Korea’s public education system pushes ambitious students out of school

In most countries, dropping out of high school is treated as a warning sign. In South Korea, it is increasingly becoming an admissions strategy.

A growing number of students are leaving school not because they have given up on education, but because they want more of it. They are calculating that the most efficient route to a university place lies outside the classroom.

That paradox should concern policymakers far more than the headline numbers themselves. When ambitious students conclude that school attendance weakens their prospects, something in the system has gone badly awry.

More than 10,000 first-year high school students nationwide discontinued their studies last year, reaching 10,450, a 6.1 percent increase from the previous year.

At the same time, the number of high school equivalency exam graduates registering for the College Scholastic Ability Test climbed to 22,355 for the 2026 admissions cycle, the highest level in 31 years and nearly double the figure recorded in 2020.

The increase is concentrated in some of the country’s most competitive school districts, including Seoul’s Gangnam area and non-standardized high schools in Gyeonggi Province.

These are not students fleeing academic pressure. They are responding to it. For many families, leaving school and focusing exclusively on the national college entrance examination now appears less risky than remaining within the school grading system.

Last year, the country introduced a five-tier grading system, replacing the traditional nine-tier structure. The change has helped accelerate the exodus from classrooms.

The reform was intended to ease competition by expanding the proportion of students eligible for the top grade. Yet many families now believe that anything short of the highest tier significantly diminishes the chances of admission to elite universities.

In effect, a broader top grade has not eased pressure so much as raised the perceived cost of falling below it. A reform designed to reduce anxiety has instead increased it.

The problem extends beyond grading. The high school credit system was introduced to encourage students to explore their interests and design more personalized academic pathways. In practice, many are choosing courses according to perceived grading advantages rather than curiosity or aptitude.

An irony lies at the center of this system. Universities are expanding interdisciplinary programs and increasing major-agnostic admissions in response to an economy being reshaped by artificial intelligence. High schools, meanwhile, continue to push students toward early specialization and relentless credential management.

The crisis is not limited to high-achieving students. Many students with migrant backgrounds are also leaving classrooms, though for different reasons. Language barriers, inadequate bilingual instruction and weak support systems often leave them struggling academically and socially.

Though different in origin, both trends reveal the same weakness.

Public education is failing both the students seeking greater academic opportunity and those requiring greater institutional support. One group exits because the education system is too rigid; the other leaves because it is too indifferent to their needs.

The answer is not another adjustment to grading thresholds or admissions formulas. South Korea must reconsider the purpose of secondary education itself. Schools should cultivate broad competence, intellectual flexibility and social cohesion, not merely sort students for an admissions race.

When leaving school becomes a rational choice for the ambitious and an invisible fate for the disadvantaged, the problem lies not with individual students but with the architecture of education.

A healthy education system should not force students to choose between learning and staying in school. Ultimately, the test of a school system is not how efficiently it ranks students, but whether it can retain and develop talent across the full spectrum of society.


khnews@heraldcorp.com