Korean Math Quitters Take Up to 14.2%

Photo from Squid Game, Netflix

Photo from Pixabay

Increase number of Math quitters in Korea

According to KICE (Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation) and Ministry of Education of Korea, 14.2% of Korean high school students have failed to reach the basic level of math education (7.1% for Korean studies, 9.8% for English). This was much worse performance compared to the year before.

What people think about this issue?

Many have said this is related to the previous educational policy. People say it’s due to liberal party members’ decisions on the decreasement of testing and assignments for high school students. Some say that this is due to Covid-19.

Korean Slang Tip : “Math Quitter”

In Korea, we have highly competitive educational system. This means that the grades are important to get into the colleges, etc. Many people especially have hard time learning math, so people call people who do not do well on math or decided to give up as “Math Quitters”‘. In Korean, it’s called ‘Soo Po Ja’ (수포자). Longer word is 수학 포기한 자. 수학 (Math), 포기 (Giving up), 자 (Person).