Moon Jae In: The Problematic Man

Moon Jae In – The Problematic Man
By Cathryn Kim

Moon Jae In, the Democratic United Party candidate, claimed he would abolish all special-purpose high schools, but he seems to have only one specific target in mind:   foreign language high schools. He made one exception to his utilitarian policy: specialized science schools. His ambitious policy would have been perfect if not for his last “condition”. NOT.
On the 5th of November, Moon stated that “we need a fundamental innovation in education policies if you think about the astronomical influence college entrance has on them. The special-purpose high schools, which have diverged from their original goal of becoming privileged prep schools, will gradually become ‘just high schools.’”  The candidate also made comments about the overheated “English boom” that seems to deviate from the normal high school curriculum, criticizing the “detriments caused by the excessive requirements of foreign language abilities and extracurricular activities.” Yes, Daewonians. We are the fruit of the “detriments”.
We can learn two things about this canny candidate Moon through his extremely ambiguous proposals: one, this candidate certainly did not go to a foreign language high school – or maybe he dropped out. It is clearly demonstrated that he is very inconsiderate of the currently enrolled students to think he could just mow them over or something. Which leads to thinking, he is targeting the mediocre majority, whose sons and daughters are currently enrolled in public schools or do not have enough specifications to apply to foreign language high schools. I am almost sure that he was very clever on this pursuit, because if I myself were not enrolled in Daewon, I would definitely have been tempted to believe in his words.
Let us not be biased like sophisticated people. Take a step back, and put ourselves in others’ shoes. For this country’s educators, I am sure Moon’s policy will make their job easier. They definitely have less to consider. What I notice in Korean educational policies is a very furtive movement of standardization, as we have seen with the unifying high school entrance procedures of Foreign Language Middle School students last year. It was thought, because there had been a specialized selection process, that competition amongst students in those middle schools was of a higher level. Accordingly, educators had implemented a policy to treat them differently, may it be giving them a relative advantage in high school admission. After two years of the novice schools’ establishments, however, the policy was removed. All middle school students are now mandated to meet the same qualifications. Poof. Hundreds of idiosyncratic cases gone extinct in the blink of an eye. How could this not be much more simplistic for educators to come up with policies now?
I know that my parents are going to break into preposterous hysteria if they hear of this – and they probably would have, I would like to know their reactions. Most parents of South Korea, however, are less burdened. They would no longer feel a dark and oppressive entity, something like a hand crawling up, on their shoulders. No more prestigious schools, just all equal, mean that no more nagging their children is necessary to send them to those schools. They could take a rest in enduring placidity, for up to three years. Those of low-income families will not feel burdened nor apologetic for not being able to send their children to those schools. The inexplicable popularity of second language education will also flicker, to die out sooner or later, since there are no longer competitors who study Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, be it any language, 9 hours a week. This would kill private education, in a mild sense.
Then to break the surface and dig into the deeper grounds of the issue, our issue, we must ask ourselves, “Is this true?” Should Daewon Foreign Language High School more specifically and precisely change its name to Daewon Prep School? I know most of us would agree; I, for instance, did not apply for Daewon just because I loved English nor did I desperately want to learn Spanish. Maybe Moon had a justifiable point: it was just that he expressed his wishes in an unfavorable way for some people. Yet, what is the problem of prestigious prep schools? If college admission is what students ask for, should the government not provide it?
Amidst the arousal of quarreling questions, asking ourselves the justification of the recognition by the universities we are approved of should be very significant. Maybe this incident is a whole underscore on the effort we will have to put in to prevent the recognitions of our school going to waste.