Kwon Hyuk-seon (Advisor to the Jeonbuk Regional Education Committee, President of the Korean Association of Secondary School Teachers)

There is currently a heated debate surrounding the high school credit system. Not only teacher organizations such as the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, but also high school students in the Busan region have held press conferences opposing the high school credit system.

The main reason students oppose the high school credit system is due to the internal grade evaluation system with 5 levels. Students argue that the internal grade divisions are too large, leading to low discrimination, which in turn diminishes their motivation to learn. For example, out of 100 students, only 10 receive a grade of 1, while the rest from 11th to 34th place are all classified as grade 2. The 11th student feels it is unfair to be in the same grade as the 34th student. Students believe that their efforts are not being properly reflected.

The cause of this phenomenon lies in the fact that internal grades are a crucial factor in university admissions. The current evaluation method is placing a heavy burden on students. Particularly, first-year students feel a sense of crisis as they compare their grades with those of second and third-year students. Third-year students are only evaluated based on general elective subjects, while career-oriented elective subjects are assessed based on achievement levels (A, B, C) rather than scores. Due to this evaluation structure, students become more sensitive to grade management.

For the high school credit system to settle properly, it is necessary to move away from the emphasis on internal grades and expand the student comprehensive evaluation system, which assesses students' various activities, character, and potential. However, currently, there are excessive performance evaluations causing students to feel burdened. According to media reports, there are over 30 performance evaluations conducted in one semester. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the evaluation method and appropriately reduce the frequency of evaluations.

A practical solution to improve these issues is to introduce a semester system. Operating on a semester system would reduce the number of subjects students need to focus on intensively, thus decreasing the evaluation burden. It would allow students to concentrate more on career choices and learning compared to the current annual system.

However, for the successful establishment of the semester system, there must be sufficient support to prevent an increase in teachers' workload. Systematic improvements are essential to ensure that teachers can focus on their core educational activities by increasing the number of teachers and reducing administrative tasks.

Furthermore, it is necessary to increase the weight of essay and descriptive evaluations to properly assess students' creativity and critical thinking. Expanding evaluation methods that accept various answers is crucial to overcoming evaluation centered on multiple-choice questions.

Through students' opposing views, the shortcomings of the high school credit system should be addressed, turning it into an opportunity for the system to settle properly according to its original purpose. It is hoped that this will lead future education towards more effectively supporting students' growth and development.