In Dec. 19, 2012, the 18th Korean Presidential Election has ended and the cutthroat competition has found in Park’s favor. Within the rule of today’s society “winner takes it all”, people might only remember the elected one, but notable pledge has to be remembered and discussed even if it is the proposal of the dismissed.
Mun Jae-in, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, has suggested education policy consisting of the abolition of foreign language high school, free high school education, simplification of college admission, etc. He proclaimed that his aim is to build fair and equal ground of education throughout uttermost effort of both government and citizens. And undoubtedly, the most noticeable factor might be the abolition, which was once suggested before in parliament, 2009.
“Foreign language high school and international high school have been currently away from their purpose of establishment, and have become noble schools of high. Therefore, I’ll gradually turn them into ordinary high schools in order to resolve ‘high school pecking order’ fundamentally, and ultimately lesson rivalry in under 16-year-olds oriented private education,” stressed Mun, answering the inquiry of citizen.
Within the system of Korean education, the policy is not just a suggestion but one which can make a great change if legislated. The affirmative side comes up with two main causes for the policy: derailed purpose of establishment and ascending private education inspired by high school hierarchy. “As we can see in its title, foreign language high school was first established with an aim of turning out linguistic specialists. Yet, this education institution is now far away from its initial ambition. It is now widely perceived as the college preparatory, and I don’t see any difference between this and private academy. The radical change is necessary,” stressed Lee Jeongwoo, 10th grader of Hanyoung Foreign Language High School(HYFL).
Yet, the negative side comes up with the statements to be reckoned with. Another 10th grader of HYFL, Wi Jongwon argued, “What affirmative side completely misunderstood is that foreign language high school is not the root of increased spending on private education. It is fundamentally wrong to find its cause on the high school, not weakness in public education. In other words, Korean education system and social structure is to blame. Students and parents will no longer try to escape from public education if more qualified teachers and course of study set to one’s capability exist.”
