Through a free semester system, students can actively participate in class and have job experience. However, some people are worried about implementing this system.

pro

On May 28, 2013, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that a free semester system will be introduced in 2016. If the free semester system is implemented, students will not take an exam for one semester of six in middle school, and they will have job experience. There are a lot of benefits of the free semester system.

First, the free semester system can relieve excessive competition. In the current educational environment, students have to study for high school or university entrance examinations, so they lose interest in study. However, because of the free semester system, students do not study for examinations. In the current curriculum, there are only compulsory classes such as Korean, English, math, science, and social studies. However, in the free semester, there is integration of classes. Students can learn two subjects together. For example, in Youngjong Middle School in Incheon, students can learn science and math together, and math and science teachers teach students. While students do experiments, they also can learn a mathematical formula used in the experiments. Also, in social studies, students do projects. Moreover, in open classes, there are programs such as work experience and club activities. In addition, students don’t take midterm and final exams during the free semester. Thus, students do not think about grades. Therefore, students can escape from the current educational environment that emphasizes competition and grades.

Second, through the free semester system, students have the opportunity to have job experience. They can learn about a job from people who work in a field that they are interested in. The free semester system is modeled on the transition year in Ireland. In 1974, a transition year was introduced in Ireland to help students find their aptitude and think about the work that they want to do in the future. If students want to experience a job, they find a job in a company that they are interested in. They also prepare a resume themselves. They have job experience for 3 to 4 weeks of the year. In the free semester system, there are two ways. One is that students can find a job two days a week, an take an aptitude test or lecture related to the job. The other is that students can experience a job all day one time a week. Through their job experience, students can think whether they have an aptitude for the job they are interested in. If the free semester is implemented in Korea, students can find their aptitude and experience a field that they are interested in.

The free semester system has many advantages. It can relieve excessive competition from entrance examinations and can provide students with an opportunity to have job experience. Therefore, a free semester system has to be implemented.



con

In the near future, a free semester system will be introduced into many middle schools. The free semester system in Korea is similar to Ireland’s transition year. The system is to decrease students’ stress from tests and studying and to provide them with experiences to help them choose their path in life. Moreover, the style of study will change into discussion and activities in which students can participate in class more actively. This system will run for one whole semester and students can choose their schedule for this semester. However, the free semester system is not a good idea for two reasons.

First of all, the experience programs and the organizations which will provide the programs are still at a basic level. At the present time, the Korean Educational Development Institute has chosen cooperative organizations, and these organizations are preparing the programs to start the free semester system in 2016. The Korea Arts and Culture Education Service and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation are the cooperative organizations. Experiencing and watching sports like swimming and climbing, music and art education, and providing students with opportunities to find their path in life are the programs that the cooperative organizations will provide. However, these programs already existed before the free semester system, and students could enjoy the programs when they had an activity day. Moreover, they have not changed a lot since the government announced the free semester system. The government should keep developing programs to fit students in the free semester system.

Second, experience activities will benefit mainly upper class students. Kim Hak-gyu, a former principal of Masan Samjin Middle School, said the problem in the free semester system is that the range of experiences which students can have will depend on their parents’ wealth. For example, a student who lives in a rich family can experience a wider range of jobs. The gap between the city and the country will also be broad. Students can experience more in the city where there are lots of jobs. However, students who live in the country will have difficulty getting job experience or inconvenience because they have to go to the city to get experience.

There are lots of problems that still need to be solved in the free semester system. Lack of social support and the disparity of experiences because of students’ circumstances have to be addressed. To solve these problems, appropriate programs have to be made and the government has to provide various job experiences for students. Moreover, a system has to be made to cover the gap between students. The free semester system has to be thought over.