남북한에서의 교육이념 변화과정 비교연구

Comparison of the Educational Ideologies in North and South Korea

As soon as the second World War had come to an end, the Cold War broke out tearing some countries apart. Then, almost half a century after, with the fall of the Soviet Union and other communist East European countries, West Germany and East Germany were reunited to become one nation once again. Amid this ending of the Cold War and the break down of the Iron Wall, the Korean people also hold big hopes of having the North and the South reunited in the near future. In addition, since South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s visit to the north to meet the North’s leader Kim Jung-Il, many efforts have been made to build the foundation for better understanding and cooperation between the two Koreas in various fields, such as the politics, economy, society, culture and education. This study focuses on the educational ideologies of the two Koreas, which are believed to have grown far apart from each other the most among the various fields. The two different ideologies will be compared and analyzed to derive the factors required for establishing the future educational ideology when the North and the South are reunited. After the separation, as the two Koreas adopted two completely different social systems and ideologies, the educational ideologies also differ very much from each other. However, among those differences, the two countries actually have something in common. Though, they may differ in terms of methodology, the educational ideologies both pursue democracy and nationalism. The future educational ideology for reunited Korea can be only established when a consensus can be held by all Korean people. This process should be accomplished with the participation of both sides and it cannot be achieved unilaterally. Although the educational ideology may seem abstract from the practical view, it still should not be neglected. Continuous verification should be required so that education does not center on a particular ideology.