Education News

1) No new policy initiatives have been reported on in the leading papers lately, but here's a headline that's quite a shocker:
English language still a challenge for Korean college students. The KT story concerns foreign college enrollees, who are lagging behind their classmates (and have a higher dropout rate) because they do not participate as well in classes.

“Korean students are well-prepared students. But they are more withdrawn from their American counterpart and seldom raise questions during the class,” an American professor, who taught in Korea, told the local Chosun Ilbo newspaper Saturday. “Perhaps it has to do with their fear of having to speak in English.”

Knock me over with a feather.

2) Dong-A Ilbo has a story about a kindergarten "Enrollment War" going on as children born in 2007 begin to enter academe next year. 2007 was the auspicious "year of the golden pig" under the Chinese zodiac, and birthrates that year were elevated--by around 10% compared to 2006.

So pre-schools and kindergartens are dealing with a rush of applicants, waiting lists and irate parents; many are adopting a lottery system to deal with the enrollment issue.

3) The Herald has a report of a married teacher having sex with a 15-year-old student, right here in Gangseo-gu--they apparently met up at noon in Yeongdeungpo. Police were notified when the student's parents found incriminating cellphone messages.

A source close to the police said, “Current law indicates even if there is no money involved, if a child is younger than 13, the suspect will face legal punishment. However, in this case, the student is 15 years old. Also, the teacher and student agreed they have emotional feelings for one another. Therefore, the suspect will not face any punishment.”

The teacher is female, and the student is male. I left that part out earlier, didn't I? My bad.