The Korea Herald

Seoul to pilot test-free semester in September

May 28, 2013

All middle school students will be allowed to spend a semester without tests and assessment starting in 2016, the Education Ministry announced Tuesday.The “free-learning semester,” one of President Park Geun-hye’s pledges, is designed to ease the burden of school testing and help students focus on career planning. The ministry will test-run the program in September in 42 middle schools, providing each school with a 30 million won ($26,600) subsidy. It will pick 40 additional schools next year.Th
High school students don‘t sleep enough: survey

May 28, 2013

South Korea’s high school students sleep as little as five hours a day, according to research data released by Gyeonggi Educational Research Institute on Monday.A GERI survey attempted to identify the average sleeping hours of Gyeonggi Province students through data gathered from 11,834 students from 212 elementary, middle and high schools in the province.According to the data, more than 80 percent of high school students wake up before 7:00 a.m. and sleep on average 5-7 hours a day. Most high s
Seoul education office steps up fight against U.S. SAT cheaters

May 26, 2013

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to permanently remove hagwon operators from the industry when they are found to have leaked U.S. Scholastic Aptitude Test questions, officials said Sunday.The measures come as the public prosecutors investigate allegations that 12 local hagwon, or private institutions leaked SAT questions.The College Board, which organizes the U.S. university entrance examination, canceled the test scheduled to take place in Korea in May. In addition, the board has pr
Think tank creates school for broader thinking

May 22, 2013

Asan Academy provides interdisciplinary program to boost elite students’ critical thinking, broaden their knowledge
Ministry to boost funds for regional universities

May 22, 2013

The Ministry of Education said Wednesday that it planned to increase financial support for universities to 262 billion won ($236.6 million) this year, up 11.5 percent from a year ago.Of that, 143.7 billion won, up nearly 16 percent a year ago, will be allocated to schools outside of Seoul, the ministry said.Since 2010, the ministry has selected universities under the Advancement of College Education program to urge schools to focus more on effective teaching, allotting 3 billion won in annual st
Should we let wunderkinds drop out of high school?

May 22, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― It’s one thing to say tech geniuses don’t need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college.But now we’ve got David Karp, who doesn’t even have a high school diploma. Karp, 26, founded Tumblr, the online blogging forum, and sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. U.S. high school students are roughly between the ages of 14 and 18. Which raises the question: When is it OK for a wunderkind to drop out of school?Some folks in Silicon Valley an
Education woes seen as Achilles‘ heel of Brazil

May 16, 2013

Education woes seen as Achilles‘ heel of BrazilSEROPEDICA, Brazil (AP) _ There‘s a storage room just off a university lab that gives students more experience than many can handle: Skinned pigs and cats, disembodied cow livers, intestines, brains and the other unidentifiable detritus of years’ worth of dissections fill a dozen wading pool-sized vats to the brim.With the veterinary department‘s incinerator long on the fritz, the stomach-turning, formaldehyde-drenched mass of animal carcasses and o
Why educational reforms fail easily

May 15, 2013

In stark contrast with the current problems in math and science classrooms in the U.S., in which students struggle and are unmotivated to work hard, some believe that Korean students’ high achievements in international math competitions have the potential to guide reform efforts in the U.S. This sentiment was well captured in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he lauded South Korea for the active role parents and teachers play in children’s education.The flip side of t
TEE slowly gains foothold in Korea

May 15, 2013

Teachers believe Teaching English in English can work with stronger reform
Learning how to live together

May 15, 2013

Sungmisan School creates village for co-financing and co-parenting in Seoul
Taehwa International School teaches all subjects in English to foster elites

May 12, 2013

International schools are booming in Korea as more parents and students seek education in English to face the competitive global environment.Located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the Taehwa International School is one of the leading schools that is attracting a growing number of students with its strong English-learning environment.The school announced in particular that this year all eight seniors had been admitted to universities in the U.S., including the University of California, and the Uni
New state English test makes debut Saturday

May 10, 2013

The National English Ability Test, a state-administered English proficiency exam, is taking place for the first time on Saturday.The Ministry of Education said the NEAT Level 1 test is taking place on Saturday at 28 venues around the country.The NEAT is designed to test four skills, reading, listening, speaking and writing, through an Internet-based test, divided into three levels―Level 2 test for academic English and Level 3 for general English for students and an additional Level 1 test for ad
English teacher training program faces resistance

May 8, 2013

Teaching English in English program faces criticism for low participation, murky evaluations
History of TEE program

May 8, 2013

The creation of the TEE program was spurred by former President Lee Myung-bak, who believed national English competence was vital to the globalization and economic prosperity of his country.In the mid-2000s, Koreans had among the lowest TOEFL scores in the world, despite one of the highest rates of private spending on English education ― about triple that of Japan, according to Samsung Economic Research Institute.Leaders faced calls to improve the English communication competence of teachers who
Officials to investigate hagwon over SAT cheating

May 7, 2013

Seoul education authorities are launching a sweeping investigation into test-prep schools after the Scholastic Aptitude Test was canceled last week due to an alleged leak of questions.The organizer called off the U.S. college admission exam for Koreans scheduled Sunday amid growing concerns that a number of private institutes had obtained the exam questions illegally.The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would investigate more than 60 SAT preparation institutes in the city, particul