Kim Man-gon's Educational Column The President Who Made a Promise to Abolish Homework

Unless there is a special reason, the president has held events inviting children on Children's Day. While the number of children invited might be limited, causing some disappointment, watching the event coverage on the news was always heartwarming.

I once saw a scene of a conversation between children and the president. The format was children asking questions and the president answering. They asked about his favorite subjects, people he respects, what he usually does, and books he likes to read. The questions and answers were not particularly memorable until suddenly one child, saying that he cannot play carefree because homework is assigned every day, asked the president to stop giving homework.

For a moment, I wondered how that question came about. Surely the children must have been told to think in advance about what to ask, and someone would have reviewed anticipated questions. Yet such a question emerged, and I could not help but feel anxious about how the president should answer it educationally and reasonably. Since homework is a common interest among children, I wondered if including this exchange in the Children's Day event was considered particularly fitting.

When the superintendent in Seoul took the lead in deciding school start times for students, I happened to meet a Finnish teacher on a business trip to Korea. That teacher said she did not understand why the superintendent should decide this and found it strange, so I asked who should decide instead. She countered that naturally it should be teachers and schools. Does this difference exist because circumstances vary by country? What is that circumstance, and what should it be ideally?

Abolish homework? What should I answer? Whatever happens, one could say, "Yes, I will do that!" or "That is not my area, so I should ask the teachers," or "That is a difficult issue. I really cannot say anything." While such responses came to mind, it seemed that a proper answer could only be prepared through review and deliberation among educators, administrators, and teachers.

In any case, that president answered immediately, as if that child's request to abolish homework was a very simple matter. He said he would do it. The president did not think long about the issue. He did not seek views from high-ranking education officials or aides waiting nearby and gave a quick answer on the spot. He would abolish homework.

Did he think homework also encourages private education? Or was it the thought that elementary school children should study only at school and that is how it should be? Or had he long believed that homework is harmful and should be abolished?

Even though it seemed like a simple issue, I could not help but anticipate it would become controversial, and from the next day onward, I paid attention to how discussions on this issue developed, what measures each provincial education office prepared, how related administrative orders came down, what reactions teachers showed, and whether homework was truly abolished.

However, something absurd happened again. Or rather, nothing happened at all. How could this be! There were no follow-up measures, and no one even asked why the president's promise was not being kept. Did the children forget the news or the president's promise, or did they not forget but become so caught up in school life that they had no time to question the president's promise? What about people who saw the news? Did they think that since the children had a chance to meet the president and at least had an enjoyable and satisfying time with him, that was enough?

Is this why education in the Republic of Korea does not change? Is it unable to change? Is there no reason for it to change at all? When it comes to education, is most of the discussion nothing more than talk, and should we just continue as we have, as we all studied this way, whether students tire or not?

It is said that children experience severe stress due to excessive private education aimed at university entrance. Was this made into a news story because it is Children's Day? I wish a good president would emerge who truly cares about those children who will become our future.