Deputy Prime Minister Ahn Re-Announces His “Three No’s” Position

On the special statement released on October 14, Ahn Byung-young, the deputy prime minister and the minister of Education and Human Resources, re-announced his “Three No’s” to the reflection of differences in scholastic ability between the high schools, college entrance exams, and admission by donations.

Also, Deputy Prime Minister Ahn said that in order to strengthen the coherence between high school and college education and to recover the mutual trust, he would establish a council in which the officials of universities and high schools and the parents of the students will participate.

Although the universities expressed their sympathies with Ahn’s statement, which asked for cooperation between the educational institutions, the teachers’ organizations showed disappointment with the statement. The complication around the differences in scholastic abilities appears to indicate that it will not be settled for a while.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahn expressed his regrets by saying, “It makes my heart hurt that the controversy over the high school rankings is disturbing our society, and that it is even likely to develop to a ideological confrontation or complications between regions and classes.”

In-Chul Lee inchul@donga.com