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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/08/116_184563.html

Lunes 10 de agosto de 2015

Posted : 2015-08-10 17:51

Updated : 2015-08-10 21:30

Japanese vestiges still haunt schools

Following is the first in a series of articles marking the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from
the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule ED.

By Chung Ah-young

Some students still have their hair and uniforms checked by teachers at school gates. Sometimes
they have their hair forcibly cut by teachers.

"I look bald because I had my hair forcibly shaved by my school," said a 17-year-old high school
student, declining to be named.

He is not alone. Song Mi-hyeon, 16, attending a girls' high school in Seoul, says that a teacher took
away her school uniform skirt because it was too short.

"Teachers examine our dress and belongings every morning. My school doesn't clamp down on hair
length but closely checks the uniforms. I wanted to make my skirt short but it was not allowed," she
said.

This morning ritual is a remnant of Japanese colonial rule in 1910-45. The Japanese colonial
government brought its cultural, social and educational structures under its influence.

Particularly, the Japanese influence in the Korean curriculum and teaching methods still remain 70
years after Korea was liberated from its rule.

The government-centered educational system based on the hierarchy and rote-based learning
methods are prevalent in Korean educational system, along with a slew of outdated educational
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practices that resulted from the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912).

Colonial leftover

Even after the liberation in 1945, authoritarian Japanese vestiges still haunt students at schools by
controlling hair length and dress, convening a morning assembly, making a national physical
exercise and holding a sports day.

These practices come from the Japanese educational policies which were introduced during the
Meiji era.

In the morning assembly, students and teachers listen to the school principal's message by gathering
in the playground. At the classroom, students bow to a teacher at a verbal order of a class leader.

The sports day, which is equivalent to a field day in other countries, is one of the crucial school
events to make students unite. On that day, students participate in collective games such as tugs of
war or group dancing.

All these are rooted in the Japanese educational system to nurture students into patriotic citizens.

"These vestiges still exist at schools although they are fading out compared to the past," Kim Han-
jong, a professor at the Korea National University of Education, said.
During the Meiji era, Japan reinforced the hierarchical nature of human relations, loyalty to the

F new Meiji state through education and morality. These ideals were reflected in the 1890 Imperial
Script on Education, which articulates that students were required to study and memorize the text.

The centralized government control over education persisted in Japan until the end of World War II.
After the war, the allied occupation government reformed the Japanese education system to root out
militarist teaching.

"Many of the Meiji vestiges in education system were scrapped in Japan after the war. But in
Korea, such vestiges are found stronger than Japan," Kim said.
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Invisible vestiges

But the professor said that a top-down, authoritarian way of thinking, which is deeply entrenched in
schools, is more serious than just systems and practices.

"The most serious problem lies in the school culture in which the top-down decision-making
process stifles students. Schools still think of students as passive entities to be educated rather than
individual humans to be respected," he said.

Kim pointed out that Korean schools have failed to educate students to think freely and make
decisions using their own will, a culture that is also seen in making decisions for school policy.
Teachers are still required to follow the directions of the principals and students are supposed to
abide by the instructions of teachers.
"Korean education is far from democratic because of this hierarchy," Kim said.

Vestiges strengthened

Despite liberation from Japan, Korea has gone through various historical incidents and political
upheavals, which have hampered washing out such vestiges.

During and after the Korean War (1950-53), the governments aimed to make students
anticommunists. After the late iron-fisted Park Chung-hee, father of current President Park Geun-
hye, seized power through a coup in 1961, his regime strengthened education in anticommunism.

Under the military government, the Charter of National Education, which was equivalent to Japan's
Imperial Script on Education, was declared in 1968 and students had to memorize it. In the
following year, the Cabinet included a military drill course in the high school and university
curricula.

"In the past military governments, students were educated as conformists who were obedient to the
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authorities rather than expressing themselves," Kim said.

The professor also said that education in the past military regimes focused on patriotism and
totalitarianism, neglecting liberalism and diversification.

Oh Seong-cheol, a professor at the Seoul National University of Education, said in his thesis that
top-down reform will not help eradicate the Japanese remnants.

"Just abolishing such practices with decisions made by the government, which forces teachers and
students to follow, is nothing but repetition of the past evils," Oh said. "It should start from
voluntary reflections and soul-searching of educators themselves so that they can spontaneously
change everything."

chungay@times.com