By Kim Jin-heon
 |
Right now, over 90 percent of citizens in the area are opposed to the superintendent's policy. They insist that it would prevent students from getting enough sleep, meals at the right time and high-quality education. The fierce opposition he encountered from the citizens and teachers led Lim to backtrack one step and give the schools the option to choose. This writer also thinks that the superintendent's suggestion is unrealistic.
Since 2000, forced self-study at night or after classes at school has been abolished for students at the request of parents, in the name of competence and human rights. Now, even though the program is maintained by the voluntary participation of the students, the rate of participation is extremely low. Instead, they go to hagwon, a private educational institute until late at night.
I was a homeroom teacher in a small city. I have asked students about how much sleep they get and their meal habits over many years. Over 70 percent of them went to bed after 1 a.m. and got up late in the morning. Their time for starting school was 8:30 a.m., but they always arrived late. Worse, their sleeping habits prevented them from eating a proper breakfast. The students would eat food such as "gimbap" or a hamburger at a shop in the school after the first or second period.
Nowadays, most students don't eat breakfast but enjoy a rich meal at dinnertime. The change in the eating habits of students means that their daily lifestyle is completely different from that of the senior members of their families. Moreover, various imported agricultural products, rich food culture and advertising campaigns have encouraged these youngsters to choose foods that satisfy the five senses rather than eating healthy.
The youngsters who are called "night owls" tend to be unique and adventurous and, worse still, selfish.
Even in such a situation, the number of students graduating from high school in 2023 will fall short of the college entrance quota. Therefore, the students will be able to enter any college. If these trends remain common across the nation, educators should prepare suitable programs for the students and help draw out their potential.
One of Lim's policies ― survival of the zero-hour class ― means that he will force students to come to school earlier and study their textbooks. This suggestion is completely contrary to the lifestyles of youngsters.
We are in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It demands creativity on the part of the youngsters to encourage them to display their abilities by coming up with various programs and executing them more systematically.
To implement such a strategy, I think a key role of the educational leader is to persuade the students and their parents to enter into a partnership to suggest and follow desirable alternatives after showing them a vision for the future.
Kim Jin-heon (shinykim60@hanmail.net) is a retired English teacher who published a book titled "Flower is Flower."
![[INTERVIEW] 'Growth slowdown can accelerate depletion of retirement pension fund'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/1b8c230b7aa14896bf5b639acd01a9ee.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Veteran US photographer gives environment 'visual voice' to chronicle climate change](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/9d491d25431d4e9b980fee78427589dc.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
