Study Break Pt. 2
Gwangju Anti-Hakbeol Society Focuses on Forced Study
Written By Ana Traynin
Interview Translated By Cho Namhee
Photo of Park Go Hyung Jun By Cho Namhee
Photos Courtesy of Gwangju Anti-Hakbeol Society
This is the second part of our story on the issue of forced study, continued from last month’s issue.
Gwangju Anti-Hakbeol Society recognizes that they cannot work alone in finding a solution for forced study. They have partnered with youth organizations, education activists and human rights activists. Yet there is one group missing from the demonstrations.
“I feel it’s sad and pitiful that students can’t join the campaigns,” Park Go says. “When there is a labor demonstration, the actual people who have a very close relationship with the industry are involved. In this case, no other students are willing to join the campaign. Even if they want to, if they find a wrong system in the school, they send a petition to the school but the school says they don’t have any unlawful policies.”
Student rights are a relatively new concept as older generations have resisted giving a voice to those under 19. While student human rights have been generally guaranteed in the constitution, the last five years have seen a progressive shift in the Ministry of Education with the passing of detailed local ordinances on student rights in Gyeonggi Province, along with Gwangju, Seoul and Jeonbuk Provinces. The passing also included the creation of a student human rights department within the local education office.
“The student human rights ordinance improved many of the conditions,” Park Go said. “The issue of [enforced short] hair length was resolved four or five years ago. Older conservative generations have been hindering the improvement of student human rights. Still, forced study is the ongoing issue.”
Since students are reluctant to demonstrate in public and jeopardize their futures, the citizens’ group decided on alternate ways of sending their message to the Gwangju Office of Education. In an online survey of over 500 local high school students, 85 percent responded that they have experienced forced study. The anonymous nature of the survey, the schools’ annual reports which reported no forced study cases and no teacher willing to admit performing forced study put the group in conflict with the Office of Education. From there, the demonstrations began.
Picketing in front of the office has led to a discussion with education officials and two agreements. First, officials agreed to ensure that all reported cases of forced study are handed over to the Students’ Rights Department instead of the Department of Careers and Extracurricular Activities. Second, officials agreed to provide parents with a newsletter of the details of evening self-study and give them more of a choice to opt out. Park Go believes these achievements are the minimum that the Office of Education can do for students.
“The priority now is preventing the actual forced study, not coming up with a solution,” he said. “The office says, ‘If that happens, just report it.’ It must be prevention-based to approach this issue. The office needs to let students know they have choices to make, and make teachers and administrators aware of the losses they face if they perform forced study in the school. Currently, the Office of Education is not really aggressive to the issue. They just want to delay it as long as possible.”
Park Go points out a recently formed parents’ group fighting against forced study has disproved the office’s insistence that the practice is caused entirely by students’ parents. Yet, teachers steeped in the school culture refuse to admit their own participation in forced study.
“Since this issue has been going on for a very long time, there’s no way the culture can be flipped on the spot. We need more efforts and discussions to change the convention. It has taken a long time to come up with the regional ordinance, so we believe we would need the same amount of time to improve the student human rights.”
University admission has traditionally been based on scores from the November College Scholastic Ability Test known as Suneung, but recently a second option that considers clubs and other extra-curricular activities has begun to change the process.
“My priority is to allow the students to choose what they want,” Park Go says. “Furthermore, if it’s possible, it would be nice if this campaign can reduce the total amount of study time and maybe change a little bit of the study environment. Korean education is highly focused on math, English, science. We should allow students to experience more extracurricular activities and to think more about their lives. Nowadays … the students cannot [be] guaranteed admission to the prestigious universities even if they spend a lot of time studying at their desk.”
The issue of early English education is connected with what Park Go describes as a normalization of native English teachers in schools across the board. This year, the Ministry of Education lifted a ban on English classes in elementary school 1st and 2nd grades, allowing them during after-school hours. The new policy seeks to close the gap between public education and private academies. While the government has repeatedly sought to limit early English education, it is often in conflict with the public’s desires.
“It is now a rising problem that the youngest students are learning English more than Korean,” he said. “The problem is not because they are learning a language other than Korean. It creates [fewer] opportunities for students to learn about other parts of the world. There is a focus on English and Western culture. There needs to be more opportunities for students to think about their careers.”
Park Go hopes that all teachers, including native English teachers, will pay more attention to student needs. The growing network of independent alternative schools has also led to the creation of public innovative schools, those with more authority to develop student-based curriculum. This can be an opportunity for native teachers to get more involved.
“The teachers should focus on what students actually want from the school. Everybody needs to be a part of the school community and should not follow exactly what the government wants but needs to do what is best for the students.”
For more information, please contact:
http://www.antihakbul.org (Seoul)
https://www.facebook.com/antihakbul
Gwangju Sansu-dong 536-19
070-8234-1319