Foreign Language High Schools Emerge as Prestige Schools

Foreign Language High Schools Emerge as Prestige Schools

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Four decades ago high schools selected students using a state exam. Students with high scores entered ``prestige high schools[각주]명문고[/각주],’’ and usually went to good colleges after graduation.

But in the 1970s, the government required students go to high schools in their residential areas regardless of test scores, to ensure ``equality in education.’’

These days, however, a new type of prestige school is emerging _ foreign language high schools _ although the government has imposed regulations on the schools, saying they aggravate[각주]힘들게하다[/각주] competition for college entrance.

Foreign language high schools, which were designed to nurture people in foreign languages, have gained popularity as a majority of their students have entered the nation’s top universities.

According to a recent report by Seoul Metropolitan Council member Lee Yoon-young, 1,126 students of the 2,165 who graduated from six foreign language high schools in Seoul in February, or 52 percent, went on to the top three universities this year _ Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University.

More than 68 percent of Daewon Foreign Language High School’s 2007 graduates, 61.1 percent of Myung Duk Foreign Language High School graduates and 58.8 percent of Hanyoung Foreign Language High School entered the three universities.

The foreign language high schools’ power was also shown in the legal field.

Among 975 people who were recently appointed as judges and prosecutors[각주]검사[/각주] after receiving education at the Judicial Research and Training Institute for two years, 41 were Daewon Foreign Language High School graduates, the largest number from a single school. Hanyoung Foreign Language High School and Daeil Foreign Language High School ranked second and third, with 19 and 13 graduates, respectively.

As a result, middle school students and even elementary schoolchildren have begun preparing to take foreign language high school admission tests.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development[각주]교육인적자원부[/각주] claimed foreign language schools do not abide by[각주](규칙에) 따르다.[/각주] their original curriculum that should focus on language education but give lectures related to college admissions. It said foreign language high schools also perpetuate[각주]~를 끊이지 않게하다.[/각주] the ever-increasing private tutoring[각주]사교육[/각주].

The government maintains that it wants a college admission policy with the same standards applied to all. But since the foreign language high schools attract high-level students, the grade a student earns in a foreign-language school _ B for instance _ may be considered to be at a higher level than a B earned at an ordinary high school. As a result universities including Yonsei and Korea are changing their admission practices to attract more foreign language high school graduates.