President Moon Jae-in laughs with children at Daeyoung Elementary School in Yeongdeungpo-gu, southwestern Seoul, while on the campaign trail, March 22. / Yonhap



By Kim Bo-eun

For many voters with children, education reform was one of the most important pledges they based their votes on. The election of President Moon Jae-in is drawing keen attention to his education pledges.

Status quo

Korea's education system is defined as a means to enter prestigious universities. This is because workplaces evaluate job applicants based on their alma maters. This makes it even tougher for young people to find jobs in the tight job market.

Parents put their children in private academies starting in elementary school, with hopes of them getting a head start and outperforming their peers, as competition to enter the top universities is sky-high. The costs of private education pose a huge burden.

Students have no time to discover and nurture their talents or explore careers, because they are so focused on their studies for the CSAT. They decide on their college majors based on their CSAT scores, oftentimes leading to mismatches and difficulties in finding jobs.

Abolishing rankings

As a means to address this deep-rooted problem, Moon said he will legislate a law which bans discrimination based on academic background. The law will abolish putting academic background on resumes. The bill has been submitted to the National Assembly.

At the same time, in the long run, Moon envisions integrating all state universities, including the nation's top school Seoul National University, as a means to eliminate school rankings.

In order to make this possible, he said he will draw up negotiating bodies comprised of representatives and members of state universities across the nation to create a network. The universities will co-recruit and provide graduates with diplomas from the entire network of schools. Students and faculty members will be able to earn credits and teach classes at all of the schools.

The system will collaborate with private universities in the long run.

Moon has also pledged to abolish hierarchy at the high school level. This will be done by turning foreign language, international and autonomous high schools, which are known as prestigious schools with their own curriculum, into regular schools that offer free education.

Expanding career exploration opportunities

Moon said he will improve and expand the program currently running at middle schools, which frees students from the regular curriculum for one semester and allows them to explore their career options.

At high schools, his plans on enabling students to select the classes they wish to take, as university students do. This will allow them to take classes based on their aptitudes, enabling them to prepare for their future careers.

All of these policies will be pushed forward by a newly established independent state education committee, instead of the education ministry. This will prevent education plans from being halted with a change in administration every five years.

Hopes

Parents, educators and civic activists are calling for the new President to take action.

"My hope is that the next President reforms the education system, so the younger generations do not experience difficulties in entering university and do not have limits to pursuing their studies," said Ryu Jae-hee, 78, after casting her vote.

"We hope the President will listen to the voices of those working in education, and communicate with them to gradually solve the issues at hand," the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations said in a statement.

"Discussions about getting ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution have been taking place. Cultivating creative students should be a key effort," said Song In-soo of World Without Worries about Shadow Education, a civic group aimed at tackling private education.

"But students are currently caught up in excessive competition on entrance exams. With the low birth rate, the number of children is decreasing, posing greater challenges. Abandoning this matter will result in grave implications for the nation."