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I was curious, so I googled… - “The government grounds aircraft or reroutes flights to keep students from getting distracted during the biggest test of their l

I was curious, so I googled… - “The government grounds aircraft or reroutes flights to keep students from getting distracted during the biggest test of their lives.” - “ On the streets Thursday morning, you could hear more sirens than usual, because anyone running late to the competitive exam can call for a free police escort to rush them straight to the test site.” - “Success is defined narrowly. Get a high score on the Suneung to get into a high-ranked school. Go to a good school to get hired at a South Korean chaebol — the term for a mighty mega-conglomerate, like Samsung. They power the Korean economy.” Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/12/455708201/even-the-planes-stop-flying-for-south-koreas-national-exam-day https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/11/12/455708201/...

ken47 3y ago
This test seems to control your trajectory in Korean society to a very high degree, which seems like overkill in my view, because a test can only be so reflective of real-life skills. I have a family member who did very well on the test and got into Seoul National University, which is reputed to be the best university in Korea. According to them, their IQ is "only" 120-130, but they have very good memory, and are able to study endlessly without tiring. Are those useful skills? Yes, for many things, but not for everything.
- jdewerd 3y ago
  Standardized testing does not aim to be a perfect evaluation, it aims to be a good enough evaluation that can be made highly resistant to corruption/bribery relative to its qualitative alternatives.
  - standardUser 3y ago
    They could divide it into 5-10 different test, administered over the course of several years. Anything but what they are doing now, which sounds like it was custom designed to encourage drug abuse and suicide.
    - MichaelZuo 3y ago
      Can you write out the detailed arguments as to how that would be a net benefit?
      - sebzim4500 3y ago
        For a start, you don't permanently mess up your life if you are sick/distracted by personal issues for that one exam.
        MichaelZuo 3y ago
        You need to factor in all pros and cons in order to arrive at a net positive or negative in the first place.
    - arccy 3y ago
      now your stress is over several years, and if you fail an early one, what motivation do you have to keep on going? plus as children / young adults, many are still developing so you want to push testing as late as possible
      - ken47 3y ago
        The stress is distributed over time, so lower peak stress, and for those who are not cut out for this, they will find out much more quickly, which minimizes their time wasted studying. They could invest their times instead into a trade school etc., which will be of greater benefit to society.
      - standardUser 3y ago
        Is it pass/fail? I figure if you fuck up on one test then you have several others to look forward to and improve. And each individual test could be more focused, so easier to study for. Just have a test at the end of every year from ~13-18 instead of one ultra-test that makes or breaks your entire existence. Sounds dystopian. And also completely detached form how reality works. Unless you're in the Olympics, no one cares how you perform once. They care about how you perform and will perform over months and years.
  - ken47 3y ago
    This is not a criticism on standardized testing per se. But the methodology could use a serious upgrade in the 21st century.
- choilive 3y ago
  Korea has a long history (along with China) on using tests to determine your place in society. Korea's version of the civil service examinations (known as the gwageo) have been around for like a milleniun, and it was pretty much your only way into the middle and upper class of society. The university entrance exams is just the modern cultural continuation of it.
  - ken47 3y ago
    Which is why Korea has historically spent an inordinate proportion of its intellectual capital trying to pass an exam rather than innovating. Modern Korea is much better than that, but there is still room for improvement.
    - philwelch 3y ago
      Sometimes it seems like half the stuff I own is from Korea. I’d say they’re innovating just fine.
standardUser 3y ago
Any test that is so big that it requires shutting down large sections of society is way, way too big. And I mean, WAY too big, like grotesquely so. Just imagining that level of stress stresses me out.
- seoulmetro 3y ago
  Korean education has fallen down the slippery slope of "perfection". Mainly due to there being not enough jobs at the end of the tunnel as they do not count "real jobs" as labour or creative roles, which make up huge percentages of a happy society's workforce.
- kaliqt 3y ago
  Stress isn't the enemy, it's the balance of priorities and what is better for society. Just on the virtue of you being stressed is not an argument for or against this.
  - standardUser 3y ago
    No, the argument against it is the suicide rate and the lack of sex and dating and the fact that, all things considered, judging people on one gargantuan, life-determining test has no intrinsic value compared to the myriad other ways to assess knowledge and skills.
- havercosine 3y ago
  Most countries in South, South East Asia have made exams as a make and break deal for every student. In India, there are so many kids staying away from home in cities which are just exam preparation centres, with routine news of suicides. Looking back on my life I think we asians have definitely stretched this way too far. Unfortunately, in high & young population countries like ours these exams are perceived as the only non corrupt way of moving out of low income trap. So this will go on :-(

ken47 3y ago

This test seems to control your trajectory in Korean society to a very high degree, which seems like overkill in my view, because a test can only be so reflective of real-life skills. I have a family member who did very well on the test and got into Seoul National University, which is reputed to be the best university in Korea. According to them, their IQ is "only" 120-130, but they have very good memory, and are able to study endlessly without tiring. Are those useful skills? Yes, for many things, but not for everything.

jdewerd 3y ago
Standardized testing does not aim to be a perfect evaluation, it aims to be a good enough evaluation that can be made highly resistant to corruption/bribery relative to its qualitative alternatives.
- standardUser 3y ago
  They could divide it into 5-10 different test, administered over the course of several years. Anything but what they are doing now, which sounds like it was custom designed to encourage drug abuse and suicide.
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    Can you write out the detailed arguments as to how that would be a net benefit?
    - sebzim4500 3y ago
      For a start, you don't permanently mess up your life if you are sick/distracted by personal issues for that one exam.
      - MichaelZuo 3y ago
        You need to factor in all pros and cons in order to arrive at a net positive or negative in the first place.
  - arccy 3y ago
    now your stress is over several years, and if you fail an early one, what motivation do you have to keep on going? plus as children / young adults, many are still developing so you want to push testing as late as possible
    - ken47 3y ago
      The stress is distributed over time, so lower peak stress, and for those who are not cut out for this, they will find out much more quickly, which minimizes their time wasted studying. They could invest their times instead into a trade school etc., which will be of greater benefit to society.
    - standardUser 3y ago
      Is it pass/fail? I figure if you fuck up on one test then you have several others to look forward to and improve. And each individual test could be more focused, so easier to study for. Just have a test at the end of every year from ~13-18 instead of one ultra-test that makes or breaks your entire existence. Sounds dystopian. And also completely detached form how reality works. Unless you're in the Olympics, no one cares how you perform once. They care about how you perform and will perform over months and years.
- ken47 3y ago
  This is not a criticism on standardized testing per se. But the methodology could use a serious upgrade in the 21st century.
choilive 3y ago
Korea has a long history (along with China) on using tests to determine your place in society. Korea's version of the civil service examinations (known as the gwageo) have been around for like a milleniun, and it was pretty much your only way into the middle and upper class of society. The university entrance exams is just the modern cultural continuation of it.
- ken47 3y ago
  Which is why Korea has historically spent an inordinate proportion of its intellectual capital trying to pass an exam rather than innovating. Modern Korea is much better than that, but there is still room for improvement.
  - philwelch 3y ago
    Sometimes it seems like half the stuff I own is from Korea. I’d say they’re innovating just fine.

standardUser 3y ago

Any test that is so big that it requires shutting down large sections of society is way, way too big. And I mean, WAY too big, like grotesquely so. Just imagining that level of stress stresses me out.

seoulmetro 3y ago
Korean education has fallen down the slippery slope of "perfection". Mainly due to there being not enough jobs at the end of the tunnel as they do not count "real jobs" as labour or creative roles, which make up huge percentages of a happy society's workforce.
kaliqt 3y ago
Stress isn't the enemy, it's the balance of priorities and what is better for society. Just on the virtue of you being stressed is not an argument for or against this.
- standardUser 3y ago
  No, the argument against it is the suicide rate and the lack of sex and dating and the fact that, all things considered, judging people on one gargantuan, life-determining test has no intrinsic value compared to the myriad other ways to assess knowledge and skills.
havercosine 3y ago
Most countries in South, South East Asia have made exams as a make and break deal for every student. In India, there are so many kids staying away from home in cities which are just exam preparation centres, with routine news of suicides. Looking back on my life I think we asians have definitely stretched this way too far. Unfortunately, in high & young population countries like ours these exams are perceived as the only non corrupt way of moving out of low income trap. So this will go on :-(