President Roh Moo Hyun has chosen Uri Party member of the National Assembly Kim Jin Pyo as the new Deputy Prime Minister of Education and Human Resources Development. The move comes 20 days after controversy over former minister Lee Ki Jun's ethical standing forced Lee to resign on January 7. All we can say is that the government searched far and wide only to make the wrong choice, like thinking forever just to slip up while playing a board game. We call on the president to withdraw his choice.
Kim is known for what he knows about economics, and was once Deputy Prime Minister of Finance and Economy. Cheong Wa Dae explains the choice by saying he is the "right man for the job of reforming universities so that they can produce the kind of people the economy needs." President Roh called university education an "industry." That is shortsighted, however, for seeing only side of what education is supposed to be.
For starters, it runs contrary to the essence of university education to think of universities exclusively as supply centers for corporate manpower. Universities provide overall guarantee of a society's intellectual capacities. Making sure they do requires wide-ranging development in the basic sciences, humanities, and social sciences, and not just in the area of "education as a commercial product." It would be hard for someone who is not an expert in education to assure that happens. And applying the logic of the market to education is the best way to incite massive conflict.
Limiting the work of the head of the education ministry to universities is also a major problem. Kim has maintained positions that are the direct opposite of previous ministry policies, on things like encouraging the establishment of "special purpose high schools" in "new towns," opening the education market, and foreign schools in economic free trade zones. The same goes for high school pyeongjunhwa ("equalization") and the creation of more fully independent private high schools (jariphyeong saripgo). He just cannot have been chosen for the job unless the idea is to discard existing education policy in its entirety. In addition, he is criticized for inconsistency in his views and not getting things done in the area of economic policy when he was Deputy Prime Minister of Finance and Economy.
As seen in the Lee Ki Jun affair, the position of Deputy Prime Minister of Education and Human Resources Development has to be filled with someone who has a definite philosophy of education and has the people's confidence if he is going to be able pursue education reform with consistency. Kim does not satisfy either requirement. We hope President Roh does not make things more difficult for himself by going ahead with yet another forced nomination.
The Hankyoreh, 28 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Kim Jin Pyo is the Wrong Choice |
