Testing Madness

Yesterday high schoolers all over South Korea took their big college entrance exams. It was such a big event, in fact, that everyone was encouraged to go into work an hour late so there would be no traffic on the roads when the kids were trying to get to school! I won't deny I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep immensely. I didn't realize it made international news until my dear friend Lindsay in Portland sent me an article about it. Take a look! Article from NPR

While it's great that Korea is so . . .accomodating (?), it saddens me to see the intense pressure these kids are under. Stopping planes from flying over during the listening portion?? "Listen hard, kids! You only get one chance!" At my elementary school, 6th graders are often in tears on exam day. Not only are they expected to do well by their parents and teachers, there is intense social pressure as well. Grades are not private, and everyone knows their class rank. I find this absolutely reprehensible. No student this young needs to know where they rank amongst their peers. A friend of mine has already had three girls at her middle school commit suicide due to the stress. I think it is commendable how much they value education; look at the leaps and bounds they have made in the last 60 years! Their progress in such a short time is not matched by many. America's education system certainly isn't perfect, but it seems like their has to be a more balanced way of going about it. . .