Public Petition Posted to Abolish Teachers’ Day - written by 10514 Oh Juyeon

Public Petition Posted to Abolish Teachers’ Day

Publisher was a Current Teacher

Almost 4,200 People Agreed

Written by 10514 Oh Juyeon

On May 2, 2019, a public petition was posted in order to replace Teachers’ Day with Education Day. The petition for the abolition of Teachers’ Day had also been posted in May 2018. In the petition this year, it says that the guideline of students giving presents may cause confusion and insists that Education Day should be held on February 21, which King Gojong officially recognized Paichai Hakdang (배재 학당) as the first modern school.

According to National Archives of Korea, Teachers’ Day was established in March 1973, and the original purpose was to foster the social climate of respect towards teachers and to raise awareness of public recognition of teachers’ rights.

Part of the rule of Teachers’ Day, however, has been changed since Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (Kim Young-ran Law) was enacted. It only allows student representative to give carnations publicly to teachers. Students can give teachers a present that is 50,000 won or less only if they are not currently taught by that teacher.

Recently, the recognition of teachers’ rights has been declining, and Teachers’ day has caused more controversy.

The publisher of this petition was Sung-sik Jung, a current teacher, who is also a chairman of the Korean Teachers Organization (실천교육교사모임). In May 2019, Jung posted the petition just like last year at this time and 17,000 people signed it.

Jung said, “Irrelevant to Kim Young-ran Law, it became harder to find teachers receiving bribes to students for recent decade. However, the burdensome atmosphere remains in education site because of the ‘small’ present of students. When Teachers’ Day comes, teachers find it hard to be treated as a potential criminal. Instead, Jung suggested that Teachers’ Day be changed to Education Day and students, parents, and teachers reflect the meaning of education.

However, there is also opposition to the abolition of Teachers’ Day. Some teachers including the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations (KFTA) expressed concern over the abolition saying that “If there is no Teachers’ Day anymore, the teachers’ right will fall further."

Cho Sungchul, the spokesman of KFTA also said, “The education day is all 365 days in a year. There are already a lot of anniversaries of jobs or generations such as Armed Forces Day and Parents’ Day. The Teachers’ Day has a meaning that the teachers can reflect on themselves and people can reflect on their gratitude on their teachers met in the past.”

Below is the full text of the petition posted by Jung.

There are 47 national anniversaries run by the Korean government.

It's a lot, but if you look at them, each of these is meaningful.

Therefore, the government ministries and agencies that hold various anniversaries have been designated and the relevant fields are celebrated every year.

However, Teachers’ Day seems to refer to people of a certain profession, which makes me uncomfortable.

Let me give you a specific example.

It's Health Day, not Doctors’ Day.

It's Science Day, not Scientists’ Day.

It's Law Day, not Judges’ Day.

It's a Railroad Day, not an Engineer's day.

It's Sports Day, not Athletes’ Day.

But instead of Education Day, there is Teachers’ Day. 

The Ministry of Education celebrates Teacher's Day every year, but I feel uncomfortable about Teachers’ Day while living as a teacher. 

It's awkward to have paper carnations, not to have real ones, but to have carnations from student representatives. There was even a petition to abolish Teachers' Day.

If you can't get rid of Teachers’ Day, I'd rather change it to Education Day. The three main people in education are teachers, students, and parents. Then, it would be better for all school members to reflect on the meaning of education by changing Teachers’ Day to Education Day.

We need to discuss when we will decide which day that Education Day will be held. For example, on February 21, 1887, King Gojong delivered the board to Paichai Hakdang, Korea's first modern school. Anyway, since it's the first time the government has recognized the school, I think it'll be okay to do it on that date. This is when the school members make new resolutions ahead of the new school year, as well as when they look back on the year after the new school year.

I urge you to have a more active discussion on when to set Education Day, and to change Teachers’ Day to Education Day in accordance with the changing of times.


References

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180515000803

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2018/11/636_249088.html