Neutral Education Trap
«I am deeply grateful to the author for clarifying the task of education reform in South Korea by capturing the distorted framing of ‘political neutrality of education’ as the core problem of Korean education, and empirically exploring its anti-educational consequences.»
(Minjung Kang, Member of the 21st Parliament of South Korea)
«The Neutral Education Trap provides a fascinating insight into how the laws and ideologies of teacher neutrality or educational neutrality have made students and citizens de-political and conformist.»
(Dongchoon Kim, Professor of SungKongHoe University in South Korea)
Despite the remarkable growth of Korean education, this book sheds light on ‘repressive’ Korean education where critical thinking and action, which are essential for living in a democratic society, are considered as threats to society and thus regulated.
Drawing on research findings and many case examples, the author particularly highlights that the concept of educational neutrality has been used by conservative forces as a means of shrinking space for the critical in the field of education, which mirrors the very Korean war-political situation.
Wonseok Kim is an independent researcher whose interest lies in democracy issues in education, critical pedagogy, citizenship education and political education. He previously worked as an aide at the National Assembly of South Korea (2021–2024), as a researcher at the Seoul Education Policy Institute (SEPI) (2020–2021).