[Opinion] Educational Duty

May has been a cruel month for teachers. About 70 percent of the elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide took a break on Teachers` Day on May 15. On the only day of the year that the teacher becomes the person of the day, they were left with mixed feelings, mainly of disappointment. On May 18 one elementary school teacher in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, went on her knees to apologize to a parent. This unimaginable incident was caught on camera and went on air.

Teaching is getting popular as an occupation, but the status of teachers is falling. Reasons may include excessive parental love. With the increase of families with one child, parents are cautious of leaving them to their teachers` disposal. While it is advisable for parents to express their opinions in managing schools, excessive intervention may interfere with the teachers` authority.

In some ways, teachers may have brought this upon themselves. With the collective selfishness manifest in such acts as opposition to the Teachers Assessment System, the image of teachers has faded. Our culture traditionally instills trust in educators. As seen in the Special Law for the Status of Educators, their social status is relatively stable. Yet they should reflect on whether, through a number of calls for reform and ideology, they have transformed themselves from teachers to laborers.

Education without a corresponding respect for teachers is impossible. If the class does not have an atmosphere that is deferential to teachers, the education effect will be close to nil. Thus pedagogic authority is not only for the teachers. The initial solution to this problem is in the hands of the parents. They should re-establish their trust in teachers and ensure their authority. Then it would be the teachers` turn. The American poet Henry Van Dyke said in his poem "To the Unknown Teacher" that "it is the unknown teacher who delivers and guides the young. She quickens the indolent, the unstable, She communicates her own joy in learning and shares with boys and girls the very best treasures of her mind. She lights many candles with, in later years will shine back to cheer her." In this era, how many teachers in the Korean educational system possess this sense of duty?

Hong Chan-sik, Editorial Writer, chansik@donga.com