[Editorial] The New Free Teachers’ Union

A new teachers’ union opposing the Korean Teachers and Education Worker`s Union (KTU) will be launched in March. It announced that it would engage in an education campaign that practices free democracy based on the Korean constitution and respects the rights of students, and that it would develop into an organization that will replace the KTU.

In other words, it announced that it would become a rational organization that would stand up against the ideologically left-leaning KTU.

Parents and the Korean people who experienced the KTU that had started off pursing true education and reforms, but rapidly transmuted into something different, are hopeful and worried at the same time about the new union. Some worry that the power games between the KTU and the Free Teachers’ Union (FTU) might in fact aggravate conflicts in education. However, it is now time for our society to find a new practical alternative to the KTU that started with the legislation of the Teachers’ Union Law in 1999. If we leave it as it is currently, the future of the nation will be at risk.

It would be most desirable if, even now, the KTU recovers its innocence as a teachers’ organization through internal reforms, but chances of that happening are slim. As seen in late last year’s “Anti-Globalization Video,” 71.4 percent of union members cast votes favoring a struggle opposing teacher evaluation, the KTU has solidified into an ideological interest group.

There might be quite a few conscientious teachers inside the KTU. However, there are also quite a few KTU teachers instilling coarse unification theories, teaching people to be shameful of the Republic of Korea, or telling people that free democracy and market economy values should be ostracized to students who consider the words of teachers as truth. In addition, their radical ways teach students about threats and violence.

Japan’s teacher union once boasted membership of about 80 percent of Japan’s teachers, but after losing the trust of Japanese people, a large number of teachers withdrew. If the FTU thinks about students and parents first, and spearheads educational innovations that foresee the future of the nation, it will naturally gain the support of the people, and its membership will rise. I look forward to the FTU to put down roots as an exemplary teachers’ union.