29th March, 2023, by Jenny H (G.12)

Every year, on a Saturday morning around 9am, I see Korea International School Jeju’s teachers' faces light up as they see me over their macbook; its parent teacher student conference day, and they have been parrying the concerns of frustrated parents and students who are unhappy with their student’s current grades for the past 4 hours. 

Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence. KISJ has been offering a rigorous highschool curriculum for years, as it is even stated in their mission statement, “To provide a challenging American curriculum, promote responsibility to our community and world, and prepare students for learning in university and life” (“Mission and Vision”). Likewise, the purpose of a rigorous curriculum is evident. It is in order to prepare for students to go to universities abroad and be successful in their future education and endeavors. 

Nevertheless, the opinions of the people surrounding it are drastically different. Our parents and we have been continuously demanding the school to have an easier curriculum that allows the students to get better grades at highschool so that they could get accepted to more competitive universities. 

The current curriculum of KISJ, as it is quite rigorous, resulted our parents being concerned about how the rigorous curriculum is possibly preventing and lowering their son’s or daughter's chances to college application. Some parents, concerned so much about their student’s immediate success, transfer their children to highschools that are easier to obtain better grades. 

While in the short term this might be an excellent idea and have brilliant college admission results, students and parents must understand the importance of  KISJ having a rigorous high school curriculum. 

You might get into Harvard, but will you graduate successfully? 

We should understand that unlike Korean Universities that have approximately  63 percent graduation rate in 4 years, American universities have approximately 41 percent graduation rates (Chosun Ilbo America). PBS.org even adds evidence to this argument that “a high school diploma, no matter how recently earned, doesn’t guarantee that students are prepared for college courses” (“Most colleges enroll students who aren’t prepared for higher education”). 

In fact, among the National Association of Secondary School Principals, there is a “growing consensus across a broad political and ideological spectrum that each student must graduate from high school prepared to meet high standards of college or career readiness” (“Promoting Rigorous Courses”). KISJ is not trying to lessen their student’s chances towards college admission, but to help their students prepare for the harder lessons at university and also to lead them into a school that is the best fit for them in the long run. 

In this sense, if people just change their angle of viewpoint from an educator’s long term perspective, the current situation is no longer a problem. Instead, we should feel more gratitude towards the given curriculum and understand why the students should not be graded more leniently on their assignments. The graduates of KISJ are successful in their college life for a reason; not just because they are smart and wealthy, but because they have a great upbringing of education received here at KISJ. 

Works Cited

“한국, 대학 졸업률 세계 최고.” 미주조선일보, 15 September 2011, http://chosunilbousa.com/ninfo.cfm?id=19281. Accessed 17 March 2023.

Butrymowicz, Sarah. “Most colleges enroll students who aren't prepared for higher education.” PBS, 30 January 2017, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/colleges-enroll-students-arent-prepared-higher-education. Accessed 17 March 2023.

“Fast Facts: Undergraduate graduation rates (40).” National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40. Accessed 17 March 2023.

“Our Mission and Vision.” Korea International School, Jeju Campus, https://kis.ac/page_sehz62. Accessed 17 March 2023.

“Promoting Rigorous Courses for Each Student.” NASSP, https://www.nassp.org/promoting-rigorous-courses-for-each-student/. Accessed 17 March 2023.