Source: http://www.idomin.com/?mod=news&act=articleView&idxno=475704

     The Ministry of Education of Korea is carrying out “free semester programs” toward every middle school students in Korea from this upcoming March of 2016. The main goal of this policy is to help students find their dreams, so that they can motivate themselves and search their own reasons to study. The Ministry also believes this can be extended to self-directed studying of students. In my opinion, this policy seems quite helpful to students in Korea. This is because, although many believe qualified programs for various job fields are not prepared, still, they are meaningful in that they provide lost students with opportunity to follow what they want to follow.

    To be specific, it enables students to find out their aptitude and interest, which can help students making plans for their future. For instance, what he or she is going to major in or what kind of job they want to get. The earlier students set their goals, the more likely they will achieve the goals, because they can start preparing and thus, make more specific plans even when they are younger than others. The importance of setting goals has been proven by many experiments, and among them, is the survey conducted upon the students at Yale university the most famous. In 1953, magazine SUCCESS asked students 3 questions; “Is there any goal you’ve set?”, “Have you written the goal down?”, “Have made any plan to accomplish your goal?”. Only 3% of the students could answer all three questions. In 1975, the researchers tracked people they had surveyed, and found an astonishing result. They found out that 3% of the students who had answered every question grew up to become ten times richer than the others who had not. I believe this case shows how “free semester program” will benefit students.

     Secondly, it helps students to feel interested in studying. The most difficult part of studying was considered memorizing. Students were required to memorize what they had learned in order to get a good grade. However, that also became the largest burden to students in that they should memorize them just like robots without understanding them. However, the Ministry decided students not to take tests during the free semesters to make them realize real excitement of learning. Also, the classes became more students-centered rather than one-way lecture of teachers. For example, when students are learning about a trial, they actually do a mock trial in order to understand the lecture, not memorizing. Classes are also in fused forms, such as a “cooking” class in “English” or a “math” class requiring students to present “dramas” about what they have learned during class. In short, the lectures contain more presentation or debate classes. Through this program the ministry is expecting students to be more likely to express their opinions better, and cultivate communication skills.

     Finally, students may feel less stress at least during one free semester is underway, since their teachers do not calculate students’ grades by test results. Instead, they will write mainly about students’ interests and their attitude. According to UNICEF, academic stress of Korean students is reported to be highest among 29 countries in 2013. 50.5% said they are stressed because of their tests and exams. 31.7% of those who said they feel annoyed were middle school students. However, reference to the "free semester program official homepage," many students felt less stressed after the schools executed free semester programs. Before the program was carried out, the satisfaction of students with their school life was rated 3.79 (out of 5.00). After carrying out the policy, satisfaction was rated 4.02. Satisfaction rate also rose among students and parents. Teachers remarked that since this program is needed more professionals for advanced classes, they became more enthusiastic. In other words, free semester program is providing energy to both students and teachers, thus contributing to exciting classes.

     “I guess the entrance competition is getting down to the lower age groups, and now it is pervasive among middle school students.” Because of the intense competition to get into special-purpose high schools, which are directly relevant to getting a job, even middle school students are racing to get an impressive GPA. The problem is that they have no goals, but just following what others are doing to make a good living. However, free semester programs will definitely serve their roles as a measurement to this pitiful reality.

Song Eun Kim
Grade 10
Hanyoung Foreign Language High School