Tag: Education

Doesn’t the State Department have bigger priorities other than criticizing South Korea for what textbooks its government wants to use in its schools?  What would most Americans think if South Korea released a report criticizing the US for government for its No Child Left Behind and Common Core educational mandates?:

The Park Geun-hye administration’s plan for introducing state-issued history textbooks was singled out as a matter of concern in a US State Department human rights report.Section 2 on “Respect for Civil Liberties” in the department’s “2015 Human Rights Report” published on Apr. 13 included two new references to South Korea’s middle and high school history textbooks in an item on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“In October the Ministry of Education announced plans to require middle and high schools to use only Korean history books authored by the government-affiliated National Institute of Korean History starting in the 2017 school year,” the report noted in a subsection on “Censorship or Content Restrictions.”

“This would end the right of schools, since 2010, to choose from a range of textbooks approved by the ministry,” the report continued.The textbook issue was mentioned again in another item on “Academic Freedom and Cultural Events” in the section on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“There were no government restrictions specifically targeting academic freedom or cultural events. However, a government plan to end middle and high schools’ right to choose Korean history textbook [sic] raised concerns about academic freedom,” the report noted.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

Is anyone shocked that yet another business venture in South Korea is facing financial difficulties?:

The founder of a unique university in North Korea is under scrutiny after the university suffered a series of financial difficulties, according to a source in the country.

Kim Chin-kyung, a U.S. citizen, founded Pyongyang University of Science and Technology with the cooperation of North and South Korean institutions, South Korean news service CBS No Cut News reported.

But the North Korean government is looking to replace Kim.

The source said dwindling funds from South Korea and the United States have contributed to the financial shortfall at the university.

PUST used to operate on a $100,000 monthly budget but that number was down to $50,000, the source said.

A loan Kim secured to build facilities on campus in late 2000 has yet to be paid, and an agreement to replace a 60,000-volt transformer at the school by Oct. 10, 2015, the anniversary to commemorate the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea, was never fulfilled, according to the source.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

It appears that South Korea is getting serious about stopping sexual harassment in the school system:

Suwon District Court has sentenced a high school teacher in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to six years’ jail for sexually harassing and blackmailing a student.

The teacher, identified as Kim, 38, was also ordered to spend 80 hours at a class for sexual offenders and to have his personal information disclosed for six years.

Kim forced his student, 19, identified only as “A,” to take off her clothes and had sexually harassed her 43 times from August to October last year. He also filmed body parts to blackmail her, police said.

Kim approached the student, offering free personal tutoring, because “A” could not afford private lessons. “A” was preparing for a civil service examination.

The court said it handed down a heavy sentence because Kim forgot his duty as a teacher and treated his student as a sex object.

But the court took into consideration that Kim admitted guilt and had paid 30 million won to the student. [Korea Times]

That is at least what a Seoul court ruled earlier this week in a bribery case involving two teachers in  Seoul:

A Seoul court on Wednesday ruled in favor of two private school teachers who accepted money and gifts from the parents of their students.

The teachers, who work at Gyeseong Elementary School, were both charged with taking bribes but later acquitted by the Seoul Central District Court.

The ruling prompted an angry response from those in the education circle, with Kim Hyung-nam, the inspector of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, calling the decision “embarrassing.”

One of the teachers, surnamed Shin, 48, stood accused of taking cash, gift certificates and gifts worth a total of 4.6 million won ($3,930) from two parents over multiple occasions when he taught fourth-grade last year.

The other, surnamed Kim, 45, was accused of accepting 4 million won as well as valuables from one parent.

The court ruled Wednesday that while Shin had accepted the money and gifts, those actions did not amount to bribe-taking.

He was asked to do general favors for the students, the court said, but did not carry out unlawful favors in return for compensation.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

Parents of college aspirants gather to offer a Buddhist prayer in front of “Gatbawi” Buddhist statue (upper), or Stone Hat Buddha, on Mount Palgong in the southeastern city of Gyeongsan on Nov. 1, 2015, to wish for high scores on the state-administered annual scholastic aptitude test scheduled for Nov. 12. The crucial test is seen as a deciding factor in an applicant’s choice of college and subsequent career. (Yonhap)

I am just trying to understand why the Canadians would have this program in the first place where they give free schooling to the kids of foreign students?:

A crammer in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam area that specializes in preparing students for schools overseas recently held a well-attended seminar devoted to Canadian universities. But the smartly dressed audience had not come to find out how their kids can gain admission but how to apply themselves.

The draw is Canada’s study permit program, which guarantees free schooling for the children of foreign students at public universities.

Word first spread among Gangnam’s ambitious mothers three or four years ago, and now the weakening Canadian dollar has made the program even more attractive.

Mothers are rediscovering their thirst for knowledge because college tuition there is cheaper than the cost of their kids to school overseas. They can save W10-20 million (US$1=W1,133) a year per child.

According to Canadian government figures, a foreign university student spends on average 22,753 Canadian dollars a year.

One woman with three children explained the math. “If I sent the kids to a Canadian public school it would cost me W13-17 million per child, so I save anywhere between W20 million and W30 million if I enroll in a public university myself.”
[Chosun Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the Canadian government is now trying to take measures to crackdown on abuse of this program.

These leftist teachers in South Korea only help justify President Park’s efforts to have the government provide school textbooks when classes which include pro-North Korean propaganda and wishing President Park was never born are taught:

The Ministry of Education on Thursday launched an investigation at a high school in Seoul over a report that one of its teachers had shown a video clip containing questionable remarks about President Park Geun-hye and her late father.

The ministry sent two auditors to the high school, located in Gangnam District in southern Seoul, to question the teacher who showed the controversial video and three students.

A civic group claimed Wednesday that the teacher had shown a controversial video clip last month during class. The Blue Union civic group said it recently received a tip from a student about what happened in the classroom on Sept. 18.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

The University of Phoenix has long had low education outcomes for its graduates and is currently under investigation by the FCC, but what appears to have finally gotten the university on the bad side of the US military is its use of “challenge coins”:

The Pentagon temporarily has barred the University of Phoenix from recruiting students at U.S. military bases and will not let new active-duty troops receive tuition assistance for the for-profit giant’s courses.

The move is another blow to the University of Phoenix, which said it is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General Kamala Harris related to recruitment of members of the U.S. military and the California National Guard.

Apollo Education Group, the university’s parent, said the Defense Department notified it of the move this week.

The university’s participation in the department’s tuition-assistance program has been placed on probation in part because of the FTC and California investigations, the filing said.

Military members who are enrolled in university courses can continue to receive tuition assistance, but new enrollees or transfers will not be allowed, the filing said.  [Stars & Stripes]

Here is the part about the challenge coins:

But the Apollo Group filing said another reason cited by the Defense Department in its letter was the university’s sponsorship of “various events at military installations” without the proper approval and the distribution of so-called “challenge coins” without approval to use trademarks.

Challenge coins are small coins popular in the military as signs of membership in service branches and are given to promote morale. They have emblems of military service branches.

Apollo said the university “immediately discontinued the use of challenge coins” in July after the Defense Department raised objections. And Apollo said it has discussed the issue of approval for events at military bases with the Defense Department and noted all previous events had been approved by base officials.

You can read the rest at the link, but the University of Phoenix is far from the only for profit school that makes a lot of money off of federal and US military dollars with little education outcomes for its students.

The problem the South Korean government is trying to address with leftist history textbooks being used to teach students could have unattended consequences.  At some point the Korean left is going to regain the presidency and this will set the precedent that will allow them to put their own mandated changes in the history textbooks:

The presidential office and the ruling party continued on Wednesday to push a plan for the government to take control of history textbooks from private publishers, which the opposition vowed to oppose.

“President Park Geun-hye has openly showed concerns about the overall problems in Korean history education,” an official at the Blue House said on Wednesday.

He said Park issued an order to the Ministry of Education February last year to come up with a way to end distortions of historical fact and ideological biases in classrooms, including the development of new history textbooks with balanced views.

The ruling Saenuri Party announced its support for the government to take control over history textbooks for middle and high school students from private publishers.

“Current history textbooks are pushing the students deeper into a sense of defeat and making them citizens who blame everything on the society and the country,” Saenuri Chairman Kim Moo-sung said Wednesday in his speech at the World Korean Community Leaders Convention. “The most important mission for us is guiding the future generation to challenge the world with positive minds and creative thinking and develop Korea into the world’s 10th largest economy. To realize this goal, history textbooks must be published by the government.”

Currently, eight publishers develop and supply Korean history textbooks for middle and high schools. The ruling party complained over the past few years that seven of them were leaning far too left, giving biased history to the nation’s youngsters.

During a Saenuri Party senior leaders’ meeting Wednesday morning, the need to change the current history textbook system was addressed by several participants.

“History textbooks for middle and high schools, regardless of their publishers, are written consistently with an anti-Korean view that denies our history,” Chairman Kim said. “It appears to be an attempt to teach people’s revolution to the students based on a leftist world view.”

Kim also criticized specific textbooks, saying they justify the Juche, or self-reliance, ideology of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung(1912-1994).   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the glorifying of North Korea in these textbooks if true needs to stop.  These textbooks are hold overs from the Sunshine Policy years where leftist teachers were able to get pro-North Korean textbooks into the schools.  Today the Sunshine Policy and its leftist supporters have been greatly discredited, but the books still remain in the schools which is what the Park administration is trying to address now.

Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, leaves the Seoul High Court on Sept. 4, 2015, after the appeals court convicted him of running a smear campaign during last year’s election but suspended his sentence. If the Supreme Court confirms the ruling, Cho will be able to keep his job. A lower court in April fined Cho 5 million won (US$4,600) for spreading false rumors about his rival, Koh Seung-duk, during the election campaign. (Yonhap)