Su Neung Day: The test that determines the future

Yesterday we were dismissed from class at 10am. Today there is no school. Why? Because I teach at a high school and today, November 16th, is the day when 580,000 Korean high school students will take the Su Neung Test at 971 high schools around the nation. High school in Korea consists of three grades, which are labeled 1, 2 and 3. Today all the third graders (equivalent to a senior in high school in the U.S.) will take the exam beginning at 8:40am-6:15pm with a one hour lunch break in between. The Su Neung exam is more important than graduation, it's more important than grades or extra-curricular activities, because it carries the most weight in the college admissions process. Most colleges base 70% of their decision on the test and only 30% on grades. For this reason, testing day is sort of a national holiday. This morning there were policemen on the streets, helping to ensure that students could get to the exam on time, many employees were told to come at 10am, instead of 8, in order to reduce traffic, and the subway was running more frequently between the hours of 6am and 10am in the more urban areas. These are all efforts by the government to alleviate some of the stress of a typical morning for third grade students, enabling them to focus more readily on the exam. You could argue that we have a similar system in the United States, with the SAT; however, it doesn't carry the weight that the Su Neung exam does in determining one's future. In America, you might be at an advantage if you attend a prestigious college, but your career is not over if you do not. If you are talented and ambitious you can do well in the workforce despite the title on your college diploma. In Korea everything the rest of your life will be affected by what university you went to, the prestige of your diploma is the adult hierarchy that governs the professional world adn there's no escaping it. The entire Korean educational system is structured around this one exam, and if you do poorly, you must wait one year before you may take it again. After the exam, a student's test scores (carrying the most weight) and grades are compiled in a computer. This is where it gets really interesting. Students must come up with a list of 3 schools that they want to "apply" to (Students used to only be able to pick 1 school, but the law has changed.) The system is sort of like gambling, because what happens is the computer will match the students up with their schools, based on the students ranking. For example, there are three schools which are considered the best schools in Korea: Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University; all of these schools are in Seoul. Each university has an exact number of students that they are allowed to accept, no more and no less, so depending on who applies to these top three universities the top ranking students will be accepted. In this respect the school has no choice in the selection of their students; they must select the top students based on their test score (70%) and grades (30%) from the list until they reach their capacity. So a students odds of being accepted at a school is not governed by anyone except the students themselves, sort of like the stock market. If many students perceive that Korea University is too hard to get into, so they don't want to take a risk on selecting it as one of the three schools they apply to, then perhaps that year the lower ranking students who apply will get in, because the computer selection process will remain the same regardless of the quality of the applicants. Due to the significance of this one test, students spent countless hours studying. Many of my students have little experience outside of a classroom, they do not have time to nurture other interests, instead they spend their days from 8am-9pm at school, studying. The pressure and competition is so intense that there is an entire industry of private institutions, sort of like Kaplan or the Princeton Review that tutor students (as young as elementary school) after they attend their regular school. For example, my host sister attends a private academy for extra tutoring in all subjects, meaning that she usually does not arrive home until after 11pm and attends classes on Saturdays and Sundays as well. It is sad to watch my students lives passing them by, but I must remind myself that they don't know anything else; this is their reality, so it's almost like they don't know what they're missing. In some respects that is true, but at the same time, they seem to be aware of the injustice they are suffering by not having time for anything other than school, and they feel sorry for themselves and a little resentful. Remembering myself in high school, I sometimes wonder what my fate would've been in Korean society. I think there is a good chance that I would have ended up at the bottom of the hierarchy, perhaps working at a local fast food restaurant or gas station, because surely I would've rebelled against a system as repressive as the educational system that is currently in place.