholar

Education experts view the academic achievement gap not as a result of individual ability or lack of effort. Rather, they see it as being more heavily influenced by factors such as parents' economic status, educational background, and residential area. This tendency to be passed down through generations becomes even stronger over time. The standardized college entrance system fails to accurately measure each student's actual abilities. Since education serves as a gateway connected to economic capabilities like employment and entrepreneurship, comprehensive social improvement is necessary.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] "Our country has an unusually high reliance on multiple-choice exam evaluations. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will completely transform social structures and labor markets, but there is concern whether children can be prepared to adapt to this changed society through a system based solely on multiple-choice exams."

Comparative education scholar Kim Seon said, "The multiple-choice exam system was introduced for rapid economic growth, but even now, our country maintains that mechanism as is." He pointed out that although the paradigm has changed, increasing the number of students admitted through regular admissions is falling behind global trends. He added, "The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is a system where everything is decided by a single evaluation. For some children, it is a matter of life and death, so in a way, it is like gambling," emphasizing, "We should not expose our children to such a dangerous environment carelessly nor force them into it."

Seon Kim, Educational Scholar.
Ph.D. in Education, University of Oxford, UK
Experience: Research Professor, Institute for Unification and Peace Studies, Seoul National University (2017?2018); Associate Research Fellow, Korea Educational Development Institute (2018?2019); Visiting Research Fellow, Veterans Education Research Institute (2020)
Publications: Numerous papers on educational reform and unification peace education, including The Difference in Education, Re-Start: Education Beginning Again, The Conceptual History of World Peace, and The Formation and Development of Soviet-Style Universities

Ultimately, the conclusion is that the educational paradigm must change. He said, "Although the number of elementary school students has decreased, the system of memorizing the same knowledge in square classrooms remains similar," adding, "We are no longer in an era of division of labor but in an era of convergence and fusion, where we must create things that have never existed before." Specifically, he argued that education and evaluation should shift from being multiple-choice oriented to subjective formats. Furthermore, he explained, "Subjective education focuses on the process and awards partial credit even if the final answer is not reached," and "It emphasizes logical thinking where answers may all be different, rather than rote memorization of specific answers."

To ensure fairness in subjective evaluation, he suggested adopting the British system. Education scholar Kim explained, "In the UK, history exams are written as essays," and "They are all scanned and sent to a national grading institution."