\n<\/p>\n
The chief organiser of South Korea\u2019s notoriously gruelling university entrance exams has resigned \u2013 after complaints that an English test he designed was too difficult.<\/p>\n
Passing the exam, known locally as the Suneung<\/em>, is essential for admission to prestigious universities and regarded as a gateway to upward social mobility, economic security and even a good marriage.<\/p>\n But this year, just over 3% of exam-takers scored top marks in the English test \u2013 the lowest since absolute grading was introduced for the subject in 2018.<\/p>\n Students were given 70 minutes to answer 45 questions. One singled out for criticism asked them to assess the political philosophers Immanuel Kant and Thomas Hobbes and analyse their views on the rule of law. Another asked them to consider the nature of time and clocks, while a third questioned how the idea of existence might apply to video game avatars.<\/p>\n These questions prompted a significant backlash in a country where the exam is taken so seriously that flights are grounded nationwide for 35 minutes during the English listening test to eliminate any potential noise.<\/p>\n In response, Oh Seung-keol, the chief of Korea\u2019s Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, stepped down. He said he felt \u201ca heavy sense of responsibility for the English section of the test, which did not align with the principles of absolute evaluation\u201d, the institution said.<\/p>\n He also apologised for \u201ccausing concern to test-takers and their parents, and for causing confusion in the college entrance exam process\u201d.<\/p>\n The agency issued a separate apology, saying it \u201ctakes seriously the criticism that the test failed to meet the appropriate level of difficulty and the goal of reducing students\u2019 academic burden\u201d.<\/p>\n The use of the portmanteau \u201cculturtainment\u201d in the test was also a source of confusion \u2013 even from the academic behind the phrase.<\/p>\n Stuart Moss, a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, said he was \u201cvery surprised\u201d to see the phrase included. \u201cI am also of the opinion that this word should never have featured in the exam due it not being in common English usage,\u201d he said in an email reply to a South Korean test-taker, reported by the local daily Munhwa Ilbo.<\/p>\n Enormous pressure on students in South Korea\u2019s ultra-competitive education system has been partly blamed for teenage depression and suicide rates that are among the highest in the world.<\/p>\n This month, South Korea\u2019s national assembly approved an amended law banning private English-language educational institutes from administering entrance tests to preschoolers.<\/p>\n Test scores have long been a highly sensitive and closely scrutinised issue. This week, the nephew of the Samsung Electronics chief, Lee Jae-yong \u2013 a member of one of South Korea\u2019s most powerful and wealthy families \u2013 made headlines after he reportedly failed a single question on the exam, still earning him admission to the country\u2019s top Seoul National University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The chief organiser of South Korea\u2019s notoriously gruelling university entrance exams has resigned \u2013 after complaints that an English test he designed was too difficult. Passing the exam, known locally as the Suneung, is essential for admission to prestigious universities and regarded as a gateway to upward social mobility, economic security and even a good<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[689,3593,488,3620,4558,1771,13449,122,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-37092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-chief","9":"tag-complaints","10":"tag-english","11":"tag-exam","12":"tag-hard","13":"tag-korea","14":"tag-quits","15":"tag-south","16":"tag-test"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}