Hana Academy Seoul, widely regarded as the country's top autonomous private high school, is preparing to adopt the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, an essay- and discussion-based curriculum, to strengthen students' creative and critical thinking. The school decided to do so on the view that uniquely human reasoning will matter more in an era when artificial intelligence delivers better-than-expert answers to most questions within seconds. Hana Academy plans to cultivate global talent through differentiated content such as the IB and through what it calls "cheo-deok-ji-gam" education — an approach aimed at developing physical strength, character, intellect and emotional capacity in equal measure.
"In the age of AI, we need students who ask fundamental questions rather than students who are good at finding the right answers," Park Ha-sik, principal of Hana Academy Seoul, said in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily held on the 23rd at his office in Eunpyeong District, Seoul. "Schools must raise 'questioning giants' who are not subordinate to AI." Park added: "No matter how far AI advances, it is up to humans to judge what the essential problem is and to verify whether an answer is valid. We teach students to make active use of AI as a learning tool while taking responsibility for the final judgment and the ethical consequences themselves."
Park, who took the post in March this year, is known as a pioneer of Korean education for introducing advanced curricula to the country ahead of others. He served as vice principal of Yongin Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies and later as principal of Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, Chungnam Samsung Academy and Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. During his tenure at Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, he introduced the IB program to Korea for the first time.
Park cited as Hana Academy's strength an education system capable of producing world-class talent without relying on private tutoring. Although it is an autonomous private high school located in Seoul, all of its students live in dormitories, and the school runs an open elective curriculum in which students choose courses according to their interests and career paths. "Students can go home only once for about three days a month, so the structure makes private tutoring difficult," he said. "Since the school opened, we have consistently proven that the education provided within the school alone is enough to get into university."
Hana Academy's curriculum also sets it apart from other high schools. The school holds an annual international academic symposium that brings its students together with students from abroad, and it works to strengthen global competence through exchange programs with schools in China, Japan and Thailand.
The school invests in character education as well as academic ability. A representative example is its "one sport, one art" program, which requires every student to learn one athletic discipline and one artistic discipline. "Students take part in physical education as well as music and art activities four times a week for 90 minutes each session, building body, virtue, mind and emotion," Park said. "Dormitory life with four students to a room is also an important setting for character education, where they learn to be considerate of others and to take responsibility within a community."
Some parents, however, worry that as school grades carry growing weight in university admissions, high-achieving students who enroll at autonomous private high schools such as Hana Academy could be at a disadvantage. Park responded that "Hana Academy students are entering major universities in large numbers through the comprehensive student record screening, and our admissions results already prove this," predicting that competition for places at the school will in fact intensify.
To elementary and middle school students preparing to apply, he advised: "The first round of screening is based on middle school grades, so doing well in middle school studies comes first. In the second round, the interview, the most important thing is in-depth thinking about the field you are interested in, which means there is no need to prepare for admission through advance study of material ahead of your grade level."
On the debate over whether autonomous private high schools should continue to exist, Park argued for what he called their distinct role. "The reason autonomous private high schools exist is not simply to send students to good universities, but to experiment with the education of the future first and spread the results to public education as a whole," he said. "The autonomy granted to these schools is not a privilege but a duty." He added: "The timeline of education is far longer than the five-year cycle of politics. If the survival of a school is shaken with every change of government, the harm falls on students and parents."
On the future of Korean education, Park said: "The intellectual level and professionalism of our teachers are among the best in the world. Just as K-pop and Korean culture have captivated the world, Korean education can also become a model that the world studies."