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영어

The unit system, usually called Carnegie Unit System, was developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States that based the awarding of academic credit on how much time students spent in direct contact with a classroom teacher. The unit system came into widespread use during a time when efforts were being made across the United States to standardize public education, especially high-school education. The growth of the elective system in university initiated by Charles W. Eliot, then president of Harvard University, was related to the spread of mass secondary education and unit system. With a great number entering higher education, student mobility also increased and standardized, transferable, and quantitative learning unit became critically important across the country. The unit system in the United States in some ways contributed to raise academic expectations in secondary and post-secondary education and continues to serve as the de facto standard for measuring student progress toward high school graduation and through college. Korea adopted the unit system in 1963 with the proclamation of the 2nd national curriculum without enough understanding on the origin and institutional nature of the system. Though, the co-existence or joint-use of unit system and grade-based education system in one school was not possible theoretically, it was adopted without sufficient and deep consideration. Educational conditions needed for the realization of sound unit system, such as sufficient lecture rooms and well trained teachers, were not satisfied at all. Without any positive effect on the improvement of high-school education or educational culture of Korea, the unit system has continued its’ legal impact until the enforcement of the 7th national curriculum published in December of 1997. Current national curriculum for high-school still applies unit system in counting classroom hours for each subject or subjects group. No evaluation on the effect of unit system on high-school education was made. No experimental research or survey was attempted regarding the practicing of unit system in schools. Academic indifference to the unit system brought about both the long existence of and uncertain influence of the system. The time was ripe for us to retrospect our 50 years of experience in unit system and move beyond the old system. The unit system as practiced in Korea and United States is obviously obsolete. It is not desirable that students can complete the required courses, receive a high school diploma, and still fail to gain a more coherent view of knowledge and life. The awarding of academic credit should be based on demonstrated achievement and learning progress rather than on how many hours or years students spent in school classroom(seat time). Recent changes in Japanese secondary education toward unit system must be considered in our effort in search of a better system beyond the traditional unit system. The background and logic which brought about the widespread of high-school based on unit system in Japan must be considered seriously. The recent movements toward so called competency-based learning or proficiency-based learning in the United States also merit our sober reflection.

한국어

단위제는 1963년에 공포된 제2차 교육과 정에 의해 우리나라 고등학교 교육과정 편성 및 운영의 원칙으로 채택되었다. 30 년 이상 유지되어 온 “고등학교에서는 단위제를 채택함을 원칙으로 한다.”는 명문 조항이 사라진 것은 1997년 12월에 발표된 제7차 교육과정에 의해서였다. 단 위제는 미국에서 19세기 후반의 특별한 교육적 환경 하에서 특수한 목적 달성을 위해 창안되고 정착된 제도이다. 그러나 이 제도에 관한 충분한 이해 없이 우리나 라 교육과정에 적용됨으로써 단위제는 본 래의 목적을 달성하지 못한 채 한 세대 이상 우리나라 고등학교의 교육과정을 지 배하는 법적 원칙으로서의 지위를 차지하 고 있었다. 현재도 단위제는 고등학교의 교육과정 편성에서 수업 시수를 환산하는 기준으로서의 역할을 유지하고 있다. 이 는 1988년부터 단위제를 적용하기 시작한 일본, 그리고 100년 이상 유지해 온 단위 제를 2000년대 들어 지역별로 점차 폐지 하기 시작한 미국과는 매우 상이한 경험 이고 현실인 것이다. 이 연구는 단위제의 탄생 배경과 전개 과정을 검토한 후 이를 바탕으로 우리나라에 단위제가 도입되고 적용되어 온 과정을 비판적으로 분석하는 데 목적이 있다.