미국 기숙학교의 운영사례와 시사점

Implications of American Boarding Schools for the Public Boarding Schools in Rural Korea

본 논문은 농산어촌 공립기숙학교의 도입․시행에 따라 성공적인 정착을 위해 미국 기숙고등학교(boarding school)의 운영 현황을 분석하여 우리나라 기숙형 공립학교에 주는 시사점을 제시하는 데 그 목적이 있다. 연구결과 첫째, 미국에는 전형적인 사립 대학준비 기숙학교 외에도 다양한 유형의 기숙학교가 있다는 점, 특히 저소득층 자녀들을 위한 공립기숙학교의 가능성을 탐색할 필요가 있다. 둘째, 대학준비학교라고 하여 지적 교육만 중시하지 않고, 스포츠와 예술활동을 co-curricular activities라 하여 신체발달, 사회도덕성 발달 및 정서발달도 그에 못지않게 중시 여긴다는 점을 주목할 필요가 있다. 셋째, 미국 기숙학교는 기숙사 유무에서뿐만 아니라 교육의 질 면에서 다른 학교와 구별된다. 즉 우수한 문화적․물리적 환경, 낮은 교사 학생 비율, 10명 내외의 학급당 인원수, 특히, Harkness learning이나 module plan 같은 차별화된 교육방식을 운영하고 있다는 점이다. 넷째, 학생들의 재정 부담을 줄이기 위해 지자체의 재정지원을 유도하는 외에도 동문의 기부 등을 통한 학교기금을 확보하는 방안 등 학교유형, 교육과정, 교육여건, 재정확보 등 여러 측면에서 우리나라 기숙형 학교에 주는 시사점을 도출할 수 있다.

This paper takes a closer look at the boarding schools in the U. S. A., in existence for many decades now, in order to garner some fruitful lessons for our own public boarding schools at their inception. Some of the implications of American institutions may be listed as follows: First, there are diverse types of boarding schools in America including therapeutic, military, pre-professional arts, religious, and free public boarding schools, in addition to the typical liberal arts prep schools. A modicum of existing boarding schools in Korea, however, are almost exclusively college-bound prep schools with curriculum narrowly focused on college entrance exam. Upcoming boarding schools in Korea need to be diversified in order to meet diverse needs of youngsters. For public boarding schools in rural Korea, in particular, we need to pay special attention to the American public boarding schools for students from low-income urban families. Second, we also need to heed the educational contents of American boarding schools. They do not narrowly focus on the academic or intellectual development alone; they emphasize physical, emotional, and socio-moral development as well as intellectual development. Dormitory life makes a significant contribution in this direction of all-round development. Many schools call sports, arts, and social activities co-curricular instead of extra-curricular activities, and require all students to participate in at least one of these activities. We need to expand educational activities beyond narrowly academic ones. Third, American boarding schools are different from day schools not only in terms of dormitories, but more importantly, qualities of education. They are conspicuous among other high schools with excellent physical and cultural environments, low teacher-student ratio, average class size of around 10, and special instructional plans such as "Harkness learning" of Phillips Exeter Academy, NH and "module plan" of the Cambridge School of Weston, MA. Construction of dormitories must be followed up by the provisions for educational qualities, for the success of Korean boarding schools. And last, qualities of education discussed above could not be secured without external financial support, especially when it comes to the public boarding schools in rural and other remote areas. Support from the local government may be a must; and contributions from alumni and local businesses may also have to be solicited, perhaps aggressively.