(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Dec. 27)

Bad luck of the draw

A cold snap swept the country yesterday adding to the misery of sixth graders
hoping to secure a place at either Younghoon and Daewon middle schools, which
will turn into international middle schools next year.

Hundreds of applicants subjected themselves to the lottery-like application
process: picking table tennis balls. Depending on which ball you chose, you
either got in or didn't.
The admission process has been criticized for being similar to a lottery and
rightly so. The entire selection process was absurd and awkward. The final
decision on admissions is basically a random draw, following the document
screening and one-to-one interview.
In the end, success or failure to get admitted rests on pure luck.
The victims are the students. It was distressing to see hardworking, intelligent
young students forced to accept rejection after working hard at their studies.
The decision to make applicants decide their fate by selecting a table tennis
ball was infantile and inconsiderate.
Surely luck should not be the decider of one's fate, especially if a person has
worked hard to prove their academic prowess. What kind of lesson is this for
young people so early in their careers, that life is a matter of luck and not
merit?
If so, it would be better to select students in a draw from the beginning and
completely skip the document screening process and interview. We can only hope
that the schools won't repeat this mistake in the future and fail other deserving
students on the basis of random selection of inanimate objects.
The concern was there could be a sharp increase in the number of applicants if
the schools eliminated document screening and interviews. However, this would not
be the case if schools raise the bar for qualified applicants, such as only
looking at students recommended by their primary school principals.
The selection of students should be left to the discretion of the international
middle schools. Schools know best how to pick qualified and talented students.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education should scrap this inept lottery
system, which was devised to prevent private education fever to get into
international middle schools. Only then will international middle schools be able
to offer a diversified and high-quality education, which is the main objective
anyway.
(END)