Korean students ranked 11th in the world in science ability, scoring an average of 522 points in the Program for International Student Assessment the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development administered on 400,000 students aged 15 (high school freshmen and sophomores) in 57 countries last year. Korean students ranked first in 2000 and fourth in 2003. In the latest test Finland ranked first with 563 points, followed by Hong Kong (542 points), Canada (534 points), Taiwan (532 points) and Japan (531 points).A country must excel in science and technology in order for its economy to develop. In terms of the numbers of scientific research papers registered in the Science Citation Index, the U.S., Britain, Germany, Japan, China, France, Canada, Italy, Spain and Australia ranked from one to 10 in that order. In terms of GDP, the U.S. ranks first, followed by Japan, Germany, China, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, and Spain (9th) and Australia (14th). In terms of the number of research papers registered in the SCI, Korea ranked 13th, and 11th in terms of GDP. If a country’s science and math education improves, its economy develops. Conversely, if science and math education collapses, then the country’s economy will soon decline.

Upon first glance, science and math are subjects that are not easy to approach for many people. That is why schools and teachers need to pay special attention and make investments to come up with new educational techniques to get students more interested in those subjects. Korea’s education system has been doing just the opposite. In 2003, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study surveyed 8th grade students around the world and found that 42 percent of students in Singapore said they enjoyed science classes, while 35 percent of students in the U.S. and 29 percent of students in Australia felt that way. In contrast, only 9 percent of students in Korea felt that way. In Japan, 75 percent of students there conducted actual experiments in science class, while 55 percent of students in the U.S. and Singapore had done so. In Korea that figure was just 20 percent.Korea is a country where students entering science and engineering colleges don’t need to learn science and math. The government says this is to respect the rights of students to choose their own subjects. According to a probe by the Board of Audit and Inspection in 2005, 29 percent of students entering science and engineering schools chose social studies classes instead of science. In an admissions interview conducted by the aviation machinery department at Seoul National University last year, only 44 out of 124 students chose physics classes, while only 75 chose chemistry and only five chose biology. This is the situation at a department in which knowledge of physics is essential.In the PISA in 2001, Germany ranked 20th in the world in science and 21st in math. When that happened, the German government immediately formed a committee to assess the level of science and math education and got the ball rolling on seven major reforms in the country’s education system. When Japan, which ranked first in the PISA in 2000, fell to sixth place in 2003, the government shifted its education policy from offering students more free time to increasing classroom hours by 10 percent.Who in this administration has showed attention to science education and who has made any comments regarding that field? This administration is the consequence of our votes.