Educating for Wisdom

 

"Merchants exaggerate the value of their products. Doctors, lawyers, and businessmen pursue economic success without taking proper care of their families. Sometimes we discover that we are becoming that way, and even though we don't like it, we excuse ourselves by saying that we have no choice." So begins the column Light of the World by the priest columnist in the Catholic Weekly.

Just recently he mentions the flooding of an under pass where 14 died, the stabbing near a subway station in Seoul, and the news of an elementary school teacher who sadly passed away at the age of 24 giving him great sadness.  In particular, the falling status of the teaching authority sounded a serious alarm to the educational reality of today's Korean society and the current state of our perception of teachers. The ultimate goal of education is to develop character under the ideology of Hongik Ingan and to realize the ideal of common prosperity for mankind. (Article 2 of the Framework Act on Education)

 

['Hongik Ingan' is a philosophy, a guiding principle,  coming down from the  Korean past  based on the idea that individuals should strive to improve themselves and the world around them for the betterment of all humanity. It is principle that is meant to guide 

education and organizations in South Korea.]

 

However, now in the  field of education, in addition to

plutocracy, meritocracy, excessive private education, and ranking of academic backgrounds,situations not easy to solve any time soon, absurd situations are occurring in which teachers' right to live is threatened. For this purpose, correct identification of social issues and warm love for neighbors are important. This ultimately presupposes correct education.

 

Catholic social doctrine very often mentions the importance of education in relation to character formation, morality and spirituality, social development and the role of the family. Education is a necessary process for fulfilling one's moral and social responsibilities according to conscience  and the pursuit of truth and is the duty of all parents and adults.  Healthy individuals and societies cannot survive without it.  

 

Nevertheless, what do you think is the reason for the unfortunate situation of the fall of teaching authority? Did the student human rights ordinance introduced in 2010 to promote student human rights have an impact on teaching rights? Or is it because of the opinion that students should be embraced unconditionally? The human rights ordinance and the opinion that students should be embraced are not the essence of this situation. The fundamental responsibility lies with us adults who have lived only in pursuit of money and success.

 

The correct appearance of adults is important If you look at it coldly, today's education reality has been reduced to education by capital and for capital. On the other side of it lies the reality of being chased by competition and capital, and the dark shadows of our affluent but increasingly harsh society. Naturally, in today's society, the focus of education is on ownership, qualifications, academic background, and financial success rather than teaching people to be loving, concessional, and considerate. It can't be a big defeat.

 

However, the essence of education is people and love, and we must live it out and show it, starting with adults. So the Catholic Church calls for the special efforts of parents and adults. Parental love is fully expressed in the task of education, and parents, as primary educators, work together with other educational institutions to teach children the fundamental virtues of justice and love, dialogue and encounter, sociability, legality, solidarity and justice.  We all need evangelical reflection for a healthy educational field and teaching authority that must be urgently restored. 

 

The family has a completely original and irreplaceable role in raising children. The parents' love, placing itself at the service of children to draw forth from them (“e-ducere”) the best that is in them, finds its fullest expression precisely in the task of educating. “As well as being a source, the parents' love is also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all concrete educational activity, enriching it with the values of kindness, constancy, goodness, service, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice that are the most precious fruit of love”(Brief Social Doctrine 239).