[Opinion] Slapdash Education Administration

It was shocking to watch the TV program reporting immigrant who are putting all difficulties and sufferings for their children`s education.

What on earth is this country that lets parents leave for foreign countries for children`s education? A few years ago, I could not but deplore after witnessing many excellent students from Science High School quit school to go to college. For it shows the absurdity of current public education system. And now, parents and children are separated from each other for education.

From many report and statistic, we see that our current education system does not foster creativity nor reduce private education expanse, preventing the succession of wealth. And it would be natural for government to make a counter plan to solve problems in current education system. But, a series of incident shows that education administrative body is not still waking up from slumber.

First, it is pitiful that the Ministry of Education and Seoul municipal education body are having conflict related to the independent private high school that will be operated by way of showing example. The independent private high school was suggested by the committee of education in 1995, the time of Kim Young- Sam administration, and now is being driven by committee of new education community of current government authorities. But this project has faced serious difficulties as education director of Seoul opposes to recommend the independent private high school in Seoul, saying that it will bring great pressure to the third year of middle school students, boosting private education.

But the operation to settle an example aims to search the good and bad, and it is not desirable for one to judge the operation in advance and prohibit the operation itself.

When we consider the fact that we made many mistakes by operating certain system without testing it, we should test the independent private high-school project, learning from it. But now, the education director who made a public pledge to operate the independent private high school system is now against his own promise without plausible reason. This makes us to be suspicious on education system. Education administration that is responsible for the future of our country is getting similar to political circle where betrayal of public pledge and pork barreling are overflowing.

Another faulty plan has been made by the Ministry of Education, it plans to build 5220 classrooms in 6 month to reduce the number of students per class. Of course, to reduce the number or students per class is important for the efficiency of education, and many education professionals have insisted this. But current plan is not what professionals have wanted. For the Ministry plans to build class rooms without a plan for enough teachers and space for club activity, eliminating halls and art class. Moreover the excessively short period of construction of classroom reminds us of a military strategy to occupy the high ground. Yet what would the success to occupy the high ground do good if there were no body who will preserve the high ground?

Education investment should bring material resource and human resource harmoniously in order to make itself to be effective. But we cannot but say that the plan to build classrooms without enough teachers is an example of exhibition administration. I would like to ask those immigrants who are going through all kinds of difficulties in foreign land, if we can put up with this kind of false show of power by the Ministry of Education.

As a matter of fact, those who are and were related to education system are all responsible for current messy education system. They were not good enough to make a right judgment for education system, they were irresponsible enough to agree crude public opinions at times, or they ignored flaws of the system for their own success. At any rate, the future of our education is even more somber because we still have this kind of administrators who seek for political purpose and exhibition effect in plan of education system.

O Sae-Jung (Prof. Of Seoul National University, A guest member of editorial writers of Dong-A Ilbo)