Daegu parents seek solution to student suicides

Posted on : 2012-10-15 15:37 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The ruthless, test-taking culture of Korean education may be pushing students over the edge
 June 5. They gathered to ask for superintendent Woo to take responsibility and criticized the policies of the local office
June 5. They gathered to ask for superintendent Woo to take responsibility and criticized the policies of the local office

By Park Soo-jin and Jeon Jong-hwi, staff reporters

Around 10 teachers, parents and activists assembled last on Oct. 12 in Daegu. What brought them together was yet another teen suicide in the area. With the spate of teen suicides in the city, the education activists have criticized the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education superintendent Woo Dong-gi, and issued a statement to the press calling for changes in the competition driven system centered on university admissions. Including a young girl who leapt to her death from her apartment building, 11 youngsters in Daegu have taken their own lives over the last ten months. Seoul has fared no better, with 110 child suicides in the last five years.

All of those gathered decried an educational system that fails to reach out to at-risk teens. Policy director Kim Jeong-geum of the local chapter of a parents’ organization for better education said, “Every time a child dies, they toss out this or that countermeasure, but all that really happens is that these proposals are left to pile up in the offices of the schools and the superintendent with nothing actually being done to help the students.”

Superintendent Woo had metal screens installed on school windows as an anti-suicide measure but this move was widely panned and the screens were recently removed. Instead, locks have now been installed to limit roof access and window wedges installed to prevent windows from opening more than 20 cm. Team leader of the Daegu chapter of the Jeon Gyojo, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), said, “The high number of recent suicides has been linked to grade-related problems and school violence. The problem is intensifying and it’s very frustrating that they keep just suggesting more regulatory measures.”

Put students in charge through empowerment and bettering human rights  

“Ttairoo”, 19, who dropped out of school three years ago during his freshman year of high school and is now engaged in the activities of Asunaro, an organization that promotes youth human rights, described his as a “hopeless existence” at school. “I joined the broadcasting club at my high school, but found that everybody else had joined just wanted experience to write about in their university essays. Members of the student association also are only interested in gaining leadership experience to add to their university applications. There is no place for students who are interested in anything other than university admissions. Friends also always talked about practice exams, academic records, private institutes, and upcoming exams. So students who are tired of studying and disappointed with schools have nowhere to get help.”

Today, there is no culture other than college exams at school, let alone venues for student participation. A girl in her first year of high school attending a high school in Seoul said, “I haven’t had a class meeting at school since I got here.” Recently, executives of a student association collected students’ opinions on attending school and wearing gym clothes and delivered the results to school, but the school responded, “The matter should be decided through gathering the opinions of teachers and parents.” The sixteen-year-old girl said, “We have no choice but to study on the schedules laid out by the school and there’s nothing that I can say or do about any of it.”

The school operation committee rules stipulate that students can take part in the decision-making process as a part of school operations and exercise their right to self-rule. The reality, however, is that adults dominate the committees that make decisions, except in a handful of innovative schools in the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province area. Ttairoo said, “If there was room for students to take part in administration and self-govern, they probably wouldn’t just sit there all day like corpses staring at their textbooks.”

Bae Gyeong-nae, activist of the human rights education center Deul said, “The key to solving student violence is ensuring student human rights and self-rule,” adding, “We should end ‘intimidating education,’ which generates ‘intimidated citizens,’ and bring happiness to education through the experience of being educated while being respected with positive feelings. To this end, policymakers should share the reality recognition with citizens and create such an educational atmosphere.”

Schools where teachers and students can build close relationships

At school, teachers do not have enough time to meet with the students. Kim Byung-ha, said, “From middle school on, students usually meet their homeroom teachers for only 10 minutes in morning assembly and afternoon assembly,” adding, “Even though teachers might wish to spend time with their students for friendship or consultation, both teachers and students and teachers lack the time for such contact due to the after-school classes.”

Lee Gi-gyu, a teacher Susong Elementary School in Daegu said, “Children are overflowing with curiosity and questions, but if teachers do not rein them in and teach them the know-how to earn good grades, they are regarded as incompetent teachers.” He asked, “Aren’t today’s adults just forcing children to lead a life without rest or pause from kindergarten all the way through college?”

The Lee Myung-bak administration has only fanned the flames of this competitive atmosphere. In 2008, the standardized scholastic aptitude exam system, in which all students take a test on a nationally prescribed date, was resurrected at the elementary, middle and high school levels. When students have to take exams that assess their academic ability compared to their peers across the nation, they can think about nothing other than their marks. The results of the national test are disclosed, and the rank of schools is determined according to how many of its students give correct answers to questions while the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology evaluates each school based on the test results. Under these circumstances, teachers and principles cannot help but worry about the students’ test results. Some schools force elementary school students to come to school by 8 in the morning and practice for the national test and some compel the students into fierce competition with offers of prizes like gift certificates or chances to travel abroad.

To get to the heart of the problem, fundamental change in the school system is essential. Jang Eun-ja, head of parents’ association to promote genuine education said, “It doesn’t make sense teachers don’t have time even if they want to take care of students. There should be fewer students in each class, administrative education system concentrating on official documents should be changed, and schools should become venue for teachers and students to communicate.”

Abandon Education focused solely on college admissions  

To make it possible for the first two objectives to be realized, changes must be made to the current college admission system, where students fiercely compete for admission to elite universities such as Seoul National and a handful of others. High school can be normalized only when the college admission system is changed and the hierarchical system among collages is done away with. Lee Do-heum of Hanyang University said, “It is time to put into practice the plans for establishing a ‘university network system’ and ‘national humanities university,’ which have been discussed since the 1980s.” Lee went on to say, “There are many plans to integrate national and public universities. Presidential candidates should adopt a plan that they consider realistic and effective in solving the university entrance exam problem, and open the door for reform of the academic system.”

Lee Young-tak, director of KTU maintains that to end “the chain of suicides,” adults should step in and “concentrate all policy capabilities on transforming the schools,” while Park Hyo-jong, professor of education at Konkuk University said, “For a society to properly take care of children, a civilian movement led by parents is necessary.”

 

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