Daewon Foreign Language High School
Encyclopedia
Located in Seoul
, Daewon Foreign Language High School (Hangeul: 대원외국어고등학교, 대원외고) is one of the most prestigious private preparatory high schools in South Korea
. A Foreign Language High School by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology's categorization of Special Purpose High Schools, Daewon FLHS's curriculum is centered on the specialized education of various European and Asian languages. However, due to its experienced faculty, competitive applicant pool, and selective admissions process, Daewon students show remarkable talent not only in linguistics or the study of any one language, but also in many different fields in academia. Daewon's average 수능(national college application test) scores are the nation's highest, consistently ranking first for several years. Daewon foreign language high school also has its own admission tests. Usually only top 3% of middle school students can get an offer from this school. Daewon students choose one primary language as a major upon application from Chinese
, French
, Japanese
, Spanish
, or German
to study during their three years at Daewon. Korean
and English
are mandatory subjects, regardless of which focus language students choose when entering the school.
The school's primary language of instruction is Korean.
Like most schools in Korea, Daewon starts its school year in March, starts its second semester in September, and ends the school year in February.
, Model UN , and Model Congress
that are unavailable to non-GLP students.
, Princeton University
, Johns Hopkins University
, Stanford University
, Duke University
, Cornell University
, Columbia University
, Williams College
, the University of Virginia
, UC San Diego,and the University of Michigan
.
to Psychology
are also offered. Themes covering a wide array of other academic disciplines such as International Relations
and Philosophy
are also discussed and covered in regular GLP classes. These classes are taught almost exclusively by distinguished foreign instructors with degrees from schools such as Harvard University
, Yale University
, Princeton University
, University of California
, Williams College
, and other prestigious American colleges, and are operated on a very rigorous basis. It is not unusual for students to spend six to eight hours per day to complete reading and writing assignments, and students are expected to meet the highest academic standards.
The Global Leadership Program was launched in 1998 as the Study Abroad Plan (SAP), but has since changed its name. However, GLP's tradition is one that cannot be ignored: GLP is the largest and oldest preparatory program for high school students intending to study overseas in Korea as of current, with approximately 250 current students and almost a thousand graduates. It is also the most successful, having consistently sent the most students to the best schools in the world.
Although Daewon does not follow the AP or the IB curriculum, GLP courses are intended to be comparable in depth and rigor to such classes. Most GLP students study for AP Exams in their own time. The most popular was the Calculus BC Exam, and 52 of the 63 students who took the exam scored a 5.
As of June 2006, the average SAT Reasoning Test score (75 students tested) was 1485 on the 1600 scale and 2171 on the 2400 scale. The most popular Subject Tests
were Math Level II
(78 students tested) and Chemistry
(56 students tested), and the average scores were 787 and 745, respectively.
Since the first class of 2000, the vast majority of GLP graduates have matriculated at US colleges and universities.
, establishing the Bromsgrove Daewon Foreign Language School in Thailand (BDST) in eastern Bangkok
.
In 2008, the Daewon Education Foundation, the organization that founded the school, applied to the Seoul Ministry of Education for permission to build an international middle school, tentatively named Daewon International Middle School.
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Daewon Foreign Language High School (Hangeul: 대원외국어고등학교, 대원외고) is one of the most prestigious private preparatory high schools in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. A Foreign Language High School by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology's categorization of Special Purpose High Schools, Daewon FLHS's curriculum is centered on the specialized education of various European and Asian languages. However, due to its experienced faculty, competitive applicant pool, and selective admissions process, Daewon students show remarkable talent not only in linguistics or the study of any one language, but also in many different fields in academia. Daewon's average 수능(national college application test) scores are the nation's highest, consistently ranking first for several years. Daewon foreign language high school also has its own admission tests. Usually only top 3% of middle school students can get an offer from this school. Daewon students choose one primary language as a major upon application from Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, or German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
to study during their three years at Daewon. Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
are mandatory subjects, regardless of which focus language students choose when entering the school.
The school's primary language of instruction is Korean.
Like most schools in Korea, Daewon starts its school year in March, starts its second semester in September, and ends the school year in February.
Extracurricular activities
There are more than 30 extracurricular activities available to students, including a newspaper club, sports clubs, choir, etc. All students are required to join one extracurricular club, and students in the GLP who are preparing to attend a university abroad may join two to four additional clubs, including some American-style club activities such as DebateDebate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
, Model UN , and Model Congress
Model Congress
Model Congress gives students a chance to engage in a role-playing simulation of the United States Congress. Such events are hosted by the Congress itself, Rutgers University, American International College, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, The...
that are unavailable to non-GLP students.
Admissions
The school receives applications from around the country. Students can gain admission to Daewon Foreign Language High School by demonstrating ability in a variety of areas, but the most common way students are accepted is through Daewon's own admissions test, which includes written exams and an interview. In its promotional material, Daewon claims to draw students from the top 3% of Korean middle schools.Faculty
The Daewon faculty includes graduates of various Korean universities as well as a small number of foreign instructors who teach Chinese, French, Spanish, German, and English conversation classes. Current and former GLP teachers include graduates of Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, UC San Diego,and the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.
Global Leadership Program
Daewon FLHS hosts the Global Leadership Program (GLP), a special academic block scheduling course intended to prepare students for colleges abroad. The Global Leadership Program is run on a sign-up basis: students may choose to take GLP courses after regular school hours in addition to the Korean-language curriculum offered by the school. GLP courses are centered on critical and academic use of the English language, with classes such as English Literature, Critical Reading, Speech & Debate, and English Composition. However, additional voluntary courses that cover academic disciplines ranging from MathematicsMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
to Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
are also offered. Themes covering a wide array of other academic disciplines such as International Relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
and Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
are also discussed and covered in regular GLP classes. These classes are taught almost exclusively by distinguished foreign instructors with degrees from schools such as Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, and other prestigious American colleges, and are operated on a very rigorous basis. It is not unusual for students to spend six to eight hours per day to complete reading and writing assignments, and students are expected to meet the highest academic standards.
The Global Leadership Program was launched in 1998 as the Study Abroad Plan (SAP), but has since changed its name. However, GLP's tradition is one that cannot be ignored: GLP is the largest and oldest preparatory program for high school students intending to study overseas in Korea as of current, with approximately 250 current students and almost a thousand graduates. It is also the most successful, having consistently sent the most students to the best schools in the world.
Although Daewon does not follow the AP or the IB curriculum, GLP courses are intended to be comparable in depth and rigor to such classes. Most GLP students study for AP Exams in their own time. The most popular was the Calculus BC Exam, and 52 of the 63 students who took the exam scored a 5.
As of June 2006, the average SAT Reasoning Test score (75 students tested) was 1485 on the 1600 scale and 2171 on the 2400 scale. The most popular Subject Tests
SAT Subject Tests
SAT Subject Tests is the name for 20 multiple-choice standardized tests given on individual subjects, usually taken to improve a student's credentials for admission to colleges in the United States. Students typically choose which tests to take depending upon college entrance requirements for the...
were Math Level II
SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2
In the USA, the SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2 is the name of a one-hour multiple choice test. The questions cover a broad range of topics...
(78 students tested) and Chemistry
SAT Subject Test in Chemistry
The a one-hour multiple choice test given on chemistry by The College Board. A student chooses whether to take the test depending upon college entrance requirements for the schools in which the student is planning to apply...
(56 students tested), and the average scores were 787 and 745, respectively.
Since the first class of 2000, the vast majority of GLP graduates have matriculated at US colleges and universities.
Additional ventures
In recent years, Daewon has sought to pursue partnerships with secondary schools outside of Korea. May 2008, Daewon entered into a partnership with Bromsgrove International School ThailandBromsgrove International School Thailand (BIST)
BROMSGROVE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL THAILANDLocation: Bangkok, ThailandMotto: Deo, regi, vicino School type: Independent, British Curriculum School in Thailand, Day and BoardingEstablished: 2002...
, establishing the Bromsgrove Daewon Foreign Language School in Thailand (BDST) in eastern Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
.
In 2008, the Daewon Education Foundation, the organization that founded the school, applied to the Seoul Ministry of Education for permission to build an international middle school, tentatively named Daewon International Middle School.