hankyoreh

By Park Soo-jin, staff reporter

At Myongji High School in Seoul, students must attend religious ceremonies where guest pastors come to preach. They also watch Christian videos and sing hymns. After the event, students write a report about what they felt during the preaching.

A student with the initial K said, “I’d rather be in class. It was so stressful being in that kind of event because I’m not a Christian.”

“They said I’d fail if I don’t believe in God. I was so uncomfortable hearing that,” said another student, who goes by the initial P.

Myongji High School was founded by private Christian foundations and maintains Christian ceremonies as mandatory school activities. Students are forced to have QT every morning at 8. The word QT indicates quiet time, when Christian people read the Bible and meditate in silence. It lasts only for 5 to 10 minutes, but students can’t leave class or chat during QT.

K said, “They once made an offering of money that our classmates collected together, without our consent.”

The first class of every Monday is worship time. She said, “Earlier this semester, the teacher asked us to raise our hands if we didn’t want to be in worship. But I felt like I couldn’t raise my hand.”

Alternative classes exist only nominally. K said, “There are two alternative classes, Life and Education, and Life and Religion. But there is no assigned teacher for Life and Education class. In Life and Religion class, they praise Christianity and criticize other religions most of the time.”

According to the Curriculum Guide of Elementary, Middle and High Schools, when a school wants to have a class devoted to a particular religion, they have to offer substitute philosophy or education classes. Seoul’s student rights ordinance also states that schools cannot force students to participate in religious events such as worship or awakening ceremonies.

“Our school educates students in accordance with the Christian spirit. All the students write a pledge before they enter the school,” said Kim Yeong-man, vice-principal at Myongji High School. “If there are any students who want to transfer to another school, we are willing to send them.”

A student testified that the school has been operating classes according to students’ abilities. According to the students’ statements, every first-year student had to take Math and English examinations before they enter the school, last February.

After the exam, the school collected applications from students who answered that they like English in a survey. Among those students, only some, who showed good grades in English, were selected for two special classes.

A student of English Project Class said, “Most of the high-ranking students applied for the English class, so I did too. I thought the atmosphere would be more studious than other classes.” She added, “Since the students in the special English classes are good at English, they are also better in other subjects than students in regular classes.”

According to a 2009 change in policy, Korean schools are not allowed to group students in classes according to their ability.

A source of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said, “It seems that Myongji High School grouped the classes according to students’ grades. We are going to supervise them since they might violate the curriculum guide.”

“English Project Class is meant to prepare gifted students for a globalized world. Among those students are some who have lived abroad or who have a special aptitude for English. They are not divided by ability,” said Hwang Nam-taek, Principal at Myongji High School.

On July 18, K reported to the Student Rights Education Center of SMOE that the school violated students’ rights by forcing them to participate in religious events, grouping them by ability, and making them stay at school until late at night for mandatory studying.

SOME delayed the investigation until August 8 when the Hankyoreh inquired into the case. SMOE received a response from the school that only addressed the late night self-studying and compulsory after-school class problems.

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