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Education crisis in California
After several years of continuous budget cuts, California’s schools are in dire straits. The state superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, went so far as to call it a “state of financial emergency.” Newly re-elected Democratic Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, however, includes widespread cuts to higher education and social services in an attempt to close the $25.4 billion deficit. Inequality in California is so staggering that the wealth of the richest Californian, Lawrence Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, estimated at $27 billion, would eliminate the entire state deficit.
From: Education crisis in California, By David Brown, 26 January 2011
World Socialist Website
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/cali-j26.shtml
All of these cuts are an attempt to make the poorest sections of society pay for the financial crisis caused by bankers’ greed.
The $1.4 billion of proposed cuts to California’s higher education have already prompted tuition increases in the UC, CSU, and community college systems, alongside mass layoffs and program cuts.
Brown’s budget proposal freezes funding levels for kindergarten through high school (K-12). The unions and media have widely reported this as “sparing” K-12 education, but the actual situation in schools shows that nothing has been “spared.” Instead of desperately needed increases, Brown’s proposal will conditionally keep funding at current levels for the 2011-2012 school year. Due to increased attendance, a funding freeze results in lower amounts of spending per pupil.
California is already ranked 47th in the nation in per pupil spending. If a set of regressive taxes are not approved by the voters, then billions will be cut from the already reeling education system. Perhaps most importantly, California’s schools will continue to decline even if “spared,” as prior cuts continue to have their effect.
Over the past three years $18 billion has been cut from California’s K-12 system. This has resulted in thousands of layoffs, increased class sizes, shortened school years, and either reduced or eliminated music and art programs.
According to State Superintendent Torlakson, 58 percent of schools have cut educational materials, 48 percent have cut nursing and counseling staff, 35 percent have increased class sizes, and nearly half have reduced employee pay. Even with all these reductions, 174 out of 1,077 school districts will be insolvent within three years at the current level of funding.
Unsurprisingly, these cuts have affected the districts covering low-income families the hardest. As state funding has dried up, schools have had to rely on local taxes or fundraising to maintain their programs and class sizes. As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, parents in the Cupertino Union School District managed to raise $2.5 million to keep student-teacher ratios at 20-1 for their youngest students. In districts where the community has not cobbled together enough to pick up the state’s slack, the ratio is routinely over 30-1.
Beyond suffering more cuts, schools serving low-income communities have a higher proportion of inexperienced teachers, according to statistics gathered by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL). Due to collective bargaining agreements with the teachers’ unions, the last teachers hired are the first to be fired. During the current crisis, this has meant that in addition to suffering more cuts, poorer schools have had higher turnover rates as their low-seniority teachers are fired in greater numbers.
This concentration of layoffs in poor communities reached an extreme pitch last year when over half the teachers at three middle schools in the Los Angeles area were laid off, sparking a case brought against the Los Angeles Unified School District by the American Civil Liberties Union. In one school, Liechty, a full 72 percent of the teachers received layoff notices. The case settled last October, but without any statewide movement against layoffs, the protection afforded these schools came at the expense of others. Regardless of where they take place, further layoffs will have far reaching consequences.
According to the CFTL’s recent report, “California’s Teaching Force 2010: Key Issues and Trends,” the entire state faces a looming teacher shortage. Due to the ever-worsening job conditions fewer people have been seeking teaching credentials. Between 2001 and 2007 there has been a 40 percent decrease in the number of enrollees in teacher preparation programs. Coupled with an expected rise in the number of students, California’s capacity for teaching its children has been alarmingly diminished.
Rebuilding teacher certification programs will take time in addition to money. With inadequate funds currently allocated to the professional development of teachers, California will be unable to reduce class sizes in the future even if funding were made available. Low-income schools in particular will find it harder to fill positions with qualified teachers.
All of these facts underscore that the standard of education in California will continue to decline in light of the cuts announced by the Brown administration. Schools serving low-income communities have been and will be the hardest hit. To complete the picture, we must look at the debate over evaluating teachers based on student performance and the charter school movement.
In the context of severe cuts to professional development programs, teacher evaluations can only help decide who to fire. Teacher evaluations in the Los Angeles area have led to a witch-hunt spearheaded by the Los Angeles Times and other media outfits, as charter school advocates seek to blame low test scores on mythically ineffectual and overpaid teachers protected by tenure.
Instead, as evidenced by the correlation between low-income and under-performing schools, the main cause of low test scores is systemic poverty. Already existing funding inequalities have been exacerbated by the budget cuts. When the majority of support structures for teachers and students have been cut and class sizes balloon, it is no surprise that performance goals are not met. According to Torlakson, California’s schools need new revenue if they are to recapture their former quality.
But Jerry Brown’s political history has already demonstrated his allegiance to big business. The class interests he represents will further plunder social wealth and reduce what was once an exemplary educational system to rubble. In coordination with the unions, Brown’s proposed budget presents parents within two unacceptable choices: either accept the tax extensions for the working class, making low-income districts even less capable of picking up the state’s slack, or see billions more cut from K-12 funding causing a more sudden failure.
In a move to gather support for his tax measures, Brown replaced the majority of the State Board of Education with members more amenable to the California Teachers Association. The union has signaled its support of Brown’s budget and is not making any demands on him to refund education. According to a statement by their president, David Sanchez, they are “glad to see Governor Brown present a balanced approach to solving the state’s deficit.”
Education, like other fundamental social services, is being sacrificed at the expense of workers and students. Fund slashing and privatization will serve the purpose of maintaining the rotten foundations of a diseased system and funneling massive amounts of wealth from the bottom to the top. Inequality in California is so staggering that the wealth of the richest Californian, Lawrence Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, estimated at $27 billion, would eliminate the entire state deficit.
No improvement can be expected from the new administration. The two-party system is primarily responsible for the current crisis and will continue to defend interests that are counter to those of working people. The struggle for free, quality, and democratic education demands the fight for socialism, where the satisfaction of human needs instead of the pursuit of corporate profits is the goal.
World Socialist Website
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/cali-j26.shtml
All of these cuts are an attempt to make the poorest sections of society pay for the financial crisis caused by bankers’ greed.
The $1.4 billion of proposed cuts to California’s higher education have already prompted tuition increases in the UC, CSU, and community college systems, alongside mass layoffs and program cuts.
Brown’s budget proposal freezes funding levels for kindergarten through high school (K-12). The unions and media have widely reported this as “sparing” K-12 education, but the actual situation in schools shows that nothing has been “spared.” Instead of desperately needed increases, Brown’s proposal will conditionally keep funding at current levels for the 2011-2012 school year. Due to increased attendance, a funding freeze results in lower amounts of spending per pupil.
California is already ranked 47th in the nation in per pupil spending. If a set of regressive taxes are not approved by the voters, then billions will be cut from the already reeling education system. Perhaps most importantly, California’s schools will continue to decline even if “spared,” as prior cuts continue to have their effect.
Over the past three years $18 billion has been cut from California’s K-12 system. This has resulted in thousands of layoffs, increased class sizes, shortened school years, and either reduced or eliminated music and art programs.
According to State Superintendent Torlakson, 58 percent of schools have cut educational materials, 48 percent have cut nursing and counseling staff, 35 percent have increased class sizes, and nearly half have reduced employee pay. Even with all these reductions, 174 out of 1,077 school districts will be insolvent within three years at the current level of funding.
Unsurprisingly, these cuts have affected the districts covering low-income families the hardest. As state funding has dried up, schools have had to rely on local taxes or fundraising to maintain their programs and class sizes. As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, parents in the Cupertino Union School District managed to raise $2.5 million to keep student-teacher ratios at 20-1 for their youngest students. In districts where the community has not cobbled together enough to pick up the state’s slack, the ratio is routinely over 30-1.
Beyond suffering more cuts, schools serving low-income communities have a higher proportion of inexperienced teachers, according to statistics gathered by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL). Due to collective bargaining agreements with the teachers’ unions, the last teachers hired are the first to be fired. During the current crisis, this has meant that in addition to suffering more cuts, poorer schools have had higher turnover rates as their low-seniority teachers are fired in greater numbers.
This concentration of layoffs in poor communities reached an extreme pitch last year when over half the teachers at three middle schools in the Los Angeles area were laid off, sparking a case brought against the Los Angeles Unified School District by the American Civil Liberties Union. In one school, Liechty, a full 72 percent of the teachers received layoff notices. The case settled last October, but without any statewide movement against layoffs, the protection afforded these schools came at the expense of others. Regardless of where they take place, further layoffs will have far reaching consequences.
According to the CFTL’s recent report, “California’s Teaching Force 2010: Key Issues and Trends,” the entire state faces a looming teacher shortage. Due to the ever-worsening job conditions fewer people have been seeking teaching credentials. Between 2001 and 2007 there has been a 40 percent decrease in the number of enrollees in teacher preparation programs. Coupled with an expected rise in the number of students, California’s capacity for teaching its children has been alarmingly diminished.
Rebuilding teacher certification programs will take time in addition to money. With inadequate funds currently allocated to the professional development of teachers, California will be unable to reduce class sizes in the future even if funding were made available. Low-income schools in particular will find it harder to fill positions with qualified teachers.
All of these facts underscore that the standard of education in California will continue to decline in light of the cuts announced by the Brown administration. Schools serving low-income communities have been and will be the hardest hit. To complete the picture, we must look at the debate over evaluating teachers based on student performance and the charter school movement.
In the context of severe cuts to professional development programs, teacher evaluations can only help decide who to fire. Teacher evaluations in the Los Angeles area have led to a witch-hunt spearheaded by the Los Angeles Times and other media outfits, as charter school advocates seek to blame low test scores on mythically ineffectual and overpaid teachers protected by tenure.
Instead, as evidenced by the correlation between low-income and under-performing schools, the main cause of low test scores is systemic poverty. Already existing funding inequalities have been exacerbated by the budget cuts. When the majority of support structures for teachers and students have been cut and class sizes balloon, it is no surprise that performance goals are not met. According to Torlakson, California’s schools need new revenue if they are to recapture their former quality.
But Jerry Brown’s political history has already demonstrated his allegiance to big business. The class interests he represents will further plunder social wealth and reduce what was once an exemplary educational system to rubble. In coordination with the unions, Brown’s proposed budget presents parents within two unacceptable choices: either accept the tax extensions for the working class, making low-income districts even less capable of picking up the state’s slack, or see billions more cut from K-12 funding causing a more sudden failure.
In a move to gather support for his tax measures, Brown replaced the majority of the State Board of Education with members more amenable to the California Teachers Association. The union has signaled its support of Brown’s budget and is not making any demands on him to refund education. According to a statement by their president, David Sanchez, they are “glad to see Governor Brown present a balanced approach to solving the state’s deficit.”
Education, like other fundamental social services, is being sacrificed at the expense of workers and students. Fund slashing and privatization will serve the purpose of maintaining the rotten foundations of a diseased system and funneling massive amounts of wealth from the bottom to the top. Inequality in California is so staggering that the wealth of the richest Californian, Lawrence Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, estimated at $27 billion, would eliminate the entire state deficit.
No improvement can be expected from the new administration. The two-party system is primarily responsible for the current crisis and will continue to defend interests that are counter to those of working people. The struggle for free, quality, and democratic education demands the fight for socialism, where the satisfaction of human needs instead of the pursuit of corporate profits is the goal.
For more information:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/...
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
during the next comming year remember YOU re-elected Democratic Governor Jerry Brown
knowing his sociopathic behavior while in office.
you have no one to blaim but your selves
Do You think it's time to start the discussion about removing him from office
Before he attacks the educational system?
knowing his sociopathic behavior while in office.
you have no one to blaim but your selves
Do You think it's time to start the discussion about removing him from office
Before he attacks the educational system?
There is very little difference between Brown's budget proposals and previous budgets, because Brown's budget is master-minded by the oil industry. There is no provision for ending commercial and corporate tax loopholes, no oil extraction tax and no oil corporation, windfall-profits tax. Californians pay the highest price for gasoline in the nation. Brown's budget is the same, because again, it picks on the most vulnerable. Jerry appears to be working for Big Oil and not for the Californians who voted for him.
1/29 SF Stop KORUS March and Rally-Another NAFTA Type Agreement With Korea
From Congresswomen's Pelosi's Home To The Korean Consulate-Stop This Anti-People Trade Deal!
Protest the Korean-US KORUS Free Trade Agreement
Saturday Jan 29, 2011 11:00 AM 2740 Broadway St Assemble
with March To 3500 Clay St. /Laurel St. Korean Consulate
San Francisco
Although Obama promised he would not push another NAFTA
type agreement with South Korea, the recently negotiated
agreement does nothing to defend labor rights in either
Korea or the US. It will allow further outsourcing and more
temporary and part time workers in Korea and the US through
the deregulation of the labor market. In Korea today 50% of
the workers have now been forced into the temporary workforce.
It will also destroy the economic lives of tens of thousands of Korean farmers.
Today in Korea, dozens of trade unionists are also in jail
for labor activity including striking.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_opinion/460093.html
Public workers are also not allowed to unionize and the Teachers Korean Union
KTU was raided by the police for lobbying against legislation that would
hurt education.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/06/117_67120.html
At the same time this agreement will force privatization of the
Korean national healthcare system in part by forcing high drug
prices on the Korean healthcare system. This is why Pfizer and other big
Pharma multi-nationals have fully backed this agreement along
with other multi-national food and auto companies who will benefit.
We are calling on Congresswomen Pelosi to vote NO on this
agreement. She voted yes on NAFTA and that agreement
has harmed the people of Mexico and the US lowering wages
and destroying communities and jobs. We can't afford more
deregulation, privatization and union busting from KORUS.
http://www.fairtrademinnesota.org/Summary%20of%20Korea%20FTA%20Supplemental%20deal.pdf
This event has been sponsored by California Fair Trade Coalition, United Public Workers For
Action http://www.upwa.info , The No On KORUS Coalition, San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party
For information phone (415)282-1908 or (415)987-4870
San Francisco Labor Council Resolution Opposing Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
1/24/2011
Resolution Opposing the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
http://sflaborcouncil.org/#sub-fragment-3
Whereas, the proposed KOREA US KORUS Free Trade Agreement will be coming before Congress early this year and,
Whereas, this agreement is modeled on the NAFTA agreement that has led to the loss of jobs for millions of US workers and Mexican workers, privatization, deregulation and repression of unions in Mexico and,
Whereas, this KORUS agreement will also push privatization and deregulation of the US and Korean economy and,
Whereas, dozens of members of the Korean Teachers Union KTU have been jailed for lobbying against legislation in Korea which is illegal under the law and,
Whereas, Korean public workers do not have the right to bargain and strike which are basic labor rights and,
Whereas, as a result of labor deregulation of the Korean economy today nearly 50% of Korean workers are part time and temporary and,
Whereas, the KORUS agreement will also restructure the Korean National Healthcare System resulting in a privatized healthcare system in part by forcing Korean hospitals to purchase high priced medicines from Pfizer and other multi-national Pharma companies that also fight unionization and,
Whereas, there is no serious ability for trade unionists and labor to protect their rights to organize and for democratic union rights within the KORUS agreement and,
Whereas the KORUS agreement is being pushed by major multi-national corporations who have used these Free Trade Agreements FTA to eliminate unions, destroy health and safety protections and pit workers of the US against workers in other countries and,
Whereas, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions KCTU, all Farmers organizations, civil and human rights organizations in Korea are opposing this agreement as well as the AFL-CIO and the KCTU and other civic organizations have a delegation visiting Washington D.C. this week to urge opposition to this agreement,
Therefore be it Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council calls on Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Jackie Speier and US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer representing San Francisco to publicly oppose this agreement and,
Be it Further Resolved this Council will support and participate in a march to the Korean Consulate at 3500 Clay/Laurel in San Francisco on Saturday January 29 11:00 AM and,
Be it Further Resolved this Council supports a Labor Community Educational conference on “KORUS, Another NAFTA?” on Sunday February 27, 2011 at the University of San
Francisco from 9:00 AM To 5:00 PM sponsored by the California Fair Trade Coalition, UPWA and other organizations and,
Be it Finally Resolved that this Council will send letters to all Congressional and Senate representatives asking them to oppose this KORUS agreement and ask for their concurrence with this action by all affiliated bodies including the California AFL-CIO.
Submitted by Tom Lacey, OPEIU 3, and adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on January 24, 2011.
Respectfully, Tim Paulson Executive Director
OPEIU3 AFL-CIO 11
Korean Teachers Union KTU
http://english.eduhope.net/
President-elect Lee Myoung-bak's policy proposals threaten education
1. President-elect Lee Myoung-bak has presented his education policies to the media before the National Assembly convenes. Clearly, he is already attempting to direct policy, when the president's office is supposed to follow the direction of the people and their lawmakers. With these policy proposals, he obviously wants to turn the education system into one of competing hagwons, where education operates as a "free market." He intends to erase the one advantage of the CSAT, which is that it allows relatively equal opportunity of access to top universities. High schools are to be ranked by "student performance" levels, and yet more specialist high schools are to be opened.
2. Lee wants students to compete for selection to schools throughout their schooling years, from elementary schools through to universities. At present, students are ranked by schools themselves, and schools are not compared. Lee wants to allow universities to implement their own "ranking criteria" for admissions, such that unversities may soon be examining not only students' elementary and middle school assessments, but the "rank" of the elementary and middle schools that they attended as well!
When universities are given complete freedom in admissions policies, not only will high schools be ranked, but middle and elementary schools will be ranked as well. Soon every school in the country will be in competition. This is not the purpose of an education system.
3. Superintendents plan to implement a national standardized test for middle school students. Soon, education will consist of testing and nothing else. Averages are to be compared, in order to encourage competition among provinces. It is policies like this that Lee supports, and soon superintendents will do anything, even encourage private education, in order to improve these test scores and get themselves re-elected.
4. About the one area that most demands attention from the government, Lee has nothing to say: outside the Seoul-Gyeonggi area, provinces collect 20% less per capita for use in education. Provincial Offices of Education are six trillion won in debt. Lee has refused to address the underfunding of education in the provinces.
5. For Lee, education (and everything else) is business. His plans focus on the appearance of quick results, and they are not up for discussion with stakeholders. If he is allowed to make the radical ideological changes to education that he seeks, Lee will destroy education in Korea. The KTU will not allow this to happen.
english.eduhope.net
KTU submits complaint to ILO
The Korean Teachers Union submitted a complaint to the International Labour Organization this week, charging the government with failing to consult with teacher organizations before implementing important labor reforms, and with attempting to restrain the lawful activities of teacher unions.
The ILO will ask the government to respond to the KTU's complaint in June.
South Korea has not ratified ILO Convention 87, on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, or ILO Convention 98, on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.
Photograph Korean Teachers Protest Repression
From Congresswomen's Pelosi's Home To The Korean Consulate-Stop This Anti-People Trade Deal!
Protest the Korean-US KORUS Free Trade Agreement
Saturday Jan 29, 2011 11:00 AM 2740 Broadway St Assemble
with March To 3500 Clay St. /Laurel St. Korean Consulate
San Francisco
Although Obama promised he would not push another NAFTA
type agreement with South Korea, the recently negotiated
agreement does nothing to defend labor rights in either
Korea or the US. It will allow further outsourcing and more
temporary and part time workers in Korea and the US through
the deregulation of the labor market. In Korea today 50% of
the workers have now been forced into the temporary workforce.
It will also destroy the economic lives of tens of thousands of Korean farmers.
Today in Korea, dozens of trade unionists are also in jail
for labor activity including striking.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_opinion/460093.html
Public workers are also not allowed to unionize and the Teachers Korean Union
KTU was raided by the police for lobbying against legislation that would
hurt education.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/06/117_67120.html
At the same time this agreement will force privatization of the
Korean national healthcare system in part by forcing high drug
prices on the Korean healthcare system. This is why Pfizer and other big
Pharma multi-nationals have fully backed this agreement along
with other multi-national food and auto companies who will benefit.
We are calling on Congresswomen Pelosi to vote NO on this
agreement. She voted yes on NAFTA and that agreement
has harmed the people of Mexico and the US lowering wages
and destroying communities and jobs. We can't afford more
deregulation, privatization and union busting from KORUS.
http://www.fairtrademinnesota.org/Summary%20of%20Korea%20FTA%20Supplemental%20deal.pdf
This event has been sponsored by California Fair Trade Coalition, United Public Workers For
Action http://www.upwa.info , The No On KORUS Coalition, San Francisco Peace and Freedom Party
For information phone (415)282-1908 or (415)987-4870
San Francisco Labor Council Resolution Opposing Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
1/24/2011
Resolution Opposing the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
http://sflaborcouncil.org/#sub-fragment-3
Whereas, the proposed KOREA US KORUS Free Trade Agreement will be coming before Congress early this year and,
Whereas, this agreement is modeled on the NAFTA agreement that has led to the loss of jobs for millions of US workers and Mexican workers, privatization, deregulation and repression of unions in Mexico and,
Whereas, this KORUS agreement will also push privatization and deregulation of the US and Korean economy and,
Whereas, dozens of members of the Korean Teachers Union KTU have been jailed for lobbying against legislation in Korea which is illegal under the law and,
Whereas, Korean public workers do not have the right to bargain and strike which are basic labor rights and,
Whereas, as a result of labor deregulation of the Korean economy today nearly 50% of Korean workers are part time and temporary and,
Whereas, the KORUS agreement will also restructure the Korean National Healthcare System resulting in a privatized healthcare system in part by forcing Korean hospitals to purchase high priced medicines from Pfizer and other multi-national Pharma companies that also fight unionization and,
Whereas, there is no serious ability for trade unionists and labor to protect their rights to organize and for democratic union rights within the KORUS agreement and,
Whereas the KORUS agreement is being pushed by major multi-national corporations who have used these Free Trade Agreements FTA to eliminate unions, destroy health and safety protections and pit workers of the US against workers in other countries and,
Whereas, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions KCTU, all Farmers organizations, civil and human rights organizations in Korea are opposing this agreement as well as the AFL-CIO and the KCTU and other civic organizations have a delegation visiting Washington D.C. this week to urge opposition to this agreement,
Therefore be it Resolved the San Francisco Labor Council calls on Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Jackie Speier and US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer representing San Francisco to publicly oppose this agreement and,
Be it Further Resolved this Council will support and participate in a march to the Korean Consulate at 3500 Clay/Laurel in San Francisco on Saturday January 29 11:00 AM and,
Be it Further Resolved this Council supports a Labor Community Educational conference on “KORUS, Another NAFTA?” on Sunday February 27, 2011 at the University of San
Francisco from 9:00 AM To 5:00 PM sponsored by the California Fair Trade Coalition, UPWA and other organizations and,
Be it Finally Resolved that this Council will send letters to all Congressional and Senate representatives asking them to oppose this KORUS agreement and ask for their concurrence with this action by all affiliated bodies including the California AFL-CIO.
Submitted by Tom Lacey, OPEIU 3, and adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on January 24, 2011.
Respectfully, Tim Paulson Executive Director
OPEIU3 AFL-CIO 11
Korean Teachers Union KTU
http://english.eduhope.net/
President-elect Lee Myoung-bak's policy proposals threaten education
1. President-elect Lee Myoung-bak has presented his education policies to the media before the National Assembly convenes. Clearly, he is already attempting to direct policy, when the president's office is supposed to follow the direction of the people and their lawmakers. With these policy proposals, he obviously wants to turn the education system into one of competing hagwons, where education operates as a "free market." He intends to erase the one advantage of the CSAT, which is that it allows relatively equal opportunity of access to top universities. High schools are to be ranked by "student performance" levels, and yet more specialist high schools are to be opened.
2. Lee wants students to compete for selection to schools throughout their schooling years, from elementary schools through to universities. At present, students are ranked by schools themselves, and schools are not compared. Lee wants to allow universities to implement their own "ranking criteria" for admissions, such that unversities may soon be examining not only students' elementary and middle school assessments, but the "rank" of the elementary and middle schools that they attended as well!
When universities are given complete freedom in admissions policies, not only will high schools be ranked, but middle and elementary schools will be ranked as well. Soon every school in the country will be in competition. This is not the purpose of an education system.
3. Superintendents plan to implement a national standardized test for middle school students. Soon, education will consist of testing and nothing else. Averages are to be compared, in order to encourage competition among provinces. It is policies like this that Lee supports, and soon superintendents will do anything, even encourage private education, in order to improve these test scores and get themselves re-elected.
4. About the one area that most demands attention from the government, Lee has nothing to say: outside the Seoul-Gyeonggi area, provinces collect 20% less per capita for use in education. Provincial Offices of Education are six trillion won in debt. Lee has refused to address the underfunding of education in the provinces.
5. For Lee, education (and everything else) is business. His plans focus on the appearance of quick results, and they are not up for discussion with stakeholders. If he is allowed to make the radical ideological changes to education that he seeks, Lee will destroy education in Korea. The KTU will not allow this to happen.
english.eduhope.net
KTU submits complaint to ILO
The Korean Teachers Union submitted a complaint to the International Labour Organization this week, charging the government with failing to consult with teacher organizations before implementing important labor reforms, and with attempting to restrain the lawful activities of teacher unions.
The ILO will ask the government to respond to the KTU's complaint in June.
South Korea has not ratified ILO Convention 87, on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, or ILO Convention 98, on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.
Photograph Korean Teachers Protest Repression
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