Jeong Geun-sik said, "There should be various institutional changes such as special purpose high schools and self-accident.."It's not a political tool".

◆ [YTN Radio SHINYUL's news]
■ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (17:00-19:00)

■ Air date: October 8, 2024 (Tuesday)
■ Proceedings: Shin Yul, Professor of Political Science and Diplomacy at Myongji University
■ Dialogue: ☎ Chung Geun-sik, candidate for superintendent of education of Seoul Metropolitan Government

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

- TV debate boycott, protest to NEC in various forms, but proceed as it is

- Isn't it a single candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party, educational politics or ideological propaganda tool
- The Seoul Education Plus Committee will be formed..Need for educational administration responsible with citizens
- Relatively negligent in teaching authority due to the emphasis on student human rights.A social foundation must be laid
- Cho Hee-yeon needs to acknowledge 'Innovative Fatigue Syndrome'...New energy needs
- Find training sites and treat daily wounds based on the experience of chairman of Truth and Reconciliation Committee

◇ Shin Yul, professor of political diplomacy at Myongji University (hereinafter Shin Yul): In Shin Yul's front-facing interview for the first part of the news head-to-head match, we will first meet today. First, let's meet Chung Geun-sik, the candidate of the progressive camp for the election of the superintendent of education of Seoul. The candidate is here, right?

★ Seoul Metropolitan Superintendent of Education Candidate Jeong Geun-sik (hereinafter referred to as Shin Yul): Yes, hello.

◇ Shin Yul: Yes. How are you? You must be busy these days. In this TV debate organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's by-election election election committee, only Cho Jeon-hyuk, a former GNP lawmaker, and a former professor at Incheon National University's Myongji University, will be invited, so the professor boycotted the TV debate, right?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: It was a TV discussion at first, but after inviting only one person, we changed it to a TV conversation. And when there was a complaint, they said they would invite the other three candidates, but if that happens, I will now be a candidate for the county, right? It is unacceptable for the top candidate in the poll to be treated as a candidate for county governor and to discuss it with three people. So I rejected that part.

◇ Shin Yul: But now the NEC has its own standards. I think they're talking about this. So, what do you think of the NEC's position when a candidate who won more than 10% of the votes in the previous election or more than 5% in the polls is based on this standard?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: First, the criteria of 10% or more of the election votes within the last four years are those that systematically prevent novel candidates. That's ridiculous. Second, important public opinion polls. Important media organizations are supposed to invite such candidates who received more than 5% of the polls. However, despite the existing two polls, it is impossible to ignore them and use them as an excuse to exclude the No. 1 candidate in the polls without the opinion polls of such important media organizations set by KBS, and it will literally be a representative example of the biased election of Lee Hyun-ryeong and Bi Hyun-ryeong.

◇ Shin Yul: Then have you complained to the NEC?

★ Jeong Geun-sik : I protested. We protested in various ways, but it proceeded as it was.

◇ Shin Yul: Yes. But let's change this regulation, he insisted.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: Not only do we have to change the regulations, but we have to correct the illegal biased behavior that has already been committed. Then shouldn't I invite candidate Cho Jeon-hyuk to proceed with the meeting as much as the time I gave him? That way, it becomes a fair opportunity for Seoul citizens to judge at a fair opportunity. If that doesn't happen, this decision will be the worst election case that is truly regrettable.

◇ Shin Yul: Candidate Jeong Geun-sik said that he would realize an inclusive education policy that can be accepted by all people, regardless of political ideology, with this election, right?

★ root equation: Yes.

◇ Shin Yul: You mean that this is why I'm going to challenge the election of the superintendent of education.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: No, even though I was chosen as the single candidate invited by the Democratic Progressive Party, strictly speaking, education is not a tool of political or ideological propaganda. Educating young teenagers who will carry the future of our country should be a little out of that ideology or political orientation, strictly speaking. In that context, I think education should be done in the context of the maximum consensus that our people can understand. However, the current election is largely about whether it goes to the past or the future. On the other hand, I believe it is a competition between the candidates with common sense views of citizens or those with unconventional views. For example, in the case of pro-Japanese history distortion, it shouldn't distort all history. Furthermore, what will happen to our educational field if a candidate with such a position becomes the superintendent of education? I'm making this argument in that context.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: And the other thing is that as you know, our educational community is in a situation where students, parents, and parents are very hurt on a daily basis. I'm thinking a lot about how I can become a superintendent of education who comforts these everyday hurt educational subjects and heals their pain.

◇ Shin Yul: But the candidate just said that he is a single candidate, but isn't there a candidate Choi Bo-sun in the progressive camp?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: I mean that the single candidate I'm referring to is the single candidate of those who participated in the primary on the 2024 single candidate invitation committee. And the same goes for the conservative camp.

◇ Shin Yul: Isn't there something else?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: That's why even the conservative camp believes that it's not a single candidate. However, the difference between conservative and progressive is a candidate created according to certain rules that are obvious in the case of progress. In the case of the conservative camp, I believe that they were nominated for unknown reasons rather than for certain rules.

◇ Shin Yul: What specific policy direction do you think is necessary at this point?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: For me, education should be based on more civic consensus. It is not very desirable to completely change the direction of education policy when the superintendent of education changes. And if the direction of education policy changes to a certain partisan position, it will only add to the confusion of our future youth. That's what I think a lot. It is necessary to have such an educational administration that takes responsibility with citizens who are with citizens as much as possible. In that context, I will create the Seoul Education Plus Committee. That's what I'm saying.

◇ Shin Yul: The Seoul Education Plus Committee. How does the committee here become a human body?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: There is an existing school management committee. But beyond that, when I look back on the past 10 years of innovative education, the biggest element of the 10 years of innovative education was the effort to normalize public education. However, the results of the efforts are not sufficiently shared with the citizens. That's what I decided to do. How to share the achievements within education with citizens, and furthermore, civic strength is absolutely necessary to face various misguided policies of the current administration, so-called shoddy and out-of-pocket policies, and go in the right direction. In those two contexts, I will create both the Seoul Education Plus Committee. That's how I made the argument.

◇ Shin Yul: I will switch to a future academic background. You also said this. What's your future education level?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: I think the future academic background can be described as creative ability in a word that has the ability to prepare for the upcoming future generation future era. Basic literacy and numeracy are fundamental, and in addition to that, aren't major changes in the AI era or the climate ecological crisis, for example, already being detected right now? In this era, 10 years later and 20 years later, what kind of skills will our future generations have to have to adapt to society properly and lead our Republic of Korea, and how will they become talented people who will lead the global world? Such abilities can be measured not by a single standard but by various criteria, rather by having the ability to ask questions and solve problems on their own, rather than by any memorization-oriented knowledge transfer-oriented education like in the past. That's how I judge it.

◇ Shin Yul: Then shouldn't we change the entrance exam, too?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: You need to change the entrance examination as well. The superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is basically responsible for kindergarten and secondary education.

◇ Sin-ryul: If education changes like this, the entrance examination should change.

★ root equation: That's right. The college entrance examination should be changed and the excessive ranking structure of universities should be changed. In that context, I will do my best to create such public opinion and ensure that Korea's education policy is implemented in that direction.

◇ Sin Yul: And there's this issue of teaching authority, right? This became the hottest issue right now. Not too long ago, right? I think you must be fully aware of the problem here. What are you going to do?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: Basically, I admit that the conditions have been relatively neglected because of the emphasis on student human rights over the past decade or so. Basically, shouldn't school human rights be an educational community in which students' human rights and teachers' teaching rights are balanced? After the Seoi Elementary School incident, various teaching rights protection laws were made, but teachers at the front line do not feel that the teaching rights protection law is meaningful and effective. The reason is that there is no such system in place that can be mediated by school principals or superintendents. There are such questions legally, but in reality, when an incident occurs, an investigation or investigation is conducted immediately, so the principal or superintendent of education cannot intervene in such an educational context. On the one hand, it is necessary to revise the Act on the Protection of Teachers' Rights, and on the other hand, it is necessary to lay a social foundation for a more educational response. Only then will it be a meaningful system of protection for teaching rights. That's what I'm thinking.

◇ Shin Yul: Can I understand that I will leave the Student Human Rights Ordinance alone?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: That's because the issue of student human rights ordinances is getting so serious these days, there is a movement in the National Assembly to make the so-called Student Human Rights Act, and if that happens, the school human rights law is more appropriate because it seems that the issue of school rights can still be neglected. Isn't the school human rights law, which can evenly consider the human rights of all school members, better than the student human rights law? That's what I'm thinking.

◇ Sin-ryul: So the Student Human Rights Act can be thought of as mainly focusing on students, but the School Human Rights Act is a matter that deals with the entire school members, so you can understand it as broad.

★ root equation: Yes. That's what I think. And shouldn't the other thing in practice be to relieve the burden that teachers are actually feeling rather than the human rights law and human rights education rights in a declarative sense? After talking to various teachers, there are still too many administrative tasks or the social foundation that can be taught properly is too weak. I'm appealing a lot right now. Shouldn't we fully reflect the opinions of such teachers and find a direction for improvement? That's what I'm thinking.

◇ Shin Yul: What are you going to do about the special purpose high school and autonomous private high school?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: Basically, the problem of equalization in elementary and secondary education in Korea is that elementary and middle school entrance exams disappeared under President Park Chung-hee in 1969, and then high school entrance exams disappeared in the mid-70s. Then, in the 1990s or 2000s, such measures were taken to break down the leveling, and after Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon took office, the issue of private high schools became a social issue and the second leveling movement proceeded. Basically, students can receive an education that can fully demonstrate their aptitude only when the excessive burden of tests or excessive burden of entrance exams is reduced. There must be various institutional changes in order to go in a direction where students can maximize their potential and study what they want to do. That's what I'm judging.

◇ Shin Yul: So, can I say that I'm a little negative about special purpose high school autonomous private high schools?

★ rooted equation: By default, there are very special cases. For example, Meister High School admits this, but in the overall context, the excessive burden on students should be reduced. And, to put it simply, what is called the principle of social equity must be observed. However, some of the low interest in excellence that the existing progressive superintendents have pursued needs to be improved a little now. How to combine the issue of equity with the issue of creative competence will be the most important task of our education in the future. This is the judgment.

◇ Shin Yul: I'm still going to ask you a similar question, but another candidate, Cho Jeon-hyuk, also wants to ask you this. What do you think about the merits of former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon's superintendent policy?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: I think there are two things that are attributed to Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon. One was the effort to normalize public education, and the second was the increase of educational opportunities for social minorities, including students with disabilities. That's how I judge it. However, as I said earlier, such achievements were not sufficiently known to the citizens. And because I've been using the word innovation for so long, there's something like innovation fatigue syndrome. There is a sense of the problem of how to inject new energy into the educational field.

◇ Shin Yul: Yes. So people are tired because they use the word innovation so often. That's what you're saying.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: That's right. We have no choice but to acknowledge that reality, right?

◇ Shin Yul: Okay. Now, please tell us why candidate Chung Geun-sik should become the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: As chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, I have made such efforts to find out the truth and to heal those who were hurt by state violence. As I said earlier, there are many people who are suffering from daily injuries within our current school community education community. So, I think there should be more consideration and healing appropriate for them, or various devices. As I have done so far, I hope to become a superintendent of education who visits the educational field and finds, comfort, and heal those students, teachers, or parents who are hurt.

◇ Sin-ryul: What is a general wound?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: It's a daily wound.

◇ Sin-ryul: What is that everyday wound?

★ Jeong Geun-sik: For example, students are hurt by the lack of communication or weakening of communication between parents and teachers, and teachers are hurt so much that they cannot feel proud. That's what I thought a lot. So now I have to acknowledge it as much as the teachers worked hard, and the teachers did a good job. Also, teachers are having a hard time, but isn't it a situation where we need social recognition to make a brighter and happier school in this direction? I'm judging like this.

◇ Shin Yul: Yes. But of course, social recognition is necessary, but what is specific? To heal everyday wounds, etc.

★ Jeong Geun-sik: I will now visit frontline educational sites and listen to their views a lot, which in a way will be the first step in recognizing and caring for them. I think it is very important to visit the educational field as often as possible and listen to the opinions of teachers, listen to the opinions of parents, and listen to the opinions of students to establish communication points. I think this is the first step in healing the daily wounds I'm talking about.

◇ Shin Yul: Okay. Thank you for your words today. Thank you.

★ Jung Geunsik: Yes, thank you.

◇ Shin Yul: So far, I have been Chung Geun-sik of the progressive camp of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education candidate.