[The Editors' Verdict] Will the High School Credit System Only Bring Confusion?

The government plans to implement the high school credit system, a campaign promise of President Moon Jae-in, starting next year when his term ends. Since this push is happening now amid attention on who the next president will be, there are doubts about the commitment to introducing the high school credit system. The high school credit system aims to help students design their career paths by allowing high school students to choose subjects like university students, which entails a revolutionary change in classrooms as students move between lecture rooms. The Moon administration, over the past four years, narrowed educational choices by abolishing autonomous private high schools (jasago) and prioritized teachers over students and parents, but now it is changing direction with the introduction of the high school credit system. However, no prior improvements to the education system have been made to implement the high school credit system. As a result, the general public is either unaware of or uninterested in the system; according to a recent survey by the Korea Educational Development Institute, the high school credit system ranked last among policies that should be prioritized.

Teachers strongly oppose the introduction of the high school credit system. Students and parents, who do not know how the system will be implemented, initially welcome it, but once they understand the details, they cannot help but feel uneasy. According to a recent survey by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, about 80% of students and parents support the introduction. In contrast, only slightly over 40% of teachers are in favor. A survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (Kyotong), targeting only high school teachers, shows that opposition to the high school credit system exceeds 70%, and a similar high opposition rate is found in a survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (Jeon-gyo-jo), which shares President Moon’s political stance. Looking at the positions of students and teachers on the high school credit system, students support it most because it enables education that helps design career paths, whereas teachers oppose it most because it makes education based on care and respect within the community difficult.

The high school credit system requires first-year high school students to take common subjects and from the second year onwards to take elective subjects. The grading system changes to A, B, C, etc., with the top 4% receiving grade 1, 4?11% grade 2, and so on. Common subjects are graded on a curve, while elective subjects are graded absolutely. However, absolute grading tends to lose its discriminative power in college admissions because, under pressure from parents, almost all students receive an A grade. This makes relative grading in the first year more important and intensifies private education. Without information on career paths and with a limited range of elective subjects, school classes tend to become inadequate from the second year onward. This is especially true if parents or teachers are unable to provide career advice. Moreover, since teacher qualifications are strict and salaries are determined by seniority, it is difficult to secure excellent teachers to teach elective subjects. Ultimately, classes from the second year of high school become superficial, and the number of students falling below basic academic standards increases.

If the next administration intends to implement the high school credit system, it must undertake comprehensive educational reforms. With rapid technological changes and significant disparities in employment and wages depending on whether one has the necessary skills, and with a shortage of highly skilled workers, the importance of education grows even more. In this regard, the introduction of the high school credit system should be part of educational reform that enhances the linkage between education and the labor market. If schools, which are isolated from societal changes, and the closed and rigid systems for hiring and paying teachers are not reformed, the high school credit system will produce worse results than not implementing it at all. Consistent provision of career information from at least elementary school and reform of the lax academic management that allowed unconditional graduation regardless of academic performance are also necessary. Furthermore, measures must be prepared to help students who fall below basic academic standards catch up with their studies.

Kim Tae-gi, Professor of Economics, Dankook University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.