With the development of science and technology, the century of The Fourth Industrial

Revolution is coming, in which AI(Artificial Intelligence) will replace human labor. Thus, changes in various fields are taking place in Korea. Then, what is happening in the Korean education system? In light of these societal changes, the education system in Korea has some problems.

First, University entrance is a priority for students and their parents. Hence ranks among students on limited subjects like English, math, and so on are being valued rather than education for their career. Therefore, since exams such as Korean SAT are crucial, the competition between students intensifies. Second, as education focusing on university entrance has intensified, students have been pushed to uniform education. In other words, students do not take the subjects they want but have to take classes that help enter a university. In order to solve such problems and adjust to social changes, the high school education system has to change. The directions for solving them are as follows. High school education should break away from consequence-centered education. It makes students choose subjects that suit their favor and aptitude, take responsibility for their choice, motivate learning, and induce self-learning. As a result, students will be able to receive the necessary education for them, use resources inside and outside the school, and be guaranteed diversity and expertise in the education by cooperating with many schools. In order to ensure give students various classes, the government suggests a policy related to ‘the high school credit system.’

Then, what is the high school credit system? It is a system in which students can choose and complete classes related to their career and aptitude and graduate when accumulated credits meet the standard. It is similar to the system most universities are currently using.

In the high school credit system, students register for the classes they want and then complete them (classes should be student-centered). Students who complete the classes by passing an evaluation can earn credits. The evaluation must be process-centric. If there are students who do not meet the achievement standard, supplementary programs will help them acquire credits. So it has a system that prevents students from failing to complete the lessons.

This high school credit system was first introduced to 51 Meister High schools in 2020. This system will be introduced to commercial high schools and partially to regular high schools, and it will be applied to all high schools in 2025. Then, how is the high school credit system operated in other countries? First of all, let’s look at the percentage of required subjects. In the case of the United States, the proportion of them is about 68% and Finland is about 78%, which is 10% higher than the USA. And Singapore is about 30%, which is lower than other countries. In addition, countries that implement high school credit systems, such as France and the United Kingdom, are about 58% to 61%. Students can make their timetable based on this, but some subjects are predetermined. Next, let's look at the method of evaluation. Most countries that implement the high school credit system adopt absolute evaluation. Based on this, Korea will also introduce essential subjects and absolute evaluation methods.

However, the key will be how much percentage of required subjects will be introduced to guarantee students’ choice and how to increase the reliability of absolute evaluation as Korean education is familiar with relative evaluation.

What do people think about the high school credit system? Let’s take a look at the opposition to the high school credit system.

First, they question if students’ practical choices are guaranteed. The opposition argues that they should focus on the subjects required by the university that they want to enter. For instance, from the 2022 university entrance exam, to give students a choice, the government did not separate liberal arts and natural sciences, and also made students choose between probability and statistics, calculus, and geometry in math. However, most of the top natural science universities require students to choose calculus and geometry. To enter those universities, students had to take fields that they did not want. According to this precedent, there is an opinion that to enter universities, they may be forced to take fields and it just gives students options in name only.

Second, some people say that Korea is not ready to accept the high school credit system. This is related to Korea’s university admission system. In order to introduce the high school credit system, the current Korean SAT must also be changed. If the K-SAT does not change, students will only choose and take favorable classes for the exam. And it also is virtually impossible to reorganize the K-SAT system in just three years and make it suitable for the high school credit system. In particular, the direction of the current entrance examination is on the trend of expanding regular admissions, so it is harder to apply this system to Korean high schools.

Finally, it is related to the lack of teachers and the decline in the quality of classes. For students to take the classes they want, various classes must be opened. For this, various teachers must be hired. However, to do so, many schools may hire outside experts without teaching certificates. So they argue that even if they have professional knowledge, they may not be familiar with teaching students, which makes the quality of school classes drop.

Next, let’s look at the opinions that agree with the high school credit system.

First, it motivates students to learn. People who agree with this system believe that students are encouraged to learn by applying for the class they want to take, departing from the passive class timetable made by the school and making their own class schedule.

The second is that it is meaningful for students to make a timetable themselves. Students plan classes themselves and take classes that they choose, which cultivates students’ independence. And some people also argue that such a high school credit system can develop a sense of responsibility because students have to meet standards to complete the credits.

Third, students can consider their careers within the educational curriculum. Currently, high school education focuses on entrance exams, so students have learned subjects that can be different from their careers. However, if various classes are opened based on the high school credit system, students can take courses that suit their career path, it also can give the students the opportunities to think about what they want to do. In other words, there is a merit that the educational curriculum can include students’ career paths.