SNU Offers Middle and High School Students a College Experience

--"History we learn at school is pretty much one-dimensional. I wanted to look at history from a new perspective."

LEE Do-Hee, a first-year high school student, explained her motives behind signing up for one of the pre-college lectures for teenagers - a program offered by SNU for middle and high school students.

For two weeks, from July 18 to 29, the courses"The Universe and Life","Introduction to Immunology: The Science of 'Blood'", and"Philosophy Class for Young Adults: The Key Called 'Wisdom' to a New Era" were successfully held. Afterwards, from August 1 to 12,"History Class for Young Adults","Microorganisms and the Welfare of Mankind", and"Art History for Young Adults" were offered to interested students from all over the country. Each class was attended by about 65 to 70 students.

SNU Extension College first established pre-college lectures for teenagers last winter, offering three classes about world history, the universe, and immunology. Due to favorable assessments from both students and parents it has expanded this summer to seven courses on even more diverse subjects.

Serving its purpose in promoting 'life-long learning', SNU Extension College is primarily in charge of providing liberal education to adults. Already into its fifth year, the College's programs are lauded as useful to those who are trying to carve out a new career path, and as inspiring to CEOs searching for various ways to improve their businesses. But as requests from parents and professors regarding the need to bridge the gap between teens and university education increased, SNU Extension College decided to take decisive action to reach out to prospective university students.

"I think students who are sincerely interested in the subject come to take the classes. We were especially surprised that a lot of students signed up for the philosophy and art history classes, but the students in those classes were among those who studied the hardest." KIM Eui Tae, a researcher at the Extension College, who is in charge of this year's pre-college lecture program, commented.

Lee Do-Hee, on being asked whether the SNU pre-college lectures helped her meet her objective, replied that she was"very satisfied" with her experience at SNU. She mentioned that her favorite professor was KIM Tae Woong of the Department of History Education who lectured on the"Scientists of the Chosun dynasty" and"Modern Warfare".

Another purpose of the lectures is to provide middle and high school students with the opportunity to design their future career paths based on a more thorough understanding of the diverse subjects that were taught in the program. The Extension College office explained that"Young adults will be able to reduce the gap between what they believe to be university majors and what truly is taught in college through this opportunity. They will be able to explore their careers much more efficiently."

Signing up to explore one's career interests was especially evident among the students in the Immunology class. Mr. Kim explained that"the students who signed up for the course were mostly students interested in going to medical school."

As if to reflect Korea's fierce competition in getting into college, there were also students who came to SNU thinking the program would help them at least in some way get into college. PARK Sae-Yoon, a junior at Daewon High School explained that although it was true he was interested in the subject, he thought"it could help in terms of getting into college as it counts as an extracurricular activity." Extracurricular activity points have recently been made mandatory in Korea？s educational curriculum to increase students？ creativeness. A lot of activities as well as good grades are necessary to get into top Korean universities.

On the other hand, there was also a high school senior who signed up for this program. At the time of the program he had only three months before suneung (the College Scholastic Aptitude Test) - the nationwide college entrance exams. While everybody was curious whether he was short on time to study for his exams, he said although he knew the program would not provide any advantage regarding college admission for him, he wanted to experience learning from SNU professors.

Students who wish to explore their interests further, who are speculating about their careers, or even those who merely want to experience what it is like studying at college, will be given the chance this coming winter vacation. For further information, please call 02-875-9802~3 or visit the Extension College website at http://LLL.snu.ac.kr.

Written by LEE BoYoung, SNU English Editor, bylee0708@gmail.com   ?
Reviewed by Eli Park Sorensen, SNU Professor of Liberal Studies, eps7257@snu.ac.kr
Proofread by Brett Johnson, SNU English Editor, morningcalm2@gmail.com