With the growing popularity of globalized schooling in Korea, a large number of international schools have opened, seemingly overnight. Still, some schools, such as GSIS, are making active efforts to become true international schools. Over the past year there has been a drastic shift in GSIS’s diversity level. Efforts are being made to breathe multiculturalism into the student body to create a stage for truly globalized education. However, many students are unaware of the efforts being made to bring about this change and still see GSIS as a school that teaches a Western curriculum to Koreans.
Six years ago the GSIS student enrollment was 100% ethnically Korean, excluding staff children, but the increasing number of non-Korean students GSIS is definitely noticeable. This alteration is less noticeable in the upper grades compared to the lower grades, but is nonetheless a sign that GSIS is gradually becoming a true international school, and one worthy of recognition.
The elementary division represents what many hope will be the future of GSIS. During 2009-2010, 28% of the elementary students were ethnically not Korean. This year, approximately 33% of the elementary school is ethnically non-Korean. Keeping in mind that this 5% increase occurred in only one year, it is a remarkable change.
In spite of the steadily increasing number of international students, when high school students were asked if they considered GSIS an international school, most responded, “No!” Senior Wendy Choi said, “Many GSIS students see our school as a Korean school, but if we could develop into a true international school, GSIS could be a role model for other, new international schools.” Junior Amber Oh also does not view GSIS as an international school. “GSIS is like a Korean school because all the students we see are Korean. When my aunt saw pictures from last year’s international fair, she asked why there were only Korean students in the pictures! If this school wants to become an international school, more non-Korean students should be admitted.”
Despite these negative comments, GSIS is definitely taking strides towards becoming an international school. The increasing number of non-Korean students in the lower grades and the enthusiastic marketing efforts by the school’s administration to globalize GSIS bring hope that GSIS will soon become a manifestation of its mission statement: an institution that provides international students with an internationalized education.
