Educators push for character-building in schools

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Educators push for character-building in schools

A group of lawmakers at the National Assembly and educators took the first step on June 11 to introduce a bill intended to infuse more character-building education into regular courses at elementary, middle and high schools. Five policy makers from both the ruling Saenuri Party and opposition Democratic Party held a meeting to discuss elements of the proposals with officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The five are part of a group consisting of 50 lawmakers who vowed to put forward the character education bill by early next year.

At the heart of the bill is making community service mandatory in school.

“Students are now just mindlessly trying to fill extracurricular hours,” said Lee Soo-young, president of the Korean Women’s Network in New Zealand. The organization is a nonprofit aimed at helping Korean students residing in New Zealand keep up with class there.

“Without mandatory service, students can see volunteerism as a way to enhance their records for personal benefit. But if we do volunteer work together with classmates and teachers in regular classes, they are more likely to enjoy it,” she said.

Kwon Jin-soo, principal of Yangseo High School in Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi, took his arguments a step further.

“We should create courses designed to help students develop into good, moral people and let universities assess the character of college-bound students,” he said.

The high school in a far-flung rural area is known for teaching good character traits in regular academic courses.

“The current college entrance exam has nothing to do with evaluating the character of students, so it hampers efforts to adopt character-oriented education.”

BY YOON SEOK-MAN [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]
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