Former Superintendent Kim Seung-hwan, Legacy of Avoiding High School Credit System and Cynicism, Confessed to Making Jeonbuk Education a Mess

Amid the strong criticism of the Jeonbuk Education Office's failure to implement the high school credit system and the quantitative evaluation-centered admission policy of Jeonbuk University in the high school credit system analysis report released by the Jeonbuk Regional Joint Education Committee on the 8th, the actions of former Superintendent Kim Seung-hwan, who was in charge of education at the time, are being reevaluated.

Former Superintendent Kim criticized the Ministry of Education's high school credit system announcement in 2018 as "building without a blueprint" on his Facebook recently. He recalled that he promoted the high school credit system at the time based on the prerequisites of subject selection, absolute evaluation of school grades, and reform of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), instructing the Jeonbuk Education Office to "comply with the policy but minimize damage in case of failure."

However, his actions remained at the level of pointing out the inadequacies of the policy, without taking responsible actions as a superintendent or coming up with concrete regional measures. Furthermore, in a recent Facebook post, he pointed out the non-introduction of the absolute evaluation system for school grades as a major cause of the failure of the high school credit system, but this is a contradictory attitude that directly conflicts with his past actions.

In fact, until March 2018, when Kim was Superintendent, the Jeonbuk Education Office officially opposed the introduction of the absolute evaluation system for school grades. Describing in his current post as if he consistently supported the absolute evaluation system, ignoring his past actions, is interpreted as distortion and evasion of responsibility.

A more serious issue is that former Superintendent Kim used an advertisement by the Jeonbuk Education Office to mock a journalist who supported the introduction of the absolute evaluation system, saying, "Changhyun, have you decided on your university enrollment?" This was a mockery towards an individual journalist beyond the scope of public policy debate, seriously damaging the ethics and dignity of a public official.

The high school credit system was pursued with the goal of full implementation by 2025 during the Moon Jae-in administration, introducing expanded student subject choice rights and the absolute evaluation system for school grades. However, with the change in government to the administration of Yoon Suk-yeol, a policy change occurred reintroducing relative evaluation elements such as ranking grades in the achievement evaluation system. This led to policy confusion and increased discrepancies between university admissions and the education process on the ground.

Former Superintendent Kim Seung-hwan should have come up with specific and practical response measures from his position responsible for the education field at the time. However, he essentially chose non-response under the pretext of "preparing for policy failure," and the result is the current confusion and stagnation in Jeonbuk education.

Currently, the operation of the high school credit system in Jeonbuk still fails to secure substantial diversity in elective subjects, and Jeonbuk University continues to maintain an admission policy centered around school grades. Students, teachers, and parents are struggling with the dual pressures of limited choice rights and competition based on school grades. This is a negative legacy left by former Superintendent Kim's indifference and evasion of responsibility.

The expression used by former Superintendent Kim, "Spit out the phlegm," may seem like sharp resistance criticizing authority, but in the face of the current state of Jeonbuk education, it should rather be a subject of self-reflection and introspection. The role of a superintendent should be responsible action and direction setting, not cynical criticism. Kim's directive in 2018 ultimately amounted to irresponsible indifference towards the future of Jeonbuk education, and the results he left behind are now evident in the confusion and loss of direction.