Putting the blame on the ‘cartel of private education’

Choi Min-woo
The author is the political news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

After President Yoon Suk Yeol raged over the so-called “killer questions” in government-administered mock exam ahead of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in November and ordered elimination of such tricky problems in high school exams in mid-June, the National Tax Service (NTS) scrambled with special audits on popular cram schools, including MegaStudy and Sidae Injae, two weeks later. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also joined the cram-school-banging by launching an investigation on exaggerated or false ads by these private academies.

South Koreans last year spent a whopping 26 trillion won ($19.9 billion) on private education for elementary and secondary schoolers, a fresh historic high. The average monthly spending on private education by households in the top 20 percent income group totaled 1,143,000 won in the first quarter. CNN called Korea’s frenzy over private education a “rat race.”

The notorious obsession with private education has long been cited as the culprit for a myriad of problems in the Korean society. The debate has resurfaced after President Yoon pointed to the “cartel” in the education industry, accusing education authorities and the private education sector of being on the same side. The vice education minister vowed to dig into the “root” and exterminate the private education cartel, “with an unprecedented determination.”

The head of the college admission department at the education ministry was sacked and the president of the Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation (KICE) resigned for their “condoning” the cartel of private education. But many people wonder what really constitutes the education cartel, as the target seems too ambiguous and abstract to define.

Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon, right, answers questions from journalists about what President Yoon Suk Yeol referred to as “the cartel of private education.” [YONHAP]

The ruling front rushed to offer some explanation. The governing People Power Party (PPP)’s Secretary General Lee Chul-gyu pointed to some star instructors at hakwon (cram schools) who earn 10 billion won to 20 billion won a year. “Is that fair?” he asked. “Profiteering from causing damages to a majority of people is a crime and social evil.” Popular instructors enjoying celebrity-like fame and income for their marvelous teaching skills have suddenly been degraded into criminal-like figures subject to crackdown. Some hakwon instructors have been included in the list of names for tax audit by the NTS.

But a person or an institution can hardly be accused of forming a cartel just because they made big money from their career. Under such theory, Son Heung-min, a top-caliber forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, would fall into a soccer cartel and BTS a K-pop cartel. Stigmatizing the wealth as “the bad guy” had been the iconic strategy of the Democratic Party (DP). It is absurd for the PPP to mimic its arch rival. Some of the instructors at private academies are credited for their effort to offer their lectures at cheap prices through the internet.

Another accusation by the government is on the collusion between the KICE and private academies. At the call center accepting complaints about irregularities in the private education sector, 261 reports came in as of July 2 since its opening on June 22. Of them, 29 were related to the collusion between private academies and CSAT-related figures. The head of a private education institute sold a CSAT prep resource book by pitching his background as a former KICE member who set the questions.

If a KICE member leaked CSAT samples and sold them to a private academy, it would be a serious crime. But if a person cannot work in the related field just because he or she was involved in setting questions for CSAT, that doesn’t make sense either. Publicizing the credential also does not constitute criminality. A CSAT test designer is no spy agent. Should he or she have to keep their identity secret for the rest of their lives? If that is a crime, justices of the Supreme Court or top prosecutors must not get a job in a law firm after retirement.

Another accusation involves the assumption that the private education industry has been dominated by student activists of the 1980s. It is true that many of them found teaching jobs at afterschool institutions as they could not get a decent job due to their involvement in anti-government protests. After essay writing was given a greater weight for college admissions from 1994, many of them who were good writers gained fame in the private education industry. Some of them became the head of hakwon or big-time lecturers.

But due to the popularity of YouTubing and internet lectures, there has been a generational change among hakwon instructors. Those with student activist background — who have become the old school — no longer can sell. Millionaire math instructor Hyun Woo-jin, a graduate of Stanford University, was born 1987 and YouTube history star teacher Lee Ji-young was born 1982. Those born around 1986 are star teachers at hakwon these days, not those who were college students in the 1980s.

Banging the private education industry cannot kill private education. Parents send their children to private academies as they cannot trust our public education. The real culprit behind Korea’s biggest ill is trustless public education. Putting all the blame on private education is same as protecting the solid cartel of incompetent public education.