[CARD NEWS: Opinion] Hardworking students are forced to eat outside
1) A snack bar in front of a high school in Gyeonggi is always crowded with students every evening. The students who didn’t get a seat at the bar have to eat standing up.
2) At the end of the daytime class schedule, the students wander to convenience stores or snack bars near the school to have their dinner. Why do they eat dinner outside, not in the school cafeteria?
3) As the school stopped serving dinner since February, the students turned to the snack bar to fill their stomachs during their busy afterschool schedule. Usually, they have to stay at school after the day officially ends, finishing their homework in a “self-study” period.
4) “Students will be set free from evening self-studying.”
- Lee Jae-jung, superintendent of the Gyeonggi Office of Education
The so-called “no evening self-studying policy” implemented by the Gyeonggi Office of Education is main reason why the school stopped serving dinner.
5) But the school only stopped serving dinner, not the self-study program. Why? Here’s the story so far.
6) Last June, Lee Jae-jung, superintendent of education in the Gyeonggi region, declared an end to evening self-study. But his decision faced harsh backlash from students and parents.
7) The measure the education officials took against their opposition was discontinuing serving dinner to the students. They send an official to regional schools to instruct them to stop serving dinner.
8) The schools which offer dinner
Last March 86 percent (406 out of 470 high schools including private and special-purposed) -> This March 22 percent (72 out of 333 public high schools)
This countermeasure, however, failed to ease the controversy but has only worsened the situation. Eventually, the officials stepped back and directed principals to decide whether to offer dinner. However, it’s not easy for the schools to just reverse the officials’ orders.
9) Only the students are suffering in this dispute.
10) “As the school stopped offering dinner, it disturbed study and the economic pressure grew.” - An 18-year-old senior student surnamed Jung
The students have no choice but to eat outside. As the students disperse out of the school in evening and come back, the students remaining in the school who are willing to study get disturbed. These students rather look for another private studying area, and additional financial burdens are imposed on them
11) “Studying in the classroom until late at night is not education of the future. High school students should eat dinner with their family and have enough time to explore their careers after school.”
- Cho Dae-hyun, spokesperson for the Gyeonggi Office of Education
12) It is true that the students should not just study by cramming, and his quote is reasonable.
13) However, the change cannot happen just in a day while the established college admission system is unchanged. Just abolishing evening self-studying is never enough to motivate the students to sincerely explore their careers.
14) Evening self-studying was made to draw back students from private education. However, the students who have adapted to the system are now at a loss.
15) Sincere consideration for our students, who faces all the negatives from the arguments of adults, must come before ideological issues.
Directed by Lee Jeong-bong
Constructed by Kim Min-pyo
Designed by Bae Seok-yeong
Translated by Son Min-young
Edited by James Constant
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)