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When asked by reporters what he thought of the situation facing Korea, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee said it is getting worse. Education is too uniform, he added, and we should educate our children according to the needs of the 21st century and produce talent by properly educating the gifted. He meant that in order to overcome Korea¡¯s predicament of being, as the catchword has it, ¡°sandwiched¡± between advanced Japan and rising China, creative talent must be nurtured to develop completely different ideas and imagination. But this is not possible under existing educational conditions.
Our country does not lack educational resources. 82 percent of all high school graduates go to universities. But Korea¡¯s educational system is being criticized as having failed. That¡¯s because an egalitarian educational policy is blocking gifted students from receiving special attention in order to become geniuses.
In March, Seoul National University administered a placement test for an advanced physics class, and only 37 out of 91 graduates from a science high school and a mere two out of 141 graduates from regular high schools passed it. It would seem only natural for education ministry officials to step up plans to establish more science high schools. But the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development continues to ignore requests by the Seoul, Gyeonggi and Daejeon offices of education to open high schools for gifted science students.
Countries around the world are putting their talented youngsters in extremely competitive environments to nurture the most gifted students. Thomas Jefferson Science High School in the United States has set up a class that teaches students how to make a satellite to put it into orbit. Japanese business conglomerates are seeking to nurture next-generation leaders and have invested 20 billion yen or about W150 billion (US$1=W928) to establish a high school in Nagoya that offers university-level classes. China plans to spend 10 billion yuan or about W1.2 trillion over the next five years to send 25,000 students on doctoral programs overseas.
From the president on down, Korea¡¯s education policy dictates, ¡°universities shouldn¡¯t think about choosing one gifted student out of a thousand, but one gifted student out of a hundred and teach them.¡± The government reorganized the college scholastic aptitude test to put a group of 24,000 students into one identical top-class ranking. Kids at a high school for gifted science students in Busan boast an average IQ of 145. Under current educational regulations, students at that school can receive lowest class rank, as we refuse to see academic differences between schools. Korea¡¯s educational policy is not interested in supporting gifted students, but in keeping potential talents from getting ahead.
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