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Seoul National University teaching staff on Friday rejected attacks by the government and ruling party on its plans to set an essay test for new applicants from 2008. In a press conference Friday, the SNU Council of Professors slammed both the way politicians handled the essay controversy and the government¡¯s higher education policies as a whole.
In a statement, the council noted politicians' use of military language like "full-scale war" and "early suppression," as well as belligerent comments like "SNU will to have to get it." The academics said they could have no confidence in policies made by people who used such language. They also said that while public education needed to be appropriately normalized, because education had become a tool with which to deal with social and political issues, the problems of public education have grown more serious.
The academics said the multi-subject essay test SNU was considering was one way the school was trying to improve Korea's memorization-focused education and promote independent thinking and creativity in public education. To claim that such a plan would ¡°destroy public education,¡± in President Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s words, or drive people in the arms of private universities was nonsense, they said.
Chang Ho-wan, the chairman of the Council, said, "Academic freedom and national development depend on guaranteeing the autonomy of universities, and the government and ruling party should concentrate on taking care of urgent matters like the economy and unemployment rather than meddling with university autonomy."
Earlier, SNU deans expressed their support for the university¡¯s President Chung Un-chan after he briefed them on the controversy.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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