The modern system of capitalism that has operated since the 16th century is now posing fundamental challenges to the nation-state through the rapid expansion of its market and development of science and technology. Through its relationship with the market that are sometimes competitive and other times cooperative, the nation-state is grappling to create a workable system for the next generation. the core of nation-state 󰠏 the education system 󰠏 is also undergoing growing pains as it strives to transform itself. In order to shape `modern citizens` out of its feudal population, the state created the education system. The effectiveness of the system, however, is rapidly eroding in the postmodern context. But change does not occur overnight; nor does it occur in a top-down fashion. Rather, it occurs through the collective efforts of diverse groups of people who are unsatisfied with the present system and willing to change it. The previous system of college-entrance exams began to show cracks in the 1990s, fostering groups of people eager to escape it. These groups either sent their children abroad to study or stayed behind to create alternative schools within South Korea. A decade has passed since the creation of alternative schools and now hundreds of small schools and educational spaces dot the country. In this paper, the researcher with over 10 years of experience operating an alternative school examines how the Korean alternative education system should respond to the worldwide crisis in education, including the fundamental stances and policies that it should adopt. The paper highlights how ordinary people`s perception of this `generational experiment` in education needs to change and how the character of the postmoden educational space needs to fundamentally differ from the modern one. In particular, it focuses on three aspects of alternative schools: ①small schools; ②schools as a space of caring and communication; and ③schools as an open network. In contrast to existing schools, the alternative school needs to become an open time / space that will connect with local societies and expand naturally to become an institution of life-long learning that will allow generations of citizens / people 󰠏young and old󰠏 to deal with the continuous change of a `risk society.`
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