Discourse, Power, and Education in Korea

This paper analyzes an English-language discourse on education in Korea. It emphasizes a basic struggle over the fundamental goal of education: one part emphasizing socio-economic efficiency (the government), and another part emphasizing individual opportunity for social mobility (the student). However, the paper suggests that the education system in Korea is also defined by what it lacks or marginalizes: democratic equality. The paper claims that the main problem in the Korean education system is the promotion of authoritarian discipline instead of democratic equality. The paper concludes that any serious attempt to reform the Korean education system must involve a much stronger emphasis on liberal education and the ideals of individual autonomy and democratic equality.