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Smart but unhappy? The PISA system debated'Through the Prism of PISA' session at the Jeju Forum explores the influence of the educational ranking system
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“Through the Prism of PISA: A Look into South Korea’s Education and its Place in the World”

Wednesday, May 28, 3:40-5 p.m.

Room E, Haevichi hotel & resort, Pyoseon, Seogwipo City.

Moderator
Min Kyung Seok (Professor, Sejong University)

Presenters
Daniel Tudor (Writer, Businessman / Former Korea Correspondent, The Economist)
Martin Fackler (Tokyo Bureau Chief, New York Times)
Chen Meng (Seoul Correspondent, China Radio International)

Rapporteur
Park Kyo Yeon (Staff, Global Affair Team, JoongAng Ilbo)

On Wednesday, May 28, a group of foreign correspondents gathered at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity to debate Korea’s ranking in the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results. Hosted by the JoongAng Ilbo, “Through the Prism of PISA: A Look into South Korea’s Education and its Place in the World” focused on both a cross-cultural comparison of education systems in other countries and the staggering discrepancy between Korea’s high rank in academic achievement and low rank in student-reported satisfaction.

Having written about Korea’s most recent PISA scores a few months ago, I was thrilled to accompany my class to this roundtable on the same topic of my previous article, not to mention with my students who experience the Korean education system, with all its triumphs and rigors, daily. Though usually a lecture-averse bunch, my students were as excited as I was to dig into the the stark contrast between Korean students’ outstanding academic performance and their dead-last ranking for student-reported happiness.

The roundtable was moderated by Min Kyung Seok, a professor at Sejong University. The presenters, each representing a different home country for cross-cultural comparisons, featured Daniel Tudor (UK), Martin Fackler (USA), Chen Meng (China), and Park Kyo Yeon (Korea).

Min began with an overview of the PISA, a test run by the OECD every three years to study 15-year-old students’ abilities in mathematics, science, and reading across 65 countries and economies worldwide, as well as Korea’s place in it. In 2012, Korea ranked in the top five for mathematics and reading, and ranked in the top ten for science. Yet only 60% of Korean students reported being happy at school, the lowest average in the OECD.

Martin Fackler, representing the United States (ranked 36th in mathematics), began the debate by acknowledging that the results fit the stereotypes for each country: with Korea as the hardworking “overachievers” in a “pressure cooker” system and the United States as a an overly confident nation “riddled with inequalities.” When Fackler attempted to find why Korean students may be so unhappy, the answer proved elusive. For example, though Japan also has a grueling exam schedule, 84 percent of Japanese students report being happy at school, higher than both Korea and the United States.

Fackler ultimately questioned what the results really mean. How do you measure “happiness” or “confidence” in problem solving? Does “happiness” mean something different in each country? Fackler questioned whether the self-reported PISA data echo stereotypes of each country as depicted in the media, and to what extent these stereotypes may impact the results themselves.

Chen Meng represented China, whose Shanghai economy ranked highest in all three subjects. Chen acknowledged that both Chinese economies and Korea scored very highly, well above the OECD average. Yet he questioned how the PISA data could be made useful in a practical sense, rather than strictly comparative. Chen also stressed that the developed areas of China cannot reflect the realities of education in underdeveloped areas, and that while China has much to be proud of in the PISA 2012, there is still work to be done fighting education inequity.

Daniel Tudor, representing the United Kingdom (ranked 26th in math), argued that the PISA fits into the idea of a global race. Subsequently, the results can often be used to justify changes in education policy or for other political purposes. Though Korean ranked well in education equity on the PISA, Tudor also argued that English is both overvalued in Korea and becoming a delineator, adding a layer of inequality within the system.

Park, a Korea-native who studied in Brazil and Japan during adolescence, reflected on her experience as a former Korean and international student. “School reflects our social realities,” Park stated, but “we cannot judge a society based on the outcome of the PISA.” Having experienced what felt like radically different standards and expectations for mathematical ability in Brazil, Japan, and Korea, she said “PISA gives us a chance to reflect on our education system and policies.”

Near the end of the discussion, Fackler pointed out that any “education system doesn’t exist in a vacuum.” That in any country, “it is part of a larger employment system, part of a broader social system.” He concluded, “If you want to change education, you have to change the way people are ranked and valued in society.”

Looking out at the dozens of Seogwipo-area students in the audience, the correspondents asked if they study hard. “Yes!” the students said resoundingly. Yet when the correspondents asked if they are truly unhappy, the students failed to respond. Some quietly shook their head, others nodded, others simply looked around the room at their peers.

On the bus ride back to my school, I couldn’t help but listen to my students’ fits of laughter in the background, the sound of K-pop blaring on smartphones while they sang along to Akdong Musician and played games in the back seats. Pulling up to the entrance around 6 p.m., the soccer field still full of light and activity, I asked them myself whether they are happy or not. “Teacher,” they replied, walking to their homerooms for evening self-study hours, where they would stay until 10, “We never said we were unhappy.”

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