Chung Dahm Institute
CDI in Busan http://cdibusan.com
http://eslplacementkorea.com (Busan branches)
http://teachinkorea.com (Seoul + other city branches)
Oh Sung Sik English Club

http://www.ossclub.com/

JungChul

http://edu.jungchul.com/

BCM Language Centers

http://www.bcm.co.kr/

YBM ECC
http://www.ybmecc.com/
GNB

http://www.gnbenglish.com/

Avalon English

http://www.avalon21.co.kr/

EWAS Korea

http://www.ewaskorea.com/

SLP Korea

http://www.slp.ac.kr/

Ding Ding Dang/DP Education

http://www.dingdingdang.co.kr/

Yes English

http://yesenglish.com/

Poly School

http://koreapolyschool.com/

Yoon’s English

http://www.yoons.com/

Reading Town

http://readingtown.co.kr/

Hanyang Oregon Language Institute

http://edu.iloveholi.com/

L Bridge School

http://www.lbridge.net/

JLS

http://gojls.com/

John Shin TOP Language School

http://www.johnshintop.com/

Pagoda Junior

http://www.pagodajunior.com/

I work with many English teachers on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I’ve heard almost all the different stories and
complaints from not having enough supplies to support one’s teaching environment to pay issues that run the gamut. Many complaints are justified and many come from the desire to improve the working environment to become a better instructor. At the same time, many complaints about the work they take on could have been easily addressed by really doing a bit ofresearch on their school, asking many detailed and specific questions and getting as much possible in writing.

Here’s my best advice in giving the future teachers and even some of the current ones who plan on staying in Korea “What to ask their next recruiter or employer?”

1) Do you have a curriculum? Ten years ago, the answer to this was mostly “No” despite what the recruiter or owner of theschool said. They had no curriculums. Today, many schools have weak curricula, but the business of English Academies in Koreahas come a long way. Ask the representative questions about the program. Ask them what the objectives for their student body. If they don’t know, ask them if they can get details or a copy of the materials in class. You don’t want to be the person who spends hours and hours daily cutting and pasting things together to teach to your students.

2) It says that you get X days of vacation. How is the vacation time selected? Most academies don’t have backup
instructors. So, they want you to take your vacation/holiday at a specific time. It’s not like the U.S. or other places in the West at your typical corporate employer where you ask for a week on X date & you get it as long as you ask in advance. Just make sure it’s very clear with the employer. Also ask if the weekends are included in those X week(s).

3) Are there split shifts? It’s an unescapable fact that most Adult English Academies can NOT serve their clients outside
the mornings, the lunch hours and after work. Most schools catering to younger students though can operate right after schooland you don’t have to face big blocks of time between your starting time and your end time.

However, with this said, there are many schools who take advantage of the school breaks during the winter and summer –which are about 6 or so weeks each. When Hagwons offer classes during this time, there’s a chance you may have to work during that time. It’s not easy, but good Academies at least pay you for that time. You should make sure they do. The positive thing is that when it is over (the “Intensives” as some Academies call it), you realize how dreamy our “cush” your life was before only having to teach about 6 hours a day and prepping for about 30 mins to an hour or two. And if they pay, it’s a very nice paycheck in the end.

4) How are the holidays handled? How are Chuseok and SUhl-nahl (Lunars New Years) handled? It’s hit and miss on if you getthese days off. Personally, I don’t care much for the regular holidays mainly because businesses sometimes don’t operate and you only get one day off. It’s nice to have the time off, but I like keeping busy and if you’re paid hourly, it’s better you’re working on those days. You may also have less students making your classes sometimes more manageable. The two big holidays of Chuseok and Suhl-nahl are pretty long. Find out if you get the 2-3 days off in addition to the weekend.

Sometimes the schools don’t know because of the plans being difficult to be planned so far in advance. Part of the reason isbecause the schools depend on client sentiment at the time. If all the parents are happy it may be easier to get time off, but if the parents are disatisfied, they may unenroll their child because there’s less class during the holidays or they aren’t getting more education bang for their dollar or should I say won.

5) What is the realistic range of pay? How is it determined? You’ll be able to see from most ESL boards these days
from most English Academies (a.k.a. Hagwons) that pay is about 2.0 to 2.5 million won almost everywhere you go. It’s interesting to see how some schools pay their teachers. My advice is that the more logical the basis behind how they pay an instructor, the more logical they will be in conducting the business. To be frank, most of these over 17,000 jobs throughout South Korea are supported by “for profit” ventures. The business needs to be smart about how they run.

For a school to pay most of their teachers over 3.0 million won, they will need to literally rape the parents of the children
because the tuition can’t be that high. The Education Department sets standards for tuition rates and so they can’t charge tuition that is too high. I’d say the realistic range is up to 3.0 million won, but when you get between 2.5 and 3.0, you’re dealing with either a very smart Academy or one that’s about to go out of business.

6) Do you train your teachers? How are teachers transitioned into their schools? Do they just throw you into classes? I think it’s fair to help a person who’s never even been in the country to be taught some things about the country. More importantly, most people don’t come to Korea with formal education or teacher training and so it wouldn’t hurt to have some, if possible. Nevertheless, this may be an opportunity to see if they have standards.

7) When do you reimburse my airfare? When do you pay my bonus? When do you pay people? Have you ever had a late payment to the teachers at your school? Get to the nitty gritty & find out when money will be distributed. The fact is that if they are experienced, they will know this stuff. If they don’t, you may not see your money ever or sometimes you may see it a little too late for your credit card bills & you get stuck with the interest charges.

Can I talk to teachers at your school? If they say “no”, that is one of the worst signs possible, I believe. The fact
of the matter is that they better have good relations with their teachers. If they don’t even have one teacher who’s willing totake questions from prospects, you know they are hiding something.

9) What kind of housing will I get? What’s the allowance? Can you explain how it works in more detail? Housing is one of thebiggest issues for all instructors in the country. Why should it NOT be? Right? It’s your home and it’s your place of rest & soyou want to be happy. Some people find themselves in places that they don’t feel like they can call “home.” It wouldn’t be a bad idea to do a little research yourself as well into all the different types of housing in Korea.

10) If I show up smelling like alcohol and I beat my kids in my classroom, will there be any negative repercussions? Of
course, this is obviously a stab at humor, but more importantly, it wouldn’t really hurt to ask an “off the wall” question to your recruiter to see if they can understand you. If they fail to understand something as simple as this, then they may fail to be able to support you when you get here. Also, you may do it just simply for the fact that you should test their sense of humor. If they have none, can you imagine what’s going to happen when something does happen that does require a sense of humor?

There are many more I could probably advise asking, but use these for starters. Hopefully, the person on the other end has close to native fluency. It’s hard enough to negotiate when somebody does speak your tongue, but when they don’t, chances are there will be something that’s missed in the negotiations and potentially something that will make you angry and in the end, an frustrated teacher who really just doesn’t help anyone. Also, make sure you gauge their honesty — if you’re bad at it, ask them if they wouldn’t mind talking to one of your family members or friends who is a better judge.

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Korean households’ monthly private education expenditures rose to record levels during the third quarter of the year, the National Statistical Office said yesterday.

According to the NSO’s quarterly household accounts report, local households spent more than 143,000 won ($153) on private lessons and hagwon tuition each month of the last quarter. During the same period, local households’ total education-related spending, including regular school fees, averaged approximately 303,000 won.

The 143,000 won average for the last quarter is the highest on record since the NSO first included private education as a separate category in its household accounts report in 2003, and an increase of 11.6 percent from the same period last year. Last quarter’s hagwon and private lesson spending rose 40.7 percent in comparison to the first quarter of 2003.

According to the report, local households’ total consumer spending increased at a much lower rate of 8 percent last quarter from a year ago.

During the same period, urban households’ monthly expenditure on private lessons and hagwon rose to more than 152,000 won from 136,000 won. In comparison to the second quarter of the year, both the national and urban average expenditures on private lessons and institutions had risen by 2.3 percent.

The report also showed that the gap between the top and the bottom income groups’ expenditures on hagwon and private lessons had widened during the quarter that ended on Sept. 30.

According to the NSO, the households among the country’s top 20 percent by income had spent 5.7 times more than those in the bottom 20 percent income group.

By Choi He-suk

(cheesuk@heraldm.com)

According to statistics reported in the Joongang Ilbo on November 8, 2007, there are currently 17,020 native English speakers working in South Korea on an E-2 Visa. There are many others who may have other types of visas, but since the E-2 visa is the most popular, I would argue it’s about 20,000 or so…maybe topping out at 25 to 30,000, but less likely that there are other types of visa holders. Who knows though? There are statistics available online that may be able to reveal the exact number.

Seoul Metropolitan Police arrested two Canadians for working as English instructors with a fake bachelor’s degree and booked seven other foreigners and Koreans either on the same charge or for employing them. To work as an English instructor, foreigners have to get an E-2 visa permitting them to teach English in Korea. The visa is granted to applicants who have either a BA from universities in English-speaking countries or an English-language diploma from universities in non-English speaking countries.

Of the arrested Canadians, one studied only at an adult education center affiliated with a college after finishing high school. While working part-time in a fast food restaurant in Canada, he bought a fake U.S. bachelor’s diploma for US$300 on a U.S. website in August 2003. He came to Korea at the end of that year and started working as an English instructor for a private language institute in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The other graduated from a Canadian junior college and then worked in a factory. He came to Korea on a tourist visa in 2001 and paid US$500 to a Korean broker to buy a fake Canadian bachelor’s diploma in August that year. He worked as an English instructor at a language institute in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province since January 2004.

Meanwhile, police have arrested an Australian English instructor who made headlines last month by telling his Korean ex-girlfriend he was infected with the AIDS virus when she broke up with him.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Six native English instructors from a well-known language institute in Gangnam were arrested for smoking hashish, an illegal narcotic. Some of the teachers allegedly taught students while high on the drug.

A 24-year-old Canadian instructor allegedly bought the drug from a source in a bar popular with foreigners in Itaewon after moving to Korea in 2005. The teacher is said to have smoked the drug five to six times a week.

The teacher also allegedly bought from W2 million to W30 million worth of hashish, enough for 20 uses, and resold or gave it to other instructors and his Korean girlfriend.

Six of 14 native English instructors at the school were arrested. The arrested allegedly showed up at work and gave English lessons to young children after smoking the drug.

“They smoked hashish openly at birthday parties, on the banks of the Han River, in bars in Itaewon and in clubs near Hongik University,” police said.

Two Korean girlfriends of the instructors were also arrested for smoking the drug.

Police suggested that qualification checks for the E-2 visa for foreign English teachers be strengthened by requiring a health inspection or a drug test in addition to checking diplomas.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province – Gyeonggi English Village is a mega-project with a question mark. The question is whether or not the millions of dollars spent on the development are paying off by improving the language skills of students or motivating them to study English.

Laid out on a tract of land an hour’s drive north of Seoul, the language theme park boasts some top-notch facilities and impressive architecture designed to transport visitors to an idealistic Western hamlet. Its main street is dotted with many of the conveniences you would find in a regular English town: restaurants, a pub, bakery, coffee shop, bookstore, library, theater, concert hall, exhibition center, and a city hall. Visitors do not just enter, they immigrate to a land where English is the official language and they are encouraged to use it to conduct their daily activities.

What the camp does is supplement classroom language learning with an immersed environment, special programs and entertainment, which are also intended to have a motivational impact. “The best thing a visit can do for someone is to make them more excited about learning,” said Christian Zonts, a Gyeonggi village “edutainer” who skipped Los Angeles for his full-time drama gig. The staff is enthused about their work. Zonts is not looking back: “From the first day when I saw a couple of performances, I knew I had joined a good team.” His new thrill is successfully combining entertainment with educational and linguistic elements, “How do I entertain people that may not understand everything I say? It’s a great feeling to know some 5 year old laughed at you when he may not understand everything you said – and you are from halfway around the world.”

The programs include one-day, one week, and two week options. Most visitors are groups of students from schools within Gyeonggi Province although more schools from outside the area are discovering the park, and it is open to the public. The village also conducts teacher training programs, which seem to be hitting the mark. “It was very hard for me at first, but now I feel more comfortable teaching English,” said Lim Kyu-sub, a Seong-il High School English teacher who is just completing a five-week course. The new teacher also had a positive outlook on the village concept: “We can come here on public transport, without buying an airline ticket and talk with foreigners. He did suggest further support from government to make full use of the project. “I think it’s worthwhile,” he added. Certainly one motivation for the village is to stem the flood of education spending overseas, currently estimated between $1 billion and $4 billion per year, depending on the criteria observed.

The concept is not without its detractors, who suggest English villages are a waste of money because they do not accurately depict an English environment, Korean is spoken, and the focus is too much on entertainment instead of language acquisition. However, language schools also face similar challenges in finding qualified native-English speaking teachers and offering an intensive learning environment with a low student to teacher ratio.

“Our class has 34 students, so each student only gets a little chance to speak English and there are just one or two teachers. They need more foreigners to make it easier for students to practice,” said Solmoe Elementary School teacher Kim Tae-hyung.

Perhaps the camp could use more foreigners out there in the street, engaging students and visitors in novel ways to increase their exposure and practical experience with the language. “Street talk,” a village program which sent staff into the street to do just that, could be expanded. And as Kim also pointed out, more practice with the language will generate better results.

This is something the administration of the park is addressing, according to Mike Nance, an edutainer supervisor. “We are hiring more people and expanding programs. It’s getting bigger and bigger.”

The criticisms of the camp do have some merit. Reports suggest the whole program cost close to $100 million. And many of the shop proprietors are Koreans. When addressed in the Korean language, they respond in kind, which doesn’t exactly help with English skills. However, it points to a central tenet of language learning, that it be somewhat voluntary. It also brings up a dilemma in that the camp needs to cater to its constituents, who are Korean, may not be comfortable speaking English all day, and need to communicate.

English is also not the native language of many of the camp’s clerks. However, surveys show that two out of three English speakers are not native speakers; the language is moving beyond its Western center. One could argue that overcoming the American-accent obsession in Korea is a good thing and in this case adds to the international flavor of the village, which has employees of diverse racial backgrounds and national origins. And developing a wider perspective is part of what the village can do, particularly in a country with a homogeneous population seeing more foreigners become residents.

Foreigners in Korea just topped 1 million. “If the English village helps kids picture a world where not everyone speaks Korean and thus inspires them to study English and travel abroad … then it is fulfilling an important function,” said South African hagwon teacher Jennifer Bryson on her blog, after a visit to the camp.

The kids seem to be getting a kick out of the place. “English class was very very interesting. About the new seven wonders of the world. It’s a good idea,” said one student from Dongnam Middle School in Pocheon. And the edutainment fulfills its mandate too. During the show “The Coyote Monster” developed by the staff specifically for the camp, students are encouraged to participate in advancing the plot, fulfilling the language acquisition requisite of active listening. When asked, “Do you know which way Billy went?” the student audience is quick to respond both vocally and physically, shouting “Over there! Over there!” and pointing stage right.

Said 12-year-old Im Do-won on his second visit: “English village is fun.”

By Frank Smith

(franksmith@heraldm.com)

By Carlton U. Forbes

According to the Oxford English Corpus, the English language has recently acquired its one-billionth word. Yet, it is estimated that the average native English speaker uses only about 50,000 of these words in most verbal exchanges.

While words like `apt’ and `astute’ are rarely used, others like `ok’ and `yes’ are ceaselessly repeated ad-infinitum.

Meanwhile, some language police are becoming annoyed by many of the new English speakers who tend to overuse the word `I.’ Granted, the use of this single letter word is almost unavoidable when writing or speaking, still, its frequent recurrence in both casual and formal communication is enough to irk some linguistic purists.

However, `I’ makes it easy for non-native English speakers to express their personal opinion or viewpoint almost effortlessly. The use of `I’ enables ESL students the chance to convey their true feelings and heartfelt sentiments with ease and simplicity.

This unambiguous word allows speakers of English to communicate their wishes in a forceful, declarative and definitive way. `I’ helps us to express a simple apology: “I am sorry.” It helps us to admit that we need some form of assistance: “I need help.” It makes it easy to express feelings of sympathy: “I’m sorry to hear that.”

In conveying our heartfelt feelings about a loved one’s emotional crises, `I’ makes it possible to say: “I feel your pain.” When something bad happens to a family member or friend, `I’ is right there aiding us in saying: “I feel so sad.” When coping with an unfortunate experience in our lives, `I’ makes it possible to show feelings of dissatisfaction: “I am so disappointed.”

When responding to the inquiry: “Who are you?” most of us are simply say, “I am so and so (or mo mo, mo) for Koreans. When asked about our job or occupation, we often respond the following manner. “I am a teacher” or “I am a student.” When strangers ask my son: “Who are you?” he often answers like this: “I am my father’s son.”

On one occasion, my wife and I were attending a social function. One student asked her, whose wife are you? She jokingly responded: “I am Wanda, Carlton’s queen.” During the first day rituals for one of my advanced level classes, I deliberately postponed my introduction while stoking the students to ask me whatever questions they wanted to.

Finally, one of them took the bait. “Sir! Who in the world are you?” I answered: “I am one fortunate fellow. Why? It is my privilege and pleasure to influence the keenest and sharpest minds in Korea. And I am grateful for the chance to interact with a roomful of charming gentlemen, and attractive young ladies for the next two months.

“As I look at you, I am encouraged by your curious eyes, perky smiles and enlightened minds.” I was treated like a king for the remainder of the term.

Some may be tempted to think that `I’ is the loneliest word in the English alphabet. But I dare to differ. Why? Well, for one thing, `I’ has such an enviable personality. `I’ is bold and bodacious, self-assured, easygoing and likable. This endearing word `I’ is like an inducement to make personal affirmations like “I can do it. I’m stronger than I appear. I am smarter than I think. I am wiser than I seem. I am stronger than I imagine.”

I also embolden the insecure individual to say to himself: “although I am not what I should be, I am getting closer to my ideal self every day.” Then, with this newfound confidence, it is easy to adopt a new mantra: “If I can dream it, I can make it happen. If I believe it, I can pursue it. If I can imagine it, I can bring it into reality.”

With such a versatile word in one’s vocabulary, anyone can muster the nerve to say: I have the foresight to envision a bold new dream, work towards a brighter future, and a promising tomorrow.

As a child of faith, I have the assurance that God has blessed me with the will and the skill to achieve my goals and make my dreams come true. So from now on, I will no longer repeat negative self-talk about my abilities.

Instead, I will tell myself, “I have what it takes to succeed.” With my new sense of optimism, a new measure of confidence, and a new dose of hope, I can do whatever I set my mind to. As the Bible puts it: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

The writer is an English teacher living in Daejeon. He can be reached at forcal@excite.com.

By Lucas Murray

Well, I guess we needn’t worry about terrorists or folks north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). If recent press reports are to be believed, it’s your standard garden-variety English teacher that poses the greatest threat.

In his article entitled “Taking Back the Classroom” published in the Nov. 2 edition of The Korea Times, Mr. Steve Schertzer said, “The major problem with teachers today… a lack of responsibility and leadership.”

He continues, “There are simply not enough teachers who want to own the room, take control of the class, and take responsibility for the class.” Is that not a breathtakingly naive generalization made of tens of thousands of English teachers across Korea by one teaching assistant?

It also seems immensely misguided and outright false. Moreover, Mr. Schertzer also fails to offer anything of value as to what constitutes leadership and responsibility in the classroom, other than to begin the class with some autocratic ejaculation coupled with a willingness to use a “love-stick.”

It’s legally recognized as battery across almost all Western countries. I’m told that even in Korea, using sticks and batons has diminished exponentially in recent times because most now realize that violence generally represents the total failure or breakdown of communication.

It has no place in my classroom, and not one of the many other English teachers I’ve met (numbering in the hundreds) has ever professed to use it.

Wait. There’s more. Mr. Schertzer continues “Unfortunately, far too many teachers today would rather be liked by their students than be respected. They would rather leave the teaching to others and take the easy way out by playing games like bingo and hangman.”

There is a plethora of research on this subject. It has been concluded ad infinitum that because there is a high level of stress in the classroom and because students have to face unfamiliar or unknown grammatical structures, words, texts and so forth, they often feel uncomfortable and insecure in class, which inevitably affects their ability to learn.

This research points to the importance of using games in the ESL classroom. In the light of this, most teachers more experienced than I consistently use games to great effect in the classroom.

Across the Pacific then, at the Harvard Korea Institute, Jason Lim in his Oct. 30 Korea Times article “Why Not Korean Americans” appears quite outraged.

He was “chewed out” by his president, apparently. His crime? He hired “… one of those `Let’s travel through Asia while earning money as English teachers and score some women at the same time, dude!’ (say what, dude? …) types of instructors that were so prevalent in those days.”

He describes abject “discrimination practices” in hiring whereby choosing Caucasians over Korean Americans “have led to recent scandals.” So where does it all leave us?

According to him we have private language schools being “mostly excuses for social gatherings for young people to meet new friends and lovers,” blatant discrimination practices across the board, we have sex, drugs, rock and roll, pedophilia and ‘chewing’ presidents … eh … cannibals? Good God. Kimchi with all that, anyone?

To be fair to Jason, he does make one short reference to native speakers who do work well towards the end of his article, and by “chewed out” he probably means “fired.” However, the piece dramatically overemphasizes negatives that actually constitute a very minute proportion of what goes on in the English market in Korea.

Through work and associations, I have met hundreds of English teachers, university professors, public school teachers, hagwon teachers, writers of text, members of English teachers’ associations and a few friends of mine.

From what I have seen, they are some of the most dedicated and professional people I have met. Further, the Internet is full of Web sites set up, with tens of thousands of English teachers conducting daily research and posting results online, free of charge, all towards the important aim of teaching Korean students.

There’s an army, tens of thousands strong, marching with pride, energy, knowledge and enthusiasm across this great country.

There are people from all corners from Canada to South Africa, from England to Australia, from America to New Zealand sharing culture and language with the next generation of Koreans, not with violence but with patience, competence and care.

And, yes, that is what Korean children deserve.

Lucas Murray is a teacher in the English Program in Korea (EPIK) in South Chongcheong Province. He can be reached at hauwande@hotmail.com

 By Park Sun-jong

A few months ago, I had my SAT Reasoning Test score canceled. If I recall correctly, I did not violate any rules set by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the test, such as sharing the test questions with someone else.

It was part of a complete cancellation of the SAT Reasoning Tests administered on Jan. 27. The New York Times and CNN reported in early February that there was a “security breach” of the SAT Reasoning Test in January.

According to a news report published in the Times, “At least one student who took the exam Saturday had access to the questions ahead of time.’’ In light of the emphasis on fair competition the ETS sets on SATs, this was indeed a serious security breach.

The pivotal problem of the test was that it recycled almost all questions previously administered in the United States in December 2005. Considering that many SAT hakwons in Korea have access to previously administered SAT Tests and many test-takers attend hakwons, the careless recycling of test questions by the ETS was the bedrock of the security breach.

But the ETS has yet to realize the larger picture _ students in America take the SAT one day after those in Korea do and once hakwons realized that the SAT in January was a near replica of one previously administered, they quickly sent answers to students in America who had attended hakwons.

Indeed, on a Web site frequently visited by those wishing to study abroad in America, the document containing answers to the SAT in January that was sent to students in America was posted.

The document was compiled by a hakwon teacher and he encouraged his students to carefully memorize the answers before taking the test. In other words, students in America who had access to the document before taking the test could have gotten perfect scores. But sadly, only the test scores of those who took the SAT in Korea were canceled.

But like an abstract painting, the scene of test taking in Korea is distorted to the point where the true purpose of standardized testing has become null and void.

ETS said in its latest report that the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA) is among the world’s top high schools outside the United States according to its students’ performance on seven advanced placement subjects.

According to a Chosun Ilbo report published on Feb. 21, some of the students who took the test there said that they saw many KMLA students cheat in the bathroom, including using electronic dictionaries and sharing questions _ which are forbidden by the ETS.

The scope of the cheating scheme is not limited to KMLA. In other places where I took the SAT, I saw students rely on other prohibited measures to increase their score. As a fellow student preparing to study abroad, I understand their obsession with numerical scores. But as a Korean, I see a bigger problem.

What was lost in the cancellation of the SAT score on January was not only our efforts but also the credibility of Korean students as a whole. Indeed, never before has the ETS cancelled the scores of all test takers from a country.

Already, the news of the cancellation has seeped through many international sites such as collegeconfidential.com. Many international netizens have generalized South Korean students as test-taking “machines” who know no ethics.

How will we be able to present ourselves in the U.S.? How will professors view our work, if Korean students continue to cheat on the SAT? We should not risk our image for the sake of a boost in a few points on the SAT. An old Korean proverb says that one mudfish contaminates the whole pond.

Whether or not you are innocent, the ETS does not seem to care. As a senior who will be applying to colleges in a few months, I am short of time. And the cancellation of the SAT in January is outrageous and nerve wracking. Nevertheless, we need to look ahead. This should not happen again.

p890521@hanmail.net

Park Sun-jong is a senior studying at Daejeon High School in Daejeon.