[Asia Exclusive] "Education that makes people believe those who stay in their hometown are dropouts causes social side effects"

COVID-19 as a Turning Point
Shift from Supplier and Knowledge Education
to Learner-Centered Life Approach

Kim Jin-kyung, Chairperson of the National Education Council, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 22nd. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Kim Jin-kyung, a Korean language teacher and poet who serves as the chairperson of the Presidential National Education Council, received the French "Le Prix des Incorruptibles" award for her novel "Goyang-i Hakgyo" (Cat School). This award is chosen by the votes of approximately 140,000 French students. The reasons for her winning were "fresh imagination" and "posing questions to us."

Chairperson Kim introduced, "'Goyang-i Hakgyo' is a work that criticizes Western modern civilization, which is experiencing an environmental crisis, based on the framework of thought found in Northeast Asian mythology." Northeast Asian myths, including the Dangun myth, view humans and nature as equal beings and see humans as part of nature, whereas Western modern thought, as exemplified by the "werewolf," regards humans as superior beings who can manipulate nature at will.

From this perspective, Kim emphasized that Korea's modernization education was extremely abnormal. He stated, "Our education until yesterday made people believe that the center of the world was not the rural area where they live, but the city < Seoul < Western metropolitan cities, and made children who stayed in their hometowns feel like losers or dropouts." He diagnosed, "This value system brought economic growth but also caused unspeakable side effects in other aspects."

Kim is confident that the COVID-19 pandemic will also be a turning point for our education. He said, "Modern civilization, which outwardly expands and pursues faster speeds, is being called to transform," adding, "Now, we need new solidarity for intrinsic growth that may be smaller and slower but internally fulfilling." He continued, "The start of intrinsic growth and solidarity is education that cultivates the ability to see one's living place as the center of the world and the universe, thereby enriching one's life."

To achieve this, Kim said, "The first thing to do is to change the education system, which accepts the Western model as absolute truth and manages and supervises it top-down, into a new framework of solidarity," and added, "It is urgent to establish a National Education Commission to shift from a supplier- and knowledge-centered curriculum to a learner's life-centered one."

◆Biography

▲ Born April 9, 1953, Dangjin, Chungnam ▲ Graduated from Daejeon High School in February 1971 ▲ Graduated from Seoul National University, Department of Korean Language Education, February 1976 ▲ Graduated from Seoul National University Graduate School (Master's), February 1983

◆Major Career

▲ March 1976?February 1977, Teacher at Hanseong High School ▲ March 1980?February 1982, Teacher at Wooshin High School ▲ March 1983?June 1985, Teacher at Yangjeong High School ▲ March 2000?February 2003, Teacher at Jeondong Middle School ▲ May 2005?April 2006, Education and Culture Secretary at the Presidential Secretariat ▲ August 2009?August 2010, Visiting Professor at Suzhou University, China ▲ March?December 2018, Planning Director of the Presidential National Education Council ▲ December 2018?December 2019, Chairperson of the Presidential National Education Council (2nd term) ▲ February 2020?Present, Chairperson of the Presidential National Education Council (3rd term)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.