[Editorial] It is Right to Release Students` Standings in CSAT

The Seoul Administrative Court has ordered the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) to release students` standings from the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT). The ruling is welcomed as 700,000 students a year who take the CSAT have difficulties choosing a college because they don`t know their relative rankings.

The KICE principle not to release students` ranks from the CSAT was first introduced in 2002 to diversify colleges` student selection systems and stop further widening the quality gap between universities. In fact, such a principle sounded somewhat convincing, despite strong opposition from college aspirants, in that it might ease the cutthroat competition for college entrance. However, the competition has become fiercer and students now face more trouble than ever when making decisions on which college they should apply for.

The problem is that a question arises whether the policy was effective in reality. Most colleges still resort to the student selection system based on CSAT scores and almost nothing has changed regarding the quality difference between them. This is because the education authorities have overlooked the fact that the quality-hierarchy of colleges is affected by various factors such as student preference and difference in the educational environment.

The purpose of the ruling appears to stress that the KICE policy has failed to serve public interests so far.

Moreover, when the KICE refused to make public individual standings, private institutions provided inaccurate information on rankings through their own sample surveys, causing more confusion among students.

It is undesirable for education authorities to consider an appeal to a higher court. It seems that they insist people have to put up with the confusion in order to achieve their administrative goal of preventing a hierarchy of colleges. The authorities should accept the ruling with modesty and release student rankings from the CSAT beginning this year.