[Opinion] Child Education Experts and Education Experts

Not long ago, I saw a critical comment on an education column I wrote in a newspaper that said, "You are not even capable~." The criticism (capability) and the honorific (person) were used together, so I laughed it off, but I also reflected on whether the article lacked professionalism or failed to help readers understand. When we read, we interpret and judge based on our own knowledge and experience. Everyone has experienced school education, and parents go through school education again through their children. Parents who have sent their children to college are said to become experts in college admissions. Some parents have more profound knowledge than scholars who study college admissions policies. There is certainly much to say about the writings of so-called education experts. However, the expertise gained through educating one's own children is hard to consider true expertise. The thoughts ordinary people have about education policy inevitably have limitations. This is because the educational standards and interests are centered on their own children, and their thoughts are based on experiences and knowledge acquired through their children.

When people armed with expertise in educating their own children are appointed as members of committees dealing with education policy, their enthusiasm soars. This is because they have experienced many problems through school education and raising children. They pour out their accumulated frustrations and anger, wondering why education experts or bureaucrats do not know that a simple change here could easily solve the problem, or why their repeated suggestions have not been reflected in policy. Harsh terms like educational selfishness and education mafia are also exchanged. However, not long after, it quiets down. It does not take long to realize that educating one's own children and general education are different, and that ideas and policies are different. Few policies are as complex as education policy.

Among education bureaucrats who handle education policy, economic bureaucrats who manage education budgets, and lawmakers such as members of the National Assembly or city/provincial councils who create education-related laws or ordinances, there may be those who have negative memories of school education. Their own painful experiences or their children's painful experiences can lead to biases and prejudices about education. Such negative emotions can distort education policy. Therefore, those who create education-related laws and formulate and implement education policies must put aside their own school education experiences and experiences through their children. This is because those are limited experiences of oneself and one's own children.

If you have children who are the subjects of education policy, you should not think about your own children. In other words, you should not try to create policies or systems that favor your own children. There is a saying in the field of education that when the eldest child who studies well goes to high school, education scholars want to break the equalization system, but when the youngest child who does not study well goes to high school, they want to maintain the equalization system. Whether this is true or fabricated, it clearly satirizes the fact that even scholars researching education policy are not free from their own children's issues.

Even when all children have grown up and already gone through school education, problems can still arise. Attempts to improve systems based on experience in educating children are desirable, but when discussing the reorganization or abolition of systems that were advantageous for one's own child's career path, such as foreign schools, international middle schools, autonomous private high schools (jasago), or specialized high schools (tekmokgo), caution is necessary. It can be perceived as kicking away the ladder after climbing it, so-called "double standards." In such cases, silence, reservation, or giving up might be the appropriate response.

An expert should be able to see not only their own children and their side but also other people's children and the opposing side. An expert should be able to see not only the past and present but also the future. An expert should have the insight to see dysfunctions as well as functions. Only then can one be an education expert.

Song Ki-chang, Professor, Department of Education, Sookmyung Women’s University