[From Kwanghwamun] ``Madams, first sell off your cars``

A seminar was recently held at a private educational institute in Seoul that specializes in preparing students to take college entrance examinations. Invitations were addressed to the ``parents`` of the students but the participants were all mothers, who play a central role in educating their children from the time they enter school until the day they start university.

``Madam, first sell off your cars,`` was what one teacher at the school said when he took the rostrum to deliver a speech. When the participants were done laughing, the instructor became serious, saying the women faced the challenge of their lives. Another instructor, who took the platform next, went so far as to tell them, ``You must sell off not only your cars but also trade in your 50-pyong apartments for smaller ones. Selling a used Grandeur sedan would do little to cover the tuition fees for extracurricular schooling.``

During a subject-by-subject session, a Korean language teacher cautioned that the best method of learning the Korean language is not comprehension but memorization. ``Don`t ask your children to think about the answers to the questions, as there is no time to do so. I will give them the questions and answers, they must only memorize them.`` Asked about the importance of reading, he responded that there was no time left to pore through books, the questions on the Korean language test are not solved using the brain but the eyes.

A mathematics teacher then came forward, saying, ``The children need to be whipped, if they are not scourged for a week, they no longer want to solve math problems.`` An English teacher emphasized that learning English involves memorizing the questions and answers laid out by teachers.

Afterwards, the teachers distributed pamphlets containing the guidelines for entrance to some major universities and colleges and collections of anticipated questions for mid-semester term tests at local high schools. The collection was an overview of questions taken from recent tests at some schools. A teacher boasted that at his school, they retain all questions from the past several decades, adding that even though the entrance exam questions change, the school has the accumulated expertise to teach students to answer all of them.

When a second session was held, the participants became more convinced of the truth of what they were being told. The teachers accentuated the disparities between regular and cram schools, claiming that in the former, education for ``the whole person`` was offered but in the latter, only the needed essentials were taught. At the same time, they noted that if a student misses even one class, the cram school teacher makes a phone call to find out the reason for the absence.

In response, one mother proposed that the parents of students form a ``fan club`` for the math teacher, contending that the cram school instructors truly treated the students in a more attentive way than their counterparts at ordinary schools as far as the teaching and guidance of their students was concerned.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, during a briefing to President Kim Dae-Jung on Saturday, put forward a package plan to enhance national education, including the establishment of a ``model school`` project, implementation of class-size reductions and the launch of overseas study tours by teachers. The initiative was intended to help overcome the looming crisis in the secondary school education system, which stems from exorbitant private tutoring fees and widespread overseas study by children, among others. If the ambitious plan is fully realized, it should go a long way toward solving countless problems in the existing education system. The crucial question facing the nation is not whether the policies are good or bad, but whether the general public is willing to go along with far-reaching changes in the education culture. The people are the first to complain about the education system, but they have a tendency to resist educational reform. That is why long and patient struggles are required for the establishment of a more healthy school system.

Hong Ho-Pyo, Issue editor