ABSTRACT
This paper compares epoch-making examination reforms around 2000 in South Korea and Thailand from a sociological point of view.
Kim Dae-jung, one of the famous leaders of democratization, undertook a fundamental reform of university entrance examination during his presidency from 1998 to 2003. He introduced various new schemes or elements of examinations such as anytime recruitment, special admission, in-depth interviews, and performance assessments. This was a significant change from previous CSAT essay questions, the nine-grade system, and a reorganization of the “investigation area.”
In Thailand, the National Education Act of 1999 initiated drastic reforms of examinations. Following the introduction of the “basic education concept,” the establishment of a comprehensive Ministry of Education that controlled both basic and higher education, and the initiation of a standardized evaluation system, the GPA-PR evaluation based on school records, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (twice a year), and National Educational Test (at grades 3, 6, 9, and 12) were introduced and became a new element of the university entrance decision process.
These two reforms around 2000 have been explained by the “knowledge-based society” concept. However, they have much room for criticism that it is a mere discourse, because they included contradictory directions for expanding opportunities and rigorous notions of ability.
