Outgoing Minister of Education Criticizes KTU

Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister of Education Lee Sang-ju criticized the Korea Teachers` and Educational Workers` Union (KTU) implicitly but sharply during his farewell speech on Friday.

“Foreign countries do not hesitate to laude the high level of knowledge our students have, but sadly we face harsh critics here at home everyday,” he told officials at Ministry of Education at a ceremony held in the morning.

“True education is about interaction between people, not just speaking about true education.”

He came short of mentioning KTU. Lee, in fact, tried to denounce the teachers` organization at a meeting with college presidents earlier in January, which was withdrawn at the last moment after an appeal from officials.

“Our education system will improve only after a contradictory organization, which finds fault with almost every reform policy while calling for reform of government agencies, stops being an obstacle to reform,” he went on to say. “We now see attacks and mistrust within the education community itself and education organizations grow more politicized and radical.”

“It was hard for me to push for reform policies on high school education and elementary school tests facing constant opposition from some education units,” he told a press interview. “It does not make sense to talk only about equality libeling those advocating competition as neo-liberalists.”

“We can call people blindly pursuing their own faith and principles egoistic and self-centered,” he pointed out. “I feel sorry about the reality of our education environment, where the community is disintegrating instead of coalescing,” he added.

Most officials at MOE agreed to the remarks of the outgoing minister, saying, “he spoke on behalf of ourselves.”

Sang-Rok Lee inchul@donga.com