Well, I’ll begin by telling you were they AREN’T at — private elementary school in Seoul.
According to a report sent by city and provincial department of education on union membership sent to the GNP lawmaker Cho Jeon-hyeok on Wednesday, 17.3% of the nation’s teachers were members of the left-wing Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union.
The percentage was highest in — sit down for this — Gwangju and Jeollanam-do, where KTEWU membership was at 31.4% and 35%, respectively.
It was lowest in Gyeonggi-do, where KTEWU membership was a mere 11%. In Daejeon, it wasn’t much higher at 12.2%.
Seoul had the most KTEWU members at 10,794, but in terms of percentage, it was only 15.4%. And the city’s public schools had much higher KTEWU membership rates than private ones — 17.2% vs 11%. In particular, not a single one of Seoul’s 960 (as of 2007) private elementary school teachers were KTEWU members.
In Seoul’s public school, membership was highest in high schools at 25.8%. In middle schools, it was 20.5%.
There were also big differences between areas of Seoul, with schools within Nambu Office of Education’s jurisdiction having membership rates of 20.3%, and those with Gangnam Office of Education’s having rates of just 7.1%.
Oh, by comparison, membership in the relatively conservative Korea Federation of Teachers’ Associations clocked in at 38.9% nationally.
Needless to say, the KTEWU has not been happy with new regulations requiring schools to disclose how many of their teachers are members of associations.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
My, how the rats run when the lights go on . . .
Any ideas as to how far this is going to go? Are they finally going to gas the rats out, or just watch them scurry about uncomfortably for a change?
Just goes to reinforce my belief that the KTEWU is not as big of a force as its built up to be by not only the left but also the right. KTEWU and their peers may be better at flaunting their influence in provocative ways, but the real power in Korea still lies squarely with the conservatives. Despite the negative populistic tactics employed by the likes of KTEWU, I would venture to say that at 17%, they serve the necessary function of balancing out the conservative side and providing diversity of thought to Korea without becoming too much of a threat — candlelight vigils notwithstanding.
I disagree “Timmy”. These people cause harm to South Korea since they introduce ideology into the classroom where it does not belong and do not engage their pupils on an intellectual level — emphasizing critical thinking skills. Rather their aims are purely biased and only serve their way of thinking and, as such, are worthless.
Their job should be to focus upon education, not politics.
R. Elgin’s right, the union’s “negative populistic tactics” do not belong in the classroom, especially when they affect curriculum. I was pleasantly surprised they are at 17%, though.
It’s a proven factor that 17% is far enough number to twist children’s and teen’s view on almost everything.
JiMong — True ‘dat, but Timmy’s also right — the KTEWU also serves as a convenient bogeyman for the mainstream press. And the KTEWU have to work against the local Departments of Education and the Ministry of Education, which has traditionally been some of the country’s biggest bastions of conservatism.
I agree there is no room for politics in the classroom and that these teachers do not promote critical thinking the way they’re supposed to. But the unfortunate irony is that their counterparts, the right-leaning teachers, fail just as miserably at teaching students how to think both independently and critically. I know, because I spent all my schools years (minus two) in Korean schools. I’m sure you’ve heard how it’s all about rote memorization and following orders in Korean schools — well it’s true. Speaking or writing your mind is almost a vice, or at least a “distraction” to your studies (which, in most parents’ minds, is a vice). It’s indeed tragically ironic that the KTEWU members are the only ones introducing any form of critical thinking into the classroom. The problem, of course, is that they resort to the same type of cram-down-your-throat brainwashing techniques that the conservative teachers use, without actually teaching students “how” to think critically. But if the choice is between having one set of ideas monopolizing the minds of students and having two sets of ideas competing to brainwash the students, I would reluctantly choose the latter.
If you’re wondering what kind of brainwashing Korean students are subject to from the conservative side, just take a look at this recent article on problematic left-leaning propaganda that the conservatives want purged from textbooks: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/09/117_30979.html
The three instances quoted in the article are, “Korea’s liberation by the victory of the allied nations after World War II hampered establishment of our people’s new government,’’ “the `Saemaul Movement’ was used to justify the dictatorship of President Park Chung-hee.’’ “Too much liberty in economic market drives a bigger gap between the haves and have-nots.’’
Not exactly the kind of biased, subversive, or extreme thoughts we’d want to purge from our textbooks, are they?
This is an afterthought, but it’s interesting to note that the very reason so many college students fall for the leftist propaganda in college is because when they are exposed to the ideas, it is literally their first encounter with ideas that differ from the “official” ones they had been indoctrinated into all their lives. When they discover that prominent scholars have written about these different views, they have a world-turning-on-its-head type of realization that all their life they had been systematically cut off from these ideas. This leads to a distrust of everything they’ve learned, and sadly, to the wholesale embrace of the leftist ideas that represent intellectual liberation.
So I say the let the two brainwashing factions compete until we can come up with a way to get teachers to teach students how to think critically.
I wonder if this number has been going up or down? It’s interesting how in most countries left-wing-based teachers’ unions and associations are usually gushing with beliefs of multiculturalism and political correctness to the point of becoming obnoxious nuisances, but here they’re a bastion of racist bigotry. It would be great if KOTESOL and other TEFL professioinal associations banned KTEWU members from joining, at least officially, to let them know exactly what foreign teaching professionals think of them. Perhaps I’ll write a letter to KOTESOL suggesting it.
let’s kick the NEA out of the classroom, too.
US NEA is an evil organization.
NEA teachers are more prone to make talking about politics a part of the classroom “critical thinking skills” session.
NEA teachers are more prone to walk out of classrooms and demonstrate to ask for pay raises and benefits–at the expense of tax payers.
NEA teachers are more likely to be Democrats. NEA gives money every election year to one party. The Democrats.
Don’t be a conservative in Seoul, when you are a liberal in the US.
That is a very good observation “Timmy” and makes sense. Perhaps then, Korean students are being shafted by both sides, at the expense of conflicting ideologies then.
You have reminded me of a Chosun Ilbo editorial that said:
The editorial is here.
The first statement, as it’s written, should be purged because the cause-effect statement is pathetically untrue. The Allied defeat of Japan did not stop or hinder the formation of a new government. Allied victory stopped 35 years of Japan’s occupation of Korea. AFTER the US took control of the south, it did exert a heavy influence in the formation of the government, but the victory itself was not an obstacle to re-establishing sovereignty unless you believe the national myth spun in Korean textbooks and history books about how the Righteous Army, poised to retake the peninsula, was cheated by Japan’s surrender to the Allies.
Pfft! Sonagi, next you’re gonna tell us that Al Gore’s ManBearPig is a myth when we all know that she helped found Gojoseon.
All hail ManBearPig!
(Yeah, yeah. Should be WomanBearPig. That Al Gore is such a sexist!)
Hi Sonagi #12,
You’re probably right. Let me say up front that I mainly agree with you (maybe it is just a semantic problem).
But it is interesting to compare the fate of Korea with other countries at the end of WWII.
Maybe the most interesting comparison is with Yugoslavia and Tito’s Partizans. The Yugoslavs were able to liberate themselves and enjoyed a large amount of autonomy after the war. From the 1943 Tehran Conference the Partizans received official recognition and air support from the Allies (compare with the famous “independence in due course” remark at Cairo). This was quite easy from bases in Italy. I’m not sure if it was possible for the Western Allies to give air-support to the Korean Liberation Army.
One can also compare the treatment of the Norwegian and Dutch Governments in Exile to the Korean Government in Exile in Shanghai/Chongqing. Despite the Netherlands being liberated on May 5th, 1945 and Norway on May 8th, 1945 (with some exceptions) the Norwegians were considered victors of World War II and as far as I know there was a respresentative of the Dutch Government signing the surrender with Japan in Tokyo Bay. Both governments in exile were immediately installed in power once the Germans surrendered, and both ruled until June 1945 before resigning to be succeeded by unity governments led by resistance fighters.
This option, needless to say, was not given to the Korean Government, partially because it was not properly recoginsed, despite declaring war on the Japanese and Germans in December 1941.
Similar things can be said about Denmark. Liberated by German surrender on May 5th 1945. Vilhelm Buhl (who had been PM in 1942 under the occupation) immediately took power again. When Montgomery turned up one week later to officially mark the surrender he didn’t do anything apart from drive around, wave to everyone and give happy speeches. Compare this to what happened when Hodge turned up in Korea in September 1945.
One can also compare fears of Russians running down the Korean peninsula with similar situations in Europe. The Russians actually occupied parts of Denmark (Bornholm) and Norway (Finnmark) before retreating again. If the Russians had wanted to pour down the Norwegian coast they probably could have. This would have been strategically useful in the same way that it was for the Germans. Think of the partition of Austria too.
Hey Eujin,
Just wandering, but is your full name Kim Yoojin by any chance. If so I think we have the same name.
The other thing about Vilhelm Buhl (who was not booted from power by the British in 1945) was that he was a Social Democrat. In Denmark that means he was a socialist. That means he believed in things like collectivisation of agriculture and labor, waved a red flag on May 1st and sang the Internationale.
He also believed in state ownership of the means of production, just like the Federal Reserve does
You must log in to post a comment.