Netflix faces growing calls from teachers to halt production of ‘Get Schooled’ drama

Teachers and youth groups protest a Netflix drama based on a webtoon about violent school inspectors. Captured from webtoon "Get Schooled"

Teachers' unions and youth advocacy groups are calling on Netflix to cancel its upcoming drama “Get Schooled," arguing that the series glorifies corporal punishment and presents a harmful message about education and student rights.

A coalition of 62 organizations and individuals, including the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), held a press conference outside Netflix Korea’s headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday.

They demanded the immediate cancellation of the drama’s production, citing widespread public concern.

“A petition against the production and broadcast of this drama has been gaining momentum since July 7, with over 1,000 citizens and 62 civic groups joining the effort,” the coalition said.

The drama is based on the Naver webtoon “Get Schooled,” which depicts the creation of a special government unit under the Ministry of Education tasked with restoring teachers’ authority through violent means.

In the storyline, inspectors use physical punishment to discipline students and resolve problems at school, framing corporal punishment as a solution to issues such as school violence, corruption and rights violations.

The original webtoon had previously drawn criticism for racist language and for a scene in which an inspector slaps a feminist teacher.

Protesters argued that the drama oversimplifies complex problems in the education system by portraying them as moral failings to be solved through retribution.

“The show turns serious educational challenges into a simplistic tale of punishing villains and promotes violence and human rights violations as acceptable solutions,” the statement said. “This undermines decades of social progress toward democratic education.”

They also criticized the drama for using the pretext of protecting teachers’ authority to justify infringing on student rights. “It treats school violence as entertainment and completely ignores the ethical responsibilities of content that deals with youth and education,” they said in the statement.

Kim Mu-yeol, Lee Sung-min, Jin Ki-joo and Pyo Ji-hoon / Courtesy of Netflix

The coalition issued three demands: that Netflix and production company GTist immediately halt production, that the Korea Communications Standards Commission take appropriate action and that the government establish ethical guidelines for media dealing with children and education.

“The original webtoon depicts feminist teachers as indoctrinators and included racist slurs that led to its removal from North American webtoon platforms," said Kim Ji-yeon, vice president of the KTU.

Park Eun-kyung, head of the National Parents’ Association for Equal Education, added, “Content that threatens our children’s future and learning environment cannot be justified in the name of freedom of expression.”

This is not the first time that educators have opposed media depictions of school life. Earlier this month, the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations also demanded the cancellation of a planned drama adaptation of the webtoon “The Elementary Schooler I Love,” which centers on a romantic storyline between a female teacher and a student. The group condemned it as glorifying grooming.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.