Korea’s risk-free schools

Children participate in a sports day event at Seogyo Elementary School in Mapo District, Seoul, in this May 3, 2024 photo. Korea Times photo by Park Si-mon

For many Koreans, school trips from elementary, middle and high school are lifelong memories. Those from Seoul mostly headed to Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, to see cultural relics such as Bulguksa temple, and even rundown motels became part of the fun when shared with classmates.

However, as President Lee Jae Myung recently remarked, it seems these experiences are becoming a thing of the past.

“I hear that these days, students don’t go on picnics or school trips much anymore,” he said in a Cabinet meeting, lamenting that they are “taking away good opportunities from students just to avoid responsibility.”

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, only 31 percent of elementary, middle and high schools in Seoul have announced plans to conduct daytime field trips this year. Overnight field trips are decreasing even further, with only 17 percent of schools planning to do so.

Behind the plunge are the excessive legal and emotional risks borne by teachers.

In a survey by the Elementary School Teachers’ Union, 96 percent of teachers who responded expressed a negative attitude toward field trips. The most common reason for avoiding field trips was “anxiety about teachers’ legal liability in the event of safety accidents,” cited by 49.8 percent of the respondents. It was followed by “excessive administrative work” at 12.4 percent and “stress from dealing with parents’ complaints” at 7 percent.

President Lee suggested that hiring additional security and safety personnel for field trips could lessen the burden on teachers, but that won’t solve all of the problems.

A parody video of a kindergarten teacher by comedian Lee Soo-ji, which recently went viral online, gives a glimpse into that reality. In the video, the teacher constantly walks on eggshells around the parents. A mom requests that the teacher use a specific wet wipe containing eucalyptus extract for her child in the toilet because the child has sensitive skin. Complaints arise if a child gets bitten by a mosquito, and a mom tells the teacher that her heart pounded upon hearing that her kid lost at rock-paper-scissors with the teacher. Consequently, even the game of rock-paper-scissors should end in a tie.

At first glance, it feels like an exaggerated satire. However, comments from current and former kindergarten teachers flooded the video, such as “It actually happens,” “I’ve received complaints about mosquitoes,” and “They really do go that far.”

The disappearance of field trips is not the only change witnessed in schools these days. Sports days are also changing. As the Lee Soo-ji video shows, some elementary schools are holding sports days without winners or losers. Even in relay races, they funnel cheering points at the end to create a tie, or they replace competitive events entirely with VR experiences or craft booths.

Some schools go even further, banning children from using the playground during lunch time. Among 6,189 elementary schools nationwide, 312 schools banned sports activities over the past three years. They restrict it to prevent accidents, as children sometimes suffer injuries while playing soccer or baseball at school.

The entire system is moving toward eliminating risk altogether — for children and for teachers alike. Children shouldn’t experience conflict, injury or distress, as such cases will push teachers into legal responsibilities or complaint from parents.

Schools should be safe, but is this what we really want? Picnics and school trips, which were taken for granted by most schools just a few years ago, are now becoming the exclusive property of private schools where parents can afford the cost of a large number of safety personnel. Kids didn’t have to “learn” to play soccer and basketball as they naturally acquired those skills while playing with their friends, but now they have to go to private sports academy, which not all parents can afford. Life is not a sterile room, but we may be deceiving kids into thinking it is, all while getting rid of the fun and memorable experiences they deserve.

Yoon Ja-young is head of the AI Content Team 1 at The Korea Times.