Two international middles schools are expected to start operation in Seoul next spring following the municipal education board's approval of their establishment Friday. However, their opening might face a rocky road ahead as many parents and unionized teachers are against them. The opponents' logic is that the creation of the elite schools could widen the educational gap between the rich and the poor.
The approval was finally made after more than two years of twisting and turning over the international middle school project that was first pushed by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in April 2006. But the project had been put on hold due to objections by the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, which stressed an egalitarian education system.
However, Kong Jeong-taek, superintendent of the education office, announced a plan to push the project again in August this year as new President Lee Myung-bak vowed to seek market-oriented education reforms to promote competition and open more elite schools. Then the plan met an obstacle on Oct. 15 when the education board decided to suspend deliberating the bill due to loopholes and a lack of public consensus on the issue.
Despite the board' move, Kong's office pledged to railroad the bill in a bid to allow two applicants for international schools ― Younghoon Middle School and Daewon Middle School in northern Seoul ― to recruit 160 students in five classes each in March 2009. Ten out of 14 board members voted for the bill Friday morning. The office has emerged a winner defeating opponents of the school plan. But the problem is that the office has pressed ahead with the plan without building consensus on this sensitive issue among students, parents and teachers.
Many opponents said the international schools will serve as a gateway for students of rich families to enter the nation's top universities. They pointed out that poor families are unable to send their students to such elite schools because of high tuition fees of around 7 million won ($54,00) a year. They also claimed the opening of international middle schools would inevitably raise private tutoring costs for students and their families.
The progressive Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU) and some parents' groups have threatened to file a petition against the international school project with the Constitutional Court. They argue that the elite school plan could deprive students of equal opportunity for education regardless of whether they are rich or poor. Therefore, the issue is expected to develop into a legal battle between the education office and those against the project.
What's disappointing is that the office has made little effort to reflect different opinions on the matter from every sector of Korean society. The second problem is that the office is not presenting a transparent admission policy for the international middle schools. It said that the schools will adopt a lottery system to recruit students. It is ridiculous that students for such elite schools will get admission through a lottery. The international schools might fail even before their operation.
It is time for the office to have dialogue with the opponents to build consensus on the school issue before it's too late. It is also important to hammer out a more scrupulous admission policy and set detailed curricula to cultivate students with creativeness and global leadership.