[Editorial] They Treat Schools Like Private Property

Five private high schools in the city of Jeju have announced they will not accept new students. As a first step, they have refused to accept the local school board's list of new students and their written applications. Private schools in Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, North and in the Gyeongsang and Chungcheong provinces are preparing to take similar action. It is frustrating that the country has to entrust its children to people who treat schools like hole-in-the-wall markets they can open and close at their whim. It is just pathetic that school officials have thrown aside their pride as educators and are being orchestrated like puppets as they take directions from the schools' owning private education foundations.

Bad private schools need to realize that such behavior is only a display of impure, commercial intentions. To begin with, they have no concern for their students. All they are interested in is the private ownership of schools and education. Their schools seem to be nothing more than means for earning money and prestige. Furthermore, they are not educators. Education is basically about cultivating democratic citizens. They should have waited for a decision from the Constitutional Court since they themselves filed a constitutional petition for a judgment on the recent revision to the Private School Law. Finally, they have made it clear they are people who can put students at risk whenever it serves their interests. The same people who said the one day holiday by the Korean Teachers and Education Worker’s Union (Jeon Gyo Jo)was an "invasion of students right to classes" and called for legal measures are declaring that they are going to close their schools.

Ironically this shows you why it is the Private School Law had to be revised. The revision added a bare minimum of checks designed to prevent the high-handedness, corruption, and anti-educational behavior of the organizations that own private schools. The self-righteousness now on display is possible because the revision has not taken effect.

The government must be resolute about this. It should file prosecution complaints against the schools refusing to accept incoming students, and revoke approval for their boards of trustees. There needs to be swift and resolute legal action. Cheong Wa Dae's directive regarding a wholesale inquiry into irregularities at private schools must not end up having been just a bluff. It should proceed with the process of accepting incoming students on the schools' behalf, and make sure there are not interruptions in the semester's schedule.

The Hankyoreh, 7 January 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]