Posco Schools Setting Public Education Standard

The 14 schools belonging to the Posco Educational Foundation located in Pohang, Gyeongbuk and Gwangyang, Jeonnam, have successfully developed their students’ special skills and offered education programs that fit students’ aptitudes despite the perceived stigma of being classified as public schools.

Not considering a recent row regarding college entrance policy, these schools have stuck to the way that they have taken.

While Korea’s education has been tarnished by unproductive quarrels over the equalization of high schools for 30 years, the 14 schools of the Posco Educational Foundation have developed their competitive power by taking a third way beyond the equalization dispute. As a result, they have produced many outstanding students in the fields of mathematics, science, information and technology, and even in the fields of art and athletics.

In addition, four students of Gwangyang Jecheol Nam Elementary School, including Yun Myeong-in, 12, a student there for six years, won first place in the third national contest for IT’s young generation after competing with 7,000 other elementary school students. The contest was held last week and organized by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Samsung SDS. They are scheduled to participate in a camp for gifted students to be held at Stanford University in the U.S. that starts August 7.

In terms of college admissions, Pohang Jecheol High School and Gwangyang Jecheol High School have been very successful.

Since 1984 when Pohang Jecheol High School was established, about 490 graduates have entered Seoul National University, and about 660 graduates have entered Korea University and Yonsei University. Gwangyang Jecheol High School also has had about 90 graduates enter Seoul National University and about 290 who entered major universities located in Seoul.

Along with an ordinary curriculum based on standard texts, these high schools also offer various special programs such as programs that foster students who are gifted in science at an early age, and special programs for information and language training. The schools encourage students to have at least one specialty. In addition, they also offer programs that aim to tackle social challenges such as environmental contamination, the imbalanced proportion of male and female, local antagonisms, people’s negligent attitudes, and distorted cultural customs by offering educational programs designed to encourage solutions to these issues.

Kwon-Hyo Lee Jin-Kyun Kil boriam@donga.com leon@donga.com