Education in DPRK
- Part Four -
Juan Nogueira López
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In this fourth and penultimate article Education, I will close the section on the historical analysis of social education in Korea. The period covered is from the 80's until today.
Once the historical article discusses the principles that guide the general guidelines of Education in North Korea. That is, those values \u200b\u200binherent in the process of building a socialist education and are in full force today.
begin, therefore, with the last stage of the history of education in Korea.
2.7 - intellectualization of society (1980 - present) begin by placing the context of the years analyzed, as I did in previous articles. Reading the above articles, you can remember that the North Korean economic growth had been impressive from the 50's. During the 70's, economic growth increased each year, on average, 15'9% 1.
This annual growth is among the highest in the world.
industrial production figure of 3.9 multiplied times during the decade and the production of consumer goods 3.7 times. In 1974, grain production rose to 7 million tons in 1977 to 8.5 million to 9 million in 1979.
In 1974, Korea became the first country in the world to abolish all taxes.
Two data give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe increase in living standards during this decade. The first fact is that during this decade, the average level of wages increased by 31.5%. At the same time, 21'800 different types of items dropped in price, which indicates a general decline in the price of consumer goods between 30 and 50%. All this meant a considerable increase in the purchasing power of the North Koreans. At the same time, it developed large vivienda2 building campaigns, improvement of living standards (as the campaign to deliver a color TV to every family in the country) and generally in all areas.
The 80 followed the same trend. Until 1984, the pace of economic growth was an annual increase of 12'2%. They began to work 17'785 new factories and modern workshops. In 1984, cereal production was 10 million tonnes, historical figure for a country with less than 18% of arable land. Was entered through massive investments in agriculture, which multiplied 1.4 times the area irrigated in 1980, 1.3 the number of farm trucks, 1.5 the number of tractors, 2 times the number of harvesters, 1.5 times the number of rice transplanting machines and 6'3 times the number of harvesters. The number of chemicals has doubled during this same period.
In 1985 the export volume amounted to 11'680 million, a figure 74 times higher the levels of 1946. The standard of living in constant 1970 prices was $ 1000 real per capita amounted in 1979 to $ 1920 and in 1986 to $ 2,400. During that same decade, other Asian countries like China and India had average actual 1135 and $ 498 per head. The fact is significant because 40 years ago, when Korea began its revolution, China and India have similar metrics to those of Korea.
Socially, the situation in North Korea was also very good. Life expectancy rose in 1984 to 74 years, leaving behind other Asian countries such as India (58) or China (69) and being the best figure all the socialist bloc, after Cuba (75). Before liberation, life expectancy was only 38'4 years, so the achievement is spectacular. During the first 4 years of the 80's, were built 290 health care centers, hospital and preventive medicine and the number of doctors was multiplied by 1.4 and hospital beds rose by 106% (up to 135 '9 per 10'000 inhabitants). Thus, the number of physicians per 10'000 inhabitants was 27 in 1986. In Britain, one of the more developed western European, the number of physicians per 10'000 inhabitants on the same date was lower than in North Korea: 18.2.
also in the U.S. (25'7) and other countries "First World" (Germany, Sweden, Denmark ,...). If the advanced countries did not reach the levels Koreans, Asian countries are not even close to them, including Japan (15) and South Korea (6). Even within the socialist bloc, the North Korean levels leading indicators of Asia, beating China (13.6) or Vietnam (3'2). The only countries that outperform socialist Korea are some more developed countries, such as the RDA (31'9), Czechoslovakia (36.5) or the Soviet Union (43'3).
If even 1990, all fulfilling economic plans went smoothly, the six-year plan (1987 - 1993) was the first not to give the expected results. It was not by internal weakness, but because of the decline of most trading partners of North Korea (the socialist bloc countries) and the intensification of the international blockade, with situations that came up to the total military blockade in 1994. If there
dropped the socialist bloc, the six-year plan would have placed North Korea as a First World country fully. The economic objectives were to produce 100.000 billion kWh of electricity, 120 million tons of coal, 10 million tons of steel, more than 1.7 million tons of nonferrous metals, 22 million tons of cement, 15 million tons of cereals, 11 million tons of marine products, 7'2 million tons of chemical fertilizers, 1.5 million miles of fiber and strip 300'000 hectares of farmland to the sea.
The level of compliance with these objectives in 1990 were completely normal.
in living standards, the plan had resulted in the construction of between 200'000 150'000 and homes each year and would have ensured food production potential per person daily consumption of 175 grams of meat, 400 grams of fish, an egg, 30 grams of cooking oil, 300 grams 100 grams of fruit and pastries, plus, of course, a high consumption of cereals (the main element of the North Korean diet.) Each year, in addition, be granted 76 meters of clothing per person.
All this was reflected in the plan that unfortunately was thwarted in the early 90's. Between 1994 and 1998 there is a general fall in production levels due to the sum of internal factors (natural disasters, self-reliance, lack of oil
) and external (economic, political situation of maximum tension in 1994, falling socialist bloc).
in 1994 also killed the historic leader of the Revolution: Kim Il Sung. However, unlike other countries like China, North Korean socialism proved its vitality to overcome the death of one of its leaders without betraying socialist ideals. The timing was quite tricky because the international situation of total anti-communism and the internal situation of economic crisis.
Since 1998, the country starts growing again. Slowly, all sectors of the economy has been recovering and in 2008 began an ambitious economic plan in 2012 that aims to put North Korea on the threshold of "developing and thriving socialist nation."
This concludes the economic context and political. We will now see the development of education during this period.
2.7.1 - Some precedents of the intellectualization of society in the 70's. "intellectualizing the whole society means to train each person in the country, once you acquire your working-class consciousness, as a man or woman fully developed communist, who has the technical and cultural level of a college graduate." (Kim Il Sung)
In this quote we find some of the keys to understanding what it means in North Korea intellectualizing the whole society. The ultimate goal is that everyone in the country has a level minimum of a college graduate, intellectual base by the North Koreans have to buy each member of society to build a communist society.
This objective has to do with the formation of adults through flexible and versatile plans to suit the conditions of each member of society.
Later we will see some of them, but before that we have to analyze how came this goal.
The aim of intellectualizing the whole society is marked at the Sixth Congress of the WPK, in 1980. But during the 70 already advanced in this line. For example, in the Fifth Congress of the PTC was set up the movement of three revolutions: technical, cultural and ideological.
The move, effective today, aims to advance from different fields to communism. It is a movement primarily on the masses and uplifts the spirit of independence and ideological consciousness.
How do I apply? For example, with regard to the technical revolution, the basic objective is that company workers acquired a sense of being true owners of the means of production and lose all sorts of "fear" of technology and management.
Specifically, each company in the country has production targets set by management based of their productive capacities. But the workers' assemblies may modify these goals if they are unrealistic or consciously choose to overcome this barrier productive. In the latter case, the workers would be participating in the movement of the technological revolution.
What do workers then is to devise a production plan to achieve the figure proposed: through voluntary work, through innovation (technological research, basically), through improvements in organization system production ... etc. In any case, the simple fact marked this goal, a plan and make sacrifices and practical work to comply, ideological consciousness rises. But in addition, it delivers all the years the flag of the technological revolution to the workers of the companies that best meet the objective of the movement. The main issue is that only awarded to those companies in which workers voluntarily decided to set itself the goal. That is, would not be true that "inertia" or chance, a company got a high productive and this was considered part of the technical revolution. To really meet this development, workers must set itself the goal of consciously.
In 2008, when I participated in a delegation to the country, could attend the Three Revolutions Exhibition, showing the achievements of this movement. In this way, workers at many companies in the country participate in this movement, which represents an improvement productive while ideological. The workers of the companies that have achieved a flag of three revolutions, always placed at the entrance: it is an honor for them, as a collective.
addition, it is worth noting two other measures taken during the 70 and serve as precedents to the task of intellectualizing the whole society. On the one hand, two awards were created to decorate the faculty: Professor and Professor of Merit Village.
distinctions are awarded each year among those teachers who are chosen as exemplary performers in their own assembly. Similarly, the highest honor the state labor supply, the title of Hero of Labor, began to be awarded to teachers. From then until 2007, about 550 teachers have received any of these titles.
Finally, took place in September 1978, the largest historical congress in the history of education. More than 15'000 teachers of all levels attended this meeting held at the Pyongyang Indoor State. For each primary and secondary schools in the country were invited to three teachers for each school, five. In addition, there were teachers institutes for adults and pre-school, party officials in the education sector, members of the Socialist Worker Youth League, foreign delegates, ...
At this meeting, chaired by Kim Il Sung, were explained numerous ways to improve the level of socialist education. One of the key issues was the call for teacher education, focusing particularly on improving the levels of scientific knowledge and foreign languages. In addition, they discussed some errors in the implementation of the recent educational system is 11 years. Also adopted by acclamation a slogan: "The Party, the people and the army, all must study! ". Here begins the year of study for adults that will extend from the 80's.
But Congress would have only a subjective effect on those who could attend or follow it on television. Congress had several practical implications. For example, during the following years, production of educational media grew by 171%. The teachers began to consider them a priority in the granting of housing and improved access to numerous benefits.
2.7.2 - The Sixth Congress of the WPK The Sixth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (1980) is which calls for the intellectualization of society. The key point, in my opinion, it is understood that to achieve this goal must be to diversify the media. To begin, we distinguish between adult education and normal education system.
Adult Education to the Sixth Congress, the aim had been to raise the educational level of all workers in the country to the level of a graduate school.
This objective is met in the mid 70's, at the same time it reaches one million people with a university graduate level.
The Sixth Congress marked the goal of raising the cultural and technical level of all adults the country to the level of a college graduate. Obviously, this is a target in the medium and long term, but are implemented numerous initiatives to achieve this. The main objective is to eliminate manual workers all sorts of differences in training regarding intellectual workers. Thus, every worker can be a producer and director at the same time, something that is getting closer to the ideal of communism.
One of the first steps in this direction was to multiply the number of institutions of higher education in the factories. As explained in other articles, this system allows training without detracting from the production. At the same time, the training is entirely practical sense: it is explained and applied knowledge in the same class time.
If in 1970 the number of faculties in factories was 35, in 1980 this number rose to 85. Only in 1984, created six new such institutions in the metal industry, electrical machinery, automotive and mining.
Take an example. In 1981, 126 miners in the mine Kumsan (one of the mining complex mines Ryongyang) received higher education in the mode of study without detracting from the production. Using this model of education received the title of assistant engineer.
All graduates received permission to deviate from the production for a year and complete their studies in specific courses prepared by the Faculty of Technology, University of Ryongyang.
In April 1981, the Supreme People's Assembly decided to generalize this learning model across the country, making a special effort in the training of cadres in rural areas, which are generally lagging behind compared to cities.
Especially, it was decided to establish a winter study system for farmers, because in Korea the winter is cold and can not grow anything.
also reformed the system of correspondence courses, mixing with that of classes in the evening. So far, correspondence courses operated by sending all necessary documents to students and letting them go two hours several times a week to schools, to explain certain matters.
The new system, developed from experiences Sariwon Agricultural University, he turned to the method. In the case of the agricultural university, every day, the instructors are certain cooperatives and give lessons on their own farms. In this way, farmers have enrolled in their own cooperative classes in a different subject each day, supplementing the notes received by mail. Basically, face classes are used to make the practice as explained in the theory and notes.
Since 1982, moreover, began broadcasting television University, a project that continues today.
But the most ambitious initiative was the construction of
Grand People's Study Hall. The building of this palace is preceded by the call for the Party, army and people to study.
the early 80's when it implements the "revolutionary habit of study" in the words of Kim Il Sung. All Party members and Army and voluntarily, the majority of workers in the country, are out a systematic plan of study. In this sense, there are favorable conditions for the study. For example, Saturdays are defined as study day and the workers who so wish may attend lectures, group study, language training, technical ... This, plus the studio system without detracting from the production, the ability to form away from work without losing jobs and wages and correspondence education system, create a diversified pattern of study for adults.
And here comes in the new Grand People's Study Hall, built in 1981 in the heart of Pyongyang. Located in the Plaza Kim Il Sung. For 20 years after the end of the war, this place remained intact, avoiding placing government buildings, as they intended to use "civil" to downtown. Once completed, the building has 100,000 square feet of space and houses 600 rooms and 30 million books. It has conference rooms, modern language schools, study rooms, audiovisual rooms, listening rooms, ... It organizes classes, lectures, discussions, short training courses, seminars, scientific conferences, ... All activities are advertised on television, radio, and today the web. Therefore, many workers in various parts of the country come to him for training.
The center sent to speakers, research workers and librarians at the production sites to investigate, while providing training materials for workers and translated foreign materials. All I can say in words about this center, probably fall short.
Grand People's Study Centre, in downtown Pyongyang. In Korea it is defined as a center for the intellectualization of society
"The Grand People's Study Hall is not just a library, but the central base for the intellectualization of society and an open university for all people worker. "(Kim Il Sung). One
the human details are in this center is that each of the tables, study rooms has an adjustable height. This allows attending children and adults alike, women and men, in short, people of all heights.
From the moment of its opening, the Great Hall has been in full operation. He attended more than 10,000 people each day. Since 1981 until today, millions of people have been trained in this center.
"Education must be responsive to changing realities and dynamics of our country. All aspects of education, including its content and methods should be improved and refined according to the developing reality. "(Kim Il Sung, 1980)
The school and university education also saw changes after the Sixth Congress of the WPK. Congress expressed the idea that education should "adapt to the continuous development and deepening of the revolution." This idea was reflected in the Seventh Congress of the League of Socialist Youth Worker (October 1981).
Basically, since the 80's and even today, education has been improving some aspects, but without experiencing major changes.
For example, since 1978 began to increase much audiovisual materials. Especially, it reinforced the teaching of science and foreign languages \u200b\u200bfrom audio-visual materials.
All schools in the country began to enter classrooms prepared specifically for language learning. Special emphasis was placed that would serve audiovisual materials for teachers to break the monotony of classes. Also during this time reduced the number of hours of lecture and increased even more practical classes, which then are the vast majority within hours. In June 1983, also decided to build an indoor pool in every school in the country to expand the scope of physical education. That year, 400 new pools were built and rebuilt or improved 890.
completely renovated the examination system so that no students are asked to learn "by heart", but a dialectical learning concepts and practical application.
Finally, it is also in the 80's when formulated for the first time gifted education and more flexible education for gifted children. In 1982, a girl of 13 was a pioneer in this regard. At 13 years, was especially talented in fine arts. Pyongyang University of Fine Arts prepared a special course for her, combining education General and specific education to fully develop their talents. This practice is widespread. Abieron also special schools for gifted children.
2.7.3 - The Last 20 Years: Education and information technologies. The 90 are the years that North Korea live the first economic crisis in its history.
The reasons are mainly external, but the consequences affect all sectors of the country.
One of the key objectives to 1998 was to maintain the gains of the Revolution.
As no progress could be made, at least not backwards. In this sense, Korea has continued to provide free and compulsory education from 11 years to all youth. 100% of expenses related to non-compulsory education have also continued to be covered by the state. It keeps all the educational infrastructure, the methodology and content, extracurricular activities and education for gifted children. In general, not even one step back for a few years that would have been easy to reduce the education budget.
When in 1998 the country began to recover gradually from the crisis, Korea is setting new challenges and begin to see further steps towards the goal of intellectualizing the whole society. One of the most notable is related to the introduction of computers in teaching.
Today, almost no one school in the country that has no computers, whether in cities or in the field. Kim Chaek University of Technology
was a pioneer in creating a EBiblioteca, ie, a fully equipped library with computers. He followed the Grand People's Study Hall and Kim Il Sung University. In total, 21 million volumes (books, magazines, dissertations ,...) have been digitized so far and are available for free from any computer in the country. You can also access music and movies. In addition, since December 2007, the University has begun formación3 television. Classes are recorded and can be followed live from anywhere in the country. At the end of classes, teachers respond to questions from students via digital media. The classes are stored and can be accessed at any time. You can also ask questions by e-mail. In the first year of operation, more than 120 classes were relayed through the system.
course is more profitable to go to class in person, because the center is equipped with modern presentation systems, 3D images, audio, ... But the ability to access some advanced knowledge, yet not participate in person in the class, is a breakthrough.
There are also numerous learning programs through software, through question and answer programs, speech recognition for language learning and individual training (moving based on personal knowledge, jumping fast that which has already been mastered and many resources to improve beyond where you need a boost).
contrast is very significant that Korea gives use online resources with the trend which is increasingly in the West, more related to data protection, the pursuit of free file sharing and culture and to charge for access to materials and articles científicos. Bajo el socialismo, no se le ponen barreras al conocimiento, sino que este se pone al servicio del pueblo.
Mientras tanto, el capitalismo tiende a la mercantilización y, en consecuencia, a la restricción.
Desde luego, Corea no ha agotado las posibilidades que la red da a la formación. La exploración de este campo sólo está en sus primeros pasos y existen numerosos limitantes, como el bloqueo económico al que se ve sometido el país.
Hasta el momento, el país ha conseguido formar 2'100'000 personas con un nivel de graduado universitario. La rueda no deja de girar y se sigue avanzando. Estoy seguro de que en el futuro veremos nuevos y mayores éxitos en el field of training.
3 - Principles of Teaching in Korea So far, all the above points, analyzing the history of education in Korea. At this point we analyze the principles on which it rests, principles that are inherent in the entire history of education in Korea and have made it progressively.
3.1 - Juche and Education twentieth century Marxism has been interpreted in very different ways of building socialism.
All theories agree on one thing: the communist society is an egalitarian society. But from there, each party emphasized on a different aspect. Some theories
greatest impact on the material as a key element for the construction of socialism. This applies, for example, the Soviet Union. For the Soviets, only be distributed once existed equally widespread abundance. That is, the essential point is to fully develop the productive forces to accelerate the arrival of an affluent society generally, from which it could begin to gradually reduce social differences.
However, to fully develop the productive forces, the Soviet version of socialism, was to encourage workers through mainly material incentives (bonuses to production) and the establishment of different pay scales based on worker training. That is, the pictures (engineers, company directors, managers ,...) have a higher pay scale to that of skilled workers.
Thus, fostering the development and productivity, but by appealing to the material interests of workers.
The Soviets put the accent on the distribución4 (wage differentiation, produces and who else is better trained, more charged), despite the danger of creating significant social differences.
Other theories consider that the fundamental aspect of socialism is not only a greater abundance relations of production of new type. Therefore, in the daily work should occur not only material goods, but must also reproduce socialist production relations. In this stressed, above all, the Che Guevara Maoist theories.
Both in China and those companies that followed the Cuban model of Che, were put into practice experiences in which the forms of cooperation at work, the premium system for the production and cadre policy, no differences deepened social, but that fell.
For example, in China Maoist, engineers and managers must work fewer hours per month in manual labor with the rest of workers. In this way, they avoided playing the psychological separation between leaders and led.
In Cuba, wages were fixed and every incentive to greater productivity were political and moral appeals or material incentives only if it was delivered to the entire group and if the work had been done cooperatively. Individual bonuses were not delivered.
In this version of socialism, it seeks to develop the most socialist production relations and the impact they have on consciousness. However, the development of productive forces in all countries that adopted this model is lower than in those where it was introduced a model of type "Soviet."
Korea stood on the sidelines of this debate. Considers the Juche idea to build socialism must transform nature (productive forces) and society (relations of production) but also to man. Of these three aspects, the key is the last, since he is the man who turns the other two functions: to transform the nature and transforming society.
socialist education, therefore, its main function is to transform man. Education not only in Korea always preempts this work in all areas of life. Here's an example. In Korea, every day of the week a group of neighbors is assigned a series of community work (gardening, street cleaning, cleaning of road signs ,...). As every week, every North Korean is community work, this creates a strong impact on their ideological consciousness. It's much easier for a person who cleans the streets every week to acquire a civic conscience not to get, if they had just taught in school. Everything in North Korea is thought to transform the ideological consciousness of being and as positive economic differentiation between those who produce more and the least.
This is justified in that socialism is a society in which they hold "from each according to his ability, to each according to his work" human.
This is because if the fundamental element of the construction of socialism is the human being, we have to develop to the fullest. Especially, we must take into account that people do not innately have no ideology and the ideological formation is a gradual and steady process. Therefore, at no time can be ignored.
Concerning Education, in short, it is necessary to understand that Korea is not simply a process of acquiring knowledge or self-improvement, but essentially the ideological transformation, technical and cultural man.
are three key attributes to be developed: the sense of independence, consciousness and creativity. You need to understand that in Korea is always understood the human being as a social being, which can only be viable and successful acting in society. Therefore, by no means independence individualism, but that human beings do not live as a society blindly subservient to nature or social anarchy, but creatively (second attributes) plans and rebuild the social and natural world to put according to their interests.
This can only be done through the third attribute, the consciousness that with regard to the world and society is scientific knowledge of them and in terms of ideological consciousness refers to the knowledge of its position as the rebuilder of the world.
This is the way to the North Koreans to understand the construction of socialism. The Education
this has two applications. On the one hand, in method, students should be able to develop a critical sense and independent. This is further elaborated at a specific point referred to the method.
In terms of content, from a viewpoint Juche revolutionary must become perfectly familiar to home and the requerimento of the Revolution. Only then Koreans are able to know how to transform nature and society of their own country. This does not exclude, of course, teach skills relating to other countries or from them. But it does require that this knowledge is critically analyzed, raising the question: "How is it applicable to the transformation of nature and society in Korea, depending on the requirements of our Revolution?
So, Koreans learn, essentially, that which is useful for building socialism and communism in Korea. The emphasis in the past and present of Korea in nature, geography, economy and culture, politics, Labour Party and its revolutionary traditions.
3.2 - Waiver For North Koreans, access to education is genuine only when it is free.
In most capitalist societies, there is compulsory education. However, many people can not access it from certain courses, either for the cost of school supplies, laboratory, transportation, ... or because their families need all members, including youth, to work to survive.
Even where there are certain sections Education that are free, as is the case of the English state, there is equal access to education. The children of wealthy families can afford private education, elitist and does not tolerate certain evils that are normally associated with public education, overcrowded classrooms, shortage of resources and students who are failing school because of the situations seen in their homes.
None of these situations occur in Korea, where the entire public education is free. 100% of the country's children between five and sixteen are in school. Thus, the state is entirely responsible for the young to working age. The remaining sections are also free education, including preschool, school, colleges, adult education, ...
Adults can ask for time off work to study, during which retain their salary and, in the case of agricultural workers, 70% of the value of their media work items during the past year.
There are no fees of any kind and are also free practices, study tours, travel north to places where he fought the guerrillas, excursions, school transport, school supplies, extracurricular activities ... etc. The State provided free school uniforms to two years, one for each station type (warm or cold). No differences between city and country in terms of conditions of education, except with regard to the type of practices that have (an urban student learns to operate machinery, cars, ... and a rural student to drive a tractor). Nor is there any difference between sexes, all coeducational.
social education is also free. Students have covered access to libraries, children's palaces, socio-political activities ... Finally, it encourages the study with a stipend to the best students. While in Europe commodified education in Korea pay you to study.
3.3 - Content, Pedagogy and Methodology "The fundamental principle on which rests the whole socialist pedagogy is that at the end of the educational process, students should be persons revolutionary communist and working class.
To this end, education should teach the revolutionary ideas of communism and on this basis, the world's scientific knowledge and society. Finally, education should help students to develop their physical condition. "(Kim Il Sung)
The content of socialist education is, therefore, revolutionary scientific and realistic.
It consists of three parts.
- ideological Education: The fundamental goal of education in Korea, as we have seen, is an integral transform human beings. Ideological education has a moral: men and women create new, equipped with a communist morality. But it is also ideological education in Korea, the formation of a revolutionary worldview for understanding the deep essence of social phenomena. In Korea, the ideological aspect is fundamental: "no use to society a person with physical strength or technical knowledge, if not ideologically conscious is a degenerate and morally. " Play an important role the Union of Children and Young Socialist League "Kim Il Sung", especially in shaping the young communist morality.
- scientific and technical education: The objective is to provide knowledge and expertise to suit the evolving needs of science and technology in the country. This learning occurs mainly on the practice. Theoretical learning is complete only when combined with the real capacity to implement it.
- physical and aesthetic education: The objective is, in the case of physical education, ensure that students can succeed in their adult working life and the tasks of national defense.
- physical culture to popularize it through the daily sport, in which all students participate. All schools in the country have an indoor pool and most of them, too, with several football pitches, basketball, volleyball, ... The most popular sports are baseball, but also swimming and various forms of skating. They are famous, too, mass sports events such as the Arirang, made tens of thousands of students. In this way, it strengthens the sense of collectivism and organization.
eduacion As for aesthetics, competitions are held annually painting and literature in every school and administrative levels (city, provincial, national ,...). It is also part of the curriculum that each student specializes, at least in one instrument. Aesthetic education is, above all, to encourage students to be sensitive to the beauty and feelings.
In terms of methodology, knowledge is based on heuristic teaching. It seeks to foster independence and creativity of students in solving problems. The teacher is more of a guide that leads to knowledge, but does not dictate or give lectures. No coercion is allowed, the teacher always must be able to advance themselves to the students in their knowledge. It is important to use a variety of materials, especially audiovisual and computer.
force is highly valued in the example, since young people are very sensitive to new things and have a strong sense of justice. There are no tests which have to demonstrate knowledge learned by rote, but management is looking for a dialectic of concepts. Finally, the punishment is not allowed to hit or students. It insists that the errors are fixed by a tireless persuasion and making offenders see themselves in what has been wrong. This is very important organizational life and practice of criticism and self are common in Korea.
On the other hand, it is important to understand that in Korea, hands-on learning makes up most of the educational program. Ministries of industry and assign part of their budgets to create next-generation machines that go directly to stop schools. In this way, students learn firsthand about the practice and according to the latest technology available in the country.
Take an example. During an academic year, a 14-year-old has on average about 60 physics experiments. All these experiments were done in pairs, so that all students can them personally. In higher education, experiments are done individually. The Universities of Technology, between 35 and 40 weeks are devoted to learning actual practices. In medical schools, fishing or agriculture, even during practices. This does not mean that students are engaged in work. When they go to hospitals, production, farm cooperatives ... students are facing real situations, but there are teachers who explain and guide learning. It is a mix of theory and practice
.
Finally, Korea is very important social education and life activist, through political and social activities developed mainly by the Socialist Youth League "Kim Il Sung."
3.4 - The teacher As we have seen, the fundamental goal of education in Korea is a revolutionary way to transform human beings. Therefore, the role and the teacher's responsibility goes far beyond a mere diffuser of knowledge or illustrator. In Korea, teachers are called revolutionary career, with a mission to transform students into revolutionaries.
Profile teacher-revolutionary is not readily available. Teachers have a strong organizational and political life. Every teacher is framed in cells Party or mass organizations such as the Teachers' Union, Union of Artists, Writers Union ... depending on the specialty.
At the same time, teachers must be competent and know how to transmit knowledge.
As in Korea have banished the lecture and have opted for a heuristic, there is the saying that a teacher can teach one thing, you need to know before a hundred. The aspect that determines the quality of education is the responsibility of the teacher.
So organize many and varied courses to improve teachers' scientific and technical knowledge and their level of ideology and methodology of teaching. Are continuously
model lessons, open classes, scientific and educational forums, meetings to exchange experiences, seminars, ...
There are also many political publications, scientific and academic for teachers. Including "The Journal of Teacher", "Kindergarten", "Teacher of the People", "Notebook for Teachers ",... Propaganda including magazines, newspapers, reference books and collections of scientific papers.
other hand, teachers have many visits to places where there revolutionary battles, and study visits in factories, enterprises, cooperatives and educational and cultural establishments. Thus, their training is ongoing.
In any case, the basic training of every teacher's college. Kim Il Sung University was the first to open a School of Education, but today there are several state universities and at least a regional one in each province. Ending
already in Korea can be summarized that there is great respect for the professor. This has a different role to that of other countries, since education has a higher mission: to transform the human being. The training is very important teachers and revolutionaries can only get to practice. Therefore, it is not uncommon that many teachers have become elected members of the Supreme People's Assembly. Thus, teaching is one of the foundations on which the quality of education in Korea.
Juan Nogueira López
1 Economic Development in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Dr. Hong Sung Un). The data collected in this first part, come from this book. These data are consistent with several Western publications, from very different backgrounds (some with clear anti-communist bias.) It is, therefore, a reliable source, especially because many Western publications are based on field visits of European experts and American Democratic People's Republic of Korea. I put some examples HookOn Phillip Park: "Self-Reliance or Self-Destruction?" (? Self-reliance or self-destruction?), White (1982), Harrison Salisbury (1972), Eberstadt (1993 ),... 2 For example, in the years of the First Seven-Year Plan (1971 - 1976), 414,000 households in the city and farm families received 472,000 new homes, completely free. 3 http://www.kcckp.net/en/news/news_view.php?3+435 4 Indeed, the Manual of Political Economy of the USSR spoke of "vigorous fight against petty egalitarianism "
