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Korean students have been driven into a competition to study higher grade courses in advance at private cram schools or hagwon.
In what is known as “seonhaeng hakseup” here or learning in advance, students at elementary schools study middle school courses and middle school students study what will be taught at high schools.
This competition, aimed at gaining higher scores in university entrance exams, is one of the key factors behind soaring private education costs.
Kwak No-hyun, the new superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, wants to free students from “the vicious cycle” that has been set up by private institutes.
“I believe this ‘seonhaeng hakseup assembly line’ is wrong. It’s a pity to see our society caught in this trap, which is the root of all evil,” Kwang said in an interview.
“I want to save our students from the trap. To do so, we should figure out the cause of this disease and then come up with right prescription.”
He said the current public and private educational system can’t make students happy.
“Even after taking private tutoring for more than 12 years, our students don’t know how to study on their own,” he said.
“Education should put its focus on helping students develop capability to study by themselves, independently from hagwon.”
Kwak said schools can’t overtake hagwon in a race formulated by the latter.
“At school, teachers should help students cultivate skills to find and use knowledge that is necessary for them,” he said. “I will hold diverse campaigns to dismantle the seonhaeng hakseup assembly line.”
Kwak said he will do his utmost to revamp the way schools are run, with his idea of the establishment of “innovative schools” at the center of the campaign.
“My top priority, as a superintendent overseeing education policies in Seoul, is to retool middle schools among other things,” he said.
He said the innovative schools will help narrow the gap of academic performance between students from rich and poor regions.
Kwak sounded rock solid about kicking corporal punishment out of school.
“We don’t beat adults. We don’t even beat criminals. But we have this diehard, fixated notion that we should not spare the rod for children as otherwise they will be unruly,” he said. “We must change this. They also have their rights.”
He has already taken steps to strike down school regulations permitting corporal punishment, braving protests from school principals.
“We must declare that corporal punishment should be banned at school. There are already some schools free of corporal punishment. My determination to do this is very strong,” he said.
On English education, Kwak said he will set up a task force to overhaul current policies and draw up measures to provide more efficient English tuition.
He said foreign teachers have played very important roles in boosting the nation’s knowledge of English.
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