Dear editor,
Nowadays, the intern teacher system is a hot issue in the world of education. Students attending education colleges demonstrated against this system in Seoul on Sept. 25. But the government and the students continue to oppose each other and hold different views.
In the system, people without a teacher's license can teach students in schools for four months. After training for only a few hours, they can be teachers! This is shocking for the students of education universities. We study for four years in order to become professionals and now these people are going to be allowed to take our jobs after only brief training.
Furthermore, it costs approximately $78 million to employ about 16,000 intern teachers. Will the budget be able to employ about 3,000 regular teachers as well? This is a waste of finances. And the intern teachers are not as professional as the regular teachers. This system will debase the quality of public education.
I would like to say that as a student I am vehemently opposed to the government's new policies regarding the intern teacher system.
Yours faithfully,
Lee Kyung-hee