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Jin Jung-kwon, a political commentator and lecturer of German language and literature at Chung-Ang University.
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A prominent political commentator and academic on Monday had harsh words for the presidential Transition Committee's plans for English-language education. Jin Jung-kwon, a lecturer in German language and literature at Chung-Ang University, on a PBC Radio program spared no detail of the reform plans. Ideas to strengthen public English education were "crazy,¡± he said. "It just isn¡¯t a practical policy. In a word, it's stupid."
"Committee members seem to have very radical views. They look like the Taliban of market fundamentalism. They are kind of the Bin Ladens¡± of education, he said. Where Korea¡¯s education system has really failed, he said, is in excessive competition. ¡°Therefore, if we recklessly introduce a market theory called competition into education, education currently focusing on college entrance exams will go to haywire,¡± he said. "If such market logic is indiscriminately applied to school education, the committee¡¯s education policy will end up boosting private education and devastating public education."
He said it was all very well helping students get a better education in English, ¡°but committee members seem to believe that only when students have good command of English will the country become competitive." The reality does not bear this out, he argued. "The Philippines is one of the countries where people can speak English best in Asia, and it¡¯s hard to make yourself understood in English in Japan. But compare these two countries and see which is more competitive.
"Of course, nobody can say that a good command of foreign languages isn't helpful to enhancing national competitiveness. But it's not a decisive factor either. Those who need English should study the language hard, while others should study their own majors harder than English. That is how you boost national competitiveness."
He asked how many people in Korea actually meet foreigners and work in a foreign language, and how often they do so in a year. ¡°Students can lag behind in technologies and major courses if they concentrate only on studying English,¡± he warned. He said the committee's plan to introduce English ¡°immersion¡± education in 2010, was pie-in-the-sky. "It would be very hard for all current school teachers to participate in such immersion education even if they were given English language training in the U.S. and did nothing else for two full years."
The committee's plan to conduct English-language classes in subjects other than English was also unhelpful, he said. "There's a world of difference between what can be explained and understood in our own mother tongue and what can be explained and understood in foreign languages. As a matter of fact, the quality of such immersion classes is bound to deteriorate. Many committee members have probably never taught students themselves. I sometimes find some students very slow in understanding classes even if I explain in Korean."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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