Crayfish, Crucian Carp, and Frogs Have Given Up on Their Gaechun-yong Dreams [How Is Your Dream Doing?]

Seoul High School Students' Private Education Expenses
Highest Monthly Average of 550,000 KRW in 2019
Top English Grade Rate Also Highest at 9.4%
Jeonnam and Gangwon at Bottom in Expenses and Scores

COVID-19 Worsens Educational Polarization
Science and Private Schools Hold Daily Classes
Motivation Drops in Local and Public Schools
Clear Gap Between Top and Bottom Ranks in General High Schools

On the 23rd, examinees are checking their 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test score reports at Muhak Girls' High School in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyunju Lee and Byungseon Gong] "No more dragons can rise from the small streams." This has long been a lament about the current state of our education system. The criticism that education has become a tool for the inheritance of social class is no longer new. On the contrary, complaints are growing that social inequality born from education is becoming more entrenched with each generation. There are even self-deprecating voices saying that crayfish, crucian carp, and frogs with nowhere to climb are learning helplessness.

It is now an "official" fact that learning ability is determined by parents' economic power. According to data compiled on the 14th by Assemblyman Kang Min-jung of the Open Democratic Party, based on materials submitted by the Ministry of Education, there is a clear correlation between the average monthly private education expenditure per high school student and students' academic performance.

Let's compare private education expenses with the English section of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which switched to absolute evaluation from the 2018 academic year. In Seoul, as of 2019, the average private education expenditure per high school student was 556,000 KRW, the highest in the country. The percentage of students scoring 90 or above (grade 1) in the 2020 CSAT English section was also the highest at 9.4%. Daegu, which spends 15,000 KRW more on private education than Busan, had a grade 1 English ratio of 6.7%, higher than Busan's 5.5%. Conversely, Jeonnam (197,000 KRW) and Gangwon (219,000 KRW), which are in the lower ranks of private education spending, had grade 1 ratios of only 3.6% each.

Education has become a symbol of polarization in our society. Park (19, Busan) said, "Friends attending special-purpose high schools or good private high schools, and students from wealthy families around me, say they go to Seoul every weekend to attend classes by famous instructors," adding, "Sometimes I feel like we are incompetent compared to Seoul students, which makes me feel defeated."

Provided by Kang Min-jung, Office of the Open Democratic Party

The COVID-19 pandemic created another gap. According to data from the Ministry of Education obtained by Assemblywoman Lee Eun-joo of the Justice Party, as of April last year, the average number of students per class was 16.4 in science high schools, while general high schools had 24.2 students per class, 1.5 times more. Among the 28 science high schools nationwide (including gifted schools), 18 resumed daily in-person classes for all grades after the first semester last year.

Some private elementary schools had an average of 4.2 school days per week, effectively attending school every day. This is more than twice the 1.9 days for general public elementary schools. Analysts say that the competition rate for private elementary schools in Seoul this year, which increased more than threefold compared to the previous year, is not unrelated to these educational conditions. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the admission competition rate for 38 private elementary schools in Seoul was 6.8 to 1.

A public high school teacher in Chungnam said, "In the first semester, we couldn't properly equip the facilities and only conducted classes through EBS online classes, which were just links and therefore formalities," adding, "The children were practically neglected." Kim (19, Gyeongnam) said, "After returning to school, I talked with friends and many said they couldn't continue studying after online classes ended," adding, "I thought friends living in Seoul were in a similar situation because they couldn't go to academies, but it turned out they were all receiving private tutoring at home."

The gap between top and bottom students in general high schools has also become more pronounced. Although the environment for remote classes was established from the second semester last year, it is reported that lower-ranked students experienced serious declines in motivation. A high school teacher in Seoul said, "Top students were able to prepare according to their own programs or plans, but the rest couldn't even write descriptive answers for internal exams." A middle school teacher said, "Recently, students seem to lack the internal motivation to study and appear lethargic."

Among Seoul National University students
applying for national scholarships,
53% come from households earning over 160 million KRW annually

Education policies minimizing income influence
and economic policies reducing class disparities are needed

The income distribution of students enrolled in top universities and departments is also notable. According to the Korea Student Aid Foundation, among 362 students enrolled in the College of Medicine at Seoul National University in the first semester of 2020 who applied for national scholarships, 192 students (53%) came from households in the top 10th income decile earning over 160 million KRW annually. Students from the 9th decile, earning over 110 million KRW annually, accounted for 15.5% (56 students). In contrast, only 12 students (3.3%) came from basic livelihood security or near-poverty households, with 6 students each.

Michael Sandel, a professor at Harvard University in the United States, pointed out in his book "The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?" that "the weaponization of college degrees shows how meritocracy can perpetrate tyranny." Many people inevitably sympathize with his view, which reflects the reality of our education system.

Assemblyman Kang Min-jung of the Open Democratic Party said, "To fundamentally block cheating by some privileged classes, a political plan is needed to sever the unequal power of material and cultural capital that creates cheating and unfair differences from the starting line to the finish line," adding, "It will only be possible by boldly breaking the vertical academic hierarchy and the ranking structure of high schools and universities, and achieving balanced educational development from regional disparities such as between the metropolitan area and provinces, and between Gangnam and non-Gangnam areas."

Professor Song Ki-chang of Sookmyung Women's University’s Department of Education suggested, "To restore educational fairness, policies providing a fair educational ladder that minimizes the influence of income, along with economic policies that reduce income disparities by class, are necessary," adding, "Support should begin from high school, before university tuition support."