S. Korean education system comes under spotlight

SEOUL: The nation's education system is again under fiery public criticism. Various opinion polls and statistical figures seem to unanimously support the raging public discontent about our education system, the deep frustration of parents, teachers and students, and the stunted abilities of our young people. There are again the renewed voices of concern about the collapsing classrooms, the exorbitant costs of out-of-campus lessons and the poor quality of education at our schools.

These are in fact all very familiar stories. Unfortunately, these have been the perpetual problems of the Korean education system, which has shown very little improvement, or has even retrogressed in some aspects, despite various attempts at reform by the successive governments. The ongoing debate has apparently been fanned by the media coverage of a growing number of people who emigrate, mostly to English-speaking nations, in order to provide better education to their children.

A conspicuous trend in recent years among a limited group of well-to-do families in large cities has been one of sending their kids abroad at an early age. Many husbands live alone, burdened with double household expenditures, with their wives away looking after their children in a foreign country. They say that this allows them to offer their children far better education from the primary and secondary levels at no greater expense than the large amounts of money they spend on various out-of-school lessons in this country.

Given the excruciating circumstances of many parents and the lax standards of education their children get here, this is an understandable explanation. More importantly, in free capitalist society, it is the choice of individuals how to educate their children within their available means. However, there is a somewhat unwholesome aspect to the current fracas surrounding the educational environment of our children.

The government response is also quite worrisome. Briefed earlier this month by his aides on the recent media reports on the increasing cases of "education emigration" and the great interest shown by the public in an exposition for overseas studies, President Kim instructed the ruling Millennium Democratic Party to work out effective measures to overcome the crisis. He said it was a serious problem if people emigrate because they are disappointed with their country's education system.

Last Saturday, Han Wan-sang, minister of education and human resources development, reported to the President that his ministry would select 30 schools across the country and upgrade them as "future-oriented schools of international standards," by the second semester of this year. He said that his ministry would also send 50 elementary school teachers on overseas on-the-job training next year, among other plans to save our public education system from its crisis.

These measures may help alleviate the disenchantment of some parents. Or, they may simply fail to make any notable difference. The crisis has been around too long and problems are entrenched too perversely in different strata of our society. Various measures and countermeasures introduced by previous governments have all proved to be helpless in freeing our youngsters from the strain of cutthroat competition for college admission. In the meantime, the classroom environment has increasingly deteriorated with loose disciplines when teachers couldn't care much beyond rote learning and test scores.

Most of the time, schools of all levels failed to take a role in the character development, moral education and fostering the individual creativity of students. The state investment in education has been meager when compared to the growth in other areas. The parents are also to blame for their myopic selfishness. In spite of their reputation for enthusiasm in education, the parents have made little contribution to the educational environment of our society at large, because their interest seldom stretches beyond their own children.

Most problems of our educational system didn't emerge overnight. They have been with us for a long time. Yet, the incumbent administration still cannot avoid criticism for failing to accomplish its avowed reform program while replacing its education minister no less than five times during the last three years. The Education Ministry should reconsider its half-cooked measures but instead seriously consider how to mobilize resources, both at state and private levels, to improve the educational environment of our children from the fundamental level.

Its envisaged effect aside, the "advanced school" project may give rise to yet new sorts of problems. What is crucial at this juncture is that the government gives up its populist approach in educational policy.

-- The Korea Herald/Asia News Network