Ask a Principal about the Future of the Education

 Many middle and high school students in Korea feel frustrated during their education courses. A study released by the OECD showed that Korea’s youth suicide rate was the highest among its 30 member countries. Recently, school violence has been spreading like poison.  People have a great distrust with Korean education. 
Geochang High School`s education method has gained popularity for years as an alternative idea. CBT reporters visited Geochang located in Gyeongsangnam-do with a spring breeze to meet Jeon Sung-en, who is an ex-principal of Geochang High School. He was famous for Geochang High School`s ten commandments and was mentioned as a candidate for M.E.S.T minister. 

A true teacher needs true love!
True love is when everybody plays their roles in their given places. Soldiers’ love is not to invade Seoul but to protect their country. In the Joseon Dynasty period, soldiers needed to defeat the foreign enemy. If they invaded their city, they were betrayers. Clerics can love their nations and countries but should basically practice the teachings of Jesus.
My educational philosophy is true love. People ask me where my educational philosophy comes from. They think my educational philosophy is very innovative. However, my educational philosophy is not a special thing. My educational philosophy comes from saints. They are Confucius, Jesus and Sakyamuni. They all claim the love of humans.
What is a teacher's love to his students? Before a teacher loves his students, he distinguishes between right values and wrong values and protects his students from wrong values with his good perspective. A teacher who is not interested in his students is not qualified. Teachers don't have to be much interested in the students who are doing well at school and have a lot of money. Teachers should have more interest in the students who are doing worse at school and don't live with their parents. They must expend much time and effort on these students. I believe that teenagers who are worried and lost have no problems. I find most causes are the wrong love of their parents or no protection from their parents. Teachers have to protect their children from the wrong values of the nation or religion. A moment ago, I just said true love is to do one's role properly. A teacher should be a supportive being, not a prescriptive being. That is the role of a teacher.
 
Reform the educational administration!
Now, the Education Ministry is not equal to the City-province Education Office, the City-county Education Office or to individual schools in our country. It is divided into two parts. One is the superior authority, and the other is the inferior authority. However, the education offices and individual schools should have equal and complementary structures. The Education Ministry should not unconditionally order them and then check whether the inferior authority obeys the orders or not.
I was a leader of the Presidential Committee on Education Innovation for two years. During that time, I was openly absorbed in the 'Master Plan of an Educational Reform'. This plan was that the Education Ministry would reduce its scale and personnel. I thought that only 10 City-province Education Offices were needed all over the country. The Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education and the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education needed to be united. At that time, there were 180 City-county Education Offices in the nation. The region, which only has a few students, even has local education offices. I think that only 50 Education Offices are needed in each area. If we can reduce the number of unnecessary education offices in this way, much of the budget for education will remain. If that increased budget is invested in the schools and students, the educational administration would have more efficiency. Also, thanks to this system, our educational system can be an equal and complementary administration system for students.

Korea stands at the crossroads of democracy
The official name of Korea is the "Republic of Korea". As we use 'Republic', we should run the country like a democratic country. Although the Korean economy was developed under a dictatorship, we should not acknowledge that dictatorship, which wore a democratic mask to hide their weak point, History has developed from oppression to liberty, unfair to fair, exploitation to coexistence, and imperialism to democracy. Now, Korea also stands at the crossroads of democracy.
The objectives of education should be to commit to principles with a concern for human dignity and to create people who act like democratic citizens. We teach students that we should not treat people differently because of race, presence of abnormalities, or cultural or economic differences. 

To university students
In terms of choosing your career, students should know their own talents. Students should agonize hard to know their talents.  Humans seldom agonize over something without bitter experience except for the case of Buddha. After we experience many painful situations, we can indeed agonize over the situations. After that, we can choose our careers. For example, let us suppose that you have a girl friend. You have loved your girl friend for 3 years.
 However, when you go to the army, your girl friend breaks up with you. You will agonize for the first time about love. Buddha also had pain when he left a home to seek after truth. At that time, India was in a period of unification, and Buddha was a prince of a small city-state. He was much more stressed than other people, so he left his home to seek after truth. Such as Buddha, university students also agonize about their futures and have more experiences. By agonizing more, students can make choices about their careers wholeheartedly without any hesitation. Students who have many minds are not really university students. Finally, I want to emphasize one more thing about love. Love for human beings and generosity, consideration are included.
We think of the great king Gwanggaeto as a hero. However, other ethnicities who were invaded by him thought that the great king Gwanggaeto was just an invader. We called Tang Tae-jong as an invader. However, he was a hero in China. We usually forget the basic truth that if we do not want to suffer, other people also do not want to do that. I hope university students will become true highbrows who represent Korea. 
 
                                                                                                     By. Min Kyung-woon
                                                                                                           KW32
                                                                                                      By. Lee Jung-hae
                                                                                                            ljh32