Daewon Girls' High School boosts English education

A senior at Daewon Girls’ High School makes a presentation in an English-language forum on population issues at the school in Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Daewon Girls’ High School

Students host forum on population issues

By Kim Bo-eun

“Social problems are becoming serious in Korea due to the low birthrate. This population issue has emerged as a topic that students, who will be affected in the future, should discuss now,” said Lee Bo-kyung, 17, in a forum at Daewon Girls’ High School in Seoul, Friday.

Seventeen senior students made English presentations on various aspects of the issue, ranging from understanding the phenomena of the low birthrate and aging society to efforts in dealing with the problems here and abroad.

Korea’s birthrate was 1.25 in 2016, the lowest among OECD member states, while the average life expectancy was 82.4 years, which is higher than the OECD average.

As a means to deal with an aging society, a student brought up France’s Delalande contribution, which imposes a penalty for firms dismissing workers over age 50 to protect employment of older workers.

In order to tackle the birthrate, one student mentioned Singapore’s state education encouraging childbirth. However, another said a more fundamental approach would be to address the structural problems of the labor market which makes childbirth unfeasible, citing the “Superwoman Prevention Law,” an election pledge by Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minority Justice Party. The law centers on adjusting the period of maternity and paternity leave and pay provided during leave, as well as working hours, in order to ease the burden of childcare and increase men’s participation.

“The reality is men account for only 5.6 percent of those taking childcare leave,” Lee Yeong-eun said.

The presentations were made based on five months of research, script writing and practice. Students interviewed teachers for insight and conducted student surveys on their perceptions of childbirth.

“We put in several hours a day for months to prepare for the forum,” Lee Bo-kyung said. “I think it was a good opportunity to think about the population problem Korea faces, and also study English.”

The forum was attended by teachers of neighboring schools as well as the students’ parents.

Daewon Girls’ High School teacher Lee Kyung-man, who has taught English for over 30 years, is in charge of the extracurricular English classes in which the students held the forum.

Four years ago, Lee initiated the advanced English class at the school, in which students read English books, write English essays and practice English debate.

So far, students have covered topics such as welfare and global warming, as well as theories on utilitarianism and justice.

“The era of teaching English and correcting students’ mistakes is over. English must be a tool through which students explore the humanities and social and natural science,” teacher Lee said.

“High school education and problems in society are not separate; students should learn to think about issues as they study.”