[Editorial] GNP, Teachers' Union Both Wrong About Video

The attacks on the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (Jeon Gyo Jo) by the Grand National Party (GNP) and conservative media for a video uploaded on its website for use in joint teaching sessions on "properly understanding APEC" are based on several errors. Based on those incorrect assumptions the GNP has even put together something called the "Special Commission on Properly Raising Our Children."

First of all, the video was not made by Jeon Gyo Jo. It was ordered and paid for by the "People's Action Against APEC," a group composed by around 50 organizations, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, Han'guk Nochong). Secondly, the Busan chapter of Jeon Gyo Jo put the video on its homepage as reference material for member teachers and not as guidelines for joint teaching sessions. No one has used the video as class material. Also, material about APEC that was given to students consisted of one page with arguments in support of APEC and one page with arguments against it. The 30 pages of critical material that the GNP is talking about was also reference material intended only for teachers. Finally, the joint teaching sessions are structured so that students can seek new models for APEC that promote international cooperation.

The case is, therefore, something of a "fabrication." The Ministry of Information and Communication's "Information and Communication Ethics Commission" judged that the video "does not qualify as content that notably harms the character of school education." Furthermore, the Busan City Board of Education passed out material that essentially promotes the event to kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools. Korea's education system should defend liberal democratic values, and those values will not survive if events can be advertised but not criticized.

Jeon Gyo Jo's Busan chapter is also a problem. It did not adequately filter what it put on its website, and it was inappropriate to have made it possible for students to be exposed to abusive language. The video was a parody, but there's a difference between what is intended for education and what is meant to be propaganda. Education is supposed to encourage students to have rational thinking and judgment. Emotional stimulation should be avoided as much as possible. If we were to add one more thing, it would be that "he who walks between cans of manure must be careful."

The Hankyoreh, 4 November 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]